[speed79]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

One issue you need to be ready for with putting tile on top of existing floor is slight difference in floor height and associated issues with door requiring cutting at bottom to avoid it from rubbing across the tiles.

Thanks. We are aware that we would need to cut doors at bottom to accommodate increased floor height.

Originally Posted by d.w.w.

Since we didn't had space to dump the waste mosaic getting removed we pushed him to fix the tiles above existing floor. Now the tiles started coming off the floor here and there and makes loud sounds when we walk on the floor.

One of the two reasons (other than the labor cost of removing the old tiles) for laying tiles over old mosaic floor is that it is difficult to dump the huge amount of waste if we remove old mosaic floor. For kitchen wall tiles and bathroom wall and floor tiles, we will still need to remove old tiles, causing lesser waste.

Did the contractor use Roff Cement based Adhesive or ordinary cement in your parents' house? Or, was it a mix of Roff and ordinary cement?

Originally Posted by One

3. Replacing pipes is tricky to answer. It is costly and time-consuming. Is it needed - one never knows till a (GI) pipe starts leaking and then one needs to break open walls. Will it leak - at some point; when - you never know. They could last another 5 years as 30 year old pipes or they could be soon passing their expiry date. Only thing I can suggest here is - wherever you are replacing pipes, do them all together.

There is no leakage issue. Planning to discard old plumbing completely and put new ones based on PVC (or is it CPVC), as we plan to place shower, taps, WC etc. appropriately.

Originally Posted by The Rationalist

Have you considered Luxury Vinyl Tiles? It costs ₹70/sq feet. It is pasted on the floor using adhesive, can be easily replaced, can be taken out at time of demolition and re-installed at another place. It comes in 1.5, 2 mm thickness. I have used 1.5 mm ones from the brand Wonder Floor. Quite good looking and also the floor will not be cold. If the tiles you are planning to put is cheaper then go ahead.

As the house will be given on rent, something like vinyl tiles might not work as it is difficult to expect the tenants to take the same care of floor as we do of our own.

Originally Posted by deep_bang

We have had tiles put on red oxide in our parents house over 20 years ago and it's still pretty good. We used Roff and back then it was a very new product as far as I remember. Having a guy who does this right is more important.

Did they mix Roff with ordinary cement? All the contractors that I have talked to are saying they will use Roff and ordinary cement mix.

Originally Posted by Aroy

If the mosaic floor is not pitted, then do not do anything to it. Just get it polished. (Granite polish used for marble floors is the best option), especially if you are going to demolish the house at a later stage. . You will be surprised at the result.

Have you calculated the ROI of the improvement. In my opinion if you spend 3L on home improvement, the rent increase should be at least 10K per month. Any thing less does not make sense, as you are going to rebuild the house anyway.

Thanks. I will explore the polishing option.

As for ROI, we expect rent increase of about 6k-7k per month from current levels. More important aspect is that a change of flooring along with redoing the bathroom and kitchen will make it a cheerful house. It looks very dull as the 30 years old mosaic flooring is something similar to color of cement, and not the more modern white mosaic once which came up a little later, i think.

[Naetik30]

Originally Posted by speed79

Thanks. We are aware that we would need to cut doors at bottom to accommodate increased floor height.

Hi. In my parent's house in Coimbatore (40 year old house), we had mosaic flooring. It is a Ground + 1 floor 4 bedroom house.
About 5 years back, we fixed vitrified tiles on the mosaic floor. Within about a year, we started seeing paint and plaster peeling off the bottom part of wall that is closer to the tiles. Not sure why this happens. I was trying to find a fix for this issue.

[speed79]

Originally Posted by Naetik30

Hi. In my parent's house in Coimbatore (40 year old house), we had mosaic flooring. It is a Ground + 1 floor 4 bedroom house.
About 5 years back, we fixed vitrified tiles on the mosaic floor. Within about a year, we started seeing paint and plaster peeling off the bottom part of wall that is closer to the tiles. Not sure why this happens. I was trying to find a fix for this issue.

Paint and plaster peeling could be due to moisture from the water accumulation between mosaic floor and the vitrified tiles. Did you remove old skirting and put new skirting while laying vitrified tiles? Were all joints sealed properly using epoxy?

[Naetik30]

Originally Posted by speed79

Paint and plaster peeling could be due to moisture from the water accumulation between mosaic floor and the vitrified tiles. Did you remove old skirting and put new skirting while laying vitrified tiles? Were all joints sealed properly using epoxy?

