Shoddiest DIY job

Alun wrote: »

Me neither, it's been puzzling me all day!

Same here and I'm an electrician.

Deleted User wrote: »

Back in the 1980s 7 of my older siblings had the pleasure of leaving Ireland because, as a corrupt FF kleptocrat put it at the time, 'We can't all live on a small island'.

Most of them ended up in New York on the building sites where they passed themselves off as all sorts of experts and held down 4 or 5 jobs at the one time.

Fast forward to 2018 and I'm almost finished my own rebuild and the exact same thing is happening in Ireland with all sorts of chancers from a range of poorer eastern European countries passing themselves off as "tilers", "plasterers" and the like. And the really piss-me-off aspect is that while the main guy - the guy who has been recommended to you - can tile or plaster, he's not doing your job but is instead just "helping out" the just-off-the-boat guys by sending them to your house to work and they do really crap, incompetent jobs because, well, they have zero qualifications in that trade.

There is a huge shortage of skilled tilers, plasterers, stonemasons and the like in Ireland, and for as long as we keep up this bullshpushing university as the only thing to do after the LC, Ireland will have jobs for these unqualified, incompetent chancers to pass themselves off as tradesmen here.

We need a serious "university" for trades, crafts and skills, and for all trades in Ireland to be as regulated as electricians/RECI are. And I'd rather pay the extra for better quality than endure these botch artist "tradespeople".

My family have had the exact opposite experience. The Eastern European guys have done a decent conscientious job while the irish guys have either failed to show up or done a complete hatchet job.

okidoki987 wrote: »

I've used a guy from Moldova for last 15 years. Never had any problems with his work or from his guys.
Biggest problem is a lot of them don't speak English or speak it very poorly so very hard to communicate with them when my guy isn't there.
I've recommended him to friends and neighbours and he's had to stop quoting for jobs as he has so much work.
He's now an Irish citizen and he loves it here with his wife and Irish born kids.
Brilliant worker, always on time, doesn't take the Mick with prices and always cleans up after the work.
Never had that from Irish builders!

It's a wonder this country didn't fall apart before the influx of Eastern European tradesmen.
How did we survive in the past ?

screamer wrote: »

Trades will decline even more because of the recession no one wants to work in such a fickle industry. There is a certain element of snobbery now that only university is good enough, and kids are getting lazier and more work shy
Why be out in the rain throwing blocks when you can sit in a glass box office and be paid well for it. Get used to more off the boaters, that's all there'll be.

This right here...My younger bro is like that. Completely useless degree. Has done labouring work for my father-in-law stripping wallpaper and he couldn't even do that!
My husband would rather go out in the lashing rain and throw block than sit in an office.

I think the problem with trades like tiling, laying laminate etc. Is that anyone with a bit of common sense and DIY ability can do it and achieve a good enough result.

You then have a trades person who wants to made a decent living.

Now if someone comes in and says to me it will be 300 a day and take 3 days, but I can do it myself but it might take me 2 weeks doing it part time, you can be sure I'll do it myself.

At the same time I don't expect trades people to work for pennies.

Electricians and gas works are a different story. I'll happy pay them even though I understand the work and can do it myself, but it's piece of mind and the legal aspect of it. It also takes a long time to qualify as an electrician.

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Now if someone comes in and says to me it will be 300 a day and take 3 days, but I can do it myself but it might take me 2 weeks doing it part time, you can be sure I'll do it myself.

Hah, you see I'd be the opposite. With kids and barely enough time outside work to scratch my own hole, the thoughts of a half-finished tiling job hanging over me for two weeks would be well worth the 300 quid to get someone in to do it.

If it's something that's labour-intensive and doesn't require me to keep the kids confined to part of the house - like gardening or fitting wardrobes or sticking down an attic floor - then I'll do it myself.

It's a wonder this country didn't fall apart before the influx of Eastern European tradesmen.
How did we survive in the past ?

My guy has spent most of the last 5 years fixing poor workmanship for me.
Things like a floor that isn't level, poor electrics, plumbing that doesn't always do what it should and so on.

