Becoming an expert isn’t as hard as you think
When this house is over with, I think I will know more about house renovation than I ever cared to know. Steve – my contractor – said to me the other day when we were going over something – “when you do your next house, and there will be a next house” – I just looked at him like he was a gone pecan – I want to be buried in the back of the LaLa. Meanwhile, Christian who did my glass tile work and came highly recommended from Stafford Tile where I bought the tiles came by to smooth out the rough edges of where my bare butt is going to be sitting to get in the tub – I told him with the sharp glass edges that were formed, I was envisioning a major ouch getting in and out. I had had Giovanni, Steve’s tile guy, doing some baseboard work and had him add another single line to the strip Christian had put in. When Christian saw Giovanni was using Mastic Glue, he called and told me not to – that his experience had taught him that Mastic isn’t quick drying which is why you use it with ceramic tile but glass tile would keep it wet and eventually it would unstick.
I told this to Steve, who at first laughed because he can’t believe how much Christian charged me to set that tile and so has been anti-Christian from the get go. So he said he was going to consult an expert. I decided to consult the internet and sure enough every site I went to said DO NOT USE MASTIC GLUE WITH GLASS TILE – clear enough to me? So I printed out several pages and brought them to Giovanni and Steve and Steve acquiesced but Giovanni said, “I’ve been using Mastic for years with no worries.”
To which I said, well after doing the research, I have decided to not use Mastic, since the overwhelming gathering of information has told me not to. So now he has to take that strip down and redo it. But for the niche by the toilet that he did we are going to – at Christian’s suggestion – not grout for four weeks to let it dry as much as possible.
I have become an expert on painting, tile setting, composite decking, waterproofing membranes, roofing, and floor refinishing. Now what?
December 20th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
Have you ever read Tracy Kidder’s House? Great book by amazing author. You are not alone.
December 20th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
I’d love to read it but will have to wait till the pain of this experience subsides – and since I’m in the 11th hour – it is actually getting more painful rather than less so I’ll put it on my next year reading list. Thanks for the tip.