Help- Is our builder a cowboy?

[Golaz]

He’s currently installing a new bathroom for us. Hasn’t got far yet, but the floor tiles have been laid. (No grouting added yet), and we noticed that the floor is slightly convex in the middle. Should he have checked this and flattened it out before tiling? How concerned should we be about this?

Did you agree he would right the floor and tile or just that he would tile the floor? They're two quite different agreements. Although a decent tradesman would point out the floor needed righted, some will just do what they're asked 🤷🏼‍♀️

No we didn’t agree that he would “right the floor”; we don’t know what we are doing tbh 🤦🏼‍♀️. We just agreed with him that he would install the new bathroom - all that that entails. We didn’t know that the floor was uneven (have just noticed it now, as I guess it’s more obvious with nothing in it and tiles laid down). I guess I’m just wondering how concerned I should be about this 😬. Is this something he should have pointed out to us? Is it a huge issue ? Does this indicate we should be wary of his professionalism?

I think it’s actually raised over the bits where he cut the floor and installed the pipe work

No professional would lay a floor like this. Point it out to him and say you’d like it sorted. It will annoy you every time you see it otherwise.

Sounds like he couldn't 'sink' the pipes low enough and was hoping you'd not notice. What kind of floor are the tiles on?

It’s original wood panels

Is the dip running towards the drain hole perhaps?

did he put plywood down first (as he should) or is he tiling directly onto the original floorboards (which he shouldn’t). You always put a fairly thick layer of marine ply down first to even out the surface before tiling.

Wood panels? Chipboard flooring? I'm really asking if it's not ground floor. If your floor is suspended then you need to be sure the tiles are laid properly as any flexing will cause problems - I'm not 100% sure of the correct terms to use in that sentence, but the point being there will be movement.
It's not a wetroom is it?
Agree with @Jennyathemall s post.

It’s not ground floor it’s first floor. I don’t think he laid any plywood. 😩😩

Not a wet room

Is it direct on original floorboards? Is it a period property?

Yes

Ok my partner seems to think he has laid something down underneath.. but it’s v thin.. could that be the plywood?

You would normally go with something like 12mm or even 18mm plywood. The whole point is to stop the floor flexing which as you can imagine is bad for tiles which aren’t very flexible. As opposed to floor boards, especially in period properties, which have a tendency to flex quite a lot! Either way, the floor should be flat so if you have a high point that’s more than enough reason to get him to take it up and sort it out. And tell him you want plywood first ( with a lot of screws)

Oh dear this all sounds really bad. He’s supposed to be doing so much work in our house, if he can’t even tile a floor properly what else is he going to mess up?! I’m sure what he has put down is not 12 mm thick plywood..

That is not right at all.
And if someone is prepared to tile an uneven, undulating floor, they ain't no good at tiling either.
I truly hope they are at least good at plumbing...

😭😭😭

Please get him to correct it.
I had a builder lay bathroom tiles and they are the worst work I've ever seen. They lasted a few months before the grout started falling out and they are becoming loose. I hate my bathroom.

That's one bit of good news.
How much work has he done? Are you confident about the quality of the rest of it? I've sacked workmen in the middle of a job (paid them an agreed amount for some of their work) - but they were very bad. I made a mistake in trusting them, they seemed so nice!
As JennyatMall says you need ply under the tiles - it should be 'marine' ply which is waterproof(?) or resistant can't remember which. I've painted ours white because we ran out of money before we got any flooring, lol.

It could be the joists in the bathroom are uneven. With it being an old house.

If so it would need all the boards up and those levelling then new ply and tiles on top. This is a much bigger job.

Yup marine ply is water resistant.

@Golaz

This is what I suggest you do:

Arrange a plumber (not a general builder but a plumber in particular) to come and assess the work.
Find a pretext for your current builder to not be around at that time.
You may need to pay a small call out fee for the plumber but you will:

either get a piece of mind that your current guy knows what he's doing even if he's crap at tiling and probably all other decorative finishes

or you'll know for sure that you can't carry on working with him and you'll have a specialists' evidence as to why

Lol. OH has just told me it's waterproof. :)

A plumber isn't necessarily a tiler. My plumber did the tiles in the shower but there is one that needs redoing. That floor doesn't look great.
Tell him straight away your concerns about it.
Have you paid him some of the total cost, but not all?