DNDIY (Do Not Do It Yourself)
May. 23rd, 2005 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksI tried to re-attach some bathroom tiles to the wall over the weekend. The problem had partly been caused by my failure (well, the plumber's failure) to bother to "grout" some tiles after he installed a couple of new on/off switches on the pipes to the shower. Over the years, the water presumably seeped in, causing the bottom tiles to come loose.
Now, DIY and I are not great friends. First of all, I returned from the DIY shop, utterly unaware that tile grout and tile adhesive were two completely different things. I discovered this after I had mixed up a small piece of grout and then read that I should wait "at least 24 hours for the tile adhesive to dry thoroughly". Oh.
I kludged my way round this and finally managed to re-secure most of the tiles. Unfortunately, the net result of this was (a) two split tiles and (b) some slightly detached waterproofing stuff between the tiles and the bath.
So, the net result was probably not really plus EV. I think that I need to get the bathroom re-tiled.
Unfortunately, if I attempted this myself, the DIY books I have to hand would not be much use. Nearly all of them tell you how to tile a bathroom. None of them seem to tell me how to re-tile a bathroom (i.e., how to get the tiles that are already there, off; how to smooth out the walls with the least trouble and, most vitally, how to apply that cool squidgy stuff that waterproofs the area between the tile and the bath and the wall).
Also, the guides on tile cutting are, er, less than clear.
So, you might say "get someone in". Well, if you do say that, you obviously don't live in London. "Getting someone in" to do any job that's worth less than three grand seems to be a downright impossibility these days. People just don't turn up. I want to "get someone in" to do the ceiling, but even getting them to come round to give me a quote seems downright impossible. And it's hardly surprising, given the number of far more profitable major contracts that are floating around.
Now, DIY and I are not great friends. First of all, I returned from the DIY shop, utterly unaware that tile grout and tile adhesive were two completely different things. I discovered this after I had mixed up a small piece of grout and then read that I should wait "at least 24 hours for the tile adhesive to dry thoroughly". Oh.
I kludged my way round this and finally managed to re-secure most of the tiles. Unfortunately, the net result of this was (a) two split tiles and (b) some slightly detached waterproofing stuff between the tiles and the bath.
So, the net result was probably not really plus EV. I think that I need to get the bathroom re-tiled.
Unfortunately, if I attempted this myself, the DIY books I have to hand would not be much use. Nearly all of them tell you how to tile a bathroom. None of them seem to tell me how to re-tile a bathroom (i.e., how to get the tiles that are already there, off; how to smooth out the walls with the least trouble and, most vitally, how to apply that cool squidgy stuff that waterproofs the area between the tile and the bath and the wall).
Also, the guides on tile cutting are, er, less than clear.
So, you might say "get someone in". Well, if you do say that, you obviously don't live in London. "Getting someone in" to do any job that's worth less than three grand seems to be a downright impossibility these days. People just don't turn up. I want to "get someone in" to do the ceiling, but even getting them to come round to give me a quote seems downright impossible. And it's hardly surprising, given the number of far more profitable major contracts that are floating around.
Re: Geoff C - Getting a bloke in
Date: 2005-05-23 03:07 pm (UTC)-- Jonathan, near Barcelona
Re: Geoff C - Getting a bloke in
Date: 2005-05-23 05:55 pm (UTC)The thing about Geoff's point is that, much though he might deny it, he is part of this arcane conspiracy. He's just a plumber with spreadsheets who gets people out of a different type of liquid mess (in Geoff's case, often an illiquid mess). Since he, like plumbers, provides an individual service for a lot of people, then plumbers, or plasterers, or brickies, are as behoven to him as he is to them.
With me, there is less balance. What am I going to offer, to do their marketing material? To write their ads in Yellow Pages? And what is my threat if they fuck up? That I will sneak in a typographical error? The immediate image of the big boy at school going "Ooooh, I'm Scared!" in mock sarcasm springs irresistibly to mind.
Re: Geoff C - Getting a bloke in
Date: 2005-05-24 11:26 am (UTC)Your problem isn't really your sphere - it's the fact that you're in employment. If the writing sideline was more predictable you could always spend the time on that kind of thing but I guess your work on that kind of thing doesn't really pay well by the hour.