Tile cross joint tolerance? - TilersForums.com

[Ian Jacobson]

layed a cheap tile bought by customer. They are refusing to pay as they are saying the cross is not square on all joints. What is the tolerance?

 

[Dumbo]

Are the tiles different sizes or out of square

 

[Old Mod]

Hi Ian, welcome!

Do you have any images of the complaint?
I would imagine it will be the tile size tolerance that comes in to play here.
If they’re sizey they’re sizey, you’ll only be able to make it look right to the eye.
Have you measured individual tiles, are they sizey?
Do they differ?

@Paul C. will be able to quote manufacturing tolerances, it is actually quite a high percentage.

 

[Ian Jacobson]

Hi Paul never measured tiles, tops tiles said it is one of there cheapest. Customer ordered the tiles short, can’t match batch now.

 

[Dumbo]

Hi Paul never measured tiles, tops tiles said it is one of there cheapest. Customer ordered the tiles short, can’t match batch now.

If the customer was responsible for the order that's not your problem either . By that I mean if they measured and worked it out themselves its their problem

 

[Ian Jacobson]

I agree, they are know trying to say substandard work. Really annoying

 

[Flintstone]

Ian, a bit of politeness goes a long way on here.
Did you notice the tiles being badly sized whilst fitting? What size joint did you use ?

 

[Ian Jacobson]

Hi I did mention to customer that cheap tiles are never square, but he didn’t seem to take it in to be honest. I think the fact that we were having trouble matching the batch number has played on there minds over night and now they are trying to cover costs by not paying me. Kind regards ian

 

[Tile Shop]

Strap yourself in.... The standards are fairly loose on grout joint requirements for walls but a little more detailed on floors.

In BS5385 part 1 (wall tiling) sub 7.1.4, the joints should be "of uniform width, true to a line, continuous and without steps. Allowance should be made for an adequate width of joint". - to make sure you have the right allowance, the tiles should be checked, loose laid if required to gauge what size joint would be needed to overcome potential issues with stepping and wonky grout lines.

In BS5385 part 3 (floor tiling) sub 7.1.3.2 (straightness of joints) it makes it a little clearer that the tile dimension may not allow perfectly square joints:
"The joints between tiles are an important feature of any tiling installation, particularly when small tiles, wide joints, or contrasting coloured grouts are specified. The width of the joints between tiles should be even and of regular dimension **subject to the manufacturing tolerance for the type of tile specified**."

"Generally. tile joints should be straight in alignment unless they are, by design, irregular in shape. Special attention should be paid to large areas of floor tiling where the joint can be sighted"

**Which is BSEN14411, size tolerances for the actual tiles are +/- o.5% from the average to a maximum of 2mm and the same for rectangularity. If the tiles are out by that much, its likely your grout joints will follow suit without significant adjustment

5385 is a code of practice, not law of the land so you just need to show that you have attempted to do the best you can. If the tiles are within tolerance but still so crap that you couldn't achieve the required finish, prove that you've done your best with what they gave you by showing the size variation on a couple of loose tiles.

However it would have been much easier for you to get paid if the expectations of what could be achieved were set with the customer before you started. Probably needed to spend a little more time and attention to detail on setting out and checking the tiles before diving in with the adhesive and pointing out potential problems to the customer.

 

[Ian Jacobson]

Ok cheers Paul . Lesson learnt