We did survive more due to the Irish way of life and the "sure it will do" attitude at the time.
Considering how much Irish tradesmen charge nowadays for a small job, it's no wonder these guys do so well.

seamus wrote: »

Hah, you see I'd be the opposite. With kids and barely enough time outside work to scratch my own hole, the thoughts of a half-finished tiling job hanging over me for two weeks would be well worth the 300 quid to get someone in to do it.

If it's something that's labour-intensive and doesn't require me to keep the kids confined to part of the house - like gardening or fitting wardrobes or sticking down an attic floor - then I'll do it myself.

Ya i guess with kids running around you probably want a completed bathroom.
Its just me and the wife so we can survive for a while with half finished jobs.

Deleted User wrote: »

Time and patience are major factors alright. Personally I wouldn't do tiling myself unless I was properly broke but really didn't like the current tiles. :pac:
Looking around it seems mates rates are the way to go. Good enough job at a half or third of the price for a lot of things.
Gas I won't touch and electricity in a rented place is none of my business. :P

Tiling isnt really that hard. If you start in a straight line then its just a matter of keeping each tile level and in line with the tiles beside it.

Its a bit of a pain when you need to cut around pipes etc but it can be done.

I tiled my bathroom and kitchen last year as my first every tiling jobs and to be honest its easy enough.

Broken Arrows Tiling Tips: :D:D

1. Dont use quick set adhesive unless you really have to, it just dries too quickly. You can only mix a small amount at a time and it becomes unusable after around 1 hour. The normal stuff stays workable for 4+ hours. The professionals use the quickset because they are quick at their job. Us novices take too long.

2. Remove everything you can from the walls to avoid having to cut around too many objects.

3. Try and choose a medium size tile. Small tiles are tedious and hard to keep level with each other. Very large tiles are hard to put up because they are heavy and you need to support them a lot. I used a 50cm x 25cm tile for the bathroom which were good enough to work with. Maybe a little too big but it was ok.

4. Dont tile on top of paint! You are just sticking your tiles to a layer of paint then and they will come off very very easily. I made this mistake in the kitchen for the first few tiles that i had layed the day before. They literlly just fell off the wall and took the layer of paint with them. Heavily score the surface of the wall before tiling and clean the wall to remove the dust from scoring.

5. Carefully consider the width between the tiles and the spacers you use. I used a 4mm spacers and i think this was too much. You might not think 4mm is too much but it actually looks big when you fill with grouting. It also takes a lot of grouting to fill in a 4mm gap everywhere.

6. WASH YOUR TOOLS a couple of times throughout the day and when you finish. Leaving hard adhesive on your tools is a nightmare to remove.

7. Try and estimate where your tiles will end and how much of a tile you will have for the last piece. I didnt do this and ended up having to cut a 1.5cm strip of tile for the edge along the ceiling. It doesnt look great. If i was doing it again i would have started at the bottom with a 1/2 tile so that when i finished at the ceiling i could have used large cut of tile instead of just a 1.5cm strip.

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Tiling isnt really that hard. If you start in a straight line then its just a matter of keeping each tile level and in line with the tiles beside it.

Its a bit of a pain when you need to cut around pipes etc but it can be done.

I tiled my bathroom and kitchen last year as my first every tiling jobs and to be honest its easy enough.

Broken Arrows Tiling Tips: :D:D

1. Dont use quick set adhesive unless you really have to, it just dries too quickly. You can only mix a small amount at a time and it becomes unusable after around 1 hour. The normal stuff stays workable for 4+ hours. The professionals use the quickset because they are quick at their job. Us novices take too long.

2. Remove everything you can from the walls to avoid having to cut around too many objects.

3. Try and choose a medium size tile. Small tiles are tedious and hard to keep level with each other. Very large tiles are hard to put up because they are heavy and you need to support them a lot. I used a 50cm x 25cm tile for the bathroom which were good enough to work with. Maybe a little too big but it was ok.

4. Dont tile on top of paint! You are just sticking your tiles to a layer of paint then and they will come off very very easily. I made this mistake in the kitchen for the first few tiles that i had layed the day before. They literlly just fell off the wall and took the layer of paint with them. Heavily score the surface of the wall before tiling and clean the wall to remove the dust from scoring.

5. Carefully consider the width between the tiles and the spacers you use. I used a 4mm spacers and i think this was too much. You might not think 4mm is too much but it actually looks big when you fill with grouting. It also takes a lot of grouting to fill in a 4mm gap everywhere.

