Problems with newly laid porcelain patio

[HazyDaisy123456]

We asked a tradesman who was recommended to us to lay us a patio and build us some planters. He agreed and gave us a quote.

He recommended a local supplier for tiles and they seemed knowledgeable and both the supplier and the tradesman recommended the tiles we chose. Anyway the date for the work to commence changed and they ended up coming when we were on holiday. He sent us photos of the finished patio and asked us not to walk on it for 48 hours and we did as he said. On Monday when we got to go on the patio we noticed a number of issues, 3 cracked tiles and three wobbly tiles. We phoned and he came out was really nice about it apologised and promised to make it good, he also got the tile supplier round to check the tiles. Apparently the supplier is paying to replace the chipped damaged tiles and the builder is paying to replace the wobbly tiles. The builder also tiled over a manhole cover (so he has had to replace an additional 4 tiles. He worked most of Tuesday trying to rectify this then him and another man spent most of today again trying to finish off. He is coming to clean the patio and to take away some rubble away tomorrow and asked us to purchase some white silica sand to finish it off. After he left we noticed one of the tiles that he replaced and relaid has cracked again at the edges. It seems like it has been a pig of a job for him from start to finish and it certainly wasn’t cheap for us. We haven’t paid as yet but we are regretting having the work done and worry if the patio has problems within days of it being laid it won’t be worth the money and we have to put up with cracked and wobbly tiles and an unsafe patio.

What should we do and should we expect any kind of guarantee for the work? Any advice required.

It sounds like the underlay wasn't done properly, that's why tiles are wobbly and cracking. They have done a horrible job. I would say the entire job needs to be redone or you will not be paying.

That looks dreadful, despite the breaks, they're not even lined up.

Do not pay until it's done properly.

The wobbliness is most probably dur to poor preparation of the base.
The chipping could be a tile problem.

But thatvs not a good job as the tiles don't line up

It’s not the tiles , as pp have said, it’s the person laying them has done an appalling job. Really really bad actually. they need to be on a solid completely flat base and should be completely stuck with heavy layer of adhesive on the underside covering the whole of the base of the tile. They will all need to come up, and the base underneath needs to be sorted. I hope you haven’t paid him. In fact I would get someone else back to redo the job tbh. (I sell porcelain and stone)

This was earlier on today. He’s a nice man. But the tiles just seems to have (what looks like a sand-base to the untrained eye and only around the edges of the tiles nothing seems to be under the middle part of the tile). He has said that the tiles aren’t properly square.

Could I get an expert or something to check and verify that it isn’t right before paying and if so how do I go about this?

The base is not level or forgiving. The tiles are not strong enough to cope with uneven pressure. I doubt they are not square, surely if that was an issue he would have rejected the tiles. Otherwise at least them to line up.

And you can get drain covers in which to insert slabs/tiles to match.

I have pmed you op

What base has been used? Has he done it before? Are they ceramic or porcelain…

It's the underlayment/base that's all wrong. The job needs to be completely redone.

Not sure about the base used he quoted for sand sub base and cement.

Tiles are porcelain. He has photos of other work on his Facebook page and he has laid a sandstone patio for a mum of one of DS’s school friends as she recommended him.

What should we do and can we get an expert to inspect it to say its not right before we refuse to pay and how do we go about this?

He may not have used these particular tiles before but if we pay we are paying a heavy price. If we don’t pay he has paid for the tiles and materials upfront and has spent just over a week working on our job without any payment (which surely isn’t fair on him either).

Its a nightmare.

I can’t see properly from the photo- we had what looks like a similar patio laid recently. If they are porcelain they should be a greater thickness to be used outside, I think they are 18 to 20mm, if they are less they are interior ones. Also, they need to be laid on a full cement bed, sort of buttered away from the edges and a slurry applied to the underside of every tile to help them bond. I don’t know about the pointing line either tbh, we have a 10mm resin pointing but your look butted up? That might be just choice rather than a problem but I would look into it. Hope you get it sorted x

Are they the tiles the right thickness? If you don’t have a concrete base you need at least 20mm thickness for porcelain

Thanks what did you do? Think he talked about butting them up together. Really don’t know how these were laid or what the thickness of the tile is.

Was their limestone and a whacker plate involved in setting the sub base? Probably a builders bag of materials or two?

This is our go to advice for these things

www.pavingexpert.com/

We had a builder lay the first porcelain patio for us and then we laid another during lockdown last year. 20mm tiles, on concrete mix with bonding adhesive. And yes you get man hole covers which you tile into to, you don't tile over them...

We were on holiday when it was laid. Thanks for the link.

A porcelain patio is effectively laid like you would a kitchen floor. The tiles are fixed in place and should have grout lines.

Yours look:

• laid on sand like paving slabs
• the wrong thickness
• suspiciously like ceramic given the way they’ve broken

Ask the supplier of the tiles for advice on how they should be laid. They may do a speakerphone call with you and the builder, to sort it out. Effectively you are saying their tiles are defective, or haven't been laid correctly. They should help.

Do you mean the local builders merchant who we purchased the tiles from (as the owner came round and spoke mainly with the builder/landscaper and then to us. As they seem as thick as thieves as he obviously brings a lot of business their way. I very much doubt he/they would go against the builder. Or the stone manufacturers?

First line should read who ‘he’ i.e. the builder purchased the tiles from not ‘we’.

Try the manufacturer then.

@Ozanj

Are they the tiles the right thickness? If you don’t have a concrete base you need at least 20mm thickness for porcelain

This was my thought too. They don't seem thick enough?

Don't pay. They won't last laid on sand.