sympathies - that is going to be a tricky conversation - have you decided on the extent of the remedial work you want ?
maybe better that the problem occurred whilst they are still on site though.
Yes it's simpler because they're currently doing the bathroom so are still onsite / visiting regularly.
I showed him the cracked tile yesterday. He squirmed a bit and made a few excuses like implying subtly that someone must have dropped something on it (which ****** me off, as the grout immediately adjacent was curiously undamaged), and how it's very strange as the tiles are pure porcelain.
Then when I challenged the floor they used, he showed me the documentation for the whole system (bitumen mat, grout, adhesive, etc.) where it explicitly states it's waterproof and OK to use on chipboard as it's designed for difficult substrates.
His conclusion was that it's happened because the electrician left the underfloor heating on whilst the adhesive and grout was going off (though why they didn't check this I don't know, and what does it mean for the rest of the tiles? Are they all going to crack now?!). They knocked out the broken tile yesterday, luckily not breaking the underfloor heating (god knows how as this was set into the adhesive) and replaced the tile, raking out all the floor grout and re-grouting so it was a consistent shade.
Some of the grout had small cracks in too. Apparently this was also because of the UFH being on too soon, but you know how these tradesmen are...they're very good at using words to avoid implied blame or fault. It makes no difference to me it being the spark though, as the spark was contracted by the bathroom company, not by me.
So to summarise, they've rectified the cracked tile but I'm still not entirely confident in the rest of the floor.
My plan is roast the UFH in the ensuite, see if any further cracks unfold, then to withhold the remaining £5k until they've replaced the entire floor. If there are no further problems between now and when the bathroom is completed, I guess I'll have to assume all is now OK and call them back if any more crack down the line.
The bit I don't get with these people is - why take shortcuts when it causes way more pain and cost down the line? Do they think they're being clever with money by saving £50 on cement board when it's taken them the best part of a whole day to replace the tile and re-grout?
Anyway the bathroom is moving along and I'll post some pics of that tonight.
. Why?! Just use cement board ya cheapskates! Especially in light of what I'm going to post next...a nice hairline crack in one of the floor tiles of the ensuite:
