lundi 24 septembre 2007
When I left this morning to head off to work, I had no idea whether they would come today to install the toilet seat or not. The "I'll call you before I come over" obviously never materialized, as they knocked on our door well before 8 am, as Alain was still in the middle of his morning routine. Turns out he had tiled too much (larger hole for the out was needed) so they had to break some of the surrounding tile.
Came home, and was quite pleased to see the toilet, standing there in all of it's seat-less glory (they couldn't be bothered to install the cover I guess). Took a tentative trial run and was quite relieved- relieved to find that I was not sprawled on the floor with the toilet crushing my legs, dazed, wet, covered in waste and broken tiles. Not sure what the maximum weight that can be supported is, but for now it is holding up.
When Alain showed the plumber the broken tiles this morning he got a reaction all of "Oh. (pause). Darn". Wasn't expecting an overflow of mea culpas, but was hoping for a little more than that. Doubt we will get it fixed by them. (Doubt that on two levels- doubt they will offer and doubt that I would trust them to not do more damage). Might get a slight reduction. Not keeping my hopes up at this point.
Came home to find the house wide-open- balcony door open, windows open. Gee, sure glad nobody could get in. Also there was a message on our machine that something had been forgotten and to please give them a call and let them know when they can come pick it up. Yeah, I think I will hold that hostage until our tile gets fixed buddy. Don't think I would hire these guys again, but at least it is finished.
Tally:
Number of tiles broken: 2
Number of emergency trips to hardware store: 1
Number of times eating at McDo: 2
Meters squared of tile bought: 4
Sunday was spent (on Alain's part) tiling like crazy. My part was spent internetting, sweeping, running out for another marker, and cleaning out buckets.He managed to use up all the tile (sure glad I bought 2 meters squared instead of 1 m2 like I had measured), except there is one small square that is missing at the top left (not in the picture), so I have to go get one more square tomorrow. He had a piece of leftover tile that would work, but it would be cut on both sides, instead of cut on just one side. Unperfectionist me would have just put it and not cared, but he wants it done perfectly. He also managed to put all the white caulk as well.
Hopefully tomorrow the toilet will be functional. McDo two days in a row is enough. Not sure when we are going to get around to painting.
dimanche 23 septembre 2007
The closest publicly available bathroom to us is the McDonald's (or MacDo as it is pronounced here) the next street over. We went for lunch yesterday, then made use of the, ahem, facilities. They are going to love us. Unfortunately, they don't open until 8:30 am, which doesn't entirely solve our problems. Hoping the toilet can be installed Monday.Alain spent all day yesterday cutting the plaster board, the holes for the in and out, and then attaching it to the metal frame. He managed to cut and pose the first layer of tiles, which were then able to harden overnight. We went to the in-laws again to spend the night, but I think that tonight we will be staying here. To stay at their place during the workweek would add an extra two hours to my day. No thanks. We returned at 11 am this morning, Alain driving his motorcycle back from their house. Felt rather anxious as I followed him on the highway, but he did fine. It is more what other people do that scares me.
Picture of first row of tiles (not sure what is wrong with the picture) and of Alain on his motorcycle (he does have a protective jacket, just wasn't wearing it for the picture). 
samedi 22 septembre 2007
So the plumber came yesterday and tore apart our bathroom. When the boss had come a few weeks ago to give an estimate, Alain had specifically mentioned that the wall was thin, and asked if the frame could be installed without breaking through to the other side (ie the bathroom which we have just finished tiling after many many month). Yeah sure! No problem!Hahahahaha.
The worker came yesterday, managed to break the tiles on the other side, didn't hide the counter (which was one of the reasons I wanted the darn thing installed in the first place). Even 
better, the toilet may be too long now, and interfere with the proper functionning of the door. Well, I guess the door can still be opened, but whether people can get out of the bathroom without having to stand on top of the toilet remains to be seen. Furthermore, he was unable to hide the counter inside the frame (I was thinking that to take the reading, all we would have to do is remove the lid and peer down, but no).
better, the toilet may be too long now, and interfere with the proper functionning of the door. Well, I guess the door can still be opened, but whether people can get out of the bathroom without having to stand on top of the toilet remains to be seen. Furthermore, he was unable to hide the counter inside the frame (I was thinking that to take the reading, all we would have to do is remove the lid and peer down, but no).But the absolute worst is that when making the holes in the wall, the broke through to the other side and cracked our lovely, just-posed tile. Enfoiré.
Alain is surprisingly calm about it, considering he is the one who spent all of August putting these tiles in place. I would have hit the roof. Not sure what we will do about it, whether we will try to remove and replace just the two broken ones, or cover them up somehow or what. In removing the two tiles, we certainly don't want to break all the surrounding ones. Argh argh argh.
Spent the night at the in-laws last night and today Alain is putting up the plasterboard, upon which he will then tile. Sigh. Here we go again. Keeping my fingers crossed that they can still put the toilet into service on Monday. And that they will give us a discount!!!!
What annoys me the most though, is that I know that someone who is truely professional (like my pops) would have explained to the customer what might happen (ie the toilet seat is too long, you can't hide the counter, and there is a high probability that you will pierce through to the other side) but hey, if you really want me to do it, I will, but you need to be informed of the risks. Then we probably would have just replaced the old toilet with a new one, and live with the pipes being visible. Sigh. On to phase 2.
vendredi 21 septembre 2007
I went back to Leroi Merlin on Thursday during my lunch break, determined to buy the tiles for the toilet (to cover the frame that the seat with sit on) as well as paint for the toilet room, two bedrooms, and the hallway. On Wednesday I had bought these three samples of blue-grey tiles (light, medium, and dark) to get Alain's opinion. Turns out that instead of scheduling our retoileting for some Friday in the future, they decided that this Friday would do.I think it must be an excellent selling strategy. A client puts a downpayment for half of the work. You go out and buy all of the materials, thereby ensuring that they will then commit to having you do all of the work. Then you just fix a date, without waiting for them to dillydally around and change their mind.
So Alain and I had to decide and quick. We picked the lightest of the blues, and so I went and bought a box of tiles (about 2 meters squared) for 20 euros, then went over to the paint section. When I had looked on Wednesday, I had seen that there were some 2.5 liter pots approximately the same color, for about 45 euros each. Since we had calculated that we would need 8 pots, it was going to be expensive. I asked the guy in charge of the paint section, just to get his advice. Turns out, it was cheaper to have them mix the exact color and type of paint I wanted (double layers, able to be sprayed by paint spray gun, matte) than it would be to buy the pre-mixed. I thought the custom color would be much more expensive, but no. I was able to get two pots of 10 L for about 50€ each. What a deal! Came home and Alain lugged it into apartment. Ready for Day 2.
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