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?

he’s worked as a bathroom fitter

So it sounds like he's not a specialist tiler then, more a jack-of-all-trades.

Both DP's BILs are builders/property developers. Neither of them would countenance using anyone who wasn't a proper, time-served tiler to do tiling, especially on a floor. Although they charge a higher hourly rate, they are so quick at it that it doesn't end up costing any more overall.

I watched one of them working once, he did a 30' x 20' kitchen/family room in a day (in Travertine marble, no less). It was awesome to watch. He's the one that will be tiling our bathroom when we have it done! Not the floor though, that will be laminate.

The floor boards should have been replaced, AND reinforced with either ply or a tile backer board.

Bigger tiles are harder to lay, shaped tiles harder still.

All wood in a damp environment should be oiled/varnished.

@WhatHappenedThen I was at work apart from a few days due to the CV so I don’t know how much time he was actually here. It got to the point where I was sick of it. He left me without a toilet for a number of days (that turned into a week) to “save him time”. Well what time did it save him as it took him 6 weeks.

The fitter also said I needed to replace the floor due to WOODROT not because it was uneven. Had he said it was uneven I would have said for him to leave the floor. I saw no evidence of wood rot and as I said before you would have to find moisture and replace more than the floor boards.

I’m going to message him. How do I word the Issue with flooring?

Well it doesn't sound like he's done a good job.

If he told you that floor boards needed replacing & you chose not to that’s really down to you.

@Pumpkinpie1 did you read the reason why he told me my floor boards needing replacing? It was due to wood worm/dry rot. There was no evidence of it. I also said to him if he wasn’t comfortable doing the floor don’t do it.

@TrickyKid it looks great apart from the floor and the damaged vanity. Who knows if I’m being too picky though.... I guess that’s what I want to know.

I wouldn't be happy at all. Definitely dont give him the full amount

@frankola what wouldn’t you be happy about? The vanity or the floor?

Just for reference everyone I know this is going to cause me distress and I hate confrontation. Also if something was wrong in the future I would want him to sort it, so I need that relationship.

So I’m just checking in here that it’s not ok that the floor isn’t level and That it’s ok to lower the price?

So he told you to replace the floor boards due to a leak and you refused? Yabu with regards to that as if the floorboards have warped from the water of course he’s not going to manage to fix it level. Quite possibly took so long because he was working on an uneven surface.

I think your contradicting yourself
If your no happy talk to him , and see what he says. But the floor really is your fault by failing to sort issue of floor boards & subfloor
The vanity , I’m not sure . Speak to him
But failing to pay him when he’s done several weeks of work especially in the present economic climate is unfair

Hi @Lanurk and @Pumpkinpie1 sorry for not making myself clear.

He wanted me to replace the whole floor due to woodworm/damp root. So I went home, had a look at the floorboards, couldn’t find any rot or evidence of it, so told him to get fucked.

Fitter apparently spoke to his “joiner mate” who said I would have to replace the whole floor to get rid of the issue.

I spoke to a guy who deals with old houses and my own research. He said that 1) if the wood isn’t damp they die. 2) they need moisture to grow 3) I couldn’t find any holes 4) if there was a problem you would also have to replace the beams that are made from wood.

So the fitter in my opinion was lying to me about the need to replace the floor boards. They didn’t need replacing as there was no issue. Apparently the radiator was leaking, but why didn’t I see that leak from the room below or evidence of the leak?! Fitter was lying.

Has he said to me “look your floor boards would need replacing for me to tile them” I would have said no I’m not prepared to spend the extra money. I asked him at the start of the floor boards were ok - he said it’s fine.

Am confused, did you tell your bathroom fitter to "Get fucked" or was that someone else? (seems a bit rude)

In your initial post you mention gaps in the floor boards & potential rot. For anything to be level it’s commonsense that the floor has to be level , ie new subfloor
From your own comments you didn’t like or trust your workmen . No idea if this was justified but you do sound confrontational
Either way you chose to let him continue even though having a substandard base floor inevitably would impact finished tiling
It’s up to you to pay him because ultimatum you chose to ignore his advice

Ok firstly

1. no I didn’t say to him hey fucked. I’ve been non confrontational and been very laid back - despite him doing stuff like taking 6 weeks which is far too long. Leaving me without a toilet for a week to “help him”.
2. he never said I needed new floor boards to make the tiling better. He said I had woodworm/dry rot. I don’t. He used jack boards and should have used a self leveller on the floor - it appears he didn’t. I asked him when he was quoting about the floor boards, I showed him they squeaked, he said it’s fine.
3. had he said I 100% needed new floor boards for the tiles, I wouldn’t have got the floor tiled. I also said to him that if the floor is too difficult, don’t do it and do my concrete kitchen floor.

@Pumpkinpie1 Would you pay extra for everything the workmen asked despite you finding no evidence of problems? It’s money, it’s not about trust.

@callmeadoctor no I didn’t say that to his face lol. Sorry it’s a phrase. I said “can you tell your joiner mate I don’t need a quote for new floor boards. If the leak has stopped there will be no further issues with woodworm: I’ve also asked an independent damp expert and he doesn’t recommend me replacing the floor boards. If the bathroom floor is too difficult to tile, you can do my kitchen instead”.

@Pumpkinpie1 the issue has only presented itself after he finished. How would I know the tiling was bad until he finished? It didn’t take him long to do, so I only knew at the end.

Ok he says it’s because the property isn’t level.... so wouldn’t a self leveller sort that out?