6. WASH YOUR TOOLS a couple of times throughout the day and when you finish. Leaving hard adhesive on your tools is a nightmare to remove.

7. Try and estimate where you tiles will end and how much of a tile you will have for the last piece. I didnt do this and ended up having to cut a 1.5cm strip of tile for the edge along the ceiling. It doesnt look great. If i was doing it again i would have started at the bottom with a 1/2 tile so that when i finished at the ceiling i could have used large cut of tile instead of just a 1.5cm strip.

some good advice there

i did a small tiling course a few years ago. the instructer used to say . never lay your first tile before you know where the last one will end

the_pen_turner wrote: »

some good advice there

i did a small tiling course a few years ago. the instructer used to say . never lay your first tile before you know where the last one will end

Did they not teach you how to put up big tiles?

An in law drilling through electric cable when putting up a TV bracket,the socket was under where he drilled. He was lucky there was just a bang and the mains supply tripped.
I'm handy enough at DIY having spent years in construction and learning from my father before that. The basic skills are being lost, some people can't even change a plug these days. Painting however is one thing I hate, I've a good bit to be done around the house and I'll get someone in.

Our house was one shoddy DIY job when we bought it, we did a lot of it up but some still remains.
I gladly give you a shortlist (it's an 80s 3bed ex-council house, end of terrace):

• There's a DIY porch, that one isn't too bad. But the door was fitted very poorly, it looks like a crack house door, some glass pieces shattered and fixed with tape and completely warped and broken. The lock doesn't work properly so we have to lock it with a bolt from the inside and the snap lock part in the frame is fixed in place with a lot of hot glue. We get a new door in 3 weeks time.
  
• All the houses on the street have oil central heating. But the previous owner decided he doesn't like that, ripped out the oil boiler and tank and replaced it with a boiler stove that wasn't connected properly. When I had the chimneys swept, the guy told me he had a look in the books and saw he was here a few years ago, saw that stove and walked back out, blacklisting the house.
  Replaced it with oil again.
  
• The bathroom floor wasn't sealed properly and all the pipes were connected, meaning if there was a blockage you'd have the stuff coming up in the shower/bathtub (there was a bathtub and a separate shower in the bathroom).
  One day kid took a shower, didn't close properly and some water came out and we had a rain party in the kitchen.
  Replaced the whole bathroom.
  
• The house had an extension once that had a leaking roof but was quite nice. When the previous owner was at home without the wife, she was away for a week, he decided he doesn't like it anymore and knocked the whole extension down on his own.
  He built a wall up, didn't use the right materials and built a big window instead of a door in. So you can step out in the garden but through that window, that's approx. knee height.
  Not replaced yet.
  
• Since the extension was gone, the place got a new kitchen and that was hands down the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. It was basically just a front, painted black with some self-built doors. Yes, doors because the presses were completely open on the inside, had no body and everything got grimey within a day. It didn't have an extractor, it was wired in a lethal way because everything was hanging on one extension lead.
  Did the kitchen up and it's simple and lovely now.
  
• All the interior doors don't have proper locks. Still need to be replaced.
  
• The self attempt of plastering the hall turned out into a swirly/scratchy surface.
  
• When the bathroom was redone and the plumbers removed it all, they started with the shower and the tray. One of them went down, came back up and the whole tiles of one wall were coming down in one piece because the adhesive was done punctual instead of all the way...
  
• And the worst of the worst was the chimney breast in the living room. He did a decorative plasterwork that looked like kinda painted round rocks. Like a cloud surface. When we took that down, the whole wall was black and it smelled like a house fire. It was a major fire hazard the way it was done and we can be lucky nothing happened.
  Was fixed in an instant by a lovely local fella.

There are a few more minor things but I swear it was bad.
Still, love the house, love how it transforms into our own more and more and it's really a case of sh1ttiest house in the loveliest area.

I know the details pretty well because the son and daughter-in-law live 2 houses down and we are good friends now. Previous owner is supposed to be an unbearable maniac.

Himself is next to useless with DIY unfortunately, I always try to get him into the nifty work but in the end I do it myself (what I'm confident of doing myself)