On Tue, 08 Sep 2015 12:08:38 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 08 Sep 2015 08:29:57 -0400, dgk wrote:

On Mon, 07 Sep 2015 11:43:20 -0400, wrote:

Some of my neighbors suggested laminate rather than put down
replacement tile. I think that's not a bad idea so I'm looking into
that.
Whatever you do, don't put down "cheap" laminate and expect it to
stand up to heavy use or any exposure to moisture. I sure would not
put laminate directly onto a concrete slab in a humid location like
Palm Beach.

There does seem to be some debate on that topic. I would use a top
quality laminate since it's in a kitchen. What would be installed
between the concrete and the laminate?

One thing I read about laminate is that it is very easy to replace and
not very expensive to buy, so if there is a water leak and it gets
ruined, it's fairly easy to just pull it up and put new stuff down and
a contractor isn't needed. Is that true?
It is true it can be quite easily removed. Removing damaged areas and
replacing just the damaged area is possible, but not necrssarily easy
- and it depends on the laminate. The expensive crap I installed in
my base,ent convinced me to use real hardwood in my living and dining
rooms. The laminate was a real bugger to install, and there are
several edge chips in a lightly used rec room / office area. Thinner
laminate is likely easier to install than the 14mm stuff I used but
won't stand up any better.

But not hardwood in the kitchen. And now more on the Real Estate agent
before I get back to the laminate. She got badmouthed here because I
said that she had recommended the tile repair company and I was wrong,
mostly because I was trying to be concise and partly because I was
just wrong.

The way it went down was that the inspector found tile issues and the
seller got an estimate from a tile company for $500 to repair it. They
asked (through the agent) that I defer having that done until after
the sale because the old lady who owned the house didn't want a big
mess. So they offered the $500 off the price. Being a nice guy, I said
ok.

When I moved in, there was a ton of stuff going on and I deferred
doing the tile until a month later when one of them actually started
coming up. I called in the company that had given the estimate, but
they said that too much damage had been done and now it would take
$900. Since I thought that the real estate agent had recommended that
company, I said ok.

The real estate agent is well known, respected, and lives within my
900 home community. She handles most of the house sales and is
thorough and apparently quite honest. I emailed her about the kitchen
two days ago and she immediately came by to see for herself.

The first thing she asked was why I used that company, and I said that
I thought she recommended them. No, that was the seller's choice and
she said that they overcharged me. She then sent around her preferred
tile guy.

He said that there just weren't enough spare tiles (three) to fix the
damage, which I sort of suspected. He didn't say that he thought that
the contractor screwed up, but did say that if he had done it the
kitchen would probably be fine. But, he also added that the tiles are
over 30 years old and I could probably expect more loose tiles over
the next 10 years.

I asked about laminate and he said that it's not a bad idea and that
many people use it in kitchens. It won't stand up to a real flood,
llike a dishwasher disaster, but it's pretty easy to replace if that
happens.

His estimated charge to remove the existing tiles (being careful to
save as many as possible for future use) is $2 per square foot, $2 psf
to install the laminate, and a $100 for the tile disposal fee. There's
some extra trimming and saddle stuff, so the whole estimate is around
$790.

The laminate is up to me, but he said that we'd need a moisture
barrier and that it will either come with the laminate or will need to
be bought separately. Either way, even the best laminate will be
cheaper than the labor. It seems like a reasonable deal.

So, please don't blame the agent or assume she got a kickback. I like
her and that isn't the case. And I'm sorry that I didn't get this all
in at the beinning, but that post was long enough and now look at this
one.

Anyway, let's speculate about why the seller asked me to defer having
them do the tile. I never had tile floors so didn't know about the
possible issues. One more thing. Two days ago, early morning, I saw a
fox across the street. During the day I went across to my neighbor,
who has a small dog that is often unleashed, to warn them about it.
During the conversation I mentioned the tiles exploding. The woman
told me that Ellie (the seller) had had problems with the tiles in the
hallway.

So, I can assume that the real reason that they asked me to defer
having the tiles done was because they suspected that there might be
complications. Still, the kitchen shouldn't have exploded.