Tiling in bathroom

[Leif]

I'm having my bathroom completely refitted, and on wednesday the room was replastered, and today the fitter tiled the walls, to waist height in many areas, and to the ceiling around the bath. The tiling is very neat. But the problem is that the coving was left up, and the wall tiles extend to the bottom edge of the coving and then stop. For some reason the tiles are further from the wall at the top, and they extend out about 1" from the bottom edge of the coving. I think this looks completely shite, but is this normal? I have contacted the fitter to see what he says, and what he plans to do, but as far as I can see he should have removed the coving before the plastering, and tiled to the ceiling. He is not going to overboard the bath area as he has already fitted the ventilation fan in the ceiling above the bath.

Does a customer have to specify everything the fitter does in order to get a decent job? I've got a feeling someone is going to say "Well it is your fault because you did not specify how the work was to be done in detail." But 'mere mortal' i.e. non trades people, do not know what is done until it is too late. I hope this is okay as he is pleasant, takes care not to damage my property, and otherwise works carefully.

[royaloakcarpentry]

Far from normal. Leaving coving up and tiling to it only looks acceptable if the lines follow through. Tiles sticking out further is not good.

Of course as a client you are a complete idiot in my eyes and as such I would point out every little detail when doing initial site visit and then detail it in the Quote. This should have been pointed out in the first instance and if not then one of the tradesmen should have brought it to your attention.

You should be pushing for what you want and the fitter should be willing to work to that, even if he charges you extra.

For the top of the tiles to be 1" away from the wall, they must be very large format and also the walls must be uneven.

If you didn't get an itemised quotation then that should have set little alarm bells ringing, for you.

[Leif]

Thanks. The quote was itemised down to the last screw and nail. They are about 45 by 30 cm tiles. Thus far dealings with him have been very good, with him ringing to ask about details, and tell me what he has done. And the wall tiles are very well applied. Also he has been careful to look after my property etc. So the general impression is very good.

After thinking a bit more, what I suspect he might be doing is applying a second layer of coving, to avoid having to remove the first layer, and clean the walls. Also it would look neater as the tiles plus cement are thicker than coving plus cement. It would explain why he is purposefully increasing the gap at the top.

There is always a danger in worrying about work that is unfinished. I think I was put on edge by the builder, who left lots of 'issues', such as bits of foam sticking out from under new window boards before the plasterer did his (excellent) work, and cracked self levelling compound.

[Leif]

Apparently he is going to finish it by using grout on the top edge of the tiles. Says that is their normal method. I think it looks awful. I've never seen it like that in any photos. He should have removed the coving, and either left it off, or reinstated it properly after plastering, possibly after tiling.

[Colour Republic]

It will look naff get him to remove it

[thescruff]

RoyalOak never commented, but is 1-2days enough to tile on wet plaster.

Can you post a pic showing the areas of concern.

[royaloakcarpentry]

RoyalOak never commented, but is 1-2days enough to tile on wet plaster.

Can you post a pic showing the areas of concern.

2 days onto a skim in this heat, should be fine.

Leif......Very hard to say what could have gone on, but one of the people in the line of works should have brought this to your attention. Sounds like the plasterer was not too good and this is why the tiles are further from the wall at the top.

If you were within 15 minutes of Barking, I would pop round and take a look so you know what they need to do.

[Leif]

RoyalOak never commented, but is 1-2days enough to tile on wet plaster.

Can you post a pic showing the areas of concern.

Yes, I will, but not until tomorrow. I also have to photograph cracked self levelling compound in the kitchen done by the builder. Sigh.

This is what the bathroom fitter said: "Yes by nature there will be a gap cause of the 9/10mm of the tile size plus the adhesive. What we do is grout all edges to bleed into the existing ceiling / coving as I disdiussed with you on the phone. This will take up the gap and we should be able to put a neat bevel line in. Then when the painting is done the grout can be painted with the coving to help bleed it in too."

[Leif]

RoyalOak never commented, but is 1-2days enough to tile on wet plaster.

Can you post a pic showing the areas of concern.

2 days onto a skim in this heat, should be fine.

Leif......Very hard to say what could have gone on, but one of the people in the line of works should have brought this to your attention. Sounds like the plasterer was not too good and this is why the tiles are further from the wall at the top.

If you were within 15 minutes of Barking, I would pop round and take a look so you know what they need to do.

Some say I am one stop from Barking, but in geographic terms I am a long way to the south west.

[Colour Republic]

It really depends on the tradesmen. Some will have a natural eye for detail and design and others will just know how to do something.

What he is proposing to do will look naff but he clearly thinks it looks ok. Did you ask him to design the bathroom or just fit it? I personally think it's a poor showing from him but then you can't really hold him accountable because of his personal attention to detail.

I'm slightly worried as to why the tiles are so proud. Is it really 1"? Or are you gestimating? If it is that much how thick are the tiles and how was the adhesive applied? With a notched trowel or large dots of adhesive?

[thescruff]

A pic or two would really help.

[tictic]

coving should have been removed.

tiling should be carried up to the ceiling.

as for tiling onto a finished plaster after 1-2 days(in this heat).....no chance.. very bad practise, did he even prime the finish plaster....!!!

paint onto grout.....nah aint going to work at ALL...paint dont take to grout.

[tictic]

any tile fixer worth his salt should see and talk you through the job in all aspects,not just come in and fix them tiles....

talk to the client see what he/she wants etc....then we will advice etc... show differant ways off doing things and see what siuts your needs etc...

[royaloakcarpentry]

as for tiling onto a finished plaster after 1-2 days(in this heat).....no chance.. very bad practise, did he even prime the finish plaster....!!!

I see where Scruff and yourself get the 1-2 days from, now. I leave 2 clear days minimum if the walls have had a skim with no patches of backing plaster needing doing. So would have been Monday and not the Friday.

Have always worked on the skim returning to light pink before tiling as there are no BS guidelines that I have ever found to state otherwise.

The only BS guidelines which I know of refer to a full backing plaster and finish coat. Even with that scenario I doubt anyone would wait 4 weeks until they had the bathroom tiled and so opt to dot and dab or gypline.

[Colour Republic]

Once plaster dry, it's dry. There is no rule it all depends on the individual thickness and situation.

If it's pink and I don't believe it's just the surface which appears dry, then I'd tile it, be it 1 day or 5 weeks