Tiler damaged new bath

Chrissied

Whilst having my bathroom fitted, the tiler has made a deep scratch in my new Carronite bath. He has offered to get it repaired but as the bath is brand new, I think he should replace it. Can anybody help me with what my rights are with this?
Thank you

mo786uk

He is liable to put it right - and any claim would most likely be under the tort of negligence because he has not taken care to do the job properly.

The bottom line though is, if he can make the bath 'like new' with a repair then that is probably going to be acceptable.

If worst came to worst and you could not come to an agreement where both parties are happy and it went to court the judge would probably say a repair was sufficient if it made the bath 'like new'. it would depend on the judge though.

my understanding is that acrylic baths can be repaired properly and there are specialists that do this so it may not be as bad as you think.

i had a similar bath installed and the guy half drilled a hole in the wrong place for a handle (he didn't drill it all the way) -he did offer to repair it (get someone else in) and then disappeared. the damage has been there since - it doesn't leak so i wasn't that fussed.

without seeing the damage it is difficult to say with any certainty whether a repair is acceptable or would be sufficient. ultimately it will come down to the opinion of the judge depending on how bad the scratch is and what a repair looks like and how long it might last..

if the damage is bad i don't think you are unreasonable asking for a new bath BUT if he refuses i think the least you will have to do is accept a repair and see if if you are happy with it or want to pursue it further.

i suspect someone will be on here saying you are bang out of order asking for a new bath when the damage may not be fatal - and ultimately it comes down to opinions if it goes to court.

cherylsurrey

We had a similar thing happen, and had a repair done, the repair when it was first done looked fantastic, and you could not see the damage, a few months later the repair wore off and we were back to square one.

If you are offered a repair, I would want to know the guarantee on it and now long it is meant to last in writing. I personally would want a new bath after my experience, unless things have changed, this was about 10 years ago.

marlot

We live in a new build. We had a couple of repairs done to a shower tray. 3 years in, and they are still invisible.

pinkshoes

I also had the same but with an enamel bath. The repair was fine for a few months then started to look awful. It was redone twice more, and I gave up after the third attempt.

I would get in writing that you except the repair to last the length of the bath life span.