[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

I have a 7 year old IFB that has most of its parts replaced and those IFB guys are big time Chors. Their service people also tept you with spurious deals. I will never buy an IFB product ever again.

You are not alone with your cup of woes about IFB. I was sold an Extended Warranty which is not being honored by the current set of service guys, washing machine leaking ever so often, etc.

Various experiences have been mentioned on this thread earlier.

[Sugeeta]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

+1 to that. I think you have LG1056LDP



My new home is under construction and I was searching for the correct thread to post query on floor tiles. I checked many tiles (at store and houses) and found following brands are good.

RAK
Johnson

I checked few houses who used above brands and some were done couple of years back and they are good.

Also heard good feedback about Asian Tiles but did not check it.

I decided to go for RAK which I found good quality at reasonable price.

Also I found SOMANY tiles good but do not have any feedback on quality front, so do not have guts to buy :-)

Couple of things to take care when you buy tiles

1) Check the lot number on the box - Make sure your entire order is from same lot. Even the same design/colour accuracy differ slightly from lot to lot
2) some dealers take orders and promise you to deliver in x days and never does. My friend faced some issue where dealer delayed it by 15 days.
3) Installation of tiles is bit tricky and workmanship is important. So check few houses in your friend/family circle and find good installer, use 2"x2" tiles.

Marble chips floor looks horrible if not maintained well. Laying tiles on it can be done and have seen many people doing it. But according to me it may not give exactly same result, but can be done really fast. they just need to paste it over the existing floor.

Thanks a lot Latheesh.

This is indeed valuable practical information. Armed with this I will begin my hunt this weekend onwards.

Cheers

[Latheesh]

+ 1 more

4) In tiles also there is premium quality and factory seconds (with minor dmages/uneven surface/minor colour variation etc). Price difference is huge between premium and seconds and difference cannot be identified easily by people like us. Check the reputation of the dealer before you buy it or take help of an expert who you can trust.

I think we need a House construction material thread

@V.anand - Default mode takes longer time, use cotton quick/quick 30 wash mode. Even I was upset about the same but this thread helped me :-)

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

You are not alone with your cup of woes about IFB. I was sold an Extended Warranty which is not being honored by the current set of service guys, washing machine leaking ever so often, etc.

Various experiences have been mentioned on this thread earlier.

I am also on the same boat as yours, however I have AMC which I am yet to use. My WM has started leaking and probable reason given by the sercive guy is faulty bearing and drum. I will post the experience of using the AMC and replacing the drum and bearing. Keeping my fingers crossed hoping that the replacement will resolve the leak.

[UKR]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

My query does not exactly pertain to home appliances, but home enhancement :

Can anyone help me with some useful information on floor tiles.

Initially we had mosaic flooring in our house. As part of renovation, the mosaic flooring was removed and then tiles were laid on the ground floor. On the first floor, we used adhesive for laying the tiles on top of mosaic floor. From my experience, the later method generates lesser amount of building waste and is comparatively hassle free. Only point to note is that the floor height increases by one inch at least. So consider the ceiling height before going in for this method.

We have used Marbonite and it is very good. It is best to opt for masons supplied by the store where you are buying the tiles as they tend to have more experience in tile laying and hence more likely to do a better job. Also they charge on per square feet basis for laying tiles and hence it would be in their interest as well to complete the work as soon as possible.

Originally Posted by New.Novice

You will most likely get a "Made in Turkey" machine and trust me it will be worth those few additional rupees you will spend as against LG's and Samsung's of the world.

Yes Siemens does have quite a reputation when it comes to home appliances. In fact I was also of the view that Korean products were inferior. But the products from LG have changed my opinion. In fact my refrigerator, washing machine, TV and vacuum cleaner are from LG. I am most impressed by the wash quality and low operating noise of my washing machine (F-1068LDP). I would say it is one of the best available in the market.

