[Progress.110] (1) Tiling grout colour shade issue improved... (2) Floor tiles stolen

If you ask me during the whole construction process, the top 3 areas which we are not happy about, it will be bathroom floor tiling, bathroom floor tiling and bathroom floor tiling.

There were lots of issues with the tiles, wrong tiles delivered, tiler run out of tiles a few times, then there's a few instances of floor/wall tiles not laid nicely, the edge pops out so much that you can get cut by the edge when stroke it with bare hand/foot.

The most annoying one is, the grout colour shade issue. Just have a look at the photos below and you will understand what I mean. Please note that the first set of photos below were taken about a week or two ago to show the grout colour shade problem. The 2nd set were taken this week after the grout colour shade issue been fixed to be a more acceptable condition.

Grout colour issue - 1st set (Before)
Before it was fixed, the grout colour shade makes the whole area looks like a 10-15 years old house...

In the following photos you can also see that other than the grout colour shade problem, some of the tiles were not spaced evenly.

We complained about this many times, the explanation we received from the tiler was:
1. May be the cleaner used some chemical to clean the floor which causes the problem
2. May be the tiles weren't fully dried yet
3. May be it's just dirty and needs some cleaning


Compared to the white grout colour of wall tiles, you can clearly see the grout colour shade for the floor tiles.

We also spoke to a few other tilers (while asking for quotes to lay tiles in other areas) and they all said the same thing: the tiler didn't mix the water, sand and cement properly. One even said may be too much glue has been applied under the tiles and the tiles weren't properly cleaned before applying the cement, thus caused the problem.

We were told the only way to fix the problem will be to do some sort of "grout colouring" process.

There's another house in Eastwood also built by our builder (roughly built around the same time as our house) and it has exactly the same problem with the bathroom floor tiling (probably done by the same tiler??). When we were there the other day, the cleaners were doing final cleaning even though there was no electricity, and lots of holes to be patched all over the places. We heard that the family was in a rush to move in, and decided not to say anything about the floor tiles as may be to them this is acceptable...

Grout colour issue - 2nd set (After)
We finally saw some progress this week . On this Monday (31/3) we saw the tiler back on site to do some work. After he left there was good news and bad news: good news is, we were quite happy to see as below, a light brown colour coating been applied to all the grouts. It's still not perfect but at least it's acceptable compared to the previous condition.

Have a look below and you will see what I mean. The light brown coating certainly makes the grout looks better. The contrast of the colour actually makes the different gap size, specially the joining areas even more obvious. Just look at the middle tile in this photo.

This one shows a slightly chipped edge.

This chipped edge next to the waste cover is quite big and obvious, and it has been mentioned in our final report for the tiler to fix it.

Another chipped edge and unevenly spaced tiles.

Another one under the vanity.

This one is at the area where the shower hob is located, compare the 2 tiles and you can see the difference in the size of the gap next to the shower hob.

This is from the ensuite, also next to the shower hob.


Floor tiles left in garage disappeared
The bad news is, we noticed some of the floor tiles left in the garage were missing...

I took this photo on Sunday (30/3) after I moved all left over tiles from the family room hall way into the garage.

This is what it looks like later...

[Progress.099] Second report of things missing

The standard 45L laundry tub provided by our builder wasn't big enough, so we purchased a Clark 70L ourselves. And our builder has been very kind to allow us to install the 70L one in the laundry during the construction. We then leave the 45L one under the stairs, not finalised yet, probably use it in the alfresco near the BBQ/2nd kitchen area.

On Thursday (28/2) afternoon, we move it out to clean that area but forgot to put in back. On Friday morning, there's another trades person on site sanding the 1st floor floor board - for the second time as we complained that certain area of the 1st floor floor board wasn't very level. In the afternoon when we return, the laundry tub disappeared.

As this is the 2nd time things missing and the fence was always locked all the time, we can't help to again suspect it's another "insider" job, just like the last one.

So a warning to everyone who's building houses: be very careful with anything left on site.

[Progress.095] First report of things missing

Our builder has been quite quick in fixing things and flexible in certain areas. For example, we arranged for the granite company to put in extra granite for the splash back and our builder kindly allows them to install it at the same time as the kitchen benchtop installation, saving us money and effort to arrange for extra return work after hand over.

Unfortunately something bad happened, after the benchtop installation, we have this big left over of granite benchtop cut out from the kitchen sink which we left in the garage. We already spoke with the granite company and will use it for a few extra areas where the benchtop joins the meals room wall. The granite was still there on early Friday afternoon and there was only one trades person left working on site. When we later returned it disappeared.

As the site is securely locked by fence, it's quite obvious and "highly likely" should be that last trades person left on site last Friday who took it. We know who he is and we will report this to our builder today and hopefully can get it returned very soon if possible.

It's not a lot of money but mainly just the bad feeling, unnecessary delay and effort to order another piece, reschedule the event, ...etc. It's really dumb to take such a huge piece of granite thinking no one would notice it or need it. If something has been left in the garage, not the rubbish bin, then it means it will be required later!

Next time if there's any material been left on site, we will have to put a big sign on it saying something like "Don't touch! Material contaminated with dangerous radiation that could cause skin cancer...."

This kind of short sighted silly behavior is also hurting the customer relationship and reputation of the builder. We also found some problems with this guy's work which needs to be fixed and will let the builder know as well.