S
swykes
I've had a very stressful and upsetting experience with a plumber that I employed after seeing good reviews for him on a trade website. I employed him to take out the old bathroom and remove tiles and re-fit new bathroom, re-tile and put some spot lights in, as the company do full bathroom refits including electrical works. They were fine removing the bathroom suite and tiles but things went downhill rapidly day by day after this. On day 2 the plasterboard that had come away around by the old bath when the old suite was removed was replaced and bonding put at the edge and they then day 3 they started to re-tile, , but they hadn’t got the wall level and therefore there was a gap of about an inch at the corner of where the two walls meet where the bath was to be placed and the end where the shower was going. We were not happy with this, especially my dad (he worked on building sites for over 35 years before retirement):
This wasn't the only thing we weren't happy with by this time the tiling was really bad and areas had to be re-tiled at our expense. We had lost all confidence in the plumber and his son by now and didn't feel he knew how to rectify the unlevel wall, so my dad said he'd do this, he did and he did a good job of this:
When the plumber fitted the bath, we ended up having a leak in our dining room, see the photo below which shows the damage:
The job over-ran (even though my dad made up the boxing for him and the bathroom furniture, even though this was part of the quote) and after being told it would take a week to complete, we were told that he'd be back in a week as he had another job on and finish that Saturday, after they went we found more tiling issues, so much so that my husband and my brother decided to re-tile areas themselves and do grouting as there was no way the plumber and his son would finish the job the following Saturday as there way still lots to do.
By now though we had got to the point that we didn't know whether we could trust them to do a good job, therefore when they came back I expressed my dissatisfaction and asked them to just finish the last small bit of tiling left (not including grouting) and to fit the towel rail and spot lights. We decided to let my dad and brother fit the shower rail, shower screen and bath panel and finish grouting. We paid the plumber in full apart from £100 which we stated we'd keep for one month to see if we had any further leaks or issues and he said he'd email me a receipt. I've received no receipt and we had a leak 30 mins after him leaving on the towel rail, he came the next day though and fixed it. We also noticed that the cones that fit behind the shower valve were missing we asked him about this, as they were in the spare room on the morning they were working and now they were missing, he said he hadn't seen them. We have now found out that there should be a 20 mm gap from the wall to the bolt for the cone to fit, we have only been left with 12 mm on one side and 9 mm on the other. I have since phoned him and he has said he'd measured correctly before my dad levelled the wall, therefore trying to blame my dad for this, all he did was level the wall. The bathroom shop has stated the plumber shouldn't have fitted the valve until after the area was complete and tiled.
What can I do now? The plumber has taken my money, hasn't left me with a receipt, a part P certificate for the spot lights and has left us with his bodge job. Are there covers we can buy that be cut down, obviously cones will not look aesthetically correct as one will have to be cut more than the other.
We have now also found that the bath is flexing in the corner and the mastic is splitting, we may have to take the bath out and fit a wooden plinth to the wall for it to rest on, as the plumber hasn't done this.
I'm sure there are lots of good contractors out there, but we did what we thought best, we went by reviews, this whole experience really puts you off using contractors.
Your help and suggestions regarding the shower valve covers will be greatly appreciated.
This wasn't the only thing we weren't happy with by this time the tiling was really bad and areas had to be re-tiled at our expense. We had lost all confidence in the plumber and his son by now and didn't feel he knew how to rectify the unlevel wall, so my dad said he'd do this, he did and he did a good job of this:
When the plumber fitted the bath, we ended up having a leak in our dining room, see the photo below which shows the damage:
The job over-ran (even though my dad made up the boxing for him and the bathroom furniture, even though this was part of the quote) and after being told it would take a week to complete, we were told that he'd be back in a week as he had another job on and finish that Saturday, after they went we found more tiling issues, so much so that my husband and my brother decided to re-tile areas themselves and do grouting as there was no way the plumber and his son would finish the job the following Saturday as there way still lots to do.
By now though we had got to the point that we didn't know whether we could trust them to do a good job, therefore when they came back I expressed my dissatisfaction and asked them to just finish the last small bit of tiling left (not including grouting) and to fit the towel rail and spot lights. We decided to let my dad and brother fit the shower rail, shower screen and bath panel and finish grouting. We paid the plumber in full apart from £100 which we stated we'd keep for one month to see if we had any further leaks or issues and he said he'd email me a receipt. I've received no receipt and we had a leak 30 mins after him leaving on the towel rail, he came the next day though and fixed it. We also noticed that the cones that fit behind the shower valve were missing we asked him about this, as they were in the spare room on the morning they were working and now they were missing, he said he hadn't seen them. We have now found out that there should be a 20 mm gap from the wall to the bolt for the cone to fit, we have only been left with 12 mm on one side and 9 mm on the other. I have since phoned him and he has said he'd measured correctly before my dad levelled the wall, therefore trying to blame my dad for this, all he did was level the wall. The bathroom shop has stated the plumber shouldn't have fitted the valve until after the area was complete and tiled.
What can I do now? The plumber has taken my money, hasn't left me with a receipt, a part P certificate for the spot lights and has left us with his bodge job. Are there covers we can buy that be cut down, obviously cones will not look aesthetically correct as one will have to be cut more than the other.
We have now also found that the bath is flexing in the corner and the mastic is splitting, we may have to take the bath out and fit a wooden plinth to the wall for it to rest on, as the plumber hasn't done this.
I'm sure there are lots of good contractors out there, but we did what we thought best, we went by reviews, this whole experience really puts you off using contractors.
Your help and suggestions regarding the shower valve covers will be greatly appreciated.
