Alan Reynolds
Member
- Messages
- 1,269
My outside tap had poor pressure for a couple of years and I knew it was the inside isolating tap causing it as it was one of the those fittings that pierces the pipe to save cutting the pipe. I suspected the small hole had furred up over the years. I had fed off of this with a washing machine hose to the outside tap so that it wouldn’t freeze in the winter. Well he turns up and first thing he does is cut the flexible hose off at the outside tap. Quite unnecessary in my opinion. Inside the house he tries to pull the flexible hose through the wall. It actually doglegs slightly so once it’s out, he can’t feed a straight piece of copper pipe back outside, so drills a new hole. He then gets hold of the ‘oil rig’ that is my very neatly packed pipe work that fits behind the water softener and pulls it upwards for no good reason. ‘What’s that noise’ he says, ‘it sounds like water leaking.’ I said to him that it was indeed water leaking because he had managed to break off the connector under the floor that joined the poly main to the copper incoming pipe. So we have to turn off the water main outside. Then, because he didn’t have a multi tool with him as his brother had borrowed it, he proceeds to cut through the laminate flooring to expose the floorboards and lift my conveniently placed trap.
He took the fitting off the poly main and wouldn’t let be take it into the garage to remove the broken bit but decided to go off to a plumbers merchant and get a fitting. On return he had this fitting that he said he had never used before but fitted it and restored the pipe work up to the mains isolator valve.
After much soldering he is happy. I then pointed out that he hadn’t actually included a pipe to go out to the outside tap! Now he is far from happy.
He dismantles it all and fits a t piece for the outside tap feed and connects it all up. Goes out and turns on the road main and things seem to be holding.
He uses the toilet and leaves.
I’m standing in the shower room and can hear water running and realise that he has managed to jam the flush button on the cistern firmly down and it won’t release.
After dismantling the cistern I pray that peace has returned.
Fat chance. Because he had jammed the cistern it had been emptying the loft tank and relieving the mains pressure. Once it had filled, the pipe pressurised and his ‘fitting’ separated under the floor and flooded until I could turn off the outside main. Again!
He hadn’t pushed the 22mm copper push fit in far enough, only until he felt resistance. It had another full0mm to go.
I’ve now redone it all and managed to put the laminate back in some semblance of prettiness until I can lay a new floor.
You know the best part of all this. He didn’t fit an inside isolator tap, which is the very thing I wanted in the first place.
He’s registered Gas Safe etc.
Why did I trust a ‘professional’. I normally do all my own electrics, plumbing, car/van mechanics and even gas.
The only difference between amateur and professional is they get paid to do a badly rushed job.
Sorry for the long rant but I think I was justified.
He took the fitting off the poly main and wouldn’t let be take it into the garage to remove the broken bit but decided to go off to a plumbers merchant and get a fitting. On return he had this fitting that he said he had never used before but fitted it and restored the pipe work up to the mains isolator valve.
After much soldering he is happy. I then pointed out that he hadn’t actually included a pipe to go out to the outside tap! Now he is far from happy.
He dismantles it all and fits a t piece for the outside tap feed and connects it all up. Goes out and turns on the road main and things seem to be holding.
He uses the toilet and leaves.
I’m standing in the shower room and can hear water running and realise that he has managed to jam the flush button on the cistern firmly down and it won’t release.
After dismantling the cistern I pray that peace has returned.
Fat chance. Because he had jammed the cistern it had been emptying the loft tank and relieving the mains pressure. Once it had filled, the pipe pressurised and his ‘fitting’ separated under the floor and flooded until I could turn off the outside main. Again!
He hadn’t pushed the 22mm copper push fit in far enough, only until he felt resistance. It had another full0mm to go.
I’ve now redone it all and managed to put the laminate back in some semblance of prettiness until I can lay a new floor.
You know the best part of all this. He didn’t fit an inside isolator tap, which is the very thing I wanted in the first place.
He’s registered Gas Safe etc.
Why did I trust a ‘professional’. I normally do all my own electrics, plumbing, car/van mechanics and even gas.
The only difference between amateur and professional is they get paid to do a badly rushed job.
Sorry for the long rant but I think I was justified.