Hello guys

I try to fix myself some stuff at home which has been bothering me for sometime now.
I bought this place almost a year ago and it washed out entirely any extras on repairs so
I start slowly with gathering some furniture and now try to get the rest in order.
Can't really hire anyone - budget do not allow so I was wondering if any of you could suggest
place with good resource and tips in regard to Tiles and Wall work.

By the way I did try search via Yahoo but came across lots of commercial sites endorsing products
rather than some "grandma tricks and tips" , plus most of it it's not even available in Malaysia ,
where I'm located.


Tiles,

I try to whiten up the gaps between tiles. Malaysia it's a tropic with high humidity and
stuff get ugly pretty fast. My tiles on the balcony get some stuff growing on them which is
very hard to clean with brush and ordinary cleaning chemicals. It's possible but it takes lots of
time just to work on tiny spot. Also the filling between tiles become very dark and it's hell
to wash it. I attach little photo if you could kindly check it out to see what I'm talking about:
//balcony
http://www.mc-fp.com/house/01_tiles.jpg
//bathroom
http://www.mc-fp.com/house/02_tiles.jpg


Walls,

The walls have some patterns, i'm positive it's not something the develop intend to do ,it's just
low quality workmanship. In some places it's close too smooth with tiny bumps , in other the bumps
become more frequent like :
http://www.mc-fp.com/house/03_wall.jpg
and here is the same wall just 5 feet away , closer to the door frame :
http://www.mc-fp.com/house/04_wall.jpg
The pattern is very irregular and even cover with new paint still visible.
I try in one room so far and the results are disappointing. I also have lots of smears like lines
in circular shape , pretty large , like a meter in diameter.

I guess there is no way to smooth it all up w/o applying new layer of plaster on top or something
like that so perhaps if I could make it equality uneven.
I'm not sure how it is call , I saw one time a guy was holding a roller of some kind ,
spinning it and throwing tiny bits of cement , making the wall spiky. I figure this is
perhaps something I could do .
Do you have any suggestions ? I'm not in need of making it Glass flat/smooth , as long as it's
equal in the entire room or house i'll be fine .

Any suggestions or url I could refer to are most welcome .

Thank you very much for taking the time to read it.
Best regards

Natalia
Malaysia - Kuala lumpur

Natalia wrote:

I try to whiten up the gaps between tiles. Malaysia it's a tropic
with high humidity and stuff get ugly pretty fast. My tiles on the
balcony get some stuff growing on them which is very hard to clean
with brush and ordinary cleaning chemicals. It's possible but it
takes lots of time just to work on tiny spot.

It looks like mildew - a mold. A weak solution of bleach (Clorox) will kill
it.
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Also the filling between tiles become very dark and it's hell to wash it.

I've never understood why anyone uses white grout...it ALWAYS gets dirty.
You need to get it clean and snowy white, then seal it with any of numerous
sealers. The sealer will have to be reapplied periodically.

If you can't get it clean by scrubbing you can do so with an acid. The acid
eats up a little of the grout so it needs to be weak and you have to keep an
eye on it. If it is too strong it will eat up all of the grout and you'll
have to regrout the tiles.

Since you have no knowledge of or experience with acid cleaning, don't try
it yourself. I'm pretty sure that it would be a common procedure in
Malaysia so search out an experienced tradesman - a tile setter perhaps - to
do the job if needed.
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Walls,

The walls have some patterns, i'm positive it's not something the
develop intend to do ,it's just low quality workmanship.

On the contrary, it is "on purpose".

I guess there is no way to smooth it all up w/o applying new layer
of plaster on top or something

That's one way, texture paint might be another.

--
dadiOH
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