For taking money of my bathroom fitter

[Manchestermanchester]

I’ve had a bathroom fitted and he’s made a good job. The flooring isn’t level though and I’m not sure if that’s something that should be level.

He’s ruined my vanity though. He’s used silicon but used a “spreader tool” and it’s gone all around the vanity. As a result it looks constantly wet. The vanity is made from Teak wood and he thought I would be using oil. As far as I know Teak doesn’t require oil and it’s detrimental.

The floor looks ok but there are double the gaps between some tiles, so it looks a bit bad. The plumber also told me he found wood rot, which could be true as there were holes and he wanted me to replace the whole wooden floor planks. I saw the floor and it was fine. There may have been a leak and removing all the planks wouldn’t do much, stoping whatever was making the floor wet would. So I feel like he couldn’t do the floor properly due to his experience and as a result I’ve suffered.

He also took 6 bloody weeks. Blamed it on the bath being difficult (it’s a Omnitub) etc. Also he’s done stuff like my front porch has some tiles that are wobbly and he tried to fix them (I didn’t ask him to or give permission). He also came on a Saturday without asking if it’s ok, just told me, plus he was at my house most nights until 6/7. I’m single woman so I didn’t set the boundaries and I don’t know what time he arrived but he did say he wasn’t a morning person.

So if I dock his pay am I a bad person?

I wonder where the 60% who think I’m being unreasonable don’t post on this thread

I'd say you might need a second opinion on if the wood floor boards needed replacing. Wood does swell when it gets wet, and so honestly it could be the cause of the uneven floor. On top of that, wood can look fine at a glance, but be rotten so dont assume he was wrong on that front. Obviously the damage to the vanity should be put right at his cost, but I wouldn't be deducting money just yet. Give him a chance to fix the work once Corona is over, or get him to agree to a lower fee due to having to resolve it yourself. If he won't, then you have grounds for not giving him the full sum.

Oh, and Octagon tiles are more complicated than square ones to fit so he wasn't lying on that one.

Let’s be honest here

He won’t be able to buy ANY materials to do a further job, unless he has old stuff lying in his van.

He should (as a plumber) only be doing essential work right now, not going into anyone’s home unnecessarily

Agree a payment. Pay. Leave it til the virus has done one and get someone else in

@JustStayAtHome hes allowed to go to work if he cant work from home

Is the floor not level as it drained down to a floor waste?

We have recently had our bathroom replaced.
The floor isn’t level because it was deliberately given a slight slope down the the waste/overflow drain in the centre of the floor so it drains. (we had to drop the whole floor out and repour the concrete floor)

Did he reseal the floor/walls before he tiled?

The reason I said YABU is because the Tikamoon website even has a section for
Product care under the item description for a teak vanity. The product care section lists oils and varnishes....

The floor could well be uneven due to not replacing floor boards....

If a floor on a bathroom is very uneven ots not uncommon for a thin sheet of marine ply (waterproof) yo be fixed to the floor boards and self levelling compound poured on top to completely level the floor priop to tiling. All floor boards should also be firmly screwed down before commencing reflecting any room, but especially a tiled floor. Self levelling compounds are also used on concrete and stone floors.
The leaks? These are presumably under the yoles and the flooring needs yo be removed to adequately assessed the situation. I highly recommend oiling teak regularly. It gives not only a good warerproof finish but also a superb lustre which highlights the natural grain. It needs to be done regularly though. Varnish is an easier option but doesnt give quite the same effect.
The fitter may not be familiar with real teak units so lacks expertise there.
I think there is a huge difference between a general fitter and a specialist tiler in quality, efficiency and speed. Shaped tiles are difficult. Some are much harder to cut than others gir a non tiler and thi may account for the prolonged time.
Speak to him.
He should have told you of he couldnt manage the tiles get a plumber yo properly assess the leak.check what preparatory steps were made before tiling and discuss problems and proposed remedial measures. Pay him for what you feel is fair. The finish on the unit is not his fault, the yoling and leak potentially are. These cant be resolved during the current crisis but discuss the matter now and see what you come to agree on. If the tiling is terrible and no conclusion Is reached you can contact the trade tiling association TTA for an assessment who will advise on remedial measures necessary and costs involved.

@Manchestermanchester I guess he may try saying that but he could have levelled it with the stuff they put underneath the tiles (adhesive?). That's what our tiler said went wrong when he did it. He didn't level the adhesive out properly.
I think he is right about that shape tile being much more complex to lay.
I would have thought that you need to varnish your cabinet otherwise the moisture will affect the wood?