New skirting was done along all the edges.
Not sure about the sealing with epoxy. Is there a way to fix this problem, without pulling out all the tiles.

[AgastyaR]

Originally Posted by HTC

Bengaluru has cold weather. Marble tends to absorb cold. Think on your decision. You get vitrified tiles or ceramic tiles with big size 4x6ft with various designs. Explore. You can go to kajaria display centre near lalbag/passport office to have a look

Thank you! We have considered the factor marble being cold and we are considering tiles as well for few areas.

Originally Posted by Amrik Singh

There us plenty of cheap stuff locally made and sold as Italian. In the long run, weak spots of Italian floors tend to wear off. It is not easy to look for these while fixing as these appear during grinding / polishing. Also it is a softer stone. I would rather go for local and harder flooring.

Yes, that's my concern too. Lot of local stuff sold as Italian and differentiating them is bit difficult for an end user (at least me). Do you have any suggestions on local product other than granites.

Originally Posted by Aroy

Marble comes in hundreds of varieties.. A good alternative is Imported Turkish Marble. In Delhi it is reasonably priced and comes in large sizes.

Thank you! I agree marble comes in wide ranges and it's a tough task to get the right one at a reasonable price. Do you have any references for Turkish marble in Bangalore (tried looking for but couldn't find any and not heard of this product to be honest)?

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Any particular reason for going with Marble? I am also looking for flooring options and contemplating between Granite or Tiles. In the present situation where there are plethora of options in Tiles with various designs, quality and sizes, what is the significance of choosing Granite? Any thoughts please?

As Aroy has already pointed, at least I have not seen a house where large tiles are laid without any issues. Improper laying with gaps will invite multiple maintenances. Also personally being used both, the experience of natural stone flooring is something I don't compare with tiles.

Originally Posted by balenoed_

And in Bangalore, is it worth the trip to Jigani or Krishnagiri rather than just looking at the ones within city, like Sarjapur road ones.

To be honest, I have not personally explored Sarjapur road side as Jigani is close to me, but I have heard from known people mentioning about Jigani having more options than Sarjapur road.

[deep_bang]

Originally Posted by speed79

Did they mix Roff with ordinary cement? All the contractors that I have talked to are saying they will use Roff and ordinary cement mix.
.

It's been too long ago for me to actually give you accurate details. But you could call Roff customer care and ask them this question. It's likely they will give you more accurate information on what surfaces will work and what does not .

[Amrik Singh]

Originally Posted by AgastyaR

Thank you! I agree marble comes in wide ranges

I have used Katni in Balcony which is subject to Rain too. It is available in beautiful light colours. Personally, I do not prefer White Marble as with time, the ends of flooring abutting the skirting pick dust permanently giving a shabby look. User doesn't know which cleaning agent would be the best.
Checking on Google, I find it to be the hardest marble.

[adithya.kp]

Sorry if its not the right thread. But I am wondering if its a general practice to give some nice gifts/cash to the workers/supervisor/contractor?. Do they expect something?

So far I have only given good quality t shirts/shirts. But I was planning to give some cash to the workers who spent a lot of time at the site. ( Watchman/ cleaner etc). What is a decent amount to give?. What is a decent gift to the supervisor/main contractor? Apart from this, there are quite a few others like carpenters/electrician?. I wonder if they also expect something?
(I am only talking about people who have spent a lot of time, who I have interacted with, know them )

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

I am only talking about people who have spent a lot of time, who I have interacted with, know them

The general practice is to give them clothes and a small gift during the housewarming ceremony. This is specially relevant in case of the mestri and carpenter.

[Rodie09]

Guys, I have been facing an electrical fault problem for the last week which is far from resolved yet. While I am trying to get knowledgeable electrician or an engineer to solve it, I thought why not put the question to this amazing pool of knowledge we have at Team BHP.

So here I go - apologies for a lengthy post as I try to share all detail.

Background:
This is a 3 BHK in an apartment of 120 flats built about 15 years back by one of the most reputed builders in Pune. In 15 years I have not faced any electrical, plumbing or even a seepage issue. I am at top floor, flat has 3 side open construction with no common wall with other flats at all. So overall, its a quality build. I have a 3 phase meter and typically in summer we have run 3 ACs of 1.5, 1.2 ,1 ton simultaneously with all other usual loads. No problem ever encountered in 15 years until last week.

