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Crack in shower tray ...

Ali660
Ali660 Posts: 190 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving
Help please :)

A crack has appeared in our shower tray. I arranged for a plumber to come around to quote repairal/renewal and he was just terrible - he kept on and on about claiming through my house insurance because it was going to cost in excess of £450. Well, I'm just not that kind of person and am not going to go down that route ...

What I'm wonder is:

a) do you think this is an accurate quote for replacing a shower tray

and

b) if we silicone sealed the crack would this buy us some extra time? I'm concerned that because we have used the shower since spotting the crack some water may be trapped underneath and might cause another problem ...

As always, thanking you in anticipation of your replies :wave:

Ali

Comments

  • keystone
    keystone Posts: 10,916 Forumite
    Ali660 wrote: »
    Well, I'm just not that kind of person and am not going to go down that route ...
    Why not? You may have to. When was it installed BTW - is it still under manufacturer's warranty or installers guarantee?
    a) do you think this is an accurate quote for replacing a shower tray
    No idea based on currently supplied data. How big is the tray? Does the quote include the replacement tray? What is it made of? How is it installed? What are the arrangements for the shower enclosure? Is retiling going to be necessary? Is the substrate behind the tiling damaged? Is the flooring underneath damaged?
    b) if we silicone sealed the crack would this buy us some extra time?
    Nope - not for one single, solitary picosecond.
    I'm concerned that because we have used the shower since spotting the crack some water may be trapped underneath and might cause another problem ...
    You are correct and you should not use it.

    Cheers
    The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein
  • phill99
    phill99 Posts: 9,092 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    edited 23 October 2010 at 3:03PM
    Why won't you put it through your insurers? That's why we have insurance. It'll only cost you the excess. You're not doing anything illegal.

    Also you need to remember that if you don't do anything about it and carry on using it, the situation will get worse with damage to floors, ceilings below etc. It's far easier to put in a cliam for £450 than for £1500 which could easily be the case when your kitchen ceiling caves in.

    Silicone wont last at all.
    Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.
  • wallbash
    wallbash Posts: 17,775 Forumite
    No the £450 includes the tray , so your calculations show the plumbers rate at around £300??

    Thank god for DIY!
  • 1984ReturnsForReal_2
    1984ReturnsForReal_2 Posts: 15,431 Forumite
    Ali660 wrote: »
    Help please :)

    he was just terrible - he kept on and on about claiming through my house insurance because it was going to cost in excess of £450.


    Sounds like he was doing you a favour.

    New tray, new tiling.

    New install.
    Not Again
  • 1984ReturnsForReal_2
    1984ReturnsForReal_2 Posts: 15,431 Forumite
    andrew-b wrote: »
    Yes £450 guesstimate supply and fit...find a polish plumber and they'll prolly do it in half the time with no tea breaks or whining for 1/3 of the cost!
    Thinking about it there is no reason you actually need to pay plumber's rates. A handyman should be able to do it....it's only a few screws to remove the enclosure, bit of man-handling a tray, hand tightening waste outlet on and a few lines of silicone!
    But if you think about it... plumber = handyman with a blow torch..is gas really that expensive?



    Yeah right.

    Most are tiled over so you can't remove & replace without....... Guess what?
    Not Again
  • diable
    diable Posts: 5,258 Forumite
    My mate cracked his shower tray, serves him right from having sex with his missus in the shower ;o)))))

    How did your crack?
  • keystone
    keystone Posts: 10,916 Forumite
    andrew-b wrote: »
    I'd guess you would be looking at one day of labour at most
    I really do wish that I had a single pound for everey time I've heard that sort of thing said.
    ..so at plumber's rates £450 is probably about right....would i pay that? no i'd DIY it.
    If he's working out an estimate for insurance purposes he has to cover the angles because they won't pay a penny over after the event - minimum 2 days. Are you saying £150 a day is too high? Bear in mind that he will lose a substantial amount of that to business expenses, then he has to pay tax on the rest.

    Cheers
    The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein
  • keystone
    keystone Posts: 10,916 Forumite
    andrew-b wrote: »
    Yes £450 guesstimate supply and fit...find a polish plumber and they'll prolly do it in half the time with no tea breaks or whining for 1/3 of the cost!
    Thinking about it there is no reason you actually need to pay plumber's rates. A handyman should be able to do it....it's only a few screws to remove the enclosure, bit of man-handling a tray, hand tightening waste outlet on and a few lines of silicone!
    But if you think about it... plumber = handyman with a blow torch..is gas really that expensive?
    A very silly post with a really very very very silly sentence at the end. If I don't know better I would think you have absolutely no idea whatsoever but you demonstrate otherwise most of the time.

    Cheers
    The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein
  • keystone
    keystone Posts: 10,916 Forumite
    diable wrote: »
    How did your crack?
    That's a very personal question. :D

    Cheers
    The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits. - Einstein
  • phill99
    phill99 Posts: 9,092 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts
    £150 / day is cheap for a plumber. Normally £180+ / day.

    A standard 760 x 760 tray is about £100. Disposal costs, wastge, changes to pipe work etc. then tiling. Its not uncommon for tiles on plasterboard to bring the plaster board with them when they are removed. So you then have to look at chopping in bits of plasterboard. Once the tiles are in, you can't apply silicone mastic until the next day.

    2 days is right, so really £450 is on the cheap side. The last on I did for an insurance job (about 3 years ago) was over £700
    Eat vegetables and fear no creditors, rather than eat duck and hide.
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