Mistakes!

[BBV]

Has anyone messed up so badly they wanted to cry?

I was doing the finishing touches to a bathroom today. I had fit all the sanitary ware, swept the bathroom...... all I had left was the shower enclosure, one of my pet hates, anyway I fit the guides/tracks to either wall, slotted both bits of glass in, connected both bits of glass together with two corner brackets. It was the type with two sliding doors. I connected the rollers to the glass doors slotted top and bottom rollers into the tracks. So far so good! All I had to left was to fit one more door, sillicone and I was gone! I was really struggling to get the rollers in on the second door, Finally manged to slot the bottom two in, but the top two were being a nightmare. I started to get annoyed. I started wiggling the rollers in with a bit too much force and then the "toughened Glass door" shattered into a million pieces all over the beautifully white, scratch-less shower tray and scattered all over the nice tiled bathroom floor........

I actually had a little cry....

Please can someone make me feel better by topping that story?

Sorry for the essay.

P.S They are sending a new door out next week. I told them it had a crack in it that I hadn't noticed when unpacking. Lucky me!!

 

[dontknowitall]

The person who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough.

It's horrible when something like this happens but most of us are human and realise that things go wrong. The most important thing is how you deal with it.

 

[PowerFlusher2]

The person who doesn't make mistakes isn't trying hard enough.

It's horrible when something like this happens but most of us are human and realise that things go wrong. The most important thing is how you deal with it.

The only other possibility is that he or she isn't doing anything!

 

[Alpha man]

I've made a few in my time!

 

[dancinplumba]

But To few to mention...........then I did it My Way 🙂

 

[RPG 80]

sheared off the spindle on a seized three way zone valve, whilst trying to free it up, at 1630 on a Friday afternoon, oh how i laughed

 

[mutley racers]

1st day of my apprenticeship my boss got me to cut a bit of ply using his festool track saw and guide, he says, use it the correct way and not like my last apprentice who cut right into it. What did I do, cut down one way, then just turned saw around to go back down, OOOOPSY. Man, I thought it was my last day to. He was cool as it wasn't that bad. Still usable any way

 

[mutley racers]

also, when training, was pressure testing new carcass and forgot to disconnect meter. Kept wondering why i was getting a drop. He called the grid and blamed it on polish. Changed no problem

 

[Pipedream]

The person who does not make any mistakes is a liar.

When I get home after one of my many mistakes and whinge to my lovely wife, she usually says ' so who died ? ' and everything comes back into perspective.

So, a shower door needs replacing, a tap connector is leaking, etc, etc, etc... Life goes on.

Does anyone think that their customers never make mistakes in their occupation ?

The trick is to turn the disaster into an opportunity, by dealing with it quickly and honestly. I have had repeat business from customers when I have got things wrong, told them so and put it right. Its called good customer service.

That is all

 

[plumber0808]

The most important thing is how you deal with it.

Oh Yes it was already scratched/broken/got a hole in it/half missing/defective/pulverized/dismembered as soon as I took it out the box.

can I have a replacement please 🙂

 

[Killy Bing]

While ripping out a bathroom in a block of flats in maidstone, the window woulden't open much, after being in the dust and having a tile cut the back of my arm pretty badly. Being the irritable little hobbit that i am i decided the dust was the most annoying thing in my life at that moment.

decided to open the window forcefully!
Oh i didnt break it!
I sent it flying out of the opening onto the brand spanking new ford focus below!

damn idiot only used mastic to fit it.........

 

[Dotty]

4 of us were manhandling a large A.O.Smith gas fired water heater off a trailer in the back of beyond when the staging I thought would help us gave way, throwing the gfwh towards me. I managed to shoulder it out the way and control the fall. Took a chunk out of my forearm on its way down though.

The only damage to the heater was a buckled control section casing. Luckily we own a fabrication company who knocked me up a new cover within a day.

 

[BBV]

Haha, cheers for the replies. That has cheered me up loads. Just got to forget it and move on!

 

[CXR100]

filled a heating system up when i was an apprentce after draining down , wonderd why the pressure wasnt rising, one of the bleed vents were still open!!!! bad times!!!!!!!! also cracked a bath in a chalet whilst trying to replace cladding, it wasnt a standard size, we had a hell of a job to find a new one!!! also whilst sinking a electrical box i sunk it too muck , had a square hole thru from kitchen to the living room! come to think of it i probably wasa nighmare of an aprentice!!

 

[CMcM]

Doing a kitchen cored the hole for taps the granite sink in the wrong place... that was a STUPID mistake, but all the other ones are honest mistakes. Not just the installers make the mistakes we have office staff that constantly give us worng address order up worng materials and ofcourse never get the wages/over time right. :wink:

 

[CXR100]

just remebered now coring thur a gas pipe , not my fault at all as it was in the CAVITY!!!!! but hey boy did i panic!!! had to sit in the van for 3 hours to wait for out gas engineer to arive to move it!!! that was the first hole i did with the new hilti core drill!!!

 

[northcarr]

I was fitting a wall cabinet in a bathroom started to drill with my mate talking to me drill on sds, bang stright through the wall into the bedroom celcon blocks the other walls enginering bricks lol. There happend to be a poster on the otherside of the wall about 3 inch away so it seamed like a good idea to move it a touch.

 

[nicro3]

The man who never made a mistake, never made anything.

 

[SimonG]

Chit happens, it's how you deal with it.

 

[stevetheplumber]

as an apprentice i kangoed through a wall and found myself in the flat next door instead of the bedroom cheap old place just of kensington high st

 

[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