Bathroom Installation Disaster

thedr

My question is how many attempts should I give a labourer to fix a problem before getting someone else in to do it and suing the labourer through the small claims court?

In 2015, my bathroom was installed. Since then there has been a problem with the expensive spa bath. The sealant around the bath started coming away. The labourer came back to re-seal it. This repeated many times. He would always do a repair, then close up the side of the bath, seal it etc BEFORE I had the chance to see what he'd done.

About a year ago, I took the panel away from the side of the bath to discover that the bath was completely inadequately supported. There was practically no floor and everything was supported on joists. In fact the bath itself was supported on jutting out bits of wood haphazardly nailed into the joists. The method of support of the bath was totally inadequate and it was no surprising I was getting sealant coming away and movement in the bath when it was full.

I consulted with another labourer who said that the bath should not have been installed on a floor in that state.

The labourer returned and hacked together a bit of floor under the bath at one end, but was unable to do anything about the supports at the other end. He was one person, moving a heavy bath.

Over time, with multiple repairs, the sides of the bath have become worn.

The bath is very expensive, and after the last repair the mechanism on the plug stopped working (The plug no longer pops up properly to drain the bath).

I've kept records of everything including photographs, emails, texts etc.

I'm at the point where I think I should get someone else in. I will then pursue the original labourer through the small claims court to reclaim the costs.

And advice?

Boohoo

thedr wrote: »

My question is how many attempts should I give a labourer to fix a problem before getting someone else in to do it and suing the labourer through the small claims court?

In 2015, my bathroom was installed. Since then there has been a problem with the expensive spa bath. The sealant around the bath started coming away. The labourer came back to re-seal it. This repeated many times. He would always do a repair, then close up the side of the bath, seal it etc BEFORE I had the chance to see what he'd done.

About a year ago, I took the panel away from the side of the bath to discover that the bath was completely inadequately supported. There was practically no floor and everything was supported on joists. In fact the bath itself was supported on jutting out bits of wood haphazardly nailed into the joists. The method of support of the bath was totally inadequate and it was no surprising I was getting sealant coming away and movement in the bath when it was full.

I consulted with another labourer who said that the bath should not have been installed on a floor in that state.

The labourer returned and hacked together a bit of floor under the bath at one end, but was unable to do anything about the supports at the other end. He was one person, moving a heavy bath.

Over time, with multiple repairs, the sides of the bath have become worn.

The bath is very expensive, and after the last repair the mechanism on the plug stopped working (The plug no longer pops up properly to drain the bath).

I've kept records of everything including photographs, emails, texts etc.

I'm at the point where I think I should get someone else in. I will then pursue the original labourer through the small claims court to reclaim the costs.

And advice?

Labourer. I think that is your issue here.


If you used a building company/bathroom fitting company to install the expensive spa then they should send a qualified person to sort out the issue.


I seems to me that you have a let a qualified cowboy labourer into your home to do the work.


How did you pay for all this expensive work? I hope it was a credit card as you may have some protection and the card company may help you out but then again i don't no many labourer's that take credit cards as a payment for work carried out.

hollydays

Are you saying your own floor was in a bad state to start with?

Boohoo

hollydays wrote: »

Are you saying your own floor was in a bad state to start with?

If you look at the OP's post history there is a thread from 2/3 years ago about a new bathroom installation that the "builder" installed and had issues with.


This thread only mentions a "labourer".

Caz3121

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5800225/bad-bath-installation-help
"I raised concerns about the floor when the bathroom was installed. I think it had been water damaged from previous years. The builder did not do anything to rebuild the floor but simply built things on top of it."
It sounds like this will be an ongoing problem until the issues with the floor are fixed

hollydays

The op didn't even respond to that thread.It seems that the money should have been spent first on the basic fabric of the house , rather than an exotic bath.
Priorities.

sheramber

If you hired someone to instal the bath it is not his job to fix a dodgy floor.

You should have got a joiner in to do that first.

It sounds like the bath needs to come out and the floor fixed before getting plumber- not a labourer- to refit the bath.

thedr

hollydays wrote: »

The op didn't even respond to that thread.It seems that the money should have been spent first on the basic fabric of the house , rather than an exotic bath.
Priorities.

I originally asked the labourer to address any issues with the floor (at the time of putting in the bathroom) but he did not. He hid this from me by fixing in the bath panel. Surely if there's a problem he shouldn't just go ahead and continue with the installation, he should have pointed it out to me first and let me make a decision about further repairs. Whatever the situation he shouldn't have allowed the bath to go in that way.

I think I should now get someone else in to fix the problems and then reclaim the costs through the small claims court.

hollydays

What have you got in writing

sheramber

thedr wrote: »

I originally asked the labourer to address any issues with the floor (at the time of putting in the bathroom) but he did not. He hid this from me by fixing in the bath panel. Surely if there's a problem he shouldn't just go ahead and continue with the installation, he should have pointed it out to me first and let me make a decision about further repairs. Whatever the situation he shouldn't have allowed the bath to go in that way.

I think I should now get someone else in to fix the problems and then reclaim the costs through the small claims court.

he ' addressed the issues with the floor" in the way he thought appropriate.

He was not an expert so did what he thought would work.

Did you ask him to replace the damaged floor, which is what would have been needed?.

Are you sure he has money to pay you anything a court ordered?

Boohoo

If you look at his thread when he had the bathroom installed it may explain a few things.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5800225/bad-bath-installation-help