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.
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no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 01:51 pm (UTC)They don't tell you because they can't. It's a dark secret shared only amongst members of the inner circle. People who are suspected of passing on the smooth-finish-bath-sealant secret are subject to the full sanctions of Freemasonry, up to and including expulsion. And they deliberately write the instructions on the "easy-apply" tubes of stuff to ensure maximum profit when we call them in after foolishly making the attempt ourselves.
Safest and easiest thing is to move house, I reckon.
Mike
Geoff C - Getting a bloke in
Date: 2005-05-23 02:25 pm (UTC)I can't think what you were doing even attempting the project anyway. Do you do the decorating? Would you rewire the electrics? Could you do your own Tax Return?
The world is full of tasks that you can do at the expense of (a) time, (b) quality of workmanship and (c) nuisance. One of the delights of self-employment is that I have the option of going in to a comfy office and earning extra money at rates in excess of what I have to pay the decorator. This way he gets work, I get the job done in 3 days instead of me taking weeks and ending up doing a job that is second-rate at best.
Plus of course I have amongst the clients a gas fitter, a plumber and a decorator who know it's not in their interests to rip me off. So when Chris comes to fit our new bathroom, he'd better get the grouting right.
Re: Geoff C - Getting a bloke in
Date: 2005-05-23 03:05 pm (UTC)My wife has been trying on and off for months to get someone in to fix a wobbly loo and give us a garden tap (so we don't have to run a hose through the bathroom window).
She found a solution: a plumber who was keen to get some lucrative work at the estate agency where she works. He did our little job efficiently in just over an hour, for 140 euros in cash. But I don't know if that's cheap or expensive, having had little experience of plumbers.
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.