here a tile, there a tile...

For all those debut home buyers - make sure you choose a tile that gives you the least gap/grout line between them. When the grout lines are supposed to be less than 2mm in a normal domestic house flooring, Our dear dear Sobha folks have given us a happy 3mm to 4mm gap between the tiles. This makes the grout line appear really thick and the flooring is yuck! It only gives the whole floor a dirty look. When you rub and try to clear the dirt on the grouts, it only peels off which gets really high on maintenance later - since one has to re-grout the whole floor once it peels . Here's a pic of how grout lines look in a Sobha home. When asked why such huge gaps , they say, the bigger the better when you change a tile, but how often do we break a tile and change it ? And they blamed the tile saying its the characteristic of the tile that leaves such gaps between them (???) We even went to the extent of checking a house that had chosen vitrified tiles in place of ceramic, even there the gaps were ridiculously large! We were so illiterate (in Aug 2006, soon as we moved to B'lore) about these nuances that we didn't even bother -(thinking, "Sobha is a big guy and knows the best and would render the best!" - my foot they know) and by the time we learnt - it was too late to suggest a change with Sobha developers! We have learnt a lesson (many chapters within though:-))!

To make it even worse, we have a private garden, which is filled with red sand at the moment. In a couple of days, its gonna be a month since we moved in, no landscaping or paving is undertaken. I can't let Adit play out there, however at times when it is sunny and the red sand's not damp, i do send him out to play, and the result - all the grout lines are painted red by those tiny feet :)

But you know what, when 2 or more men or women get together, the one topic/question that binds them all in Bangalore - 'Whose builder is worse than mine ?'