That is so true. My grandfather in his 80s with Parkinsons would have cut the tiles better in his day.mrjimsfc wrote:I once knew a contractor with the motto "Quality even where it doesn't show". You can't find many of those guys anymore.
Very very well put! That was one of the reasons why we actually waited to complain to the boss and not to the tiler as we were imagining what he could have done with his time card.zax wrote: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
I completely hear you, Just seems strange that they arent used here as I cant seem to find any pictures on the web of a bathroom that doesnt use them. Every Do it yourself website that I have visited also tells you to use these. They are also special order for most tiles in the States but everyone still uses them. I found on one website that it said bullnose tiles are more common than a border tile (and the boss reccomended that we use a decorative border which we did). Must be a shipment thing. Thank you for your previous advice too, the bead of silicone has made the unfinished edge look a lot better.Mattlill2000 wrote: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.
As far as the paint goes. The ceiling was originally white. I guess it yellowed a little since it was originally done. I wish they would have used this "painters white" as the watered down white they used shows very clearly where the guy cut in th ecorners with a brush (a much brighter white) and where he rolled it on much too thin. You are right though, I didnt know the "rules" but will be much more attentive when our next project (probably the kitchen) is done.
I guess you are right. It still bothers me though that the 9000 brochures of bathrooms that we got from all over the greater Helsinki area didnt show me one bathroom with an unfinished tile side. But I understand thats the way I guess they do it here. When in Rome...Jukka Aho wrote: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.
Gotta go, I see the inspector is here now to check everything out for their final ok. Thanks
Alright that was quick, the inspector from the Independant Building Inspector Company just came by. Now I feel better. He says that YES bullnose tiles are definately commonly used here in Finland and they SHOULD have given us that option. He said that of course it would have cost more but we SHOULD have been given a choice. He said that he sees them used all the time. Also, he said that since these guys used a thick line of silicone down the edges that we should have the room re-siliconed every 3 years.
