Al Valori
1/5
Don't pay this company in advance - they can't be trusted...!
Having contracted to Floor Flow to prepare the insulation and lay 165 sq. metres of Anhydrite screed at my first new-build project, at a cost of some £4550 ex VAT (all paid in advance), I simultaneously booked them to return and carry out the recommended sanding of the surface 10 days after to ensure it would dry before tiling, which was planned three months later. The preparation was done satisfactorily and the screed laid professionally, albeit by a sub-contractor from Newcastle, not Floor Flow themselves, as they do not have their own equipment. Being unfamiliar with what was involved in the grinding, I felt it was best left to the 'so called experts' to carry out this work. Having paid a further £375 ex VAT (again, paid in advance), to grind the floor surface, I anticipated quite an involved job and expected it to be done properly, anticipating probably a days work. Two of their operatives spent one hour with two relatively blunt grinders and removed virtually nothing from the surface and commented that the floor 'was harder than they expected' and 'very little surface latience was present'. They had arrived, unloaded, whizzed round and left within one hour and twenty minutes! For £375 plus VAT.....
At the time I presumed that the few fine 'swirl marks' that had been left in the floor surface was sufficient to let the floor 'breathe' and therefore dry accordingly. Little did I know...!
70 days later and the floor was still at 99% relative humidity having been tested with both a BAL Hygrometer and a Wullf Hydrometer. The tillers were asked their opinion and they advised it had not been ground off correctly and that it would not dry until it was done and the tiles would not adhere to it if left as it was. I hired a diamond grinder and it took 7 hours each pass to do the whole floor and this was done three times over across two days. Placing a 20kg bag of adhesive on top of the machine for added effect, we removed the equivalent of approximately 15 x 25 kg bags of surface latience (anhydrite powder) from the floor. Two industrial dehumidifiers were then hired and run continuously for three weeks at the end of which the floor read below 50% relative humidity and was safe to tile. The whole process was photographed and videoed. Having now realised what could be achieved when ground off properly, I approached Floor Flow requesting a refund for the grinding they had attempted on the basis it had not been done correctly, given they had removed virtually nothing from the floor and yet charged me £375 for an hours poor workmanship. I supplied them photographs and videos of the floor showing it before (how they left it), during (showing video of the volume of latience being removed) and after (the finished ground surface and readings from the meters). The total process of equipment and labour hire cost me an additional £1100 to get the floor ready for tiling! Had Floor Flow done this correctly at the prescribed 10 day point, this would not have been necessary and the floor would have been even drier than what I have achieved since.
To date Floor Flow have failed to respond to my request yet their own web site states this "We believe it’s our excellent service that makes us stand out. You can rely on our expertise throughout the whole process so you can be sure you’re making the right decisions. With many years’ experience in the industry, and a background in construction, we’ve not had a problem we can’t overcome to date.
Team Manager on-site: your Team Manager will visit the site so, on the rare occasion that there is an issue, we can resolve it there and then."
Well, in my experience you can't believe everything you read and I strongly suggest you don't pay this company in advance for any element of their work because you just don't know what you are going to get from them. I certainly would not use them again or recommend them to anyone!
