Is this acceptable lippage?

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Hi all,
Recently had my kitchen tiled in a chess board style white & black 30cm x 30cm quartz tiles. The floor covers approximately 14m2. The tiler came highly recommended & has done jobs for friends & neighbours, I’m not so happy with the job he has done in my house. The job took 6hours from start to finish, he originally said 2 days but as it was a hot day he grouted too.
Communications have pretty much broken down, he offered us our £ back then didn’t show with it. Txt him a few days later & said there will be no £. Looking like the small claims court ahead. Pictures showing lippage & a map of the floor with lippage in mm. Can even put a 10p under a ruler with room to spare.
Any comments greatly appreciated 👍🏼

 

[Dumbo]

British standard tolerance for tiles with a 3mm joint is 1mm , if I'm wrong someone will correct me hopefully as it may even be stated tiles with a joint under 5mm it is 1mm lippage , basically I'm not sure of the wording but it's 1mm . But understand british standard isn't law it's a code of good practice .

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

British standard tolerance for tiles with a 3mm joint is 1mm , if I'm wrong someone will correct me hopefully as it may even be stated tiles with a joint under 5mm it is 1mm lippage , basically I'm not sure of the wording but it's 1mm . But understand british standard isn't law it's a code of good practice .

Thanks, too many are over 1mm

 

[Tony_C]

Time line seems a bit off to be complete and able for foot traffic in 6 hours. Perhaps a reason for some sunken tiles if they have been walked on too soon.

All tiles down in 2 hours then another couple hours to allow the first hour of tiling to be dry and then to grout. Time seems a bit tight there

 

[Dave]

Its rough 😳

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Time line seems a bit off to be complete and able for foot traffic in 6 hours. Perhaps a reason for some sunken tiles if they have been walked on too soon.

All tiles down in 2 hours then another couple hours to allow the first hour of tiling to be dry and then to grout. Time seems a bit tight there

Exactly what I thought

 

[Bill]

Not acceptable tiling but I am not sure you are playing draughts correctly.......

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Not acceptable tiling but I am not sure you are playing draughts correctly.......

Does the video work? Doesn’t seem like it’s working my end.

 

[Bill]

Does the video work? Doesn’t seem like it’s working my end.

Yes the video works.

Are the tiles a different thickness?

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Yes the video works.

Are the tiles a different thickness?

No they are the same thickness, tiler has used this as an excuse as the boxes were different but I contacted supplier who took serial numbers & checked. Same size, same manufacturer

 

[bluesky]

are they quartz resin tiles ?obviously lippage is unacceptable - just if they are quartz - then what adhesive was used .

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

are they quartz resin tiles ?obviously lippage is unacceptable - just if they are quartz - then what adhesive was used .

Not sure if quartz resin tiles. Invoice just says quartz. Only know it was Bal adhesive, not sure what kind

 

[bluesky]

quartz tiles need a different adhesive (2 part from what I can remember from last year and expensive ! )
wouldn't even try and lay these in 1 day - should've used wedge fitting kit - take a bit of time and come back next day and grout - was the floor flat /level before tiling started ?

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

quartz tiles need a different adhesive (2 part from what I can remember from last year and expensive ! )
wouldn't even try and lay these in 1 day - should've used wedge fitting kit - take a bit of time and come back next day and grout - was the floor flat /level before tiling started ?

Floor was solid concrete, house is 6 years old there was no prep work done beforehand as he didn’t recommend it. I felt the floor was in decent condition, had Lino down previously. Was a hot day so said adhesive would dry quicker hence job done in 6hours. Should add 2 men, One cutting one laying.

 

[Steve6690]

Very poor job. I think he's rushed it to get it done in a day. The adhesive going off quickly in the heat is no excuse - he could've mixed smaller batches or used a different adhesive. Tilemaster do a semi-rapid adhesive which isn't bad.
If the tiles are agglomerated quartz he should have used a two-part adhesive - latex instead of water.
Either way it's not good enough.

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Very poor job. I think he's rushed it to get it done in a day. The adhesive going off quickly in the heat is no excuse - he could've mixed smaller batches or used a different adhesive. Tilemaster do a semi-rapid adhesive which isn't bad.
If the tiles are agglomerated quartz he should have used a two-part adhesive - latex instead of water.
Either way it's not good enough.

Thanks for those comments. Gives me a good bit of confidence moving forward with the claim against him.

 

[Dumbo]

Two guys doing 14 metres isn't rushed .
Yes they've done a bad job but the timescale isn't ridiculous

 

[Dumbo]

No they are the same thickness, tiler has used this as an excuse as the boxes were different but I contacted supplier who took serial numbers & checked. Same size, same manufacturer

Serial numbers checked ? You can not have black tiles and white tiles off the same batch. They will have come down two different production lines .

