Tiling in Monthey: floors, walls and wet rooms

Are you looking for a tiler in Monthey for a bathroom, a kitchen, a floor to redo or a terrace? Tiling in Monthey is carried out in varied settings: flats in the town centre, houses in residential districts, older buildings whose floors have moved. This page explains what the location changes for this work and how to prepare your request, which is passed on to craftspeople in the area to draw up a free quote with no obligation.

The most common tiling jobs in Monthey

The tiler’s trade, learnt through a CFC (Swiss federal vocational certificate), covers laying floor and wall tiles, screed, waterproofing under tiles in wet rooms, mosaic and natural stone. In Monthey, these skills are mainly used in a few situations.

• The bathroom. Replacing a bathtub with a shower, new wall tiles, redoing the grout: this is the most frequent request, in town-centre flats as well as in houses.
• The kitchen. Floor, splashback, sometimes both as part of a wider renovation.
• Entrance, hallway and utility room floors, which suffer wear and the moisture brought in from outside.
• Terraces and balconies, where the tiling must withstand rain, sun and frost.
• Underfloor heating, where the choice of tile and adhesive matters as much as the laying.

A town centre, residential districts, floors that are not alike

Monthey is a town in the Chablais region of Valais, at the mouth of the Val d’Illiez. It brings together a town centre, residential districts and, nearby, a major chemical site. This variety of buildings shows in the tiler’s work.

In the older buildings of the centre, floors are sometimes uneven: a slab that has moved, an old cracked screed, a level that varies from one room to the next. Laying large-format tiles directly on top gives poor results. The tiler then has to measure, level or redo the screed before laying. This preparatory work is invisible once finished, but it determines how long the tiling lasts.

In the residential districts, you mostly find detached houses and small apartment blocks. Projects there are often more complete: renovating a bathroom and the kitchen at the same time, creating a walk-in shower, replacing a living-room floor to install underfloor heating. In that case, coordination with the other trades is essential, particularly with the plumber for drainage and waterproofing.

Underfloor heating, waterproofing and frost: what the terrain and climate require

Central Valais has a Rhône valley climate that is rather dry and sunny, hot in summer, while the side valleys and resorts are cold and snowy. Monthey, with the mountains close by, sits at the junction of these two atmospheres, and this shows in terraces and outdoor access areas.

• Terraces and outdoor steps. Alternating frost and thaw damages badly chosen or badly laid tiling. A tile designed for outdoor use, a slope that drains water away and a suitable adhesive are indispensable. The summer sun, for its part, makes materials move in the other direction: movement joints matter.
• Wet rooms. A shower requires waterproofing under the tiles, with upstands at the corners and pipe penetrations treated with care. This is an item you can no longer see after laying: it must appear in the quote.
• Underfloor heating. It requires a suitable substrate, a respected screed drying time and an adhesive compatible with temperature variations. Tiling laid too early on a screed that is still damp can crack.
• Natural stone. Beautiful but sensitive to stains and moisture, it needs a protective treatment and maintenance suited to how the room is used.

Permit, landlord, co-ownership: the steps before you start

Laying new tiling indoors generally does not require a building permit. The situation changes as soon as the work affects the building envelope, a terrace on a facade or a protected property. In Valais, the building permit is issued by the municipality within the building zone, and by a cantonal commission outside it. To find out whether your project is concerned, contact the municipality of Monthey or the competent cantonal office before signing a quote.

If you are working on underfloor heating or related energy work, the cantonal energy and hydropower office is the one to ask, particularly about the cantonal subsidy programme: check with them whether your project meets its conditions, as these may change.

As for private agreements:

• Tenant: written consent from the landlord or managing agent before changing a floor or wall covering, with a clear statement of who pays.
• Owner in co-ownership: consult the co-ownership regulations. Terraces, balconies and screeds between floors may count as common parts, and sound insulation between homes is often regulated.
• House owner: no agreement to obtain, but the permit still needs to be checked for outdoor work.

Preparing your request and comparing tiling quotes in Monthey

The more precise your description, the more comparable the quotes. State:

1. the room or area concerned and its approximate surface area;
2. the current state of the floor (old tiling to remove, parquet, raw screed);
3. the type of tile you have in mind: porcelain stoneware, glazed wall tile, mosaic, natural stone, large or small format;
4. whether there is underfloor heating;
5. the floor, the access, whether there is a lift, since bags of adhesive and boxes of tiles have to be carried up;
6. your status: owner, tenant or co-owner.

A good quote itemises the removal of the existing covering, the disposal of rubble, the preparation of the substrate (levelling, screed), the waterproofing, the supply of the tiles or the fact that you provide them yourself, the laying, the grout and finishing items such as skirting boards and trims. If an item is missing, ask why.

The cost varies with the surface area, the format and material of the tile, the condition of the substrate, the complexity of the cuts, the waterproofing to be done and the accessibility of the site. Comparing several quotes lets you spot these differences. You can request a quote by describing your project: it is free and without obligation.

Useful links for your project in Monthey

• The trade page: tiling
• The town page: works in Monthey
• The canton page: canton of Valais
• In the same municipality: kitchen renovation in Monthey, thermal insulation in Monthey, plumber in Monthey