[ramki067]

Originally Posted by rajakumar

I am also on the same boat as yours, however I have AMC which I am yet to use. My WM has started leaking and probable reason given by the sercive guy is faulty bearing and drum. I will post the experience of using the AMC and replacing the drum and bearing. Keeping my fingers crossed hoping that the replacement will resolve the leak.

Well, we have IFB Senorita Plus
IFB | Washing Machine | IFB SENORITA PLUS

The above very model, its been 10+ years and i had to change the motor belt and had to clean the drum once. Thats it its been smooth washing ever since. I think the older machines(10+ years) had some quality.

[rajakumar]

Originally Posted by ramki067

I think the older machines(10+ years) had some quality.

Yes, my parents and in-laws too have 10+ year old IFB WM (not sure about the model name). Both of them have been running solid till now except for minor repairs.

The old generation IFB WM had steel drums (outer ones) which gave better durability whereas the new gen model have hard plastic drums. Secondly the motor use to be from Bosch which is now replaced with the IFB manufactured ones. These were told to me by the service guy.

Even in the some of the new gen models (6 and 7KG), have the steel drums which reduces the vibrations during spin and thereby cuts the wear and tear.

[Aroy]

We too have 10 years+ IFB. It has been under AMC since day one, and in our case the service excellent. In this time we have changed every thing except the body - relays, drum, motor drum casing etc.

Before that we had a Sumeet, which was Siemens rebranded here. Used it for 10 years before replacing it with IFB. I think that it is important to get a good service organization, our one is excellent.

[gopikb]

UKR, your inputs came just in time as I am doing a renovation of my house. We have 8-year old Mosaic flooring in our home too and I really want to lay granite flooring on top of it. When you were doing a research on flooring did you consider granite too? Just wanted to know the pros and cons before I jump into doing it. If anybody has any advice, do let me know

[ramki067]

@Mods. Please create a seperate thread for house building materials talk as this will get jumbled up with Home appliances thread.

[phamilyman]

Latheesh,

Somany is pretty good and extremely well used and known in North India. We used somany tiles in our house in 1992. Ofc, completely middle class simple stuff but its lasted well enough. If they are they same today - shouldn't be any issue really

[RemingtonSteele]

Originally Posted by Mustang.101

Is anybody using a Siemens washing machine? I wan't to know how are the service costs and does it have any reliability issues.

I can speak from my own experience, We have atleast 5 Siemens washing machines in my house of different capacities, rpm and drying option at various home locations. All of them are front loading with stainless steel drum, some of them are as old as 12 years and as new as 5 years. Till date not a single issue reported (touch wood). They are truely heavy duty and rugged. I even transported them to Pune-Bangalore-Pune when I briefly shifted for couple of years.

According to me if you are well located like in Tier1 or Tier2 cities (like you are) where Siemens has presence then just go for it blindly.

[Sugeeta]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Latheesh,

Somany is pretty good and extremely well used and known in North India. We used somany tiles in our house in 1992. Ofc, completely middle class simple stuff but its lasted well enough. If they are they same today - shouldn't be any issue really

phamilyman, what colours did you use? Are they scratch resistant? Do you follow any specific precautions?

My only nightmare is dropping and dragging heavy stuff on the tiles may damage them.

[Sugeeta]

Originally Posted by gopikb

UKR, your inputs came just in time as I am doing a renovation of my house. We have 8-year old Mosaic flooring in our home too and I really want to lay granite flooring on top of it. When you were doing a research on flooring did you consider granite too? Just wanted to know the pros and cons before I jump into doing it. If anybody has any advice, do let me know

gopikb, certain common areas in my office have granite flooring. Can be dangerously slippery when wet or polished. Avoid using black as scratches and watermarks look very ugly.

[gopikb]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

gopikb, certain common areas in my office have granite flooring. Can be dangerously slippery when wet or polished. Avoid using black as scratches and watermarks look very ugly.

Sugeetha, thank you so much for the inputs. I will definitely avoid black. I was looking at brown or grey granite tiles.