Advice Needed - Please be gentle!

[Chunkydoc]

Greetings and Salutations.

As above, looking for some guidance/advice really.
Just in the process of a loft conversion and we decided on a wet shower area.
Ordered this kit:

Wet Room Kit & Shower Screen 1200 x 900mm CENTRE Drain | Wetrooms Online - https://www.wetrooms-online.com/wet-rooms-online-store/wet-room-kits/wetbase-standard-wet-room-kit-and-shower-screen/wet-room-walk-in-shower-tray-kit-centre-drain-1200-x-900mm-shower-screen-detail.html

Plus some Mosaics from Topps for the floor (Shapes Hexagon Unglazed 23x26mm)

Now, and this is where it gets interesting.
Builder sub-contracted the tiling. Said tiler arrived to do the floor, did it and left. Being incredibly picky, I went to investigate and noticed the tiles were BELOW the drain level. Apparently he couldn't put anymore adhesive in as it would have come through the joints, so this prompted a phone call to the builder who said he'd resolve. His resolution was to remove the tiles 300mm around the drain raise the level and put the tiles back.

To be honest, it's all a mess. I have areas of standing water because I have low spots and when the lows spots are overwhelmed the water is heading away from the drain into the opposite bloody corner.

With the experience you fine folk have, is it a lost cause and it all needs ripping up and doing again?

Apologies if there is a lack of information, happy to answer any questions.

 

[Dave]

The drain cover height should have been set to suitbtile thickness etc ..
All water should flow towards the drain , back flow isn't acceptable .

Do you have any pics ?

 

[Chunkydoc]

The drain height was set, though there was an adapter to make it higher if needed.
No pictures on me, but will take some tonight and post them up.

Thanks.

 

[Dumbo]

If I had turned and saw drain was higher than tiles and realised it couldn't be lowered I would of stopped at that point . Probably looking at lifting floor and redoing even if you can lower drain .

 

[Chunkydoc]

If I had turned and saw drain was higher than tiles and realised it couldn't be lowered I would of stopped at that point . Probably looking at lifting floor and redoing even if you can lower drain .

Alas, the drain can't be lowered. This was the first thing I asked.
It's all rather frustrating this close to xmas!

 

[Time's Ran Out]

It's frustrating anytime of the year!
Are they extremely thin mosaics? Without compromising the falls within the tray they should have been built up to the outlet level before being fixed. It's no good blaming the adhesive thickness that shows a lack of experience by the fixer.
Any area of standing water need to be resolved so keep on to your builder until your satisfied ( didn't use happy).

 

[MTiler]

Is the preformed shower base suitable for mosaics? Some bases arent suitable for mosaics under 30mm because of point loading.

 

[Flintstone]

There's no excuses on the tilers part here, if he couldn't Acheive what's required then he shouldn't have stuck a tile down. I would get the lot up and start again. I'll bet the tiler thought sod it not my problem and didn't want to loose his days wage. What size are the mosaics

 

[Dumbo]

There's no excuses on the tilers part here, if he couldn't Acheive what's required then he shouldn't have stuck a tile down. I would get the lot up and start again. I'll bet the tiler thought sod it not my problem and didn't want to loose his days wage. What size are the mosaics

Your not wrong

 

[Bill]

Even the Topps Tiles CGI photo has the drain higher than the tiles for this product...........the mind boggles.

Shapes Hexagon Matt White 23x26mm Mosaic Tile | Topps Tiles - http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod45336/shapes-hexagon-matt-white-23x26mm-mosaic-tile.html

Anyway, the best solution is to rip out and start again.

You need to describe what is the floor height outside the shower (is the whole floor tiled in this mosaic or is it a different tile)

Photos of the whole room would be beneficial for a distance evaluation to help solve the problem.

 

[Chunkydoc]

Morning all.
Thanks for the replies, apologies for only responding now.

I've taken some pictures that you can see here:
https://goo.gl/photos/LH2mLPQ2uoTwxbKQ6

quite happy to take more, though I'm coming round to that the fact that it'll need ripping up and doing again

@Localtiler The individual mosaics are 20mm wide, not sure how think and don't have any to measure I'm afraid.

@MissTiler I spoke to the company that supplied, and they stated mosaics were fine.

 

[Old Mod]

@MissTiler I spoke to the company that supplied, and they stated mosaics were fine.

When you enquirer about mosaics, did you specify the size you were using?
As Sharon mentioned, it can be a very important question, some are not suitable for anything less than 50 x 50mm.
What's the former made from, I've looked at the spec and can't find much information at all.
It would normally need to be a resin former for mosaic that small.

 

[Chunkydoc]

When you enquirer about mosaics, did you specify the size you were using?
As Sharon mentioned, it can be a very important question, some are not suitable for anything less than 50 x 50mm.
What's the former made from, I've looked at the spec and can't find much information at all.
It would normally need to be a resin former for mosaic that small.

It looked like many layers of something similar to fibre glass, but it didn't have the hardness of fiberglass.
Almost like a polystyrene, but much harder. I could see the fibres set in alternating layers, cross shape across each other.

Mosaics - alas not

 

[Bill]

Morning all.
Thanks for the replies, apologies for only responding now.

I've taken some pictures that you can see here:
https://goo.gl/photos/LH2mLPQ2uoTwxbKQ6

Are you sure they didn't fit the former upside down?

From the photos, the floor looks to be tiled well but the problem has arisen from yourself, the builder, the tile shop and the tiler not communicating about the floor covering - the tiles - this is why the drain plate was higher than the finished floor level. These tiles are not suitable for your floor with this particular shower tray former as the finished height of the drain doesn't suit the tiles. You could have had the floor screeded* to meet the depth for the mosaics to sit on but that would mean most, if not all of the floor, would need doing, which defeats the object of having preformed tray.

* by screeded I mean to flat trowel floor tile adhesive in layers to create the height and to reform the falls of the tray. (not an easy job if you are under time constraints)

Probably the cheapest option would be to tile over the existing mosaics after digging out the redone 300mm to get some falls back to normal.

 

[Chunkydoc]

Are you sure they didn't fit the former upside down?

Probably the cheapest option would be to tile over the existing mosaics after digging out the redone 300mm to get some falls back to normal.

Would that not damage the tray underneath?

 

[Bill]

Would that not damage the tray underneath?

it shouldn't as you have already stated that 300mm around the drain has been redone

 

[John Benton]

Tom could be right about tray. From the pics there doesn't look to be any fall on the tray at all. There should be a specific gradient on the tray that the mosaics follow so as the water naturally runs towards the drain as in the pic below

 

[SJPurdy]

watching the video clip with the shower on gives me the impression that there is more wrong here than just the tile thickness not being sufficient to overflow into the drain. The water seems to be making a large puddle and not flowing towards the drain as if there is no slope towards the drain! Are you sure the shower base former is fitted the correct way up? or have the tiles around the drain been built up so much that the slope has been almost totally cancelled out?
I can't see a simple solution with the information given but I think it probably needs at least the tiling redoing with a tile thickness that is compatible with the drain thickness.

 

[White Room]

Probably been better off using something like these.