NuHeat Damaged - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

dman · 01-21-2005, 02:39 AM

I have Nu-Heat Mat in my master bath under tiles. The mat was installed by a tiling company who also installed the tile and grout. Unfortunately, they were unable to complete all the work around the tile and grouted mat. Another tile company had to finish the work (cleaning and sealing of tiles). In the cleaning process, they cleaned the tiled and grouted area.

The Nu-Heat mat does not work and the Tile install company claims that the other tile company (one who cleaned and sealed the tile and grout) cut the Mat during the cleaning and sealing process which I watched and did not see them cut any Nu-Heat Mat.

Question: Was it possible during the cleaning and sealing process for the Nu-Heat to get cut? Remember grout was in place and tile installed before cleaning and sealing.

Thank you

pondman · 01-21-2005, 09:21 AM

I'm curious. If the only thing left was to clean and seal the tile, why didn't the first company finish? Something is not right here. This makes no sense. Did they just quit? did you have an arguement? were they paid? Why did they not finish?

Mike Finley · 01-21-2005, 10:36 AM

You are confusing me too. You say the original company

Quote:

Originally Posted by dman

they were unable to complete all the work around the tile and grouted mat. :

then you say the 2nd company just cleaned and that

Quote:

Originally Posted by dman

Remember grout was in place and tile installed before cleaning and sealing.

so which was it? Was all the tile laid absolutely everything done but a final cleaning of the tile and sealing it? The 1st company should have done a resistance test on the matt during a few of their steps to insure it was going to work properly. Could it be that they did and discovered they had damaged it and that is why they decided not to complete the job?

dman · 01-22-2005, 03:13 AM

So company 1 installed mat, tile and grouted. Company 2 did the cleaning and sealing. Company 1 claims that company 2 damaged the mat during the cleaning and sealing process. Is this possible?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

You are confusing me too. You say the original company then you say the 2nd company just cleaned and that

so which was it? Was all the tile laid absolutely everything done but a final cleaning of the tile and sealing it? The 1st company should have done a resistance test on the matt during a few of their steps to insure it was going to work properly. Could it be that they did and discovered they had damaged it and that is why they decided not to complete the job?

dman · 01-22-2005, 03:18 AM

Company quit, they were paid on the work they completed. There was additional work to be done outside of the bathroom but they decided not to complete the project. I heard through one of the workers that they had a bigger project elsewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pondman

I'm curious. If the only thing left was to clean and seal the tile, why didn't the first company finish? Something is not right here. This makes no sense. Did they just quit? did you have an arguement? were they paid? Why did they not finish?

housedocs · 01-22-2005, 07:52 AM

Can't see any way that the mat could have been damaged during the cleaning & sealing process, unless they had to cut out and redo some grout work, which shouldn't have been the case on a newly installed job. The fact the first company pulled off the project prior to it's completion would make me suspicious of them to start with. Sounds lie this may become quite a mess for a judge or mediator to sort out, hope you've got what everybody did documented and hopefully had a contract with both companies.

dman · 01-22-2005, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walldoc

Can't see any way that the mat could have been damaged during the cleaning & sealing process, unless they had to cut out and redo some grout work, which shouldn't have been the case on a newly installed job. The fact the first company pulled off the project prior to it's completion would make me suspicious of them to start with. Sounds lie this may become quite a mess for a judge or mediator to sort out, hope you've got what everybody did documented and hopefully had a contract with both companies.

Walldoc thanks for your feedback. Both companies were subs and my main contractor back up my claims against company 1. He brought in company 2 who delivered on time and we're all squared away.

thanks again.

Mike Finley · 01-22-2005, 06:04 PM

Well then, unless the guys who cleaned and sealed used some sort of sharp tools for some reason other than sealing or cleaning they shouldn't have been able to damage it.

Cleaning and sealing grout just consists of a bucket of water and a sponge to clean and a jar of sealer and maybe a foam brush to apply. If that is all they did I don't see how they could damage it. If they did something else that you don't know about then who knows???????

pondman · 01-22-2005, 11:01 PM

So you are all squared away. The floor mat now heats. Everything works just fine. Is that correct?

CCBuilder · 01-24-2005, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Finley

Well then, unless the guys who cleaned and sealed used some sort of sharp tools for some reason other than sealing or cleaning they shouldn't have been able to damage it.

Cleaning and sealing grout just consists of a bucket of water and a sponge to clean and a jar of sealer and maybe a foam brush to apply. If that is all they did I don't see how they could damage it. If they did something else that you don't know about then who knows???????

I totally agree with this. Unless the mat was installed incorrectly to begin with, cleaning and sealing should not have even allowed the mat to be touched. The mat should be unaccessible under the tile. Company 1 dropped the ball by not finishing the job in the first place. My tile setters come out to bid, install, clean and inspect after the job is complete - very comprehensive. They wouldn't dream of letting another contractor clean up their project.