How does your Bathroom look...

[Hank W.]

Thats why I am coming all the way over from England! to teach the finnish boys how plumbing and heating is really done

Yea, we know.

[Karhunkoski]

While I've defended the high quality of Finnish Workmanship here several times, the simple truth is that for almost half a year now I've been doing nothing but repair work on new houses and one of them isn't even finished. With this building boom, the good workers are too far and few between and there is a lot of junk out there now, sad to say. Anyway it looks like I'm going to busy for awhile.

Yes I remember

I think I called them, "alcoholic, disinterested and useless tosspots"

[hychamaz]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. The boss of the company came to look at the finished work and wound up spending 4 hours here making things right (or I should say as close to acceptable as they can be). When addressed as to why he didnt use bullnose tiles, he responded that "I can't be a mind reader". Dumb answer, oh well. He finally put a thin layer of the blue silicone down the edge so I guess its not that noticeable anymore. As far as all of the tiles that were cut crooked. He told us that it didnt matter if tiles were cut crooked but that enough silicone was used along all of the edges to cover this. So he proceeded to put really thick lines of silicone down all of the corners. I'm not happy about that but what did I really expect, for him to replace all of those crooked tiles.
He wound up pulling up all of the silicone around the base of the toilet and re-did it much neater. He explained that sometimes the plumbers dont have steady hands. He also fixed our wobbly light switch after telling us that the electrician used 2 too big screws to hold the switch to the wall under the plastic plate.
I promised myself that I would really try to not get my blood pressure up too much but when I heard why the ceiling didnt look right I just laughed. According to him the housing company pays for the painting of the ceiling. Now heres the kicker. He told us that the housing company only allows for 1 coat of paint and that it would have taken 2 coats to cover it. So only 1 coat of paint was applied. I think that we could have afforded the 10 minutes (at most) that a second coat would have taken to apply.
So in all thats how it will be for now. I learned a few lessons here. With all of these shortages of skilled laborers I cant just trust this "Sisu" that I always read about. Also. Check projects yourself as they are going on.

[Jukka Aho]

When addressed as to why he didnt use bullnose tiles, he responded that "I can't be a mind reader". Dumb answer, oh well.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen those used much in Finland, actually. Could be something you need to specifically request, instead of assuming that they would be used automatically, and for which you need to pay some extra.

[hychamaz]

When addressed as to why he didnt use bullnose tiles, he responded that "I can't be a mind reader". Dumb answer, oh well.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen those used much in Finland, actually. Could be something you need to specifically request, instead of assuming that they would be used automatically, and for which you need to pay some extra.

Please read the entire post. I would have gladly paid more as I said.

[Jukka Aho]

When addressed as to why he didnt use bullnose tiles, he responded that "I can't be a mind reader". Dumb answer, oh well.

Come to think of it, I haven’t seen those used much in Finland, actually. Could be something you need to specifically request, instead of assuming that they would be used automatically, and for which you need to pay some extra.

Please read the entire post. I would have gladly paid more as I said.

The price was not my (main) point. The point was that if using bullnose tiles isn’t the standard practice around these parts – and from what I can tell, it doesn’t seem to be – the general expectation (on the part of the local construction/renovation company) might be that you need to be active in voicing your wishes and requests about these sort of “special touches”... much in the same way you would need to be active if you wanted a specific sort of luxury faucet or shower head, or certain kind of ornamental tiles, or a countertop made of marble or granite instead of cheap laminated chipboard or MDF or whatever it is they would install by default. Hence the comment about “reading minds”.

Different countries have different ideas and expectations about the “normal” way of doing things – or about a “standard” level of finishing touches in a newly renovated bathroom. While the other things you mentioned seem to suggest sloppy workmanship or incompetence, not using bullnose tiles for the corners does not fall into that category as such, in my opinion. It’s not exactly anyone’s fault that you didn’t know that that’s not the standard practice here... it’s more like just one of those “live and learn” kind of things.

[enk]

Slightly OT, but what are bullnose tiles in Finnish?

-enk

[karen]

This thread has made me look at my toilet in a different light. I had always assumed that the previous owners had done the shoddy job, but now I'm not so sure. It could have been "professionals." I'll have to take a picture of the tile job. It's pretty bad.

[Mattlill2000]

Bullnose tiles aren't used regularly here and most likely have to ordered special, if they can be found at all. Tiles are sold by the boxes here and I'm sure nobody doing a tiling job would require a whole box of bullnose tiles. Go to any store that sells tiles and see for yourself if bullnose tiles are there. Maybe Finlands location and small product shipment may dictate this.

He told us that the housing company only allows for 1 coat of paint and that it would have taken 2 coats to cover it. So only 1 coat of paint was applied. I think that we could have afforded the 10 minutes (at most) that a second coat would have taken to apply.

Now look at it in my shoes when I'm instructed to try and cover an area with one coat of paint. All of new construction uses only one primer coat and one final coat. Then complaints come in on how poorly painted the surface is....And that is why almost everything is painted with "painter's white" because if you really slap on the paint, it will cover in one coat. Anything with a bit of colour usually requires two coats for a decent job. Fortunately I'm in a position that I can talk directly to the owner and go through the entire renovation instead of going by the rules. Yes you should try and be present as much as possible during the renovation.

[Jukka Aho]

Slightly OT, but what are bullnose tiles in Finnish?

I’m not sure. Porraslaatta, askelmalaatta, or jiirilaatta, I think. Or probably not the last one, since it seems to refer to a flat chamfer or fillet (angle bevel) instead of a rounded edge:

“Ulkonurkat voit tehdä usealla eri tavalla; Voit käyttää valmiita jiirilaattoja (useisiin laattamalleihin kuuluu myös valmiita jiirilaattoja). Voit viistää itse jiirin reunalaattoihin. Laattaliikkeissä myydään jiiriin tarkoitettuja listoja, jotka helpottavat jiirin tekoa. Kulman voi tehdä myös niin (ehkä yleisin tapa), että näkyvän puolen laatan ulkoreuna asetetaan vähemmän näkyvän laatan ulkoreunan tasoon. [...] Nurkat ja liikuntasaumat (kohdat, joissa rakenne voi elää tai kaksi eri aineista seinää yhdistyy) tiivistetään saniteettisilikonisaumalla.” — http://www.kylpyhuone.com/laatoitus.htm

[Hank W.]

It’s not exactly anyone’s fault that you didn’t know that that’s not the standard practice here... it’s more like just one of those “live and learn” kind of things.

"Things everybody knows but nobody tells you".

[chickensexer]

Sorry, majorly OT but what is "Sisu"?

[zax]

Sorry, majorly OT but what is "Sisu"?

It's what keeps you going when you're arguing with the tilers, their arrogant "take it or leave it"" boss and finally their £$€¤%& lawyer when you refuse to pay an inflated charge for 50% more work than was actually done, all of which was done with poor quality and lack of attention to detail, and some of which was done by a mystery worker who just happened to be 250km away on the day he claimed he was at your house when filling out his timesheet

Sorry, this thread brought back a few memories

[Jukka Aho]

Sorry, majorly OT but what is "Sisu"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sisu

[mrjimsfc]

I once knew a contractor with the motto "Quality even where it doesn't show". You can't find many of those guys anymore.