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Two guys doing 14 metres isn't rushed .
Yes they've done a bad job but the timescale isn't ridiculous

I was concerned they walked on the floor too early when grouting. And this could be a reason as to why the excess lippage everywhere.
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Serial numbers checked ? You can not have black tiles and white tiles off the same batch. They will have come down two different production lines .

He claimed they came from two different manufacturers & were different sizes. The serial numbers were checked by the supplier proving they were from the same manufacturer & same size.

 

[Dumbo]

As I said two different colours can't come of the same batch,. Sizing on tiles is usually nominal so one batch 300 x300 can be 298 x298 and one batch can be 304 x304 as for thickness there probably is some variation also , but that being said if they couldn't do a good job with what they had they should of said. .
Some adhesive goes of quicker than others also depending tile type ,temperature , humidity , and background . I have certainly walked in tiles a lot quicker than a couple of hours as was stated earlier .

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

As I said two different colours can't come of the same batch,. Sizing on tiles is usually nominal so one batch 300 x300 can be 298 x298 and one batch can be 304 x304 as for thickness there probably is some variation also , but that being said if they couldn't do a good job with what they had they should of said. .
Some adhesive goes of quicker than others also depending tile type ,temperature , humidity , and background . I have certainly walked in tiles a lot quicker than a couple of hours as was stated earlier .

I appreciate your reply. I’ve been trying to get reasons as to why the finished surface as it is. A guy with 23 years in the job shouldn’t be leaving a customer with a surface like this.

 

[Tony_C]

Nobody denies you can walk on tiles sooner, that's not really the overall point here, it's the finish. It just seemed tight for what was originally thought of as a one man job, primer to dry, layout, lay and grout. If it was priced as a two day job then why risk it all within 6 hours. That finished job shows what a 6 hour lay leaves when there was no need to do it as quick 🤷‍♂️

 

[Dumbo]

I'm sure if the op goes to small claims I'm sure they wont care how long it took , after all if it took 3 days would op think the work was ok , no I doubt it , they will only be interested in the finished product and that is what the op should concentrate on . .

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

I'm sure if the op goes to small claims I'm sure they wont care how long it took , after all if it took 3 days would op think the work was ok , no I doubt it , they will only be interested in the finished product and that is what the op should concentrate on . .

Thanks. Yeah I’m getting a bit off focus & trying to look into reasons as to why it’s like that. Need to stay focused On the finished floor.
thanks for the advice.
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Nobody denies you can walk on tiles sooner, that's not really the overall point here, it's the finish. It just seemed tight for what was originally thought of as a one man job, primer to dry, layout, lay and grout. If it was priced as a two day job then why risk it all within 6 hours. That finished job shows what a 6 hour lay leaves when there was no need to do it as quick 🤷‍♂️

Yeah if it was done properly in 5 minutes or 3 days I wouldn’t be here asking you guys for advice.
thanks for that. 👍🏼

 

[Dumbo]

This is an extract from a technical publication from the tile association

 

[Boxtiling]

It looks as if the the tiles are two different thickness looking the picture that the ruler is touching two of the but the one in the middle is lower is this another bad job done by a kilsyth tiler 😡😡

 

[J Sid]

Don't believe bal do a adhesive suitable for quartz resin tiles, as said it should be a zero water adhesive or if you listen to tile aster a very low water content adhesive.
A Tiler with a years experience should know this let alone 30 years.
Will probably come up by themselves even before they a taken up by a new Tiler and layed again lip free

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

It looks as if the the tiles are two different thickness looking the picture that the ruler is touching two of the but the one in the middle is lower is this another bad job done by a kilsyth tiler 😡😡

Has there been previous posts about bad kilsyth tiling jobs?

 

[Boxtiling]

Am from Kilsyth and have heard that there’s a few tilers leaving bad jobs but as a said on my post one of the tiles mite be a different thickness as a have just done a big floor with porcelanosa tiles and they had a border tile and they were told that they were same thickness but once put together there was about 2mm of a difference 🙈

 

[Kilsyth Tilejob]

Am from Kilsyth and have heard that there’s a few tilers leaving bad jobs but as a said on my post one of the tiles mite be a different thickness as a have just done a big floor with porcelanosa tiles and they had a border tile and they were told that they were same thickness but once put together there was about 2mm of a difference 🙈

Not good to be leaving bad jobs, the floor looks cracking but it’s terrible underfoot. You can feel the lippage with shoes on!