One of my biggest frustrations in the field of waterproofing is the lack or respect and appreciation of my trade…

Today I went to look at a job that I received a lead on yesterday; a nice job that needs waterproofing for tiling over. It was way out in the back country of SLO County, off Huer Huero Rd in Creston. Big ranch style house, certainly a million dollar home.

The contractor, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty, when he was on the phone with me became a little belligerent when he asked me what system I would use… He said “I know what Deck Tech (a local competitor in Grover Beach) does for tile, what do you do?”

I simply told him that until I looked at it, I wouldn’t know, nor make a decision on until I got there. So off I went this morning, out Hwy 58 through Santa Margarita out to Creston. I arrived at the house to find what you see in the pictures…

The contractor told me that they were putting on a 1 1/2″ mortar bed over my waterproofing to put the tile onto. I said can I raise a couple questions? Sure, he said, go ahead…

Well said I, there’s a few issues that need to be addressed…”I don’t believe the substrate and framing are suitable for tiling over…it’s 2″ x 8″ construction, it’s 3/4″ OSB over that, and the joists are only 16″ on center. Plus your OSB is not an approved substrate for waterproofing over, it’s in upside down, and it’s not gapped. Plus there’s no blocking at the seams . My opinion is that you need 2″ x10″ framing, 10″ on center, and you need to have at least another 5/8″ sheet of plywood on top. I think they’ll be deflection, which will cause the tile to crack, the waterproofing to fail, and we both get sued…”

That’s when the contractor told me that he didn’t need my services…whew! Like I was going to take this job as it was and accept the risk of this job failing…

So off I went, thankful I am smart enough to walk away from idiot contractors who think they’re smarter than me. There are still 4 more companies in the phone book for him to call…one of them I’m sure will be hungry enough for work to allow them to ignore the signs of trouble.