"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...


Union tilesetters undergo a formal, three-year apprenticeship program. A
lot of that training has to do with the safe handling of various
chemicals that are rarely, if ever, used during tilesetting or
maintenance in single-family homes.

This is unfortunate because I *suspect* (might be wrong, though), that a
builder's expectations for speed of construction and cost control might
force *any* worker to take shortcuts. I suppose it depends on the situation.
I lot of my son's friends live in new developments, and some of the parents
are doing an inordinate amount of what I consider "basic structural" work -
things a new house shouldn't need. Example: In one house, the kitchen
floor's underlayment wasn't fastened correctly. All along 3 seams, it began
lifting and popping the wooden tiles. He's redoing the whole thing two years
after moving in. When he removed the tiles, he found water damage to the
underlayment. It was 15 feet from the sink area, so obviously, it happened
during construction.