Second Bathroom Fail - who/how can I claim?

MJB1419

In November 2018 water started pouring from my bathroom shower into the kitchen below. Long story short, we made an insurance claim and after waiting a while due to Covid the repair was completed.

We purchased a stone resin shower tray from Victoria Plumbing and paid by credit card. All the work was carried out by a local plumber who has since relocated. He built a sound base for the tray that I have photos of.

Last week three hairline cracks started to appear in the tray, one is now bigger. We have stopped using the shower; no visible leak yet.

My question is who can I claim against, if anyone? Victoria Plumbing for a product that should have lasted longer than 18 months? The plumber who did the job (but I can’t ask him to make good as he has moved to other side of the country), or is this an insurance claim again?

Grateful for any help

Thank you.

grumbler

If the "sound base for the tray" satisfied the manufacturer's requirement, I don't see any reasons for not being able to claim against VP.

newretiree

When our shower tray developed a crack the manufacturer sent someone out to check that an adequate foundation base had been laid and once that was established provided a free replacement. That was within the first 12 months so I’m not sure if 18 months makes a difference. Checking the base was adequate involved drilling through the shower tray but we didn’t have photos so your photos might be sufficient evidence. I think we still had to pay the plumber for refitting but he didn’t charge us much.

MJB1419

Thanks for replies so far. This is the sub base he built, which looks substantial enough to my lay eye. 

I’m hoping it won’t be as big a job required as last time where they had to
break some floor tiles to access

Bendy_House

I wonder if the cracks are towards this front end? That does look substantial, but a visually obvious weak point is the way the two main areas of the frame are separated by the gap for the pipe. If it's going to move - flex, twist - surely it's there?

MJB1419

Thanks - the cracks are actually toward the centre rather than at the front.

Should something different have been done with the pipe that would have prevented this?

I did contact the plumber who installed to see if he was still local and he said he was in part constrained by time, which is odd as we went away for eight days and gave him the keys to the house.

But to my lay eye it looked substantial for the job

Bendy_House

I am not, in any sense, professionally critiquing the job, MJB - I am a DIYer.

I agree - it looks substantial. It's just that the lack of bracing betwixt the front part and the rest kind of stuck out for me. I am not - at all - suggesting this is a mistake or the cause of the cracks.

MJB1419

Thanks I appreciate your opinions, I am
not a DIYer, so it’s difficult for me to know what I should be looking at or
critiquing 

andyhop

The tray should have been fitted to a plywood / cement board base. It should have either been bonded with sand and cement or a cement based tile adhesive 

molerat

andyhop said:

The tray should have been fitted to a plywood / cement board base. It should have either been bonded with sand and cement or a cement based tile adhesive 

My thoughts too, there are loads of gaps there to stress the tray.

newretiree

Our shower tray was cemented in and this seemed to be what the manufacturer wanted to check before agreeing it was faulty.