Mistakes!

[gasmanrob]

i drilled 12 7mm holes through a wall thinking it was double skinned only to find it was single skinned with chic tiles on the other side. has anyone tried to get hold of chick tiles!! luckily i had a mate who worked for housing association that have a yard full of them.

flooded a basement when i thought a cylinder had emptied but hadnt

and my personal favorite during my apprenticeship id never come across a semi recessed basin but was given a basin and sent on my way by someone who had never seen the job. after 4-5 hours someone came to check up on me to find me butchering a sink unit with a jigsaw trying to get a normal basin into a semi recessed unit.

 

[lame plumber]

we work with water and it escapes, nuff said🙂 I only cry when attacked by my stanley, hacksaw or hammer, just dont like pain or seeing me leaking red! 🙁

 

[jetco]

I see all these "as an apprentice" .... Iv been plumbing for 8 years now , and recently was core drilling a soil hole through a bathroom wall whilst balancing on beams above a newly refurbished kitchen ... lost my footing ended up with me legs hanging through a newly plastered kitchen ceiling ... oh the words that followed from them messy cake throwers we call plasterers ... brilliant

 

[R1CKY]

I've smashed a shower screen too. Was a big 1200 x 1800 pane of toughened glass. Slid it into place and tried tapping the chrome trim back into place with a rubber handle screwdriver. It made the loudest bang ever, destroyed the shower tray, chipped the enamel on the newly restored victorian bath, cut my hands in several places and I bled all over the very expensive tiled floor!

**** happens!

Off the top of my head I have:
Circular sawed through a carpet
Placed red hot grips on a carpet
Smashed numerous bits of sanitary ware
Dripped sludge on new carpets
Blown up a few PCBs.
Overfilled a powerflush machine which ruined some laminate flooring...

My favourite though was when I was servicing a back boiler, placed a spent smoke match into the container full of unused matches and tightened the lid, that made a smoke match grenade which sent burning matches in all directions and filled the room with smoke all whilst the customer was sat behind me! Somehow managed to avoid the leather sofas, but completely ruined the linoleum flooring!!

All of the above were whilst working for someone and I put them all down to being stressed and constantly rushed. Now I work for myself I've barely had any cockups. The one I did have was when I was soldering in a carpeted bathroom, I put my blowtorch down in a plastic toolbox and it had melted it, when I next used it as bit of plastic had stuck to the nozzle, caught fire and dripped onto the smallest bit of uncovered carpet where the dustsheet had moved! I owned up and offered to pay for a new carpet, but the refused and insisted on paying me for the work, still get repeat custom from them!

 

[Millsy 82]

In 15 years I've made quite a few but you learn to laugh about them

The ones I cam remember are

Ive brought down 4 ceilings
ruined at least 5 carpets through sludge or hot things melting them
drilled too far through countless walls
Drilled through 2 cables one with a holesaw on a cooker cable chewed it up a treat lol. (New build so no power)
Blown up a telly
smashed a brand new toilet trying to drill the floor instead of taking it out.
Circular sawed up the center of a pipe for 3 meters (Lucky it was just finishing draining so only a cup worth of water came out)
Filling up a system for a mate who was off sick I forgot to shut off a valve that I never knew was there causing gallons of water to soak through a ceiling causing it to get week and not being able to hold the weight of the brick on top of it then fell straight through an asbestos false ceiling closing a school for 2 weeks. oops
And today I smashed a wine glass.
There is probably alot more that I cant remember but most of these were due to rushing so now I dont rush and make alot less mistakes.

Things people Ive worked with were

Connecting a gas pipe up with the mains water it was running full pelt for 5 mins before they worked out what they had done.
Setting fire to a roof space
falling through the ceiling so there was just a leg dangling through
Teaching me how to bleed a rad in my first week my mate loosened the bleed screw too much and the screw shot across the room.
and my favorite is A sparky was drilling through this wall when all of a sudden the power went off but his battery drill kept going and he could hear thud thud thud. He managed to drill through the wall through the chest freezer wall and half way through a frozen chicken.

 

[mutley racers]

In 15 years I've made quite a few but you learn to laugh about them

The ones I cam remember are

Ive brought down 4 ceilings
ruined at least 5 carpets through sludge or hot things melting them
drilled too far through countless walls
Drilled through 2 cables one with a holesaw on a cooker cable chewed it up a treat lol. (New build so no power)
Blown up a telly
smashed a brand new toilet trying to drill the floor instead of taking it out.
Circular sawed up the center of a pipe for 3 meters (Lucky it was just finishing draining so only a cup worth of water came out)
Filling up a system for a mate who was off sick I forgot to shut off a valve that I never knew was there causing gallons of water to soak through a ceiling causing it to get week and not being able to hold the weight of the brick on top of it then fell straight through an asbestos false ceiling closing a school for 2 weeks. oops
And today I smashed a wine glass.
There is probably alot more that I cant remember but most of these were due to rushing so now I dont rush and make alot less mistakes.

