Floor tiling

Discussion in 'Kitchen Fitters' Talk' started by krissy, Oct 11, 2010.

  1. krissy

    krissy Member

    Is it better to lay floor tiles down before you fit a kitchen or after?
     
  2. snezza30

    snezza30 Member

    Krissy, In my experience, it is much better to tile the whole room wall to wall, wall to wall!
    Although you may be paying for tiles that you will not see, it is quicker in the long run to tile a large empty room than to cut lots of tiles around fitted cabinets.

    Also, you would need to tile under any freestanding appliances anyway, so dont spoil the ship for a hap"ney of tar as my grandad used to say,

    Do the whole room!

    Good luck, Snezza30.
     
  3. Captain Leaky

    Captain Leaky New Member

    Both are acceptable but I'm with snazzypants on this one - do the whole empty room.
     
  4. joinerjohn

    joinerjohn New Member

    If the kitchen has been planned, then you know where any freestanding appliances are going. Just tile the floor to about 450mm from the edge of the room,(where units are going) apart from where freestanding appliances are going. Tile these areas, right back to the wall.
    Depending upon the size of your kitchen and the cost of the floor tiles, you can save quite a bit of money. My mate has just had a kitchen fitted in a property and save over 10 sq m of floor tiling. At a cost of £25 per sq m supplied and fitted, he's saved over £250.
     
  5. loosenup

    loosenup Member

    I agree with snezza and captain .

    If sometime during the future your washer develops a leak , then any water will collect in the moat under the units , if it is a small leak then this will take a while before you will notice any water outside the units .. you will probably smell it first . for the sake of a few extra quid to tile.. I would say do it .If you stay in the house for a while and decide to alter the kitchen at least then you will still have a floor under any units removed . I have seen this be a problem for customers on many occasions.
    Phill
     
  6. audievo

    audievo New Member

    Being in the flooring trade i will tell you.
    Fit kitchen minus end panels and plinths, then floor, the finish plinths.
    Why?
    You will either damage the floor or more likely get sick of looking at it and fancy a change long before you fancy changing the kitchen.
    :)
     
  7. roythehandyman

    roythehandyman New Member

    The man is right. Save some ££££££ and do what audievo says.
     
  8. snezza30

    snezza30 Member

    Cutting corners again Roy!!!!!

    No change there then!!!

    Do the job right, Tile the whole room.

    A professional TRADESMAN would cover the floor before working on it anyway, so the likelyhood of damage is not a factor.

    If a potential customer of mine were to suggest what you are saying, then i would think they were after a Half~A--ed job, and I'd walk away.

    Again, as i said before, do the job right or walk away.
     
  9. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    Snezza, it is in no way quicker to tile a whole room rather than fit the floor only where it is required. Audi is exactly right in the way he says to do it. That way in relation to the tiles going under the plinths and end panels you can simply lay full tiles and tile to the wall where appliances go. This is how the vast majority of kitchens are tiled and to suggest doing it this way is a bodge indicates that perhaps you arent arguing from exactly the most experienced viewpoint. Tiling a kitchen floor this way requires no tiling around kitchen units at all, they all disappear under units or endpanels and the fact that you seem to think that you would need to tile up to rather than under panels and plinths once again suggests that perhaps you dont really know what you are talking about. If you are going to have a pop and suggest others are bodgers or corner cutters then you better know what you are talking about or you end up looking a bit of a fool.

    Incidentally not fighting Audis battles for him as he is big enough to fight his own and we have had a coupla runins over the years, but floorswise he really knows his North East onions, I believe his reference to damaging floors is not in terms of whilst work is being carried out but rather
     
  10. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    damage being done over the lifetime of a kitchen by the householders. As for suggesting that you would walk away from a customer suggesting that a kitchen is tiled in a perfectly reasonable and acceptable way as outlined above, that says a great deal about your business acumen and kitchen fitting experience. So just to clarify, if Mrs Noggins having a £40k handmade done and wants imported Authentic Tanzania Goatherding Hut tiles fitted to under the plinths at £100sqm, you are going to flounce off and tell her to get stuffed because she wont lay out for another 8qm so you can tile straight up the wall? Course you wont.
     
