We're done with the herringbone. This is the border on top of the running bond on the walls that he's having a problem with (figuring out how to cut it at - you guessed it - the crease again). He got one side and I can't figure out why he couldn't figure out the other side except that he's screwing with me. I really don't get it. I also bit my tongue until it bled but after the third question today that was basically "help me figure out how to lay tile" I "slipped" and told him that I can't explain to him how to do his job and the only way I could figure it out is to get up there and mess with it and just do it. I told him to go take a lunch break while I did that and he said he doesn't take lunch and grabbed his stuff and stormed out. I don't think the herringbone messed him up per se - I was explicit about that from the beginning and he was okay with it. At this point I think he was just asking me every stupid question to make some kind of a point, like "okay smart@ss, you figured out the ceiling, now figure THIS out." I really TRIED to be patient but I just wasn't seeing the problems he was seeing. It sounded like he was making a mountain out of every molehill he could possibly find. Maybe he was just looking for an excuse to walk out on the job when it was obvious that he wasn't going to get done in one day like he wanted to. I really don't know. I don't get people sometimes. There is so little left, I'm wondering if I can work with my contractor to finish it up. He's done some tile before, he's just slow and this job was just too big and complicated for him. At this point so little is left i can't imagine any real tile guy coming in to do it. Part of me wants to do it myself but after how hard it was to do the part I did do, there is no way DH is going to allow a repeat of that. I think grouting it all will be a bigger deal than setting the rest of the tile.

Hi everyone. This is the original Dalda nearly 7 years later. Amazing things happen when you have an excellent lawyer who puts things in motion and types up divorce papers under 48 hours. I was finally able to get a divorce. I sent my stepbrother, his wife and nibling on a 6 months full paid vacation. He's too busy, so he took one month off each year to visit each continent except the two poles. LoL. I have set up a educational trust fund for nibling. So nibling can study whatever and wherever nibling wants. Stepbrother is extremely well off on his own, and did not want or need it. But he took care of my lovely mother and wonderful stepfather for years. My stepfathers best friend was my lawyer, stepfather was the man who got down on one knee at 60 years to me and my sister and asked our consent to become family. He knew everything about the inheritance even about the extra millions and kept mumm and guided me, mentored me. Bless him. As for my divorce, ex-H contested it, it dragged on for 8 months, he had a grandchild. Without him being in contact with me or dear daughter for 4 months, we were invited to the birth of the child via a call and text. I promptly congratulated and sent a gift. Then continuously for 2 months me and daughter were bombarded with a few hundred photos of the child. Daughter was completely abandoned by him, distraught and blocked him on all media. Step kids did not remove their possessions even after written notice, I had to pack all their stuff and delivered it to their respective residents via courier service. With proof of delivery and acceptance. I must mention here that ex-h in the end was physically abusive to me. For years I was told I'm too dumb to do a PhD, I wouldn't be able to cope with the family and studies and work. I did not know that he had been funneling money from my account to his for 16 years. He was mentally abusive, which I didn't understand then. But during my daughters therapy sessions I broke down and discussed myself with the therapist and they pointed out exactly how I was being manipulated and brainwashed for 16 years into being under his thumb. They sued me for financial support, mental torture abuse, they WANTED 1 million of the 2 my parents left me, my family heirlooms, access to my house and lost spectacularly. I must write one line from the judges verdict, it went somewhat like this, it seems unfortunate that Mr. X and two of your children have been consumed by greed. You have failed to show one valid reason why you should be granted one cent. As for Mr. X, you should be ashamed as you have forgotten that you have another 15 year old daughter. Daughter and I faced a lot of vile words, threats from ex. He went to her school and tried to force her to sign papers. Tried to make her understand how and why she should share her good windfall. On my 40th birthday, I had a call and had to urgently visit my father's lawyer, telling a shocked and crying me that Instead of 2 million, my inheritance came up to 18 million in total. As my father bless him, left everything he had to me and my sister a few years later, which unknown to us was left to us to be given when we reach 40. I heard from ex-in laws that they flipped. In anger stepdaughter screamed, and broke stuff, ex ranted for days how he should have just sucked up and left his adult kids be, his life would be so much better. Ex got married twice. Him and his son sued me again, and lost, Spectacularly again. At 16 daughter won a full scholarship (she has mama's brains) and went on to an ivy league college with 4 GPA. She's 20 and blooming. With my consent she has set up a trust fund for anonymous merit scholarships for underprivileged students, we also support a local women's shelter for abused women and children. I rented out my house, which was too huge for only two people and moved to a town near her college, was a able to get a much better job in my field, which I did not know I was capable of, went on to do my PhD and Post Doctorate on full merit scholarship, I'm still doing it, it is extremely hard work. And two years later of my divorce I met a wonderful man through my work, my daughter and his daughter. Yes, it's weird. We took it slow, we have been married for two years now. Smooth sailing so far. We both have similar experience with exs and near same financial backgrounds, education. I must mention my amazing stepdaughter gave near same amount to the scholarship fund for underprivileged children from her own business. She has been a positive influence on daughter and guide her like my brother did me and my sister, like a protective wing. We agreed on an airtight prenup. Life is and can be bliss if you have the guts to leave your abusive and greedy mooching partner.

Hi, everyone! I am a granite fabricator in the Charlotte, NC area. So, so to speak, I don't have a dog in this fight. I see that there is much misunderstanding from consumers about granite countertops. The biggest issue I see is that your fabricator is not educating you about stone and the process. There are a lot of hacks out there. Please be careful! DON'T ASK FOR REFERENCES! You'll get his sister, his cousin and his best friend. Ask for a list of his last 10-15 jobs. Call them. Ask them when their install took place and what was they're impression of the company and the quality of their work. If the job wasn't recent, he's giving you only people that he knows liked him. Does the fabricator have a showroom to show the quality of his work? Look at the seam work. Does he use a 'french seam?' This is a seam that will have a small cut at a 45% angle (usually about 1 1/2' long) and then a straight cut back to the wall.This is an indication of precut Chinese granite. It will give a square corner on the front edge. Run away from this. Proper inside corners are curved indicating they are from slab. Are they selling 2cm granite? We consider this an inferior product. You must pick your slab. Your fabricator should be with you to help choose. They should give you advise on a good slab or a bad one. The stone warehouse wholesaler really just wants to sell you anything. You should be able to place your template. Your fabricator will help you maximize the usage of the stone slab so you don't pay extra. I know that there is a lot of questions. If you would like to know any answers, I would be glad to help. You can reach me through our website or at 39dollargranite@gmail.com.

Sophie, Are you saying tuckpointing a whole house for 30k, or just the areas I described? The areas touched included just the 5ft of wall above the garage doors, the top of the chimney and the 30sf of miscelaneous work, which was mostly filling open mortar joints that didn't need to be ground and all at ground level. Last year we had a 24' tall chimney exposed on 3.5 sides tuckpointed with lots of bad brick in the same city and bids ranged between 3000-7000 with the bids higher than 5000 being from contractors that recommended a more involved scope than we ended up going with. With this project we got one bid slightly lower, and although it looked like they did good work, they hadn't renewed their license in our city and were planning to do the job without a permit under the radar. There was one for $12,500 (company who ended up doing our chimney) then there was one from a large professional restoration firm that was up in the stratosphere. The company we went with had been a little higher but really wanted the job and came down to the 10400+1000 coordination base contract+permit We weren't expecting them to come out separately, Our thing is that they already have to come out to fix a few things including the open mortar joints that were missed in the exact same area that they would be working.