Please Help, Need Advice!

[Skip]

We have just had under our kitchen cabinets tiled with Montacarlo split face tiles.

The tiler said he had to charge more than normal as the tiles needed to be "wet cut" and the grouting would take a long time due to the face of the tile not be flat.

When he was fitting the tiles they used an angle grinder and Makita stone/tile cutter for all the cuts. No wet cutting wheel.

I wasn't here when the job was finished but we were really hoping for a better finish as we stated all we want was the best possible finish.

The corners don't look finished and this is after we spent two hours cleaning grout of most of the face of the tile and the cuts look like the faces have chipped.

Please can someone tell me if I'm overreacting and expecting the impossible. If the tiles were wet cut would they have still chipped? Is there a better way to finish the corners?
Any help would be great.

I'm going to call them tomorrow but just need to know what could have been done.

Thanks in advanced

 

[Ian]

The internal corners should really have been mitred, as for the external corners, mitring isn't really an option as it leaves sharp teeth like points on that particular tile. I would have done as they have and used trim but, pulled it out a little further to cover the highest point of the tile and yes, the chipping could have been avoided by using a wet saw or at the very least, a better quality dry blade on the grinder.

 

[Skip]

Thank you for the advise.

Apparently when he priced the work he told my wife that the tiles needed to be mitred and wet cut, it looks like he forgot that when it come to fitting. Ill call him tomorrow and hopefully he can come out and put it right.

Does anyone have an image of a correct mitre corner in a spilt face tile so I can see how it should look. I cant find any images on Google.

Thanks Bri for the advices it is appreciated.

 

[Ian]

These tiles have been discussed many times in recent months on the forum so, hopefully someone may have a pic or 2 of them fitted correctly.

 

[MW Smith Ceramics]

Crikey, unacceptable workmanship in my opinion, how can you walk away from that and expect to be paid, I wouldn't be happy with that finish either......one word.....'ROUGH'

 

[gamma38]

I have just done this job recently for a client, the builder had a go as they do. He made a real mess of it. I ripped off the corners and retiled but using mitres to give a better finish. Very time consuming though. I used a grinder to do all my cuts, with no chipping. Good blade though and slow careful cutting.

 

[Old Mod]

I have just done this job recently for a client, the builder had a go as they do. He made a real mess of it. I ripped off the corners and retiled but using mitres to give a better finish. Very time consuming though. I used a grinder to do all my cuts, with no chipping. Good blade though and slow careful cutting.

View attachment 78419 View attachment 78420

!

 

[Dhtiling]

Top notch gamma38

 

[Ste-G]

Very nice work gamma38.
Is this the same / type of tile as the original poster? If so I have always thought they were ment to be left un-grouted and I would only grout under extreme duress from the customer.
What was the case with your job Skip?
It still doesn't excuse the poor job though, grouting left a mess, joints not cleaned off, rough cuts and no mitres.
Show the tiler gamma38 work and see what they have to say for themselves, no excuses.

 

[gamma38]

Thanks for the nice comments guys. I never grout split face no. I do resin the corners to give them strength and finish using a colour match.

 

[waynef]

Great work gamma

 

[Skip]

gamma38 I wish you had fitted my tiles now after seeing that. Perfect work by someone who cares!

A quick update for anyone that's interested!

I contacted him today and asked if he could come round after work and have a look at the finish so we could go through what we had concerns with and try and sort out how to correct it.

Unfortunately he tried to tell me that he never said he needed to wet cut them, (this being the reason he charged extra money and he even stated it in a message) and tried to tell me you can't cut these tiles without damaging the face and that his work was perfect.

I offered to send him pictures to show there was a need to come and look but 5 minutes later I received the attached text.

Livid doest even cut it now but rather than blowing my top I'm going to pursue it correctly and give him the opportunity to sort it or cover the costs.

With regards to grouting it was his idea to mitre the corners (again extra!) and he explained how long the grouting would take and that would cost more too. I think he doesn't have the knowledge to fit these tiles correctly and he is hoping we wont chase him to correct it.

Not sure what to do with regards to the tiles now I know he cant finish it but do I take them all off and go again without a joint?

 

[gamma38]

The best job he can!!!! That is not the work of a tiler i'm afraid. It's the work of a bodger. Sorry you want more he says...... not more at all...... just a professional job done by someone who i'm guessing is going round selling himself as a professional tiler and charging as one. Sad to say the only way to rectify is complete removal then retile by a tiler.

 

[philrab66]

I have just done this job recently for a client, the builder had a go as they do. He made a real mess of it. I ripped off the corners and retiled but using mitres to give a better finish. Very time consuming though. I used a grinder to do all my cuts, with no chipping. Good blade though and slow careful cutting.

View attachment 78419 View attachment 78420

Very nice work Gamma looks great.

 

[StevieBoy]

The internal corners do not necessarily need mitring to achieve the correct finish.

All he need have done is to start full tile with the good edge butting upto the trim and work into the corner with a butt joint, then the same on the opposing wall.

These sort of tiles can be dry cut quite satisfactorily with a decent dry cut blade, infact the last job I did with them, I used a glass blade.

The cuts into the corners do need care and attention so as not to leave big gaps and at the end of the day he should at least come back to rectify any issues you have.

Your the customer, so your the one that's paying - therefore YOU have to be satisfied.
Any decent professional worth his salt would rectify things.

 

[Skip]

It was weird why he made a big play on the fact that he needed to charge extra for wet cutting only to complete the job without using it. In truth I didn't care how he cuts the tiles provided we got a good finish.


It was also him that said he needed the corners to be cut into to get a good finish. He also upped the price because it would take ages to grout the corners because of the type of tile.


The thing that pissed me off more than anything was I called him today to explain I had some concerns with the finish and could he meet me at home after work to take a look at it together and try and sort something out. I was in fact very calm about it.


He said he didn't need to and after I offered to send some picture I got the text above.


I do agree with you stevieboy, unfortunately he said about mitring and then done a poor job on the butt joints.


I think you right about taking down and starting again. Can anyone recommend someone in the Hampshire area that can supply a quote to do the job properly?


Thanks again for all the advice

 

[gamma38]

I'm sure someone on here will be local to you. I hope you get it sorted out. There are too many jobs appearing like this nowadays.

 

[Qwerty]

I've just read this post, not good at all! Where about in Hampshire are you @Skip ?

 

[Skip]

Portsmouth PO7 Area

 

[p4ulo]

Damn that's a shame. I think the fact he tried to grout them (jesus, that must've been a right PITA!) shows he doesn't know how to work with them properly.
I'd be very surprised if you ever hear from him again.......
Only chance you might have of a relatively cheap fix is a small section of plastic beading down the internal corners to hide the mess, but not sure that would be that great either?

 

[Ian]

What a disappointing response from the 'tiler'. I find it amazing that people can be so flippant when it comes to rectifying poor workmanship! And as for the comment about having to have the tiles sent away to be mitred, that's just comical, a basic wet cutter would be able to mitre that tile without any issues whatsoever.