Todays Plumbing

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

The son is not to happy, he is having his housing association refurb done. Anyway went around to have a look!!!

Ah! Well!! I am not being critical just observing.

The Plumbing is all push fit and flexy connectors. He also tells me that the wc cistern rocks like mad and the Plumbers who fitted it where in and out in a couple minutes.

Also washing machine waste connected into spigot on sink trap as done in flats not ground floor kitchens. Thing is they cut the end of his washing machine drain pipe and connected it to the trap spigot using insulation tape.

All this done by big outfits not one man bands.

I wonder who checks quality now days?

It was a wrong move when they got rid of clerk of works.

 

[plumbandplumber]

I'm afraid that a lot of housing assoc plumbing is the same standard as a lot of council house plumbing, ie. the lowest standard.

I'm trying to sort out a toilet cistern for someone right now in an ex-council bungalow. The low-level cistern is nowhere near level, the plumber (if he was a plumber) must have left his spirit level at home when he fitted it. Its so far out, that's its difficult to get the flush pipe to seal top and bottom at the same time.

Trouble is, the side entry ball-valve and overflow pipes only have a couple of inches of pipe outside the cistern before disappearing into the wall. Refitting the cistern will require digging the pipes out of the recently papered walls.

 

[WaterTight]

what's all this big deal about things being level? i think we should all go a bit avante garde about it. as long as they're stable let's build and install everything at crazy angles. uniformity dulls the mind man...

i've actually always thought how fun it would be to install a bathroom for some sort of conceptual artist who wants it all to look unlevel and random. taps coming out of the ceiling, mirrors by your knees.

 

[GreenArmy]

I really need to change my user name, so i can have a proper rant about this subject !!! Dont suppose you would like to name the contractor? Im sure i could guess. No quality in this work, just quantity due to the fact that these big firms have come in with such low prices to secure the work. I better stop now............arghhhhhh.

 

[sbrown2]

Always the case with the large concerns as long as they are insured its aout putting the work through not the quality of work.

 

[plumbandplumber]

what's all this big deal about things being level? i think we should all go a bit avante garde about it. as long as they're stable let's build and install everything at crazy angles. uniformity dulls the mind man...

Yes, the installer of this cistern certainly used his artistic licence alright.

Perhaps the small bowl that catches the drips that it produces may hinder it getting a Turner Prize though!

 

[mrlennie]

I really need to change my user name, so i can have a proper rant about this subject !!! Dont suppose you would like to name the contractor? Im sure i could guess. No quality in this work, just quantity due to the fact that these big firms have come in with such low prices to secure the work. I better stop now............arghhhhhh.

Whats the matter with your name? Mark Moss?

 

[Bernie2]

I must admit I did feel a bit down about the trade, when I saw how badly the Plumbing had been done.

The materials where first class high quality stuff, except perhaps the stainless steel insert sink.

The units where great even the taps where class stuff.

Such a shame about some of the installing.

It felt a bit like somebody had finished a Roll's Royce's paint work off, with a coat of emulsion.

 

[tamz]

Bernie

What you describe is i'm afraid, all pretty much standard workmanship nowadays especially from the bigger contractors . It actually is pretty depressing to look at some of the work done by so called tradesmen plumbers.
There will still be a Clerk of Works but not in the sense you or i would think off. The younger ones probably wouldn't know what a quality job looked like and the older ones who would seem to have been conditioned over the years to accept it as it now is.

The skills weren't the only thing to be lost in using plastics. Quality of workmanship and pride in the job seem to have gone down the pan too.
Remember how the old ones complained of plastic soil/waste pipe years ago but eventually came around to it. They would turn in their graves if they could see it now with Hep etc.
The difference between that and Acorn,Hep,Speedfit, call it what you will, is that the waste pipe was rigid so could easily be made to look the part.
It is so difficult to make plastic water pipes look good that very few even try. It just gets pulled from here to there like a dog pyshing in the snow.

People (customers) don't know any better and only usually see the finished product with everything else hidden away.

Such is progress eh

Btw the only plastic pipe i consider to be any good is mlc which can be made to look good. Pitty it comes in euro sizes though and needs adaptors which you can't just pick up anywhere.

 

[buff]

what's all this big deal about things being level? i think we should all go a bit avante garde about it. as long as they're stable let's build and install everything at crazy angles. uniformity dulls the mind man...

i've actually always thought how fun it would be to install a bathroom for some sort of conceptual artist who wants it all to look unlevel and random. taps coming out of the ceiling, mirrors by your knees.

i fitted a bathroom in an old cottage the wall that it was placed against had beams running ceiling to floor and because of subsidence over the years the floor was well out when i fitted the bath with the spirit level and got it true it made the beams look like the were at 45degrees so i set the bath to match the beams and make the whole thing look natural my god that bath emptied fast
bob