Water damage repair bill ... outrageous

FreeBear

vantrappe said:

Okay = you guys are experts at stating the obvious ...
Picture / shelf = what's the difference in terms of a PINHOLE in the wall
Get some polyfilla and a little paint = boom

A shelf (done properly) needs to be fixed to the wall with screws and suitable wall plugs. Using nails is just a bodge, and a damned ugly one at that. You also need to be careful not to drill (or in your case, hammer) in to a pipe or electrical cable - The latter could certainly be a boom with a chance of fatal consequences.

Hanging pictures on a wall - That is what a picture rail is for. In a rental, you don't want to be using screws, nails, or Blu-Tack without written permission from the landlord.

vantrappe

Thanks for all your advice ... truly
I obviously did not describe my "shelf" and "nail" properly

it is a simple shelf for a few knick-knacks, designed for a bathroom / loo / water-closet / cloakroom. it has a towel rack which is the main reason it used it. As I mentioned before, it has a slotted insert bracket for hanging = nothing too heavy to be placed on it. the nail I used was a small one with a head to utilise the slot, the hole was minute ... I didn't "alter" the apartment. if I had put the nail in 1/2 inch either way, there would not have been a problem.

I am aware after 40 years of owning homes, renting homes and leasing homes as a landlord, to be careful around electrical wiring etc. I just did not expect in my wildest dreams, as I mentioned before, that there would be a water pipe going vertically up the wall

So as my questions have been buried in a sea of "don't put holes in the wall" I will leave you all to your wisdom
thanks again

csgohan4

vantrappe said:

Thanks for all your advice ... truly
I obviously did not describe my "shelf" and "nail" properly

it is a simple shelf for a few knick-knacks, designed for a bathroom / loo / water-closet / cloakroom. it has a towel rack which is the main reason it used it. As I mentioned before, it has a slotted insert bracket for hanging = nothing too heavy to be placed on it. the nail I used was a small one with a head to utilise the slot, the hole was minute ... I didn't "alter" the apartment. if I had put the nail in 1/2 inch either way, there would not have been a problem.

I am aware after 40 years of owning homes, renting homes and leasing homes as a landlord, to be careful around electrical wiring etc. I just did not expect in my wildest dreams, as I mentioned before, that there would be a water pipe going vertically up the wall

So as my questions have been buried in a sea of "don't put holes in the wall" I will leave you all to your wisdom
thanks again

If the pipes didn't go vertically, where else would they go to supply water above? or around the house even if only 1 single floor?. it's not a simple straight horizontal pipe around the property silly. 

The generally consensus is not change the property in anyway without the LL's consent,put a 'simple' nail is such thing and unfortunately for you has caused damage which is why you should have asked. 

So for your 40 years of owning homes means nothing if you don't know drilling or putting nails in walls has risks unless you take precautions.

We don't tell you what you want to hear, but rather reality and you deserved that bill because you nailed in that nail  not the LL, trying to wriggle out of the bill is not going to change why you had the bill in the first place

vantrappe

As I mentioned early on, had you taken the time to read ...the pipe went vertically up the wall in the middle of a wide open area. I would expect the pipe to be routed to a corner or a box.

As you walk into the loo (without any towel hooks or rail) there is a big wide wall with nothing on it.

The reason I'm outraged is after talking with the repairman, he warned me the estate would charge me much more than what he charges. that is: his charge is £20 per hour = they have charged me £65

Also, as I mentioned early on, they cannot tack on VAT to the total without delineating each line item. I have asked legal experts elsewhere about this.

So, from a "Money Saving Expert" forum. I expected more than the sad tales of "don't put holes the the wall".

I have never, never had to pay anything after leaving a rented home and always got my deposit back.
It's a sad state where tenants are fearful of their landlords...

yksi

Then you've been very lucky - most of us take the attitude that a rented home isn't ours and that we can't do anything at all to walls, so we do nothing at all to the walls. No extra picture hooks, no nail holes that we politely fill and paint over later, and certainly not installing shelves. You don't seem to accept that your assumptions aren't normal. You've taken a lot of liberties over the years by the sounds of it and this time your luck ran out. That's kind of how it works when you don't own the home (it will have bizarre unknown things, like pipes going vertical).

Look at it from the owner's point of view, they are probably outraged that their tenant thought it was ok to install a shelf, smacked a nail through a pipe and now they've had to spend hours running around getting quotes and arranging for the repair. If you want to compound their outrage, go ahead and query the repair costs. They might be ridiculous amounts (not my call to know as I am not a tradesman) but you can guarantee that if you give them any drama about paying every invoice in full, they will not be pleased. While you're at it, pack your bags because you can expect a section 21 end of tenancy notice as soon as they can legally serve it. 

Or, you know, kick yourself for a silly mistake, punch a pillow to use up some rage, then hope that the landlord is kind enough to accept your reassurances that you will not attempt any more handyman work in THEIR property.

AdrianC

I'm still trying to wrap my head around nailing a shelf to a partition wall and expecting it to stay up.

hb2

AdrianC said:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around nailing a shelf to a partition wall and expecting it to stay up.

To be fair, the OP says this is a particular system whereby the shelves slot onto the nails? I don't know cos I am a complete DIY klutz!

Fosterdog

hb2 said:

AdrianC said:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around nailing a shelf to a partition wall and expecting it to stay up.

To be fair, the OP says this is a particular system whereby the shelves slot onto the nails? I don't know cos I am a complete DIY klutz!

That's certainly not a standard way to install shelves, I'm really struggling to work out exactly how that shelf/system would work because even a small shelf with nothing on it would not be supported For very long by a nail, unless the nail was ridiculously big compared to the shelf. It sounds like OP thinks of himself as more competent with DIY than he is and this time it has backfired and he now has to pay for that mistake.

AdrianC

hb2 said:

AdrianC said:

I'm still trying to wrap my head around nailing a shelf to a partition wall and expecting it to stay up.

To be fair, the OP says this is a particular system whereby the shelves slot onto the nails?

I've never seen anything like that, and it'd have zero actual strength.

Hooking onto a rail screwed to the wall, sure. But you'd need some pretty bloody solid fixings if you were going onto the partition rather than the studwork within the wall. It is, of course, possible that the OP has found where the pipe passes through the stud, but if he's found the stud, he'd have found the pipe, too...

markin

Im guessing the pipe is against the stud and he missed the stud, I may have used a nail for a light wooden towel rail / shelf.  And a nail hole is easier to fill.