Patio tiling

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Ross23@

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Hi, just looking for advice about a tiling job. We have just had a kitchen extension done and the contractor is doing a small patio as part of the job. We have two steps down from the extension onto the patio and l've just noticed at the steps that these tiles are not straight. See pics. Have these being laid incorrectly? Or will this be less noticeable when finished. Am I bring too picky?
Thanks in advance.
 

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What exactly do you think isn't straight? You might want to highlight it on your pics because I can't see anything amiss myself. Unless you mean the fact that the tiles on the ground up to the first step aren't parallel to the steps or something?
 
Are the steps or house itself at a slight skew to the outer boundaries of that patio area I wonder, and is that border fixed like a wall? The straight edges of a patio would generally be aligned to the longest length as that reduces the visual impact overall.
 
Thanks for your reply. The steps are parallel to the extension so should be straight. The border isn’t fixed to anything. The only thing I think is maybe tiler was avoiding a drain near the wall of the house. I would have expected him to follow the line of the extension though. Here’s another pic which shows the start of patio.
 

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That's not straight, even if I looked at it after 15 gin & tonics I'd see it wasn't straight. It's the kind of detail that years hence would drive me batty.
Tell the tiler to fix it at his cost, if he refuses, no ducats.
 
It looks like the line of the ground tiles is not parallel to the wall of the house and he took his line from the house. Our tiler did this in our bathroom cos the walls weren't quite square. Annoys me every time I sit there!!
 
Looks to me they duct is not square/parallel to the steps,
and unless you expected the tiler to reposition the duct, which I expect he did not fit and cement in before hand,

I think if he laid the tiles parallel to the steps he/she would have to cut the tiles off square around the duct which would be very noticeable
going up and down the steps or worse looking out at the patio,

in other words the way it is tiled is the best of both worlds (not as noticeable off square under the steps,
And possibly took longer to lay than if they cut them off square at ducting,

In other words the problem in with the person who installed the duct off square to the steps and whoever signed off on it,

if you want everything square reposition the duct and pay to replace the tiles

it was a catch 22 situation for the person laying them,

I would say most would not take the time and effort to lay them as is,
did the contractor who put the duct in place hire the person who laded the tiles for you,
 
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Most of those drain covers are round underneath so can be rotated to align properly. I think most likely that corner of the house is not square and they started tiling off the wall with the windows in it.

Even if they made the mistake of not checking everything was square beforehand, as soon as they laid the first tile or two near the step it would have been obvious and they should have stopped and asked you how you wanted it done. There was going to have to be some compromise either way, but they should have covered themselves by making it your call.

Personally I’d just live with it though, once it’s grouted you’ll quickly forget about it. I would say it to them that you’re disappointed and wish they’d stopped and checked with you.
 
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So they started tiling from the grass side towards the wall not from the wall. So I saw the first tile going down and assumed they were running parallel to the the steps as it looked that way. It was only when they had done the steps that I noticed it. Yes they definitely rotated the manhole cover to match the direction of the tiles. I have a picture of the original cover so could check. I think the problem is that their English was very poor so it’s hard to communicate.
I have asked the owner of the construction company to come out tomorrow to take a look. He may offer an explanation. The work they’ve done apart from this has been great.
Thanks for all the replies.
 
Leo said:
That looks like a brand new cover, and one designed to hold a slab to blend in with paving.
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yes it looks to be the one you linked
well spotted,
Hard to understand how they got laid the way they are right now if the were working from a blank canvas and had no restraints,
the cover you linked should have removed any restraints around the duct,
The first thing any good tiler will do is check for off squareness in the confines of the area they are tiling before starting to tile,

unless the steps are off square which only moves the problem seeing they steps appear new build,

What I find interesting is how the OP responds to each new posting and things get clearer all the time,

sometimes you see posters post and not respond to people offering to help out with solving problems,
 
Unfortunately I know nothing about tiling or the tiling process so I didn’t include all the information in my original post. I am most thankful to everyone for their opinions & advice.
I don’t think we will ask them to redo the tiles but will point it out and hopefully with a lighter grout it will be less noticeable.
 
bkenn14 said:
The first thing any good tiler will do is check for off squareness in the confines of the area they are tiling before starting to tile,

unless the steps are off square which only moves the problem seeing they steps appear new build,
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Yeah, I suspect some aspect of the house, extension, or steps is out of square and the tiler likely used the longest straight line as the reference as would be typical. We'd need to see pictures along the sides of the house to know for sure though.
 
Ross23@ said:
Unfortunately I know nothing about tiling or the tiling process so I didn’t include all the information in my original post. I am most thankful to everyone for their opinions & advice.
I don’t think we will ask them to redo the tiles but will point it out and hopefully w
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To get the proper use out of posting you almost always need to respond to posters, different posters see different things,
When you reply the problem becomes clearer,

In one of my post I said if the duct was off square the tiler may have to work around the duct if you wanted all be square
you possibly needed to pay to redo it square,

on the other hand if the contractor was working from a blank canvas and had no restraints and no good reason and laid incorrectly
he/she should redo the whole lot again at no cost to you,

Is also the possible the tiler picked up something off square and never mentioned it to you because he may be dependent on contractor for more work in the future,
 
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