A joint that still
lines up next year
Tiling is judged on details — whether the joints run true, whether the corners meet, and whether the silicone in the shower turns black in a few months. Most of those details are decided before the first tile goes on the wall.
What we tile
Inside
and out
Bathrooms and WCs
The most common job. Including tanking, corners, a shower niche and fitting the sanitaryware.
Kitchen splashbacks
The band between the worktop and the units. We measure against the kitchen as built, not the drawing — there is usually a difference.
Floors through a whole flat
Tiles in the hall, kitchen and living room. We keep the joints running through between rooms so it does not look pieced together.
Large format
Tiles over a metre need a flat substrate and two people to handle. Without both they crack and sound hollow.
Mosaic and features
Bands, niches, the wall behind the bath. More work, but it is what stops a bathroom looking like a catalogue page.
Terraces, balconies, steps
Outdoors it comes down to frost resistance, falls and getting water away. A terrace laid to the wrong fall cracks after the first winter.
What's underneath
The work
nobody will see
Tiling holds as well as the substrate under it. This is the part that gets cut from a quote first — and comes back two years later.
- A flat substrate. Adhesive will not straighten a crooked wall. Where it is needed, we skim or rebuild the wall first.
- Tanking. Liquid membrane and sealing tape in the corners and around penetrations. In a shower enclosure and around a bath there is no choice — without it, water finds a way sooner or later.
- Fall to the gully. In a wet room without a tray it is formed in the screed. Correcting it with adhesive means uneven tiles and standing water.
- Movement joints and silicone. In corners and at transitions, a flexible joint rather than grout. A hard joint in a corner always cracks.
None of this is visible when the job is finished. All of it is the reason the tiling is still sound in five years.
FAQ
About tiling
How much tile should I order?
Always more than the bare area, to allow for cuts. Exactly how much depends on the format and whether it is laid straight or bonded. We work it out at the survey and give you a number. Buy a whole spare box and keep it: tile bought later tends to come from a different batch and the shade differs.
Can you tile over old tiles?
Sometimes — it saves both the demolition and the rubble. The conditions are that the old tiling is sound across the whole area and that you can afford to lose a few centimetres of room. We tap it through to find hollow spots. If there are any, we'd rather take it off, because new tiling would come away with it.
Why does the silicone in my shower go black?
Mould in silicone almost always means the bathroom is under-ventilated, or water is sitting somewhere it cannot drain from. Sanitary silicone is a consumable and gets renewed after some years — but if it blackens within months, the cause is elsewhere. We'll look at it and tell you what to do.
Chosen
your tiles?
Photos of the room and rough dimensions are enough. We come and measure up and price it — survey and quote are free.