13th July 2023
Bright and early the grout man arrived. We, however we’re not so bright, Kelli could not get off to sleep which affected me, collectively we were numb and tired.
He got on mixing his stuff, I set up things to work outside. This was all before breakfast, would you believe? I managed to make a coffee so I could stand upright.
Within half an hour he was done, and off, I went inside to view the finished results.
All along the row that sat next to some existing tiles on the wall, he had to cut to fit, were all chipped. The grouting really highlighted this fault, and we were not impressed.
We sat and ate our breakfast, I was seething, this was unacceptable and I intended to get it fixed.
I decided to cycle to the tile store which was about four miles away. I thought the cool air would calm my anger.
I arrived at the store, walking to the back where the administration desk was positioned.
“We have a problem” I announced, and showed the lady pictures I had taken, showing the damaged tiles.
“Oh” she uttered, “I’m not sure what can be done to stop these tiles from chipping” her voice slipped into a dull and bored drone.
“It’s a characteristic of this tile, normally we would grind the edge to smooth out the chip”.
“ it’s a shame he didn’t do it, wasn’t it?” I threw in my winning hand.
“ Well I will check if there is anything that can be done and let you know, have a nice day”.
“Have a nice day?” I thought, “bugger that, I still have the balance to pay” I felt smug to have that leverage.
Once I got back, I had drawer fronts to strip.
We also sold a dresser and the pair of white side tables.
A chap turned up, excited at what we did, he made me an offer, I countered, and he agreed, DONE!
The tile man called Kelli saying he would be over shortly.
I was still stripping drawers when he arrived, I sensed he was a bit pissed, but what the heck?.
I showed him what we didn’t like.
“ Oh that’s a problem with those kinda tiles, I don’t think I can improve on that” he confessed.
“Well something has to be done, we can’t live with that” I replied.
“All I can do is to cut more tiles and see how they turn out” he said reluctantly.
He off loaded his saw, setting it up in a “I don’t think this will work” kind of manner.
He grabbed a couple of tiles and adjusted the saw to the correct width.
He handed me the first sample, it was chipped, but not as bad as the ones he had fitted.
“ I think I can improve that if I rub it on my diamond stone” I said taking it from him.
A few rubs and there was a bit more improvement, I showed it to Kelli, we both suggested that it should be turned so that the good side is on the top.
“ If thats what you want” tile man responded.
So that’s what he did, and the end result was
Acceptable. Off he went, and about twenty seconds later the invoice for the balance hit my email inbox.
If I’m honest, I think I would have done a better job, our tile man, a professional of twenty five years did not inspire much confidence.
There have been a number of issues with this kitchen project.
1. The tap had the wrong colour nozzle
2. The corian top dimension was out by 1/4” against the wood top.
3. The wood top was bowed.
4. Chipped tiles.
The only thing that wasn’t a disaster were the doors and drawers, and that was my responsibility. Result!
Another Lifetime to go 