Ensuite - Fitting Error Advice

Adele75

Looking for some advice please. A bathroom fitter installed a wetroom floor in our ensuite as part of a full refit earlier this year. The wetroom floor has failed resulting in water getting underneath the tiles. The fitter removed a couple of the tiles and found that they had delaminated due to installation error. He has taken full responsibility and agreed to retile the floor, however, this will mean retiling the whole floor as we can't get the same batch of tiles and there's a risk of colour variation. He's happy to do that. The main problem being that the bottom row of wall tiles will also need to be removed (we have a different tile on the floor to the wall) but again we can't get the same batch of wall tiles, so the same risk of colour variation. What would a reasonable expectation be in this scenario? 

We have a good relationship with the fitter and want to be fair to him, but on the flip side we've paid £10k for a good quality ensuite and we're concerned we're now going to have to accept that the wall tiles are going to have a bottom row of tiles a different shade.

Mark_d

It sounds like your fitter is very genuine and not trying to cheat you in any way.  He's re tiling the entire floor and doing the best he can with the bottom of the walls.  You can't expect the entire room to be retiled because of a couple of defective times on the floor.

If you can't get a good enough match for the wall tiles, maybe go for a different colour altogether so that it looks like a design decision.

teaselMay

I'd do as Mark says too, just check though what the new batch looks like against the old, I suspect you may not be able to see the difference especially on the bottom row

Adele75

I understand what you're saying and like I say we do want to be fair, however, how is it fair to us to have to accept an odd tile combination (as you're suggesting) when we are not at fault. The tiler has admitted responsibility - the wetroom base wasn't prepped correctly and also the tiles weren't back buttered. 

Adele75

To add, it's not a couple of defective tiles, the whole wet area has failed. It was just the 2 tiles he lifted to find the cause of the problem. The tiles were basically being held in place by the grout.

twopenny

Has he said he can remove the bottom row in a way they can be reused? 

Or has he definitely said that they need to be broken to get them out?

Only you is upset about whether there is a border or not. Others may think it's better. You have had an image in mind for some time so it's difficult to change that. I know, I had to change what I wanted several times with the pandemic and outfall after. Now it's up it's fine and people who didn't know what I was after say they love the insert I had to settle for.

For me personally, while it may be a disappointment not to have it exactly as you wish at the moment, to have such a good workman who admits responsibility and is prepared to pay you so much in compensation (tiles of your choosing and his time/ wages) all with good will is a blessing.

I wouldn't make it so devastating to his business and income that he either refuses to do it = or word spreads in the community so that no one wants to do work for you in future.

Adele75

I have never seen a bathroom with a bottom row of tiles a different colour. The tiles are 600x600, the bottom row of tiles are approximately half a tile depth so quite significant. I personally don't think it would look good.

I do struggle to understand the goodwill comment though. How is it goodwill on the fitters part to rectify a problem they caused? Surely it's not unreasonable to expect the ensuite we paid for - both functioning and cosmetically.

We really don't welcome the idea of going down the route of having the whole room retiled, the inconvenience/stress is already high - but we're struggling to accept a second choice ensuite when we paid a lot of money for the look and quality we wanted.

Doozergirl

You've said there's a risk of colour variation.  

That isn't a guarantee of it.  Buy the tiles and find out. 

What tiles are they?  

Adele75

They're Spanish tiles, the supplier has to order the tiles in as they don't have stock at the moment. I'm waiting to find out if they're planning to restock or if any further orders are custom orders - which would make ordering 1 box to check more problematic as we wouldn't be able to guarantee the same batch on the full order if the colour match was good. 

danrv

Adele75 said:

this will mean retiling the whole floor as we can't get the same batch of tiles and there's a risk of colour variation. 

So retiling the whole floor as there's no tiles left over from the previous batch?
If the tile type/colour has been discontinued, fair enough. Otherwise buy another pack.

Adele75

danrv said:

Adele75 said:

this will mean retiling the whole floor as we can't get the same batch of tiles and there's a risk of colour variation. 

So retiling the whole floor as there's no tiles left over from the previous batch?
If the tile type/colour has been discontinued, fair enough. Otherwise buy another pack.

We only have 3 tiles left from the original batch and the same batch isn't available from any of the 3 suppliers in the UK. All online advice is for tiles to be from the same batch to avoid colour variance.