Dear MB-
I know there is a dead horse in here some where........
but you;re just not "getting it"
++++++++Having laid a bit of tile myself and having worked in a tile store for a short period may have something to do with it. I will not accept shoddy work. Which is why I always warn anyone working on my house upfront. If you'll accept shoddy work that's your business.
But I agree with the consensus that .5 mm is nothing to complain about.
I think it's a little odd that a post will set off an intense discussion, but the OP never reappears or adds info. I suspect perhaps the measurement was intended to be cm., not mm. A half mm. just doesn't make any sense.
do you really find that odd? :-P
not odd at all...this is the internet
cheers Bob
.
My point is:
you cant pay for a Yugo and expect a Cadillac, that's all
Paying top dollar and getting shoddy work is a bummer. Expecting perfection when one pays bargain rates is abusive.
Consider painting..... blemish free / top quality results require careful prep, good painting skills & sufficient, good quality paint. If the customer is only will to pay for one coat & doesn't want you to spend much time on prep and wants the prime coat omitted......whose fault is it when the results suck? Is the painter supposed to make up the difference out of his own pocket?
You get what you pay for ....... if you're vigilant, lucky or hire good people.
cheers Bob
In the building industry, when using these larger format tiles 1/8" is the threshold for ripping it out and 1/16 or less is the goal. That is according to someone who built over 100 high end houses in the
2005-2007 time frame.
That's what I was thinking too. .5mm is about 1/50 of an inch. That would certainly seem to me to be within reasonable standards.
I think the dresser had metal glides.
I'd noticed the uneveness before the dresser, but had nothing with which to measure it. I usually bring tools, but now they want 15 dollars to check one bag, so I just took a carry-on. Even then I had to make sure my screwdrivers were 7 inches or less. I wouldn't have brought a memeasure of any sort anyhow, unless I drove.
Maybe it was more. It seemed uneven to me, and that even I could have done a better job. But maybe the apartment (condo) came with the tile installed, in which case it was good enough. I'll go again next year and bring a ruler with a strastraight edge.
Hey, some weeks, I have a life. I went to dinner at friends last night. Had to get dressed two hours after I OPosted. Did real work all day today. Now it's 5PM, and Verizon doesn't seem to be working.
I rebooted the DSL and the computer, but I don't feel like making phone calls. I don't know when this will get posted. Well, either they fixed something, or Verizon had disconnected me for non-payment (although maybe not since my phone still worked) but Verizon now lets you pay 24 hours every day, for 3 dollars, and says it restores in about 30 minutes. But I spent more than 30 minutes replacing my monitor, since the old one was failing. Anyhow, now it's 8:30.
I suspect perhaps
A half centimeter would be outrageious Maybe it was a full millimeter. All I had was my fingers.
With my fingers!
I didn't have any tools and it's a newly occupied 2BR apartment with no tools and not even a wood yardstick. I didn't see anything to use as a straight edge, except maybe emptying and removing a dresser drawer, but it wasn't my place to do that.
I don't know if the floor tiles were level or not, but they weren't the same height. At first I thought my SIL had hired a sloppy handyman to install this, but it's in Florida and now I hear it may have been installed years ago.
Tools? A dresser drawer...? Either you've addled your brain with injudicious use of recreational pharmaceuticals, or you're a troll. A straightedge is never further away than a piece of paper.
Feeling something with your fingers might be the way to go if you're a proctologist, but it's no way to judge anything except very fine work. When my eyes no longer are sharp enough to tell if a taping job is smooth enough for paint, or if I need to sand/scrape a bit more on woodwork, I let my fingers do the work. Tile work isn't taping or making furniture.
But, please do go back next year and check and let us know the exact measurement. When you post, ask for Mr. Blue - I'll be holding my breath until then.
R
Do like I did- buy a set of the essential tools of 'good enough' quality, and HIDE them at each relative's house, so they are there when I visit and need them. Harbor Freight, Big Lots, Sears sale flyer. Just buy them there, next time you visit. (And with how often the airlines lose my suitcase for a day or two on my trips, I also keep a couple changes of clothes and a fresh toothbrush stashed at each relative's place, but I digress...) A plastic box under the guest room bed should be plenty big enough for your 'home away from home'.
-- aem sends...
That's a good idea. Although it can't be under the bed. In the guest room, all there are are two twin mattresses on the floor!
I don't think a folded piece of paper would be stiff enough for this use. At any rate, there was loads to do, and I left several jobs undone when my visit was over. (some windows didn't stay up, some hurricane shutters wouldn't latch, screen for the turbo bathtub too big and wouldn't go in place. Receptacles had layers of paint. No door on guest room. Door on linen closet not hinged.) There was nothing I could do about the floor, so it got no more time than it did.
If you can't determine if there's a noticeable change in height between two tiles with the straight edge of a piece of paper, whether folded or not, then there is no gap to speak of and you're looking for problems and finding them where there aren't any.
It's also an APARTMENT. I hope you didn't point out your imaginary problem to your brother in his new place. A large part of being helpful is learning when to keep your mouth shut.
R
Ah. A valuable answer, Smitty. Thanks a lot.
The apartment needs a lot of work. This isn't go>In the building industry, when using these larger format tiles 1/8" is
Also a good answer. It definitely wasn't an eigjth. Despite what I said, it might possibly have been 1/16, especially since I checked only a small part of the floor. I'm sending this to myself as email and if my brother still owns it next year, I'll remember your dimensions and check again.
Interesting to me too. Thanks.
Dang it. I told you in the first post that there was a noticeable change in height. Lots of places.
And in the previous post, I told you why I didnt' have time to investigate further while I was there.
I shouldn't have said it might be less than 0.5 mm without saying it might also be more. And I'd give you 2 to 1 odds that the differences are between 0.5 mm and 1 mm.
All I wanted to know was if 0.5 mm is within professional standards, not all this other advice you've been giving me.
No. There are plenty of problems with the floor, every place adjoining tiles aren't the same height.
It's a condo. He owns it. And the tile floor is in every room.
No, of course not, and not because they're imaginary.
That applies to you too.
A quick sanity check is to put a 1 foot ruler over the joint and see if you can push a nickel under it.
So, to sum things up:
- an apartment is a condo
- you're a handy guy with tools, but you can't figure out how to find a straightedge*
- you shouldn't have said it was one measurement because it might have been more
Dude, even if you're not, you are a troll.
R
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