Dispute - Opinions please - Tile Advice

[JHeff]

Hi all,


Sorry if this is a bit of an essay, but I’d be interested to hear anyone’s opinion.


I recently finished a job tiling a shower room in a studio apartment using Calcatta Verde Marble 20mm thick.


I spent the best part of a morning with the client laying out all the slabs on the floor of the studio, choosing with her which ones she wanted where and how she wanted the veins to flow through the tiles, making sure they all matched up where we could.
We discussed which tiles she wanted in the most prominent positions, and which she wanted hiding behind/under the toilet and basin. We also discussed joining up the grout gaps on the wall and floor.
She made it quite clear that she wanted me to start a full tile from the edge of the tray on the walls, to make the best use of the full size of the slabs, and also that the shower wall tiles should over lap the exposed edge of the tiles on the side of the boxing, so that that exposed edge is hidden from view when looking from the door.
We went along with all of these requests, and were happy with the end results (it’s not to my taste, but that is beside the point).


Once we were finished and invoiced, we received an email from the customer saying that she was not happy with the finished result, because of the small cut on the floor to the front of the shower tray. She said that a strip like this is not acceptable, and that the proper way to do it would have been to start a full tile off the shower tray on the floor and to not have the grout line meeting up.


My point of view is that the most important detail in that room is that the grout lines of the wall and floor meet. If the floor gaps had been offset by 30mm (approx. width of the thin cut), it would have look awful.


The layout that we ended up with meant that we used a full tile from the edge of the tray on the walls, the toilet and basin both ended up smack bang in the middle of a tile, and all the gaps met up on the floor and both walls. In my opinion, the thin cut in front of the shower tray is an acceptable compromise to achieving the above results.


Take a look at the attached photos, and I’d be interested to hear anyone’s opinion.


Thanks,


J

 

[Dougs Third Go]

setting out aside, I'd be more concerned about the weight of the marble on the skimmed walls.

 

[JHeff]

Walls are Marmox.

 

[Concrete guy]

setting out aside, I'd be more concerned about the weight of the marble on the skimmed walls.

That was my first thought, you're overweight by a factor of at least 2.2 times.

 

[The D]

i see why it is there and it looks ok to me

 

[JHeff]

i see why it is there and it looks ok to me

Thanks Deano.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

If you'd discussed it with the customer then surely she's got no call to gripe? I can't see how else you could have set it out to avoid the cut into the shower tray tbh.

 

[Colour Republic]

It's hard to say with conviction as I don't know the exact measurements but I would have placed a tile central to the basin/toilet boxing i.e where you have a grout line, it would have been the center of a full width tile.

That way you wouldn't have had the slither next to the tray and you would have had a larger cut under the rad wall, so in effect 1 full slab in the middle of the floor and 2 large cuts either side.

In addition you wouldn't have had the tiny slither on the wall to the right on the WC, it also would have meant a bigger cut to the left of the shower.

For me the benefits out weigh the negatives in the way it's been set out.



All that said, if the client said...

She made it quite clear that she wanted me to start a full tile from the edge of the tray on the walls, to make the best use of the full size of the slabs, and also that the shower wall tiles should over lap the exposed edge of the tiles on the side of the boxing,

Then I assume she knew it would mean little slithers and she has nothing to complain about.

 

[Chalker]

My opinion on your set up is that, most jobs have a compromise, sometimes your best going with how you have done it with running the joints through and centring the wc and basin. I would have done the same.
only thing I would have done different and that makes the thin cuts stick out is, they have been cut with the orientation the wrong way. So the effect looks wrong.

i think if they were going the same way as the rest of the room they wouldn't have noticed.

 

[Simons70]

IMO if you find the right veins to continue the colors looks better and no one see the small cut.Just replace the 2 pieces with right color and must be happy.

 

[radim]

another ***** lookin for freebie.
nothing wrong with seting out IMO.
If you discussed where to start so that it is. Payment due.

 

[Dave]

This is why giving customers to much input can naff a job up... I discuss various ways that IMHO will look the best and then I fix tiles..

Personaly , I would not have let her talk me into that small cut... But it's down now and she made the choice ..

 

[charlie1]

Am I missing something? Did she say she wanted you to start full tile from tray on the floor? I'd have personally started full tile from tray on floor but everyone is different.

 

[On one]

I think most customers are oblivious to 'setting out',until you mention it to them.But as has been said above a compromise of changing the orientation of the veins would improve things.

 

[JHeff]

Am I missing something? Did she say she wanted you to start full tile from tray on the floor? I'd have personally started full tile from tray on floor but everyone is different.

If I had started with a full tile from the tray on the floor, while matching all wall and floor gaps, then it would not have been possible to cover the exposed edge of the tiles on the boxing with the shower wall tile. This is where the compromise has been made.