£640 tiling quote, what do you think?

The_Walker

A tile has fallen off and some are apparently loose. I have a quote of £640 to re-board and tile that side wall area. He says the board is damp. 

We don't plan on keeping this flat if we can help it, so a 2-3 year fix would be sufficient. If we planned to stay ten years that would be different, we'd want a decent job done.

So what do you think? I don't have a clue about tiling. But I know £640 is a lot of money!

sourpuss2021

So he's planning to replace the plasterboard behind the tiles, then retile the end wall?   Does he also have to take out then refit the bath?

The_Walker

sourpuss2021 said:

So he's planning to replace the plasterboard behind the tiles, then retile the end wall?   Does he also have to take out then refit the bath?

No I don't think he has to remove the bath. But yes he suggests plasterboard and then retile end wall.

Doozergirl

Is that plasterboard behind though?  

The crack in the plaster behind makes me
think it's the original bonded plaster.  How old is the house?   £640 to knock it all back, get rid of the waste, re-board the walls - bare plasterboard is not ideal - and then tile is not a lot of money at all.  

You need to establish why the wall is damp.  And you then need to give it time to dry out.   It could be from the shower itself, but that tile is pretty high up to be getting wet. What is happening outside?   

A 2-3 year fix is just a blatant bodge that could basically fail at any point.  You need to look at this properly and only then make a decision. If you've told them you want a cheap fix, I'm not surprised you're getting one.   

 

Once the cause of the damp is sorted, plastering but not tiling most of that wall would be a proper solution on a budget.  

 

The_Walker

Doozergirl said:

Once the cause of the damp is sorted, plastering but not tiling most of that wall would be a proper solution on a budget.  

 

That's interesting. You mean replaster the top of the wall but tiling over that is not necessary? I know the cause of the damp, it's a flat roof and periodically springs a new leak in a new area each time. I repair it annually. Replacing it completely is not really an option unfortunately, because the freeholder won't pay his share. 
I wonder if plastering the area could work, because if it gets damp again yes it won't look great, but at least tiles won't be falling off?
The contractor said all the tiles have "blown" on that wall due to damp. The thing is, I don't know if that's true do I. A contractor will obviously try to get a bigger job even when not necessary. He may be correct, he may not be. How can he tell what's behind the tiles without removing some?

Doozergirl

The_Walker said:

Doozergirl said:

Once the cause of the damp is sorted, plastering but not tiling most of that wall would be a proper solution on a budget.  

 

That's interesting. You mean replaster the top of the wall but tiling over that is not necessary? I know the cause of the damp, it's a flat roof and periodically springs a new leak in a new area each time. I repair it annually. Replacing it completely is not really an option unfortunately, because the freeholder won't pay his share. 
I wonder if plastering the area could work, because if it gets damp again yes it won't look great, but at least tiles won't be falling off?
The contractor said all the tiles have "blown" on that wall due to damp. The thing is, I don't know if that's true do I. A contractor will obviously try to get a bigger job even when not necessary. He may be correct, he may not be. How can he tell what's behind the tiles without removing some?

You have just told me that the roof leaks; of course the contractor is correct that the wall is damp. 

Who is the freeholder?  Another flat owner? 

You know the phrase 'a stitch in time saves nine'?  Sometimes you need to bite the bullet and pay for something even if you don't want to because now you have your share of the roof to pay for (which may now be more expensive than it would have been initially because of the probability of wet or dry rot setting in over the long term) and the cost of fixing your bathroom.    Something needs to be done about it urgently because dry rot, for example, will track across the walls, following and feeding from the water 

There is literally no point in attempting to fix that wall, either by plastering or tiling until the roof is fixed, because it WILL be ruined and you'll end up doing it again and again until the roof is fixed.  

The wall has to be dry before you even think about doing anything to that wall.  

The_Walker

Yeah I know the wall is damp, as said, the roof has occasional issues and I'm not able to fully rectify that but I do spot repairs. I did repairs fairly recently so hopefully the damp is old and will dry out. The freeholder owns the maisonette below and has a history of evading bills.

But you said plastering not tiling was a good idea? I'll take that on board. Thanks.

Another possibility is a large prefab board? Could one of those be a good bet because they don't have individual tiles that can drop off? 

Just thinking out loud.

Spiderroo

The_Walker said:

Yeah I know the wall is damp, as said, the roof has occasional issues and I'm not able to fully rectify that but I do spot repairs. I did repairs fairly recently so hopefully the damp is old and will dry out. The freeholder owns the maisonette below and has a history of evading bills.

But you said plastering not tiling was a good idea? I'll take that on board. Thanks.

Another possibility is a large prefab board? Could one of those be a good bet because they don't have individual tiles that can drop off? 

Just thinking out loud.

I’m no expert on roofs but I don’t think they’re meant to spring so many leaks they’re repaired annually. 

Before you spend money on redoing a bathroom which will almost definitely have another leak because the roof needs more than a spot repair - seek legal advice. Freeholders have a legal responsibility to do repairs if that’s what in your lease. 

Otherwise you may find yourself back here next year asking for more suggestions as your bathroom has been damaged by a leak again or, worse, advice on more extensive damage as you need to do pricier repairs.