Am I being ripped off? ( Limestone)
 

Hi.

I'm paying £38+vat/m2 for limestone tiles. Its a fair sized order circa 60m2. I've also already bought quite a few £ks worth of bathroom tiles off him and so am a repeat customer.

I've seen limestone advertised from as little as £30/m2, but my man obviously says this is inferior, softer more filled stuff. Is this true?

His tiler ( he just supplies) charges £45/m2 to fit the stuff!!!!!!!! The supplier admits its not cheap but says he is an expert. The floor will extend from the reception hall to kitchen to conservatory and so getting everything well lined up is important.( Its all in a single sight line)

Am I being asked to pay top money for a top product or am I being ripped off?

Thanks

Have you seen the tiles?

what company are you buying from?

do you live anywhere near derbsyhire? only reason I ask is that there is a lot of limestone around here :)

Limestone is very soft, and is also porus!

watch the kids with orange juice and coke!!


Mart

Yes I've seen the tiles including the cheaper £30/m2 ones ( at a different supplier of course) and I can't tell much difference to be honest. The cheaper ones are much thicker though which my supplier says prove they are softer/weaker and hence have to be thicker. Also samples from a 'cheap' dealer may not represent the stuff you actually get

As another example 'my supplier' sells crem fil marble for £60m2 whereas the cheaper guy sells it at £40/m2. My guy says crem fil at that price is full of resin filler and poor quality.

I don't mind paying good money for good stuff but don't want to pay more for no reason

I've been told that as long as you seal it twice a year its no probs. Is that true?

Some limestone is very hard. It wouldn't be used to face public buildings if it wasn't. It all depends on the quality. Poorly-lithified limestone IS full of voids and soft crappy cements. These have to be filled. You definitely gets what you pays for. And pay for a proper fitter too. You don't want your top-quality tiles cracking- they're not like ceramic, they won't stand a crap substrate or voids under the cement.

Good luck. :)

Thanks. So basically I should pay for a better (hopefully!) product and expert fitter as it does make a difference.

Have you had a price for a different tile and a less expert fitter? If you have, is there a massive difference? I want to do my bathroom with limestone myself. :)

Deep - we had 60m2 of tilind laid in our kitchen and it cost more to fit than to buy.

Really good floor layers are hard to come across (ours wasn't really good enough).

Make sure you price in tile cement - at around £18 plus VAT a bag you could be in for quite a shock when you uses 20 plus bags!!!

The floor needs to be completely levelled and then the tile cement laid for the tiles to fit on and then grout. If it is £45m2 including materials then you are laughing. If not then allow £60m2.

If it is sealed twice a year you will be fine.

Oh, and £38 is a pretty good price for good limestone tiles - you can easily pay twice that!!


If you want a reference quote try these guys - they only do very good quality stuff.

http://www.lapicida.com/gallery.html

I also have a local contact who can get any type of stone at wholesale prices - he is very, very good - pm if you want to get a price. It can be delivered anywhere.

Rannoch :D

Thanks guys that makes me feel better. It just that when you see things advertised for much cheaper you need to make sure you are paying more for a reason.

Bubba, yes. Less expert fitter approx £25-30m2. I think (especially after reading other peoples comments here) that they are fine for normal tiles perhaps but not real stone. Especially if you are fussy about finish like me.
I've seen limestone tiles for £20/m2 and they are ****e. If you are going to use real stone it probably pays to get the better stuff.

Well, I'm not a tiler (I'm not bonny, either, but that's another story) but I do know my rocks. A fine-grained, lightly fossiliferous limestone like Portland Best Bed ought to be as hard-wearing as most other flooring products, whereas some loosely-compacted and poorly-cemented types of limestone could well be a nightmare. :)