Faulty Tiles

fted

[FONT=&quot]I am in the process of renovating my elderly parents house for them. I bought some tiles on the 24th Sept.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]A few weeks ago my builder started to lay the first batch and when he realized that he needed more tiles to finish the job. I then ordered a second batch of the same tiles on 19/11.

When the new tiles arrived they differed in size with the original batch by 1.5 to 2mm. The size difference is enough to mean it will be impossible to lay them in a straight line even if we use thicker grout lines (which is usually what tilers do if the tiles have a bit of variation).

So I am left with 60 tiles, which differ in size to the original 40 tiles, which had already been laid. To make matters worse the company that makes the tiles says they can't swap out the tiles for smaller ones, as they don't have any.

Apparently each batch they import differs in size from the previous one. So if you want the same size tiles you have to purchase boxes from the same production run. They don't have this information anywhere on the boxes and don't tell you this when you’re buying them (and none of the sales people knew this until the factory told them).

[FONT=&quot]The tile s[FONT=&quot]hop s[FONT=&quot]poke to the [FONT=&quot]factory and[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] they are saying that their "guide lines" allow them to sell tiles that differ up to 5mm as the same tile! As the tile is 45 x 45 this is a huge allowance. The box the tiles comes in just says 45x45 cm approx. To me 45.1 or 45.2 is a[FONT=&quot]pprox. 47 o[FONT=&quot]r [/FONT]5[FONT=&quot]0[/FONT] isn't approx.[/FONT]

I understand that tiles will be of slightly different size but would assume that if you can't lay tiles of the same type they would be classed as faulty.[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]As it stands I have no choice but to pay the builder to pull all the old tiles and skip them.

They haven't offered me a solution apart from returning the new tiles.

As it stands I am going to be about 1000 pounds out of pocket.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The tile company doesn't seem to want to offer a solution so I am thinking of putting in a claim to small claims court.

Am I wasting my time?[/FONT]

Fosterdog

With anything like new tiles, wooden/laminate flooring even wallpaper you should always buy 10% more than you actually need and buy them all together as there will always be slight differences between batches.

It's not the shop or manufacturers fault that you failed to get the right number of tiles for the project, it's easy to measure first and then calculate what you need for the job.

fted

Fosterdog wrote: »

With anything like new tiles, wooden/laminate flooring even wallpaper you should always buy 10% more than you actually need and buy them all together as there will always be slight differences between batches.

It's not the shop or manufacturers fault that you failed to get the right number of tiles for the project, it's easy to measure first and then calculate what you need for the job.

So this is my question really. I expect "slight" differences and tilers have them all the time and they can get around them provided they are "slight".

To me 2mm to 5mm isn't slight for a 45cm tile. If you have one 45cm tile and one 50cm tiles they are different tiles.

I wouldn't classify the differences as slight and the key point is that the product is impossible to lay. I'm just wondering what the legalities are. When does "slight" differences cross over into being a faulty product?

powerful_Rogue

Fosterdog wrote: »

With anything like new tiles, wooden/laminate flooring even wallpaper you should always buy 10% more than you actually need and buy them all together as there will always be slight differences between batches.

It's not the shop or manufacturers fault that you failed to get the right number of tiles for the project, it's easy to measure first and then calculate what you need for the job.

The question then arises that what about if the shops stock has tiles from two different productions. Buying in bulk will still have the same issue.

gik

Can you clarify your units...cm/mm. You appear to jump between the two. In your original post you say 45cm, later it's 45mm?

fted

gik wrote: »

Can you clarify your units...cm/mm. You appear to jump between the two. In your original post you say 45cm, later it's 45mm?

Sorry the tiles are 45cm x 45cm. The first batch are exactly 45cm the second batch are 46.5cm-47cm. The company says their internal guidelines say they can sell anything up to 50cm x 50cm as the same as 45cm x 45cm tile. This was told to me over the phone I've asked them to confirm this to me by email.

Fosterdog

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

The question then arises that what about if the shops stock has tiles from two different productions. Buying in bulk will still have the same issue.

I've seen this before with wallpaper, a relative needed 12 rolls and they had something like 8 of one batch and 7 of another but didn't have enough of each batch for what she needed. She hadn't realised when she bought them but the decorator noticed before hanging them so she went back to the shop and they ordered more in for her so they would all be the same batch.

Technically they didn't have to do that for her, the same as anything else it is up to the consumer to do their research on such things before making a purchase not after. I'd imagine if these tiles had all been bought together the shop would be more helpful, but probably not if some had already been laid. What sort of tiler doesn't measure and check that you have the right amount of tiles before starting work?

Last year we retiled the kitchen floor, we weren't going to do the utility room too but as we got to the doorway decided we would and had to travel a 50 mile round trip to get more because the more local branches of where we bought them had all sold out. We also found a variance in the tiles but it's not too noticeable as they go into the next room, we also laid them as staggered tiles rather than straight which helps to further hide the differences.

Bantex_2

No law that says a supplier has to go on selling something to the same spec. If they had said they were the same you may have a case, if not then not a lot you can do.

fted

Fosterdog wrote: »

I've seen this before with wallpaper, a relative needed 12 rolls and they had something like 8 of one batch and 7 of another but didn't have enough of each batch for what she needed. She hadn't realised when she bought them but the decorator noticed before hanging them so she went back to the shop and they ordered more in for her so they would all be the same batch.

Technically they didn't have to do that for her, the same as anything else it is up to the consumer to do their research on such things before making a purchase not after. I'd imagine if these tiles had all been bought together the shop would be more helpful, but probably not if some had already been laid. What sort of tiler doesn't measure and check that you have the right amount of tiles before starting work?

Last year we retiled the kitchen floor, we weren't going to do the utility room too but as we got to the doorway decided we would and had to travel a 50 mile round trip to get more because the more local branches of where we bought them had all sold out. We also found a variance in the tiles but it's not too noticeable as they go into the next room, we also laid them as staggered tiles rather than straight which helps to further hide the differences.

Well we all live and learn. :money:
The tiler wasn't at fault we decided to tile two rooms rather than one hence why we needed to buy more tiles.

I would say however, if I buy 20 boxes I have no way to know if they are from the same production run. I assume companies might sell 10 boxes and restock the boxes their stock levels with boxes from newer production runs. And thats all fine unless the differences aren't slight.

Fosterdog

fted wrote: »

Well we all live and learn. :money:
The tiler wasn't at fault we decided to tile two rooms rather than one hence why we needed to buy more tiles.

I would say however, if I buy 20 boxes I have no way to know if they are from the same production run. I assume companies might sell 10 boxes and restock the boxes their stock levels with boxes from newer production runs. And thats all fine unless the differences aren't slight.

The boxes usually have batch numbers printed on them, they are not usually as solid and clear as the barcode but more dots making up the numbers.

I was really lucky with mine that it is mostly a colour difference, we could hide the size difference with grout as it was just a few mm.

fted

Good news, I just had a call and The tile company are offering to replace all the tiles at their cost with tiles from the same batch (including the ones already laid). I will still have to rip up the old tiles but that shouldn't be too much work.:beer::j