Things people Ive worked with were

Connecting a gas pipe up with the mains water it was running full pelt for 5 mins before they worked out what they had done.
Setting fire to a roof space
falling through the ceiling so there was just a leg dangling through
Teaching me how to bleed a rad in my first week my mate loosened the bleed screw too much and the screw shot across the room.
and my favorite is A sparky was drilling through this wall when all of a sudden the power went off but his battery drill kept going and he could hear thud thud thud. He managed to drill through the wall through the chest freezer wall and half way through a frozen chicken.

Am excited for what the future holds

 

[mfgs]

I was filling up the system after fitting a new combi boiler, was wondering why it was taking soo long to fill up as the pressure guage was on 0 still. Next thing I hear is 3 bangs and the kitchen rad had blown three holes in it as I forgot to open to isolation valves on the boiler so the pressure guage weren't part of the system.

I was drilling some holes for clips in an airing cupboard and managed to drill through into the bedroom behind.

scorched wall paper when soldering.

All of these were while I was working for a company and an apprentice, not had any big clangers since working for myself yet.

As they say, your biggest mistake will be the biggest lesson you learn.

 

[Millsy 82]

Am excited for what the future holds

Im not its been a while since my last big mistake but hopefully ive learnt enough to prevent most of them.

Like when changing anything that could of potentially contained sludge water (Like pumps 3 ports etc) take a bucket with you and carry it out in that. That was how one of the carpets got ruined as I tripped whilst carrying a pump and could only watch as it bounced down the stairs leaving loads of little spots of black water everywhere. After an hour trying to clean I gave up.

 

[hammers4spanner]

said it before on here and say it again

boiler install wrong house

 

[armyash]

said it before on here and say it again

boiler install wrong house

Just LOL'd big time! 🙂

Still in my first year and made a few mistakes only 1 biggy though.

For me it's the thought of having to go back to my boss and tell them I have messed up that worries me. Not bothered about making big mistakes myself as things can be put right and customers can be explained to. Just scared of getting sacked lol.

 

[AlexGas]

Cracked wash basin, bath. Put a screw through a copper pipe on two different occasions (before filling in though). That’s me done for time being…

 

[Millsy 82]

said it before on here and say it again

boiler install wrong house

Just spat my tea out all over my computer.

How did you do that surely they said something? Although I have serviced a boiler and fire and condemned the fire walked out and noticed the flat opposite also had the number that I was working in then it dawned on me. 1 very unhappy landlord 1 boss laughing his head off saying we cant do anything now.

 

[Millsy 82]

Just LOL'd big time! 🙂

Still in my first year and made a few mistakes only 1 biggy though.

For me it's the thought of having to go back to my boss and tell them I have messed up that worries me. Not bothered about making big mistakes myself as things can be put right and customers can be explained to. Just scared of getting sacked lol.

All the mistakes I have made I have never been sacked once most bosses understand that accidents do happen I should imagine once you make one they will tell you the stories.

 

[thompsonbrown]

Feel for you mate.

Fitting a 1200mm wetroom screen half seven at night. Corner of screen touched tile and shattered. Glass everyware (what a bang it made) chipped new basin and toilet seat.
Cost a fortune to rectify.

Never fitted a shower screen at half seven since.

 

[dontknowitall]

Boiler install wrong house

LOL LOL LOL!!!!!



My first customer in my brand spanking new business as a plumber.

Turn up at 8:25am.
Left me alone at 8:30am.

8:40am Matthew?

Yes?

Ah - have you a spare house key?

 

[lame plumber]

core drilling a flue in an old larder, got dusty went to get some fresh air, no door handle inside the larder!!!!!!!!!!!! had to ring the owner to be let out!! as the old boy in father ted keeps saying, asses🙂

 

[shezzaar]

Just cut the to length a new kitchen top, along with the hole for the sink, ready to be placed on top of the counter. took off the clamps, and the whole thing just collapsed, with a load bang, the counter had a massive crack going the whole length :dead:. fair to say i was extremely cautious the next time!

 

[Sag]

This thread alone is worth being a part of this forum.

I've shut off the water and asked my mate to check all taps were open to drain all the water out 'yeah, all done' was the response. So I proceed to cut through the 22mm feeding yhe hot water tap of yhe bath when the hot wster tank contents decides to go all over the place and into downstairs's bathroom!

Luckily their ceiling was being replaced anyway due to the previous leak which was the reason for the bathroom refit we were working on. It was just the look of panic in the downstairs tennant when water was gushing through their ceiling.

Lesson learnt, allways check everything myself now.

 

[mutley racers]

Im not its been a while since my last big mistake but hopefully ive learnt enough to prevent most of them.

Like when changing anything that could of potentially contained sludge water (Like pumps 3 ports etc) take a bucket with you and carry it out in that. That was how one of the carpets got ruined as I tripped whilst carrying a pump and could only watch as it bounced down the stairs leaving loads of little spots of black water everywhere. After an hour trying to clean I gave up.

I have a vax fo this purpose. Used it a couple of times. If you get it straight away its ok

 

[Roger Welton]

Once dropped a bucket of water from header tank when going down stairs, the mess was indescribable