Bad work in bathroom installation

Margaret_Skinner

I had a bathroom installed in August 2011.

I had been recommended the company by my solicitor from whom I was asking advice regarding being fleeced by another guy who was going to do it and had waltzed off with two and a half grand of my money so I was wary about just picking anyone and was delighted to have a recommendation.

The joiner the company normally used was on holiday and someone else was employed who turned out to be rubbish and was subsequently sacked. This affected the timing of the job and things started to go wrong as a result. However the job was eventually done but there were things which could have been avoided. For example the old toilet sat outside in my front garden for 10 days until I pointed it out and waste from each day's job - packing, unused materials, etc. - was left in the house for me to take to the skip. Just glad to finally have a new bathroom I let that go with just a mention and as far as I know, paid the full price for the whole job.

After a year or so the cooker starting working erratically and eventually conked out altogether. I got a handyman, Graeme, round to look at it and he thought it was the cooker switch so put in a new one. That seemed to work for a while but eventually it started going again and I got an electrical engineer to come and look at it as I needed lights fixing also.

He told me an insufficient breaker had been put in the fuse box when it was changed (the property services company had installed a new one) - 32 amp instead of 40 amp and that was what was causing the problem. So he fixed that for me.

Previous to this I had noticed what seemed to be a shadow on my landing carpet next to the bathroom. Having a black lab at the time who loved to roll his head on the carpet and therefore constantly clart it in black hairs and also having the clotheshorse there, I just thought it was a shadow from clothes or was just dirty.

However whilst in the kitchen one day I realised there was a mark on the ceiling which hadn't been there before and couldn't figure out what it was. It took a while to connect the two but finally I sussed one was directly beneath the other and I started to clock that the patch on the carpet appeared to be changing slightly in size. When Graeme was looking at the cooker I got him to investigate and he said he thought it was something to do with the installation of the bath. I couldn't face going back to the company at that point so got him to sort it out but whatever he did hasn't fixed it completely.

Now it's obviously got bigger and is scaring the !!!! out of me. I want to write to the property services company but am worried because so much time has lapsed that I won't have a leg to stand on. Also I can't get hold of Graeme to let me know exactly what was wrong in his opinion because I'm worried that if I'm not specific they'll just turn round and say it wasn't their work that caused it.

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of the patch although have started to now so don't really have evidence that it started after the installation.

Do you think a letter will hold any credence with just those details? I know it can't do any harm to write anyway but just wondered if there's any particular wording I should put in to state my case firmly because I'm a single woman on my own and I don't want them to use that to their advantage i.e. clueless so can be taken advantage of!

thescouselander

First of all there was nothing wrong with your circuit breaker - 32A is the correct size for a cooker circuit.

Secondly I don't think the problem you have will be a lot of work to fix. It could be that the bath is poorly sealed or that the waste is leaking - both of these things should be easy to fix. It might be worth trying to get the original installers to fix it but if they put up a fight it might just be easier to pay someone else to do it as it probably won't be a big job - you might even be able to fix it yourself. Either way I think you need to identify what the problem is before writing. Can you get the side of the bath off and identify where the leak is coming from?

VSynth

thescouselander wrote: »

First of all there was nothing wrong with your circuit breaker - 32A is the correct size for a cooker circuit.

Secondly I don't think the problem you have will be a lot of work to fix. It could be that the bath is poorly sealed or that the waste is leaking - both of these things should be easy to fix. It might be worth trying to get the original installers to fix it but if they put up a fight it might just be easier to pay someone else to do it as it probably won't be a big job - you might even be able to fix it yourself. Either way I think you need to identify what the problem is before writing. Can you get the side of the bath off and identify where the leak is coming from?

The cooker circuit breaker rating is entirely down to the power drawn by the cooker and could well be 40A or higher.

thescouselander

VSynth wrote: »

The cooker circuit breaker rating is entirely down to the power drawn by the cooker and could well be 40A or higher.

It won't be. By the time you apply load diversity most if not all domestic cookers pull less than 32A. That is the way it has always been and cooker circuits up and down the country will be operating perfectly well with a 32 A breaker.

jblack_2

If the bathroom was installed 3.5 years ago I don't think you'll get the original fitters to accept responsibility.

andyhop

Your taking advice from a unskilled , unqualified handyman?

I would suggest you invite a couple of qualified electricians round to advise and quote for remedial works if needed . Same for bathroom

3.5yrs is too long a time to warranty . In this time who knows what has gone on in the bathroom

DTDfanBoy

thescouselander wrote: »

First of all there was nothing wrong with your circuit breaker - 32A is the correct size for a cooker circuit.

Complete twaddle, I've got a 50A MCB on mine as that is what is required.

Without knowing what is on the circuit, what cable has been used and how it has been run how nobody can say that a 32A MCB is what is required :cool:

thescouselander

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

Complete twaddle, I've got a 50A MCB on mine as that is what is required.

Without knowing what is on the circuit, what cable has been used and how it has been run how nobody can say that a 32A MCB is what is required :cool:

Because that's what cookers generally take. It is not good practise to over size circuit protection by large amounts. As an extreme example - you wouldn't put a 13a fuse in your alarm clock just because the cable could take it would you?

Same with cookers - if it will work with a 32a breaker then use that, not an unnecessarily higher one. They key difference with a cooker is that there is no other fuse between the cooker and the wiring so the circuit breaker needs to be sized to both the circuit and appliance.

Out of interest why do you need a 50A breaker on your cooker circuit - are you sure that's right?

DTDfanBoy

One twin oven, one single combination oven microwave, both with pyrolytic cleaning, one very large induction hob, one griddle.

32a and 6mm just isn't going to work

thescouselander

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

One twin oven, one single combination oven microwave, both with pyrolytic cleaning, one very large induction hob, one griddle.

32a and 6mm just isn't going to work

So a non-standard setup then; fair enough. But in the op's case just slapping in a bigger breaker doesn't sound like a good idea because:

A) The 32 A breaker was probably adequate unless they have an unusual setup - the cooker did operate for a year with the 32 A breaker before the problems started.
The electrician did not identify the actual fault which was probably as a result of the leak.

jc808

get an electrician around !!!!!!