Any advice please? Nightmare situation...

PasturesNew

Alan2020 wrote: »

.... NVQ in Mastic Application and get paid by length of application .... the sealant was not applied by the plumber but by a separate tradesperson.

I know people will think I am joking but it is a specialist job, just like tiling or plastering!

https://www.indeed.co.uk/viewjob?jk=9ebe5c1314c8bbff&tk=1d3kblcsj930u802&from=vjnewtab

The OCD perfectionist in me wants that job! My god... imagine ... going round making sure something is done perfectly ...

This is the job/qualification I need.... although I suspect the job you linked to isn't about baths in bathrooms, but about huge windows and massive doors and all manner of exterior fittings... not just turning up with a couple of sealant guns and dabbing that round a bath or two!

Slithery

It's definitely a skill, I'm terrible at it.

Plumbing, electrics, tiling, joinery no problem. I mean the seal is fine but even with the proper tools I just can't get a smooth finish and I must have attempted hundreds of metres of the stuff

supa34

Where is the leak coming from? Have you tried diagnosing it yourself?

Tried food dyes?

First this is to identify the leak. Then we can fix it and then you can sort the plumber.


Let me know with pics where it's leaking from

RedfordML

Messages now being ignored. We’ve had 2 plumbers in to quote the job.

How messy/timescales are we going to be working too, to get the money back if/when we go legal route?

*the job. We spent a couple of hours Fri night spraying everywhere.

We’ve had shower boards fitted and have a border through the middle, which I believe is tongue and groove and shouldn’t need mastic according to instructions. If we use shower below this boarder, no leaks, as soon as we go above it leaks. Is the water simply running down the boarder? It feels extremely tight but everything else is sealed within an inch of its life!!

Doozergirl

Who bought the boards?

RedfordML

We did. Tbf, we’d happily buy new boards, if plumber agrees to lift and refit the shower cubicle?

Surely the plumber should have thought of this being an issue, he’s been back out tomus 3 times.

We had a mastic guy come in and sort a trim out as it was leaking from that as well.

Bearing in mind it’s not 100% this being the issue and no obvious space to for water to get in through the boarder, it’s just a logical idea we have come up with.

googler

What make/model of boards?

Doozergirl

RedfordML wrote: »

We did. Tbf, we’d happily buy new boards, if plumber agrees to lift and refit the shower cubicle?

Surely the plumber should have thought of this being an issue, he’s been back out tomus 3 times.

We had a mastic guy come in and sort a trim out as it was leaking from that as well.

Bearing in mind it’s not 100% this being the issue and no obvious space to for water to get in through the boarder, it’s just a logical idea we have come up with.

It's possibly a logical idea he came up with too.

This is the issue with buying materials yourself and paying people to fit it. You save money if everything goes well. If it doesn't then you're taking the risk on yourself. If there is a problem with a product then it is your responsibility to pay for the labour to rectify it, whatever that involves.

There is always going to be a no man's land of exactly what the problem is when it isn't clear. And the tradesperson can't reasonable be expected to extend a credit line in the form of labour when it's unclear - they didn't charge enough to take responsibility for days of research, because that is what you took the risk on - the guarantee, essentially.

To be fair to this person, you've told us that everything looks tight, indiciating that there isn't an obvious shoddiness to his work. You have supplied boards where the instructions say no mastic is needed, but have purposely introduced a potential leak point by adding a break in the form of a decorative border into something that needs to be watertight.

If it needed sealant but the instructions that you provided with a product you provided say otherwise, who is to blame? It's easily arguable that it's you or the product.

I say that doing it this way is a problem, but what you've done is essentially what I do for a living! I take the risk, but reduce it by doing it on scale, buying quality materials that I know perform (this took time!) and using good labour - again something you learn through trial and error. But if there is a problem, it is mine.

I will not use my company's resources to open questions about responsibility lies in order for people to save money by supplying materials. They have to take that risk with someone else (and good luck to that person because they will end up where you are pretty quickly). They either hand it to me, or not at all. Then we are clear.

This isn't me sticking up for the tradesperson, this is what I have to deal with fairly regularly in the same position as you. I have to take the view. If there is reasonable doubt that the problem lies in the product, then I cannot reasonably ask my trades to suck it up when they just get paid for a days work.

I would not have put a border in those panels. Hindsight is perfect but it's a very obvious risk to have a break of any description in the hardest working splashzone of something that is flexible. . I don't even work with shower panels because I know what works well for us; I'm not risking it on other people's houses.

RedfordML

googler wrote: »

What make/model of boards?

Splash Panel.

Exact kit, https://www.rubberduckbathrooms.co.uk/splashpanel-arctic-sparkle-easy-fit-shower-kit

RedfordML

Doozergirl wrote: »

It's possibly a logical idea he came up with too.

This is the issue with buying materials yourself and paying people to fit it. You save money if everything goes well. If it doesn't then you're taking the risk on yourself. If there is a problem with a product then it is your responsibility to pay for the labour to rectify it, whatever that involves.

There is always going to be a no man's land of exactly what the problem is when it isn't clear. And the tradesperson can't reasonable be expected to extend a credit line in the form of labour when it's unclear - they didn't charge enough to take responsibility for days of research, because that is what you took the risk on - the guarantee, essentially.

To be fair to this person, you've told us that everything looks tight, indiciating that there isn't an obvious shoddiness to his work. You have supplied boards where the instructions say no mastic is needed, but have purposely introduced a potential leak point by adding a break in the form of a decorative border into something that needs to be watertight.

If it needed sealant but the instructions that you provided with a product you provided say otherwise, who is to blame? It's easily arguable that it's you or the product.

I say that doing it this way is a problem, but what you've done is essentially what I do for a living! I take the risk, but reduce it by doing it on scale, buying quality materials that I know perform (this took time!) and using good labour - again something you learn through trial and error. But if there is a problem, it is mine.

I will not use my company's resources to open questions about responsibility lies in order for people to save money by supplying materials. They have to take that risk with someone else (and good luck to that person because they will end up where you are pretty quickly). They either hand it to me, or not at all. Then we are clear.

This isn't me sticking up for the tradesperson, this is what I have to deal with fairly regularly in the same position as you. I have to take the view. If there is reasonable doubt that the problem lies in the product, then I cannot reasonably ask my trades to suck it up when they just get paid for a days work.

I would not have put a border in those panels. Hindsight is perfect but it's a very obvious risk to have a break of any description in the hardest working splashzone of something that is flexible. . I don't even work with shower panels because I know what works well for us; I'm not risking it on other people's houses.

I appreciate the honesty. I totally understand all this. It's gutting.

Learnt a lot, i wouldn't pay in full before the work was all ok. Is it best to get the plumber to purchase and add to our quote then to proctect ourselves?

Thanks Doozergirl. Mayebe this explains the lack of response?