Cracked tile - who is liable?

[Jennie]

Hi all,
Slight hiccup on a job. A tile cracked when I was replacing a like-for-like bathroom towel rad. (Not a usual occurrence for me, as I'm very careful with tiles). The customer wants me to fix it. However, this isn't an easy fix and arguably not my fault.
The cracked tile is on an old plasterboard/stud wall. The cracked tile was against a baton (so I just screwed into the wood).
Two lower down tiles had been cracked in a similar way, by the previous radiator's installer. Plus also when I drilled my new holes, the plasterboard was virtually non-existent on one of the holes, and crumbly on others. Which (unless I'm talking rubbish, which I might be) suggests a lack of strength and integrity of the plasterboard.
It's only a small radiator, and not yet filled with water when the tile cracked.
But to replace it could be a big job (as the plasterboard will inevitably come away with the tile, leaving nothing to fix the new tile onto. My customer doesn't understand why I can't just slot a new tile into the space.
The option of using Cramer's cover up stick, or similar, isn't an option. His house is immaculate, so the tile must be blemish-free.
I've offered to waive my labour fee, in pursuit of a quick and easy resolution, though while not accepting liability for the cracked tile. I've suggested he approach a tiler to advise him further.
For such a small crack, it's causing me a bit of grief.
What do you all reckon?
Jennie

 

[rpm]

So all in all there are three damaged tiles (only one being down to you of course).
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Wonder what the tilers forum would say? Just don`t say you`re a plumber, make out you`re a home owner doing diy.

 

[king of pipes]

S it happens mate can't see you can deny blame there if your not confident to do the repairs then get a tiler to do it where the fixing is it was always going to be risky any slight lippage and you will have the same problem again on tightening . But hope all works out for you cheers kop

 

[Scott_D]

Can you get the same tiles?
What about an invisible repair type person

 

[Mrb]

I would be very surprised if those tiles were fitted on a troweled bed as per British Standards.

 

[Chuck]

His house is immaculate, so the tile must be blemish-free.

Did your contract specify a 'blemish free' outcome? Did you make any specific promises?

If not, you had a duty (arising from implied terms) to use reasonable skill and care. You can defend a claim under the duty of reasonable skill and care by showing your actions were standard practice at the time, regardless of the outcome. Your obligation is to repair damage you caused to a standard that a 'reasonable person' consider satisfactory. Repair kits are readily available for white tiles. Ask the Tilers' Forurm for advice about which work best.

So, that's what, IMO, the customer is 'entitled' to. What you decide to offer will depend on how valuable their future custom is to you.

Be careful when quoting for work in 'immaculate' houses. This can be a sign that the owner is a perfectionist. All plumbing work carries a risk of superficial damage and the owner needs to understand this and, if necessary, be willing to pay for a decorator / carpenter / tiler / whatever to restore finishes to pristine condition.

 

[Ric2013]

Yeah. Been there. Luckily I was fitting something over the top of the crack both times I've had it. I totally agree with Mrb that the tile was probably not adequately supported due to lack of sufficient bedding in that corner.

I must say I don't understand why you can't fit a new tile if the customer has a suitable spare to hand, or you can find something half suited, though calling it 'just' is probably a massive understatement. Patching up the plasterboard behind in some way is eminently do-able even if you have to glue bits in, but it would take time.

Pain in the neck to have to work in a Jerry-built house that the owner doesn't realise is Jerry-built. You have my sympathy.

 

[gmartine]

If they proved to be the right size would a pipe collar cover up the crack? If so and considering there are other cracks that you aren't responsible for it might be worth trying to convince the owner it is the way to go. Tough lesson though but ultimately you are responsible plus you did see that it must've been a possibility as the other tiles had been cracked by the previous install where the mounting holes had been poorly located between tiles rather on the tile.

 

[oz-plumber]

I've offered to waive my labour fee, in pursuit of a quick and easy resolution, though while not accepting liability for the cracked tile. I've suggested he approach a tiler to advise him further.
For such a small crack, it's causing me a bit of grief.
What do you all reckon?
Jennie

Hi Jennie,
What you've offered - waive labour fee, and what you suggested - contact a tiler, leaves the homeowner in a hell of a situation.
Justifiably, if you said this to me, I wouldn't be very happy either.

The towel rail will have to be removed and re-installed for the tiles to be repaired.
Tiles may not match existing and there may / will be a colour difference.
The grout won't match either - due to discolouration of existing grout.
If the owner took you to Court - hypothetically - to recover costs of repairs, you would be found liable because you created the damage when installing the new towel rail.

**** happens - even with things you have no control over while performing your work.

I would never have offered to waive any fees at all and try and work out a resolution with the homeowner.

If you put a claim through your insurance, you will get paid to remove and re-install the towel rail plus any other items, as recommissioning the system.
You get seen by the customer to be doing everything you can to resolve the issue.
On top of that, you defer any further liability from you to your insurance company.

As a side note, whenever I fix anything to existing tiles, I generally use a screwdriver to tighten the screws, and only just go over tension by hand.
Cordless drills you don't have the control over how much you tighten the screws.

I cracked a 2000 x 1000 marble panel the same way you cracked a tile.
Repairs came to 6 k.
- Insurance covered me!!!!!

 

[Phil]

If there are spare tiles then just multitool straight through the grout and remove the tile, then fix/glue battons to allow new plasterboard to go up, the grout can be blended in.

 

[Mrb]

If the tiles have not been installed to BS standards then how can you be responsible for them cracking. They would not have done so if bed correctly.
The customer would get a full invoice from me.

 

[SimonG]

I'm with Mrb on this. Although you have a duty of care you have to also assume that any previous works have been done to an approved standard.

You have to decide whether its hands up and take it on the chin or fight it. Looks like them tiles have been dot and dabbed which is why its failed on the corners.

But this is just my opinion.

 

[Best]

If the customer has identical spare tiles, you could offer to have the broken tiles replaced by yourself or a tiler and with mutual agreement with customer that if old tiles are then found to be installed incorrectly, that all repair work has to be paid for by customer.

 

[OffshoreGas]

For every job big or small I now provide about 3 pages of terms and conditions, it’s just a load of statements that have evolved from situations like this where something has gone wrong or could have gone wrong no matter how much care you take. It covers everything from moving furniture and lifting carpets to draining radiators and uncovering other problems.

As a business you’re kind of obliged to take things like this on the chin to avoid reputational damage, I think you’ve been more than fair in offering to waive your labor charge. Some customers will never be happy even if you retiled their whole bathroom. I’ve had a lot less of this sort of hassle since having a decent set of T&C’s.