Should we stay clear of B&Q tiles?

[DEN]

I have heard a lot of bad things about b+q tiles especially the problems with differing sizes,in your opinion would you preferrably stay clear of places like b+q for your tiling requirements,cheers
DEN

 

[enduro]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

B & Q tiles are very good if you run out of biscuits, as the go soft when you dunk them in your tea

 

[howard]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Ive never had a problem with them there fine

 

[devonmark]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

I've only had one job where the tiles differed in size, it was enough to say...never again...Mark

 

[reaper72]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

B&Q tiles are the dogs ********......a load of p*ss:lol:

 

[chille]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Ive never had a problem with them there fine

you may never have had a problem with them, but they are a million miles away from being fine, more like cheap and nasty. Poor glazing, inconsistant sizing, colour continuity isn't even worth considering, end of line tosh.

Wouldn't want them in my garage let alone bathroom. The old saying is always true "buy cheap, but twice"

If you can't afford decent tiles then emulsion and save up :hurray:

 

[howard]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

you may never have had a problem with them, but they are a million miles away from being fine, more like cheap and nasty. Poor glazing, inconsistant sizing, colour continuity isn't even worth considering, end of line tosh.

Wouldn't want them in my garage let alone bathroom. The old saying is always true "buy cheap, but twice"

If you can't afford decent tiles then emulsion and save up :hurray:

what so all there tiles are crap why do they sell so many

 

[tysfoot]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

i like tiles from B&Q, i tell my customers to go there, just as good as topps and cheaper. never had a problem.
I think Topps is a rip off unless you have a trade account

 

[DHTiling]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

They sell so many because they are cheap and joe public wants to buy cheaper products to save money...but it is us fixers that have to install these inferior quality products....i have been fixing B&Q tiles all this week and they were a nightmare..some tiles were 2 to 3 mm difference in sizes and to top it off B&Q gave the customer several different colour batches....But got there in the end , but did slow things down...... so if you do get a job where certain B&Q tiles have been supplied then take your time and check the tiles first for colour shading and sizing...........

 

[Woody123]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Dave,

If the customer did buy B + Q Tiles and lets say they were differing sizes. As a fixer how would you combat this to make the job a gud un? Would you maybe have slightly bigger grout lines than normal? or is it a case of "well i will see what i can do!":lol:

 

[DHTiling]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

I had two rooms to do in the same tile....so what i did was the tiles that were drastically sizey use them for cuts to the ceiling( these were three quarter cuts) so using them was no probs..the difference in size was only in the length of them..... plus any slight difference was disguised with a good grout job........ I will say this openly...I HATE B&Q TILES WITH A VENGEANCE.!!!!!!.

 

[Woody123]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

good tip dave! i will have to remember that one. Bit time consuming like!!!!!!:furious3:

 

[hillhead]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Used them a few times myself,not nice indeed.lets just say i used quite large spacers to compensate,lol.
A local B&Q manager who lives near me wants my cards to hand out to customers,she's been waiting 4 months now,lol.

 

[faithhealer]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Ever laid B&Q slate?? Never again

 

[Woody123]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

think i will stay well clear!

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

My first few jobs were B&Q and Homebase.sizes were appaling,all the glaze chipped when I ran my dry cutter through them.
There is no way of making them look good,customers were happy with the job but I was really unhappy with it.

I now turn every job down flat once anything to do with tiles or adhesive from the diyers is mentioned.

COMPLETE AND UTTER RUBBISH!

 

[Fekin]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Only used them on one job, 400x400 porcelain and have a kitchen to do in them in the next few weeks.

 

[smokey1234x]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

just finished 30 s/m of 600by600 porcelan tiles from b+q had no problems,but in the past when using black and white floor tiles from b+q as others have said the glaze was poping of when i run my dry cutter down.
i agree there tiles are not great, but i would never turn down work just for that reason

 

[quick draw macgraw]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Hi all,

Looking at a job in the morning for mates brother in law and was told by mate that they are slate type from b +q so not sure if they are ceramic effect slate, calibrated or uncalibrated slate. The builder originally doing this was living in his house while doing up and is an alcho so he kicked him out now cos i havn't been involved from the start (his mother in law works for b+q so got him all adhesive and stuff for trade) had no input over addy etc, so the question is what is b+q addy like to work with although inferior to bal etc will it be up to the job?
Also if it is slate what spacings look the best 5 or 10mm?

Could do with the cash so going to have a look.

Cheers Steve.

 

[chille]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

until you see the materials m8 its hard to say, b&q do have some decent adhesives, but if its the tubbed stuff then tell them to replace it. As for the joints again its down to the tiles, size of the room and the customer, but 10mm can look quite big normally. Have a good luck, imagine its in your own house and advise accordingly

 

[Daywalker]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

I try to stay clear of b&q stuff Bathroom suites and tiles its just a convinence store that garantees your money back .

 

[quick draw macgraw]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Hi Chille

i hope its not tub stuff cos its all floor work mate apparently its for porch, dining room, kitchen and utility. Would 12mm ply be sufficient if it is uncalibrated slate?
Dont want to turn up and say 12mm will do and then change mind later and tell him its 18 thats needed. Would look as if i dont know what i'm talking about.

Cheers Steve.

 

[wetdec]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

There are 2 catagories to b&q tiles this is where you get some saying they are good and some say they are crap.

B&Q buy off Johnsons and Pilks and Pilks do their stone these are the good comment tiles.

B&Q are part of Castorama who are huge in europe and as such buy cheap ceramics in Spain, Italy these are the soft biscuit tiles that are called crap

Also now buying in china where their large profile porcelain is comming from

They probably source others bu these are the majority of their range

tiler

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[tilermandan]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

been working with b&q tiles this week too and found the best way to overcome disscrepancy issue was to leave the spacer pegs in the van! armed with a good quality high grab adhesive and a level, i put them up that way and found it a lot easier to do and once grouted they looked fine.

 

[NickH]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Half way through a bathroom with B+Q tiles but these were 29 quid a metre and are spot on, very nice to fix. I would guess its the really cheap stuff thats the problem.

 

[chille]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

!2mm ply will be ok Steve, but I much prefer hardibacker. B&Q do a tubbed floor adhesive as do Dunlop, I did a bathroom for Micky Adams the then Leicester City manager, the builder had supplied all materials and the floor addy was dunlop tubbed flexi, it was horrid, we layed the floor and it just wasn't grabbing so we took it up and layed using Bal powdered needless to say it was then spot on

The reason I mentioned the customer is cause I'm a Leicester lad and wanted this job in particular to be perfect (thinking of some free VIP tickets) but he didn't last long soon got the sack :lol:

 

[wetdec]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Half way through a bathroom with B+Q tiles but these were 29 quid a metre and are spot on, very nice to fix. I would guess its the really cheap stuff thats the problem.

As I said :yes:

 

[quick draw macgraw]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Hi,

Been to look at the job and its 35m2 with b+q slate effect ceramics 330x330 going onto concrete (there are some vinyl tiles that could come up in half the room) and then into kitchen where floorboards meet concrete, he has 6mm ply already would this be ok for these tiles although i generally use 12mm, if 12mm was to be used there would be large step going from kitchen into utility.
The adhesive he has is unibond rapidset 20kg x 5 which states 8m2 per bag!(could i use my wall trowel on the floor) and 5kg x 8 bags of unibond quick set grout but states on bag needs flexi additive on wood which he hasn't got so would it be easier to take grout back and use flexible on whole floor?
The wall is 6.6m2 straight forward.

how much for this job considering i'm in full time employment and cant do full day rates do i just go off m2? sorry its a long one. Was thinking of £150 day rate for wall and £15 m2 for floor including laying ply £525 does this sound ok.

Steve.

 

[Dave Carr]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

Poor quality tiles require more labour time to fix in an aesthetically pleasing manner; sorting sizes etc, so I always inform the customer of this before they buy the tiles. Then I use large spacers to allow for the crapness of their quality control.

Where possible I use pegs instead of spacers, allows more flexibility with poor quality tiles

Cheers,

Dave

 

[DEN]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

So can anyone say with reasonable confidence,that the more pricier tiles from b+q are worth buying or in the main just stay clear of them!!!

 

[wetdec]

Re: Should we stay clear of b+q tiles

I think you have to look at it as B&Q offers are there to get you to buy a 4.50 drum of paste for 15 quid, if they are cheap then they are selling you cheap tiles. 10m of tiles might make them 10 quid but 2 drums of paste make them 20quid.

6.99 white and black porcelain in B&Q is cream/grey and brown


Its as they say and this is so so true of tiles you get exactly what you pay for.

tiler
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