Not entirely happy with tiling in shower

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 1:19 pm

Hi everyone

We've just had a walk in shower enclosure installed and I would appreciate feedback on the quality of tiling.

I've attached 3 pictures which show the bottom of one tile touching the shower tray - and two tiles with varying size gaps. So there is little consistency in the size of the gaps.

The guy doing the tiling had originally applied while sealant around all the shower base. I had him remove it as it was an eyesore (it was basically a mess) and also the width of the sealant made the different sized gaps more noticeable.

Can anyone advise if you should only apply sealant between the shower base and tiles?
Should the tiles touch the shower base or would you usually have a gap?
Can the tiles remain as they are and somehow fill the gap before applying sealant? (I am mindful of movement of the base over time as we stand in and out when having a shower).

Any further comment would be very welcome.

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 1:23 pm

Sorry - I forgot to add.

I know that you can get a grout haze on tiles after grouting that you can then wipe off. However after the tiler left we tied wiping the tiles next day and found that the tiles are slightly discoloured with the charcoal grout. You can see it on the photos.
We're trying to be careful not to be too abrasive with the tile but a soft scourer doesn't remove the haze.

We'll be taking it up with the tiler when he returns but what could he use to clean the tiles on the grouting residue on the tiles?

dewaltdisney · Post by **dewaltdisney** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:32 pm

Looking at the photos I think my main concern would be water going straight through the gap. Water will find the easiest way down and that is through the crack. I would look to fixing on something like this https://www.protilertools.co.uk/product ... -sfl-white to finish the wall to tray joint. As for cleaning the grout haze you could try brick acid. Ceramic tiles shoudl be able to take the acid fine.

DWD

ayjay · Post by **ayjay** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:49 pm

In the second pic, the tiles are different sizes, unless all the tiles on the bottom row are the same size there's going to be a gap somewhere.

You can never have too much sealing around a shower, (it's got to be neat though), and usually the tiles are set just off the shower tray to allow for a good bead of sealant.

Grout should always be cleaned off asap, anything else requires a lot of elbow grease.

Someone-Else · Post by **Someone-Else** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:59 pm

ayjay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:49 pm anything else requires a lot of elbow grease.

What, this?

: EG.jpg (20.75 KiB) Viewed 3436 times

£6.00

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:31 pm

dewaltdisney wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:32 pm Looking at the photos I think my main concern would be water going straight through the gap. Water will find the easiest way down and that is through the crack. I would look to fixing on something like this <span class="skimlinks-unlinked">https://www.protilertools.co.uk/product ... hite</span> to finish the wall to tray joint. As for cleaning the grout haze you could try brick acid. Ceramic tiles shoudl be able to take the acid fine.

DWD

The intention was to get the tiler to re-seal the the gap but make it neater as his first go was messy.

My concern was the size of the largest gap would mean that the sealant would need to be quite wide to compensate and may look ugly. Also - given the depth of the gap ( from the wall to the front of the tile ) I think it would need "filling in" before the sealant was applied which is not ideal. In a worst case scenario I tell him to remove the tile and put in another and make sure the size of the gap was only very small.

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:33 pm

ayjay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:49 pm In the second pic, the tiles are different sizes, unless all the tiles on the bottom row are the same size there's going to be a gap somewhere.

You can never have too much sealing around a shower, (it's got to be neat though), and usually the tiles are set just off the shower tray to allow for a good bead of sealant.

Grout should always be cleaned off asap, anything else requires a lot of elbow grease.

The tiles were cut along the bottom but the tiler has been inconsistent with how much he has cut off - hence we have a tile almost touching the shower base and and another tile cut too much leaving a large gap.

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 5:35 pm

someone-else wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 4:59 pm
ayjay wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 3:49 pm anything else requires a lot of elbow grease.
What, this?

In fairness we did try using a mild detergent and a soft scourer to no avail. I'm putting the onus back on the tiler tomorrow to remedy the issue and I'll such a acid based solution as suggested above and see what reaction it gets :)

darrenba · Post by **darrenba** » Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:10 pm

It's a sh*t job.
There should be a consistent gap at the bottom if the shower tray is level, which it should be.
The shower tray should be firmly fixed and shouldn't move if you step on / off it.
The silicon sealant should fill the gap and then be smoothed off with a slight (5mm) bevel.

neanderthal man · Post by **neanderthal man** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:33 am

darrenba wrote: ↑Sun Jun 28, 2020 7:10 pm It's a sh*t job.

I agree!

I've just read the tiler the riot act this morning :)

woody8086 · Post by **woody8086** » Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:51 am

As mentioned above, it is a really really unprofessional job.

Tiles should fit with a 2mm gap.

If silicone sealed, the only way to stop the gap opening is to seal with a FULL bath of water to replicate what happens when a person bathes.
If sealed before, the gap will open each time the bath fills.

The tiler really does need to remove the bottom row and cut every tile the same size.

What I do (and most probably pro tilers) is fit a baton 1 tile up plus the spacer, so if the tile is 200mm & the spacer 3mm, you pin with masonary nails a "straight" baton to the wall at 203mm at the highest point and in level. When the above tiles are set, you gently remove the baton and the gap below will be 1 tile + grout space & you can nip a touch off each tile if the bath level is out.