  11. goldenboy

    goldenboy Super Member

    That should be "straight up TO the wall" not "straight up the wall"!
     
  12. audievo

    audievo New Member

    "The job right"
    Depends what you see as right.
    I see a few dozen customers a year asking if I can hack the floor up in the kitchen and change it for this years fashion.......and that's exactly what it is, this years fashion.
    When it's ceramic or stone it's nigh on impossible to do or very expensive for the customer.
    People change flooring much more than they used to and my way gives them the option they want.
    I don't see it as cutting corners infact I think it takes more skill to fit around an installed kitchen than work on a shell.
    BTW I did always used to fit the whole room, but times and ideas change.
    Now I always advise kitchen then floor then plinths, end panels, skirts.
     
  13. russ295

    russ295 New Member

    Here's my 2pence worth, I think I have only ever fitted 1 kitchen that was fully floored and I have fitted my fair share. I have done quite a bit of site work and if the floor was laid I would refuse to fit unless the site arranged to have it covered with hardboard or similar. It's very easy to drop something and damage/scratch floor surfaces and I don't have time on site to fanny about protecting floors. Not that I have ever come across this on site.
    In a punters house if they insisted that the floor was down first I would charge them for a hardboard covering and the time spent to lay
    it as I ain't having a claim against me because the job is being done **** first. Just imaging someone is having posh amtico at £125. That's £60per 1000 base unit wasted!
     
  14. Bring on 1966

    Bring on 1966 New Member

    I cant see how any fitter can fit a kitchen without the floor being tiled first.
    My last fit had four free standing appliances plus a 1100mm duel fuel cooker so how do you go about this.
    As a professional fitter i fit units and appliances as i go along and when im finished it looks more profestional than having to fit appliance and then remove them to lay a floor.
    And has to damaging a floor it has never happened on any of my jobs but there is more chance of damage to appliance moving them about IMO
     
  15. russ295

    russ295 New Member

    "I cant see how any fitter can fit a kitchen without
    the floor being tiled first."

    site work - time is money, wasted materials is money, times the extra work/materials and damages by say 500 kitchens and your into £1000's.

    kitchen goes in, floor layers/tilers after, never ever came across it done differently.

    joe bloggs - fit kitchen, lay floor, fit end panels and plinth.

    i can see your reasoning if there is a load of free standing appliances but i still would prefer to fit flooring only where necessary.

    my own house, i fitted slate tiles over 18mm ply, the other half changed her mind after a few years and wanted wood, cant even imagine the hassle to lift if i had tiled the lot.

    russ
     
  16. Bring on 1966

    Bring on 1966 New Member

    Site work is very different to your own customers where your standards and reputation are on the line.
    As i said fitting a kitchen with out the floor down is a short cut to know where IMO
     
  17. snezza30

    snezza30 Member

    Well said 1969!

    I stand by what i said.

    I would never fit a kitchen then Ceramic tile the floor!

    I think we will have "Agree to Disagree" on this subject.

    Snezza30.
     
  18. snezza30

    snezza30 Member

    So sorry 1966, just took 3 years off you!!!

    It must be the surprise of all these guys fitting kitchens and tiling half the floor !!!

    Snezza30.
     
  19. biasqinc

    biasqinc Member

    I think you lot need to get out more. There's advantages to both methods and I can't see that it can be argued that either are wrong. Just inform the customer of the pros and cons and let them decide. Job done and down the road for a pint. Simple.
     
  20. audievo

    audievo New Member

    I don't fit kitchens, just floors, so when you have fitted your kitchen your off.
    2 years later when mrs. wants slate up and wood down I'm the guy they ask to turn up with a magic wand and unfit the flooring that is under the units.
    As I have said I used to floor first but I listen to customer feedback and it seems my customers are telling me they want a way to be able to change their floor without changing or removing and refitting their kitchen.
    So now it's fit round everything.
    The other thing is that when you tell a customer from the outset that the floor can be changed you have planted a seed for future business :)
     

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