Contractor Droppings on vinyl tile

[Greg G]

Workmen can be a troublesome and messy species. Vinyl tile went down in office bathroom before the rest of the place was completely done. Contractor's workers marked their territory with two colors of paint, drywall compound, cove base adhesive, etc. There are many different sizes of paint marks, from the size of a roller to (hundreds of) tiny specks. The paint, I believe is all latex.

The tile is very generic vinyl tile, no texture, but not very shiny either. It has the mottled grey effect of a fifties rec room floor.

Ideas?

Greg Guarino

[Doug Kanter]

Yeah. Have the floor ripped up and replaced. The floor always goes down last. If this isn't possible, head to the supermarket or hardware store. Get some Goo-Gone and kneepads, and get to work.

[sleepdog]

You got time to complain about it but no time to roll up your sleaves?

[jim menning]

Call the contractor about cleaning up the damage they did?

jim menning

[Bob]

After any flooring is installed, workers normally put something down to protect it. Do not try to clean it yourself unless you're positive you can get it all off. Before you do anything, take close-up pictures. Then talk to the contractor. If he doesn't fix it to your satisfaction, file a claim with his insurance. If he says he doesn't have insurance, then file a claim with your insurance, and they will go after the contractor or sub-contractor. Be sure to write down everything, including when you first noticed it, who did it, any comments made, and any action taken.

[RicodJour]

Point it out to the contractor and ask him to clean it up. It's no big deal - it'll probably take a guy half an hour.

Did you used to live on Shoreview Road when you were a kid?

R

[trader4]

"Before you do anything, take close-up pictures. Then talk to the contractor. If he doesn't fix it to your satisfaction, file a claim with his insurance. If he says he doesn't have insurance, then file a claim with your insurance, and they will go after the contractor or sub-contractor. "

Yeah, and your insurance company most likely raise your rates or drop you. Plus, most have deductibles high enough that for a bathroom vinyl floor, you'll wind up with zippo anyway. If it's just some latex paint and spackle, sounds like something the contractor can just clean up in an hour. Have you asked him?

[Bob]

His insurance company will go after the contractor and his insurance company. His rates will not go up, because the claim will not be charged to him.

[RicodJour]

I don't follow your logic on this one at all. There's only a little cleanup necessary - there's no damage. With no damage, there's no claim.

R

[Norminn]

We had good results using Formula 409 to removed dried paint from parquet floor, formica cabinets and other wood. Someone brought the painter too much beer - overspray all over the place. We used everything, plastic scrapers, scrubbers, etc. Hot water helps, and I've taken dried latex paint off lots of other stuff.

[Greg G]

That may not be possible for reasons I won't get into, which is why I posted the question.

Nope.

Greg Guarino

[trader4]

"I don't follow your logic on this one at all. There's only a little cleanup necessary - there's no damage. With no damage, there's no claim. "

Nor do I. And he obviously thinks insurance companies won't drop you or raise your rates unless they pay out on a claim. That isn't true. Insurance companies can use just about any criteria they want when they decide to drop you. Just making a claim, whether they wind up paying out or not, has certainly caused some policies to be canceled. Especially if you already have some other criteria against you.

[Bob]

[RicodJour]

The OP has alluded to some problem with the contractor, so he can't ask the guy to clean it up. That leaves him with doing it himself or hring someone to do it. The cove base adhesive will come off just fine with Goof Off, the joint compound with water and the latex paint splatters with just a little rubbing with a scrub pad and some water. it's not a big job.

Having to deal with an insurance company would probably suck down more time than it would take to clean the floor. And as another post mentioned, the insurance company doesn't really need a reason to drop you. There doesn't have to be a payout for them to consider you a liability they'd be better off not servicing.

R

[David Martel]

Ricord,

You wrote:

I see an original post and a reply to you by the OP. In neither post does he make any claim of problems with the contractor. He does say that it may not be possible to point out these problems to the contractor. I think that he should attempt to send a letter and pictures of the problem to the contractor and his insurer. If no one responds in a reasonable amount of time then pay some to clean up the problem or correct and sue in small claims if the clean up is expensive.

Dave M.

[Bob]

If he doesn't get any response from the contractor, he should notify his home-owners insurance. They will pay for it, and go after the contractor. It should not go against his record with his insurance company.

[RicodJour]

You must have missed the post where the OP wrote this in response to my suggestion: ">Point it out to the contractor and ask him to clean it up. It's no big

That may not be possible for reasons I won't get into, which is why I posted the question. "

That's the allusion to problems with the contractor. For his mysterious reasons, he can't.

I don't know why people are assuming the floor is a disaster. From the OP's description it's a pretty trivial job - an hour or two at most. Even mentioning something that small to an insurance company would be a mistake. The small claims court suggestion does have some merit. In NY there are advantages and disadvantages to it, but it will still suck down someone's time and energy. For something this small it makes sense to get it cleaned up, even if you have to pay someone $25 or $50 and move on. It's not worth doing anything else.

R

[Jeff Wisnia]

Well then, did you have a relative named Nick Guarino who worked in aerospace in the Boston area in the 60s? He would have been about 30-35 years old then.

Photo of him here circa 1962:

That silly looking probe sticking out of the tip of that rocket was the kind of stuff we had to cobble together from whatever was available in those days. AIR I made the center column out of one of those "appearing canes" from a magic shop, assisted by a couple of nested coil springs

Thanks for the mammaries...

Jeff

[RicodJour]

Looks more like one of those space age cocktail shakers - economy size. Good cover story, though. ;)

The guy I knew had a brother named Peter Guarino - we used to watch Fireball XL5, that 1960s kids TV show that featured marionettes as the actors, robots and spaceships. Maybe there's something in the name/genes that attracts them to that spacey stuff...

R