Any tilers that can give me advice?

[Loz]

Well hello Briskoda. It's been a while!

 

I have a random question and thought where better to air it than amongst this pool of people right here!

 

No idea how many people actually still post here but I'll try anyway :)

 

So, I need some tiling doing, I had a quote from a friend's stepdad and as I have literally no idea how tiling works, I wanted to just see if it's around the right ball park. I will also try to get some other quotes, but that would take more time so for now just as a guess it would be handy to know!

 

The area has been measured as 32sqm (kitchen, backroom, utility and toilet) and price includes "preparation, levelling boarding, levelling compound, flexible adhesive and grout, plus a chrome trim for tile skirting, removal and replacement of toilet and sink in order to tile under them" 

 

that's come to £1950. I have no idea how much the materials are so I cant even guess as to what it should be!

 

If it's a good/reasonable price them I'm happy. I just have no idea if it is! 

 

Thanks anyone who can advise! :D

[Rustynuts]

Only thing I'll say is, is he a tiler, or is he a bloke who does some tiling?

 

If he does tiling for a living then pay what he wants rather than paying someone cheaper and getting a cheap job, becuase you'll know the difference when it's done. The fact that he's removing the sanitaryware to tile and then refitting it gives me some hope that he knows what he's doing. A quick google reveals that an 8 square metre bathroom would cost £480 - £550 to tile, but add extra for surface prep or removing existing tiles. Based on that, he doesn't sound too far off really.

[Loz]

Yes, I believe he is a tiler (one who now just takes on the jobs he wants to). The floor is very uneven where an extension has been built, so there will be some work required with the levelling etc and obviously some of the cost is materials too. I just don't know anything about it haha! 

 

Thanks for the input! 

[mac11irl]

Hes not far off. Tiling is a where prep is key. Ive done a couple of small jobs, and its a lot easier ballz it up than it is get it right.. 

Depending on how band it is, leveling compound is a major cost. It was about €25/bag, and it doesnt stretch very far if it a lot off. We got lucky, and our tiler was able to lose the slopes out into the corners quite well.

 

In terms of the removal of old... take everything you can and put it in a locked, sealed room upstairs.. its a disaster. We got our downstairs done about 2yrs ago, i lifted all bar about 3m2 myself in advance, with a sprayer bottle, spade and lump hammer, including old grout... all the tiler had left was a small area of of the kitchen, and he made more dust with his kango in that space than i did through the whole rest of the hall, downstairs loo, and kitchen..

 

[Aspman]

Have you considered wetwall? It's not cheap bvut in some situations it's a better choice.

 

But ditto the other comments. Tiling is hard and expensive. If any of the tiles (like silver trim) have a metallic mirror finish makes sure you get the right grout for them. The wrong stuff can scratch.

 

Don't worry about over ordering, the shops will take back any full boxes you haven't used.