Problem with recently fitted bathroom

stars_bright

My partner and I had a new bathroom and toilet fitted a fwe months ago. We purchased the bath, toilet, vaity wash basin from a small local shop and paid a plumber who they recommended to it it all, also a tiler who they recomended to do the tiling. All went well except that now we have noticed a problem with the vanity wash basin. Where it is next to the bath water has somehow got into the side panel and caused it to swell and warp. The vanity unti it right next to the bath but we told the shop how we intended to fit it and they did not say that this might be a problem, neither did the plumber when he plumbed it in.
We will be going to discuss the problem with the supplier but they might say that it was our fault for positionng the vanity unit too close to the bath, or that the plumber must have damaged the unit when he fitted it, thus allowing water to get in. Even if they agree to replace the faulty unit foc we are then going to have to pay the plumber again to removed the old unit and plumb in the new one.
Any suggestions on how to sort out this mess?

baldelectrician

My mate (a plumber) had a call from previous customer who had a 'we do everything firm- one man' to fit a bathroom suite, she supplied.

A few months after the job was done by the other party the customer called my plumber friend as there was an overpowering smell of sewage from the area.

He found the chap who fitted the WC had put a piece of waste pipe in to the wall, but it didn't connect with the original waste at the outer skin side of the wall, and all the poo was falling down the cavity, as it couldn't jump a 3" gap, but some of the liquid did flush away.

So the customer had her wall cavity filled with poo over the previous 3 months.:eek: The poo was oozing out of her ventilation bricks :shocked:


The job was fixed by doing a bit of major works, and the customer had to claim her house insurance, needless to say she couldn't trace the original guy who did the work.

There is always someone worse off than you.

BobProperty

stars_bright wrote:

My partner and I had a new bathroom and toilet fitted a fwe months ago. We purchased the bath, toilet, vaity wash basin from a small local shop and paid a plumber who they recommended to it it all, also a tiler who they recomended to do the tiling. All went well except that now we have noticed a problem with the vanity wash basin. Where it is next to the bath water has somehow got into the side panel and caused it to swell and warp. The vanity unti it right next to the bath but we told the shop how we intended to fit it and they did not say that this might be a problem, neither did the plumber when he plumbed it in.
We will be going to discuss the problem with the supplier but they might say that it was our fault for positionng the vanity unit too close to the bath, or that the plumber must have damaged the unit when he fitted it, thus allowing water to get in. Even if they agree to replace the faulty unit foc we are then going to have to pay the plumber again to removed the old unit and plumb in the new one.
Any suggestions on how to sort out this mess?

Well .... sucks air through teeth.....
Would you have changed the design if the shop or the plumber said something about the possibility of water getting into the vanity unit?
Who do you think is at fault here? You have designed and specified the units, the plumber has merely fitted your design in your bathroom (that's what his solicitor will say in his defence if it ever gets that far, as will the supplier, they just supplied it, they have no control over where you fit it).
Personally, I can't stand vanity units and what has happend to you is one of the reasons.

alanobrien

baldelectrician wrote:

My mate (a plumber) had a call from previous customer who had a 'we do everything firm- one man' to fit a bathroom suite, she supplied.

A few months after the job was done by the other party the customer called my plumber friend as there was an overpowering smell of sewage from the area.

He found the chap who fitted the WC had put a piece of waste pipe in to the wall, but it didn't connect with the original waste at the outer skin side of the wall, and all the poo was falling down the cavity, as it couldn't jump a 3" gap, but some of the liquid did flush away.

So the customer had her wall cavity filled with poo over the previous 3 months.:eek: The poo was oozing out of her ventilation bricks :shocked:


The job was fixed by doing a bit of major works, and the customer had to claim her house insurance, needless to say she couldn't trace the original guy who did the work.

There is always someone worse off than you.

:eek: That is horrendous YUCK aand YUCK again

Skiduck

stars_bright wrote:

My partner and I had a new bathroom and toilet fitted a fwe months ago. We purchased the bath, toilet, vaity wash basin from a small local shop and paid a plumber who they recommended to it it all, also a tiler who they recomended to do the tiling. All went well except that now we have noticed a problem with the vanity wash basin. Where it is next to the bath water has somehow got into the side panel and caused it to swell and warp. The vanity unti it right next to the bath but we told the shop how we intended to fit it and they did not say that this might be a problem, neither did the plumber when he plumbed it in.
We will be going to discuss the problem with the supplier but they might say that it was our fault for positionng the vanity unit too close to the bath, or that the plumber must have damaged the unit when he fitted it, thus allowing water to get in. Even if they agree to replace the faulty unit foc we are then going to have to pay the plumber again to removed the old unit and plumb in the new one.
Any suggestions on how to sort out this mess?

it's not quite clear from what you say, why the panel is swelling, is it due to water from the vanity basin? If so, it is your fault. Is it due to an installation fault? If so it is the installers fault.

stars_bright

The wood is swelling because water has got into it. How the water has got in we don't know. It must be either that there was a defect in the unit which meant that it was no longer waterproof, or the plumber may have damaged it slightly when fitting it, or that the unit was never waterproof. We did tell the shop owner that we were putting the unit right next to the bath (our bathroom is very small so it was a deciding factor in chossing the unit whether there was space between the bath and the wall). If either the shop or plumber had said that it would be aproblem then we would have bought a traditional sink unit instead, we choose the vanity unit because we wanted to store bottle etc inside it. I guess at least theres always someone wrose off...

Alan_M_2

Without seeing the installation I would make the following assumptions:-

A vanitry unit is designed to be used in a bathroom and therefore should have some resistance to moisture, I'd hazard a gues that this is a veneered MDF base unit, which personally I think is utter nonsence making anything in a bathroom out of MDF.

The fault lies with the manufacturer of the furniture, not the fitter or the retailer, unless the fitter has cut or altered the unit to fit in any way.

Once the unit is cut or altered any guarantee offered by the manufacturer is void.

You need to a good relationship with the shop to get them to liase with the manufacturer to replace the item.

davsidipp

hi. your problem (if due to manufacture)is with the shop not the manufacturer.you bought it from them

clairehi

baldelectrician wrote:

d the customer had to claim her house insurance,

nightmare story. I wonder how she managed to claim on her insurance though?

Alan_M_2

davsidipp wrote:

hi. your problem (if due to manufacture)is with the shop not the manufacturer.you bought it from them

I disagree, the manufacturer provides the guarantee, you are dealing with them, albeit through an intermediary (the shop where it was bought). Having been in this business for 15 years, that's how it works.

molerat

Alan_M wrote:

I disagree, the manufacturer provides the guarantee, you are dealing with them, albeit through an intermediary (the shop where it was bought). Having been in this business for 15 years, that's how it works.

If an item is faulty the retailer is responsible in law. End !! The retailer can liase, shout at or jump up and down with the manufacturer as much as he likes, but the retailer is responsible in the end. It obviously works wrong in your business.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0043-1011.txt