The Home Improvements Thread (2)

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Lupus said:
My entire house is tiled, it is actually far better as it's low maintenance.
For 36sqm in a rental go for
www.ctm.co.za

Zorah Grey Matt Ceramic Floor Tile - 430 x 430mm

Cement Look
www.ctm.co.za www.ctm.co.za
Doesn't matter if it's the same right through. Also you don't need to get the tile cement from CTM.
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That's also my thinking should be much more durable and cost effective, I was thinking of using a slightly more expensive tile : https://www.ctm.co.za/dubrovnik-gre...h-ceramic-floor-tile-product.html?___store=ZA at R99m2

The walls have plascon silver 38 so should look nice, I hope.
 
Lupus said:
My entire house is tiled, it is actually far better as it's low maintenance.
For 36sqm in a rental go for
www.ctm.co.za

Zorah Grey Matt Ceramic Floor Tile - 430 x 430mm

Cement Look
www.ctm.co.za www.ctm.co.za
Doesn't matter if it's the same right through. Also you don't need to get the tile cement from CTM.
Click to expand...


Tile have a wear rating. make sure you use a tile with a pei4 wear rating or you will replace them in a year again. avoid Pei1 Pei2 and pei3
Its cheaper to make low wear rating tiles and people tend to try save money on tiles by fitting the cheapest..
 
qscwbt said:
Tile have a wear rating. make sure you use a tile with a pei4 wear rating or you will replace them in a year again. avoid Pei1 Pei2 and pei3
Its cheaper to make low wear rating tiles and people tend to try save money on tiles by fitting the cheapest..
Click to expand...
Unfortunately a lot of places don't put their ratings on the tile, but generally CTM tiles are pretty good.
 
Lupus said:
Unfortunately a lot of places don't put their ratings on the tile, but generally CTM tiles are pretty good.
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Ratings are never put on the tile. But the seller should know as they need to advise where a tile can be used. Always ask.
 
qscwbt said:
Tile have a wear rating. make sure you use a tile with a pei4 wear rating or you will replace them in a year again. avoid Pei1 Pei2 and pei3
Its cheaper to make low wear rating tiles and people tend to try save money on tiles by fitting the cheapest..
Click to expand...

in a house i think wear rating is really not such a big worry.
 
Steamy Tom said:
in a house i think wear rating is really not such a big worry.
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It is a huge concern trust me. I work for a company that manufactures tiles. I also specify these products into commercial and residential application. trust me its important.
 
qscwbt said:
It is a huge concern trust me. I work for a company that manufactures tiles. I also specify these products into commercial and residential application. trust me its important.
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meh, unless you are buying kak and pacing your house 100 times per day you will be fine.
 
Steamy Tom said:
meh, unless you are buying kak and pacing your house 100 times per day you will be fine.
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So let put this in perspective. The PEI rating is essentially a measurement of the surface enamel's resistance to abrasion. It is measured by the use of a machine known as a rotary abrasion resistance testing machine, in which steel ball bearings and abrasive powder are pressed down and rolled over the surface of the tile while an observer watches the effect. Revolutions are counted to determine wear.

Pei 3 shows visible wear after 750 revolutions ( between 750 and 1500) rated as pei 3
Pei 4 will last between 2100 and 12 000 revolutions 2100 low pei 4, 6000 pei 4 med and 12000 pei 4 high.

High traffic areas such as kitchens guest bathrooms , passages will require pei4 tiles. Most houses does not have walk off matts that increase the wear on the tiles.
 
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Steamy Tom said:
lol - lets be real those are either kak tiles or foot traffic was prolonged or high, or both.
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Just pei 3 tiles in a high traffic area with no walk off mats. 6 months and tiles destroyed. In a house you might get 2 years and the will look like this.
 
Steamy Tom said:
lol - lets be real those are either kak tiles or foot traffic was prolonged or high, or both.
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Or someone took one of those machines you were talking about and ran it across those floors :-).
 
qscwbt said:
Just pei 3 tiles in a high traffic area with no walk off mats. 6 months and tiles destroyed. In a house you might get 2 years and the will look like this.
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Dude, the previous place I lived in had the cheapest tiles known to man, they never looked like that after 7 years of living there.
 
