Preparation is the job
A tiler is only as good as the surface underneath. In Romford houses that usually means overboarding a springy timber floor, self-levelling a screed that has dipped, or flattening a wall that is 15mm out over two metres before anything is set out. We price preparation openly rather than tiling over a problem and blaming the building later.
RM1 to RM7 substrates
Romford is dense Edwardian and 1930s terraces and semis across RM1 to RM7, with the Gidea Park garden-suburb stock and post-war estates in between. Terraced RM houses share party walls, so noisy work is scheduled sensibly and pipework is clipped and insulated rather than left to knock all night. That decides the boarding, adhesive class and whether a decoupling layer is needed, and it goes in the quote as a visible line.
Large format and natural stone
Tiles over 600x1200 need full back-buttering, a flat bed and laser-checked levels or every lip shows in raking light. Marble and light stone are sealed before grouting and fixed in white adhesive so nothing bleeds through.
Wet rooms and tanking
Wet areas get cement or foam board, two-coat tanking with taped joints and reinforced corners, formed falls and a linear drain. Tanking is never skipped to hit a price.
Tiling across Romford
Romford is around forty-five minutes from Bishop’s Stortford, so jobs are booked as continuous days — set out, fix, grout, silicone — rather than trailing over three weeks. Gidea Park garden-suburb properties have original details worth keeping, and we work around period joinery and floors instead of ripping everything out by default.