Recent Work:
I got some additional points done 3-4 months back, mostly LED decor lights ranging from 2 watts to 18 watts. This required some new concealed wiring also but considering low load it was not done in proper conduits. Mostly just a phase and neutral wire for these small lights in a flexi tube. I am sure many of us must have done similar.

DP Box - Located right after main entrance this houses about 18 Havells circuit breakers for different circuits in house and 1 Havells RCCB of 63 A/30 mA which is standard in apartments.

Issue:

A week back the RCCB tripped. None of the breakers opened but just the RCCB was down. I isolated all breakers and tested one by one and found this to be happening from master bath 25 litre Racold geyser. I thought I had found the issue. Disconnected the geyser.

The next day RCCB tripped again while geyser was still disconnected. Again, using elimination method located the source to be an electric kettle being plugged in a different room this time.

And then similar occurrences followed from other rooms, living, kitchen etc. It was clear that this was not due to a specific appliance or point. Took some suggestions from regular electrician, society group and many pointed to a faulty RCCB. Bought a new RCCB of same rating of Schneider brand. Tested and issue persisted.

The issue was not consistent. Sometimes same point and appliance combo worked while at times same combo tripped RCCB. Somehow managed to conclude that whenever a higher load was put, it'd trip the RCCB.

• 25 L geyser tripped RCCB every time.
• 15 L geyser worked in silo but tripped if there was more load elsewhere in home.
• Kettle tripped RCCB at times but not always.
• All 3 air conditioners tripped RCCB every time even in silo operation.

So, its triggered above a certain load but don't know the quantum.

It is also clear (almost) that there is a small earth leakage somewhere in the house that's causing the > 30mA differential and the RCCB trip.

Looking forward to suggestions here on how to nail down such problem. There must be a systematic way to identify such issues and resolve - although I understand it can be tedious job.

Any reference to a good electrician in west Pune will be help.

Thanks mates!

[Thad E Ginathom]

When disconnecting you geyser, etc, did you disconnect all three lines?

I once learned that even stuff happening on the neutral wire can trip an ELCB. I learnt this half stuck behind a washing machine I was installing in a very cramped space!

Have you tried disconnecting (entirely) your new LED light circuits? The lesson I learned running computer systems was, when everything stops, ask myself, what was the last thing I changed?

[Amrik Singh]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

Sorry if its not the right thread. But I am wondering if its a general practice to give some nice gifts/cash to the workers/supervisor/contractor?. Do they expect something?

Clothes or Kitchen Gadgets /Utensils should be the first option. However, it is important to know the habits of the construction workers. Strictly no Cash gifts if they are likely to spend it on Alcohol or Gambling.
My choice would be clothes for their females and Books, if they have school going children.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by Aroy

The current anti termite chemicals are pretty benign as the older ones that could be effective for ten years are banned.

What was the older chemical which was banned & why was it banned?

[Rodie09]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

When disconnecting you geyser, etc, did you disconnect all three lines?

I once learned that even stuff happening on the neutral wire can trip an ELCB. I learnt this half stuck behind a washing machine I was installing in a very cramped space!

Have you tried disconnecting (entirely) your new LED light circuits? The lesson I learned running computer systems was, when everything stops, ask myself, what was the last thing I changed?

Thanks @Thad for your reply. Yes, I basically pulled out the power plug from the wall socket for the geyser. Of course I could not do that for all light fittings as it's a tedious job to go one by one on them. Will have to do later if nothing simpler comes up.

I too looked for what changed recently but in the end could not zero in on anything particular. I also learnt that the array of circuit breakers only disconnects Phase and therefore the neutral and earth across the house are still in the circuit - so an earth fault anywhere may still cause the ELCB/RCCB to trip even though the load is at the far end of house.

Learning and revising my electrical knowledge from Engineering 1st year days.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Rodie09

I also learnt that the array of circuit breakers only disconnects Phase and therefore the neutral and earth across the house are still in the circuit - so an earth fault anywhere may still cause the ELCB/RCCB to trip even though the load is at the far end of house.

Learning and revising my electrical knowledge from Engineering 1st year days.

Do you see any flickering of lights in normal times? One possibility is, in older buildings, neutral link rod (contactor) goes bad and may cause electrical issues. Check whether it has burnt or sparks. Or call an electrician to do ground test (resistance measurement with megger).