"Michael "Dog3" wrote
> "brooklyn1" wrote:
>>
>> At my last house when I had the kitchen tiled I had it done wall to
>> wall but still the company that sold me the tile urged me to buy an
>> extra box of tile and package of grout... it added like 3% to the cost
>> of the job, no biggie.
>
> Yep, same here. We bought a couple of extra boxes in case of mistakes or
> breakage during installation and we bought 6 extra boxes... just in case.
> this was the contractor's suggestion as well.
>
>> And sure enough about six months after the job
>> a freak accident, a guest knocked a dip bowl off the counter and it
>> landed right on a grout joint so two tiles chipped. The tiler
>> returned a few days later on his way home from a job and made the
>> repair in under an hour, no charge. Had I not had the extra material
>> I would have been SOL. I left the tiles and grout and all other
>> materials from other renovations for the new owner, roofing, siding,
>> fencing, carpet, etc. I would urge anyone to buy extra material for
>> any renovation.
>
> I completely agree. Not only for repairs but for possible additions.
> We're thinking of adding a strip of the tile on the opposite side of the
> one counter for a bar stool type of sitting area. We may not do it but
> the tile is here if we decide to.
>
>
This is the company where I bought my tile, they have a fabulous showroom
and are very helpful:
http://cancos.com/

I chose these Italian porcelain 12" tiles:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2nk30aw.jpg
The installer said he much prefered tiling wall to wall, less labor and a
cleaner more professional looking job... when tiles end at the cabinet kick
there is always that schmutz collecting gap, looks like a cheap patch job,
which of course cheapness is exactly what it indicates.

"Michael "Dog3"wrote:
> wrote:
>>
>> We as well had the original owners stain the hardwood all the way
>> except a 6x9 carpet which they (shudder) glued.
>> We had a guy come and redo all the floors before we moved in, went on
>> a two week holiday while he did the floors. Came back and moved right
>> in to beautiful floors. btw he put porcelain tile in the kitchen.
>
> What the previous owners of this house did to the hardwood floors here
> should be a felony :-) However, we've been assured they are completely
> repairable. I just don't understand why anyone would "glue" anything to
> hardwood but our entry way had linoleum glued to it. It's a Gawd awful
> mess.
>
>
With most all houses built like 70 years ago and earlier all hardwood floors
were the standard, there was no plywood back then, so folks took the
hardwood for granted and really didn't appreciate it like folks do nowadays,
so they abused it. They also didn't have the new space age sealers and they
had to be laborously waxed/buffed often, so entryways often became ruined
from tracking in wet and schmutz, it was common to cover the hardwood with
an easier to maintain product. There are probably many millions of gorgeous
hardwood floors that were covered with ugly asbestos tiles, glued down with
that horrid dark brown Bulldog cement, permanently stained the hardwood.
Todays modern sealers are water based, there's no smell and they cure
quckly. And no wax is ever applied, there are specially formulated water
based cleaner-protectorants that are sprayed on and mopped up with a
washable microfiber pad, very easy to use.