@PurpleMonkeyDishwasher86 I did speak to someone and tried to get. Second opinion. Think about it this way - the insects need moisture. Remove the moisture and there is no problem. As my house is 100 years old, who knows when the issues started and if I was to replace the floor boards, why not the beams as well. He just wouldn’t tile properly on the floor.

@GlamGiraffe thanks. The actual tiling didn’t take long to do. It took him like three and a half days to fit the sink, do siliconing and goodness knows that else! I think it took him 3 weeks to get to the point of tiling (just checked my pictures for dates).

@GlamGiraffe sorry I forgot to replay to the rest. I don’t know if he used a self leveller. He had the jack boards and was doing it in stages.

I’m not sure what you mean by leak? It was apparently due to a leaking radiator.

@JustStayAtHome he’s a plumber and bathroom fitter. I’m surprised the amount of times he “went out for supplies” and took two hours or so. And surely you would have small supplies? He said he didn’t have meth.

@Mypathtriedtokillme no it’s not a wet room

To be fair, he's a bathroom fitter. I'm not sure it's really up to him to sort out your floor issues.

@BalanchineBallet with regards to the oils I have some from BandQ and when I googled it, they said not to use oil as it dries the furniture - multiple websites!

He said the floorboards had wood rot therefore all needed replacing. He didn’t say “I won’t be able to get a good finish on the floor because they are uneven”. Has he had said that it would have been a different perspective.

Its times like this, I am ashamed to say, that I have invented a male in my life.

A couple of times I have had tradesmen in and I have said "My brother/partner would do it, but they are busy/away.

I have no brother or partner. I say it in case they rip me off, and it prob makes no difference to the actual price. I just feel vunerable as its DD & I alone in the house.

I've even said DP should be home soon

@PurpleMonkeyDishwasher86 thanks but why? My issue is they are uneven when you walk on them

@Dieu He shouldn’t be lying about root though?

Wtf is a vanity I'm now sick of the word

Did one guy do the whole job? I would never, ever, allow a plumber to do tiling for an area bigger than a splashback, it's a specialist and highly skilled job.

And before tiling a wooden floor, he should have put down a sheet of fairly substantial plywood over existing boards. Wooden floors "flex" and move slightly, so have to be boarded first to minimise this, or the tiles just crack over time. A competent tiler would not have been phased by octagonal tiles and would not have attempted to try and tile a floor that's not level.

One (very top end, think footballers' houses and marble everywhere) tiler of my acquaintance won't tile any floors that aren't solid. He also told me that any tiler that uses spacers isn't a proper tiler and, tbf, none of the specialist tilers I know use spacers, they all do it by eye.

I don't know about the vanity unit. I know that French polishers use methylated spirits and fine wire wool to prep wood before polishing though, so he may be right.

We're having our bathroom done in the next year or so, and I was wondering about vanity units. I know they're what people want these days (we're doing the house up to sell, not to live in) but I think I'll be forever wiping splashes of water off it.

@turnthebiglightoff, it's a cupboard that the washbasin sits on, with all the plumbing etc hidden away inside.

@MowzersAsleep not a bad idea! It’s a good thing to say “I’ll have to let my husband/partner think about itlz

@LakieLady he’s worked as a bathroom fitter. Yes he used boards on top of the floor boards. I’ll get some fine sandpaper to remove some of it and see what happens. Agh.

I think you need to separate your problems with him into important things and other stuff.

You've mentioned a few things that you could have felt with at the time. If he was staying late for six weeks and disappearing all the time then you should have dealt with that before. If you didn't say anything at the time then He probably thought it was okay. Also, as someone that does a lot of DIY I'm always horrified at how long it can take to go and pick up something from builders suppliers. I always think it will take me 10 minutes and it ends up taking much much longer.

I think you should stick to the important stuff which is the floor not being level and the vanity unit being damaged. I don't think the vanity unit is a big problem. Take is very durable and you will be able to sand it and reseal or oil it if you want. I've had teak kitchen worksurfaces in the past and I don't like them on treated. It's just not the look I like. I think you could ask the fitter to do this work for you.

I'm not sure what you can do about the floor. He said that you needed to replace the floor and you chose not to so I'm not sure if this falls down to him or a little bit to you?. He was stupid to do it without explaining to you that it wouldn't be level though. I think you could ask him to re-do it and see what he says? A floor that was not level would drive me nuts so I'd have to get it redone..