Who's getting the floor tiles done themselves? .. And ....

If you're getting tiling done yourselves (not the builder).. the real question is ..

- What do you do with the skirtings that the builder has to put?
- Do you tell them the tile height?
- What about uneven slab, it needs to be topped before the tile can go on, which would mean just the tile height isn't enuf ..
- Or do the skirtings go right to the floor and the tiles are put cheek to cheek ..

Any real experiences that can be shared? thanks!

These are all the exact questions i have been struggling to answer. I still don't know and am really interested to hear some experiences. We are about 2 months away from needing to do this.

Another question is what about the kitchen and the pantry, do you put it in and then build around them? My preference is not to, so this affects teh bench heights.

So far I have concluded that even though the floor is pretty good, everyone is telling me that you need to screed around 25mm if you are putting in tiles with a rectified edge. These tiles will sit with a maximum gap of 1.5mm and the floor needs to be pretty level for that. So this will add around 35mm to the floor height. Then if you do this what about rooms with carpets, how do you get the levels up to match?

Dan

I spoke to a tiler over the weekend (at a tile shop) and he told me no one can be sure of how much room to leave for the skirting board, tiles will never rest perfectly because of the unevenness of floor and even if its topped, different areas might be just 5mm different.. and it'll show ..

You're right, the same would apply for carpeting as well i guess ..

I read somewhere (dunno where) that you can ask the builder NOT to fix the skirtings, that means they're not nailed in .. you get the tiling/carpeting done and then have them fixed.. the problem .. yes, the nail marks .. they need to be filled up and painted / re-painted ..

I will talk to my builder bout it .. but i wanted to get some ideas before i do .. otherwise they can sell me a lemon that looks like apple!

My first two houses, the builders did the wet area tiling, and we organised the rest of the floor tiling / carpeting to be done after handover.

I never thought about skirting board issues or gaps. So the builder put them in right to the concrete. The tiler's just came in and laid the tiles up against the skirting board (well to be accurate they leave a small gap between the tile/skirting and fill that with the grout).

The kitchen benches where the same - directly sitting on the concrete and the tiler does the same thing, small gap between tile/bench, grout in between.

Pantries / Linen cupboards / Etc - tilers go right into those with no problems at all.

Carpets, same deal.

I can honestly say I never once noticed a height problem with the skirting boards, kitchen benches, etc etc. Nor did I ever notice that one section of the skirting looked slightly higher / lower than another section. It may have existed - but I didn't notice it. Also the addition of furniture would have made it more difficult to spot.

So I can say I never walked in, and proclaimed 'holy crud... my skirting is missing a few mm' or 'uh oh that section over there shows 3mm more skirting than this section over here...'

Also during the selling process I never had feedback that someone was not going to buy the house because the skirting had lost a little height due to tiling / etc. People were worried about the big things, like the dirty big gum tree in the rear yard that could kill a man with a single branch!

So my view is - yes these small variations are possible to occur, but i never had a noticable problem with them.

hey guys,
I am currently thinking about adding tiles and carpets and driveway after handover. Now my questions are:
Do I have to move in immediately after I get the keys?? I am building in victoria and not sure about the rules.
I want to install an alarm system as I think all this stuff will take about 2 weeks.
Should I ahve the builder install the alarm system or do it myself after handover??
Can anyone help??

hey .. not sure how things work in vic, we're in nsw-sydney ..

you don't have to move as soon as you get keys .. i'll be calling over the tiler/carpet people before the handover to get measurements and start preparing their orders .. they don't turn up the next day to install.. but .. you can technically move into the house and get these done afterwards .. just depends on how you sequence these activities ..

i enquired about the alarm system as well, the guy said we can get it installed afterwards and they have wired/unwired versions and even if we choose wired versions they wont go on and wreck the house.. they've worked out how to do the wiring afterwards for a 2-story house etc .. i got a quote from a company which was a good $600 cheaper.. so bye bye builder on that ..

Thanks Bluemetal77..
I guess it just depends on how good my project management skills are!!
We are stil a bit far off but just thinking ahead...builder quoted 1200 for alarm system..I think some companies are offering basic one for about 600 bucks....
Definate saving....
Cheers...

My builder installs the skirting first, then the tiles. It is not finished so I can't comment on the job, but I asked my SS are they tiles supposed to be under the skirting or next to it, he said both. I really don't think this is correct, because my tiler tried to get all the tiles under, but its just too hard. I hope when it is sealed I won't know the difference.

Is it that difficult for us to do the tiling ourselves?

hi buildingwithhamra, read the post by Andronicus ..
they can lay the tiles right besides the skirting and fill it up with grout, you wouldn't notice .. ideal should be under .. but i think skirtings are done by a different person than a tiler so they cant ever be in sync .. i dont think they would bother calling the woody-man just to do skirtings after tiling...

We organised our own tiler to screed and lay the tiles. he's left a gap against the walls, as we're installing our own skirting on top of the tiles. he's sealed the tiles against the walls in the dishwasher, linen, and fridge spaces as there'll be no skirting there.
we're now deciding whether to put skirting on top of carpet, or instal skirting first..

I don't think I've ever seen the skirting on top of the carpet.

Now that "smoothedge" is the norm (instead of having quarter-round timber covering the edges) the smoothedge sits next to the skirting. If you put the skirting on top of the smoothedge you would never get the carpet up to do repairs or whatever. You would always have to remove the skirting and have the resulting damage and new nail holes to have to paint over.

We asked our builder to leave the skirtings loose so that the tiler can secure them after he is finished. He said that he couldnt do this because then they would have to get the painter in to do touchups after handover.

I am just crossing my fingers that they leave a big enough (but not too big) gap to fit the tiles under and that it looks ok. Although, too be honest, I don't think we will look twice at the tiles and skirting after we move in. Just obsessing about it now of course!