Lupus said:
Dude, the previous place I lived in had the cheapest tiles known to man, they never looked like that after 7 years of living there.
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Lupus we manufacture tiles, we supply and specify tiles so I know tiles. Not all cheap tiles are low traffic rating.
Various factors determine the cost:
Depending on the tile. A ceramic tile with a pei4 rating will be significantly cheaper than a porcelain tile with a pei 4 rating due to thinner tile 5 mm thick for ceramic compared to 10 mm thick for porcelain. Less material.
Ceramic is fired at 800 degrees and porcelain is fired at 1200 degrees which ad to manufacturing cost. Too many differences to type up here.

Also when a tile comes to end of range or the last of a batch (shade and calibre) most places will dump this stock at reduced prices to not mix new and old shade stock.. Many reasons why you can get good quality low priced tiles.

So your cheap tile would have been a high traffic rated tile for residential if it lasted 7 years. Theimportant thing is to make sure you buy a tile with a pei 4 rating for glazed or colour body tiles.

So as a professional and tiles being my job my advise is to use pei 4 in your house. If you don’t want to then don’t. Just don’t ask why when something goes wrong. If you still feel like you disagree please feel free to join one of my material study lectures on porcelain and ceramic at the university of pta with the interior design 2nd years.
 
Anyone know of "packages" for bathroom renovations like catalogue of look and feel(s). Bought a place moving in July and I'm already wanting to get rid of the upstairs bathroom, its purely horrendous.

Downstairs (which I like)
1583917605786.png

Then upstairs (gag)
1583917641050.png
 
InternetLuddite said:
BTW, if any one is looking a builder extraordinaire that can build a house from scratch. I know this Guy from Malawi. He literally repaired my entire house in the last 3 months.

  1. Called him to sort out roof leak and patio roof issue. Very quickly, based on discussions I had with many other vendors, I knew this guy knew what he was talking about because he confirmed what they said but also picked up some issues which the other guys never did. Example: He picked the root cause issue on my patio roof and remediated it where the universal roofing and other guys wanted to charge $$$ to fix. His fix cost about R2k with materials!
  2. It ended up extended to all the other work :-
    1. Garage floor completely redone - concrete with rebar, etc
    2. Patio / Pool Area Rebuild - previous guys did not put concrete (hence my issues) New Coping, new floor around pool/patio on two sides of house, tiling etc
    3. Paving: again reused my paving but it looks so much better
    4. Damp proofing around house - USB green plastic
    5. New storm water management (hence paving had to be redone
    6. New windows/door installation
There was one disaster where his chaps destroyed my pool cover and which I am still angry about, but his work is top notch and cost effective. Even with the cost to repair pool cover, he is so much cheaper. Only problem is you may end up doing all the work to get materials and sometimes tools like compactor, etc

He operates in the Joburg Sandton/Fourways region but should be able to travel further than that. He is looking for work. If you want his deets, drop me an email.

Pic is what he did around my pool area - the retaining wall was heightened by two bricks too if it is not so apparent.

PciView attachment 764694
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Guys save yourself a lot of headache and stay away from this Gift guy.

I have him a small job, just to Rhinolite 2 small interior walls, replace a few cornices and painting. He F'd up the walls, messed my new skylight, front door, windows, burglar bars and driveway with Rhinolite. He started making excuses as to why he can't come back, after I paid him 70% of the cost.

I'm now stuck with this mess and have to get someone else to sort it out.
 
I always say “goedkoop is duur koop “

he can probably do the work but cannot do these without someone managing/guiding him. I see this happen all the time after quoting, a client tells me that they can just pay a guy outside builders... then 2 months later call me to redo things.
 
semaphore said:
Anyone know of "packages" for bathroom renovations like catalogue of look and feel(s). Bought a place moving in July and I'm already wanting to get rid of the upstairs bathroom, its purely horrendous.

Downstairs (which I like)


Then upstairs (gag)
Click to expand...

Check if you have a Leroy Merlin close by. They do have demo setups.
 
Lupus said:
Dude, the previous place I lived in had the cheapest tiles known to man, they never looked like that after 7 years of living there.
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exactly. you get what you pay for, but to some extent both ways, unless you are buying tiles coated with dog **** 2 years in a house they wont look like that.
 
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