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Thanks for the info everyone.

 

I asked 2 local guys to come and look today and they are going to give me quotations. Their guess was much more realistic. I'm willing to learn and do it if I can't get a decent price, but if the guess estimates come off I will hand it over. Would prefer to have a pro do it.

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Don't worry about the screed (If it needs a screed get pros to do it) if the current concrete has a decent runoff use a flexible tile adhesive either premixed or mix your self and trowel it on using the notched trowel trying to keep the tile level with the fall off the concrete.

It is easy my wife was able to do it.

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When you're trying to learn about something you know next to nothing about, and lots of different people tell you different things, it gets confusing.

 

:(

 

I'm sure there's a few different ways to do this that are ok, but I don't really know which. Hoping the guys tomorrow will come up with realistic quotations and I can just give them a bit of cash and they'll do it. I'll watch and learn!

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If you're going to have a go yourself, that Cainz Home in Maebashi opposite Costco is wicked. You could pretty much build and equip an entire (very nice) house from what they sell. It completely pisses on Nagano home centers, most of which are a joke. They're small and don't carry much stuff. Branches of the same Cainz Home chain in Nagano are pathetic by comparison. Half of the one in Omachi got turned into a supermarket even.

 

The best one around here is Musashi (sp?) which is a Niigata chain.

 

As for tiling, Japanese folks all seem to use dedicated plastic spacers that make laying the tiles on an even grid look easy. As GN says, planning the tile pattern to minimize cutting and putting the cut ones in the least obtrusive place is probably the most important thing. Tiles themselves aren't expensive if you buy imported ones, so simply doing that should save you a fair whack even if you don't do the laying yourself. I'd imagine asking someone to put tiles down and choosing something from the Inax catalogue they give you would cost a mint. Japanese ones sound like they are three or four times the price of imported ones. You can pay more for concrete tiles than you would for real stone.

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I didn't know Musashi was Niigata.

The one in Tokamachi is decent sized.

We just have a (few) Komeri here in Muikamachi, one medium-sized one and a small one.

The nearest Musashi is in Urasa, very small.

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You need a Costco card to get in.

 

If you don't have one either find a friend who has to take you, or ask about a guest card.

 

One way of getting in just to look, but not buy, is to go in the exit door, then use the toilets, once out of the toilets walk though the checkouts into the shop. Gives you a chance to look around. (I've been to and from the toilets while shopping heaps of times and never been asked to show my Costco card)

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The best cainz I have been to is the one in Saku in Nagano that really has so much.

The one in Kofu is very good but not as good as the Saku one.

But even better for those living in Saitama and I think Gunma? Is Joyful Homda that is massive and has absolutely everything.

The one I went to in Saitama I think it was many years ago now was too big to go around it in a day to see things properly.

 

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The Musashi in the south part of Nagano City near the new big Uniqlo has a big shiryou-kan where they sell loads of materials and have aisles full of very specialized electrical and plumbing stuff. I don't know what its all for, but its well interesting. I put some shelves up the other day, and at Maebashi Cainz, I would have had seven or eight choices for the boards, not the one or two at Omachi Cainz.

 

For the food at the Costco cafe, they do a hot baked thing with shredded beef and cheese baked in pizza dough called a Bulgogi Bake that is well yummy in a pie/kebab type way. 150 yen for a big hot dog and a drink is also a deal.

 

Costco's had the ol' jasmine rice back in again recently, if you like your curries. You can buy it or basmati online, but they're usually pretty expensive.

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I imagine though it's one of those places where you see tons of stuff that you just suddenly "need" and the numbers add up oh so quickly!

 

Am I right?

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There's a reason the carts are ginormous. It's a pretty serious one time ding to the savings account. But, in the long run I think we break even since the savings are probably eaten up in the costs of getting there. And sometimes I just want a big ass steak...not the silly slicy, wicy paper thin J crap.

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