nice cottage danny
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organising vans
- Thread starter cdodds2004
- Start date
View the thread, titled "organising vans" which is posted in UK Plumbers Forums on UK Plumbers Forums.
Spent the last 2 days fitting out the van, will put some pictures up in the plumbers arms (don't really want everybody seeing the contents) when i'm done. No taking the mickey for it being spankingly clean though, i've not done any work in it yet!
Couldnt live with a small van having to loads of gear just to get to what i want. Good to see the missus putting the washing out Danny :wink5: unlike mine whos obsessed with the tumble drier
S
scotty plumber
What is the plumbers arms?
It's the exclusive section for only the finest of mechanical engineers to relax in. There is a hot tub and large cinema screen, along with bikini wearing barmaids who fan us and feed us grapes straight off the vine. We regularly sit together sipping champagne looking down out nose's at the lower class of internet plumber sniggering at thou unholy ones.
Basically you get a few hundred posts and your in...
Basically you get a few hundred posts and your in...
S
scotty plumber
That sounds like the life for me!
T
tamz
I could have loaned you a full set of Hilti's (for photographic purposes only) if you just needed proof for the insurance :wink:
\I must say i've never added tools or goods in transit cover to my van insurances. It usually costs more than it is worth. I'd need to have them nicked every other year for it to be worthwhile and the young locals have better things to do to make a couple of quid up my way.
You do like the wee stone cottages with a decent garden Stan :smile:
T
tamz
Its all in the training :lol: Mine frantically watches the forecast and if the washing machine goes on at around 11pm i know it will be a dry day tomorrow.
The downside is if i'm in before her and it starts raining i get moaned at for not bringing the washing in :lol:
Oh and it is a lovely cottage. We don't live there any more. After five years of renting it, we moved out and finally bought ourselves a place. Not as nice as the old Stone Lodge but its ours.
Before that we lived in a converted chapel. Which was right in the middle of Tunbridge Wells. So we've lived in some nice places.
Its nice to not have a landlord though, and for the house to be our own to do with what we want. I'm working hard to make sure one day I can afford to buy a nice character property and not just rent them from wealthy, uptight muppets!
Before that we lived in a converted chapel. Which was right in the middle of Tunbridge Wells. So we've lived in some nice places.
Its nice to not have a landlord though, and for the house to be our own to do with what we want. I'm working hard to make sure one day I can afford to buy a nice character property and not just rent them from wealthy, uptight muppets!
G
Glenwils
The back of our van was a complete mess and the racking the apprentice 'buil't collapsed on itself. So we spent a few hours tonight after work building this out of old bits of wood we found laying around. Were waiting on some plastic organiser boxes my mates nicking from work.
The long upper shelf above the Van Vault is for ladders and longish off cuts of pipe. We made a little box above the wheel arch which fits the benders perfectly. I can't stand a messy van.
We have 3 Stanley fat max organizers in the van, one for screws, washers, raw plugs etc. Another for 15mm fittings and another for 22mm fittings. All other sizes and everything else is stashed away in the racking.
The long upper shelf above the Van Vault is for ladders and longish off cuts of pipe. We made a little box above the wheel arch which fits the benders perfectly. I can't stand a messy van.
We have 3 Stanley fat max organizers in the van, one for screws, washers, raw plugs etc. Another for 15mm fittings and another for 22mm fittings. All other sizes and everything else is stashed away in the racking.
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M
mcniven
Whats that big machine mate
M
mcniven
Haha I meant the lads big yellow thing
G
Glenwils
That's our Van Vault. Just for stashing all our drills etc in at night.
M
mcniven
That's a great idea m8 anything that's on the nick list bang it in that! Is that screwed down and locked?
M
mcniven
Chances of them getting in back or side doors then seeing that screwed down or locked they'd no bother!
G
Glenwils
Yeah bolted to the bottom of the van and locked at night. If anyone could get that out, fair play to them!
trouble is once they know youve got a van vault inside they break in your house for the keys
G
Glenwils
They would have to get past my big dog first. If she don't scare them away our Labrador will.
Hope you don't live in london ......
Had a site safe broken into a few years back. God knows how they did it, and they must have made a hell of a racket. Cleared out all the tools. I pulled on site before anyone else, and just saw the door to the house swinging open. I knew straight away all the tools would be gone. Still gutted and it was years back. Been done again since then.
Last time, they even took the basins we were about to fit, and statues from the garden. The even took the lead from the roof!! Why can't we chop theives hands off and have a real deterant?
Last time, they even took the basins we were about to fit, and statues from the garden. The even took the lead from the roof!! Why can't we chop theives hands off and have a real deterant?
Had a boiler go walkies off the wall on a site in the middle of the night fortunatly for me not at my loss, but some of my tolls were in a cupboard upstairs but fortunatly they left/missed em
G
Glenwils
We had a break in at a school were working on. The thieves obviously weren't the sharpest knives in the drawer as they must have spent a good 20mins trying to bend and break 2x 20mm copper bends under 2 brand new combis we've installed when they could have just simply lifted the combis off the wall as we hadn't piped them up. Muppets.
B
Barry98
some countyrs still chop hands off dont they ?
isit a right hand left foot for stealking a car
isit a right hand left foot for stealking a car
Leo where are you in uk ?
Drifting away from the topic lads, can I briefly bring you back to van organising. How do you organise tools within the van? ie how do you decide what tools to take into a house for initial inspection. I have two tool cases of the flight case type, one for installing (heavy Duty) and one for servicing (prettier sets of spanners and screwdrivers that haven't been used for prizing old boilers from walls). I then have a tool bag which carries sweating gear and hammers and bigger spanners and heat mats and formers and auger bits and pipe slices and . . . . any way what happens is I take all the gear into a customers house and pretty much empty my van in order to do a simple job, and it drives me nuts, is there a better way?
Maybe I should have tool bags for types of job, ie outside tap, bag contains drill (24v Bosch for wall) drill bits, copper tube, assorted fittings, clips, wallplugs, screws, torch, solder, hammer, spanner (adjustable), Ptfe, phillips screwdriver, pipe cleaner, flux, sleeving, hole saws . . . .er . . I think not !
maybe I need a plumbers mate
Maybe I should have tool bags for types of job, ie outside tap, bag contains drill (24v Bosch for wall) drill bits, copper tube, assorted fittings, clips, wallplugs, screws, torch, solder, hammer, spanner (adjustable), Ptfe, phillips screwdriver, pipe cleaner, flux, sleeving, hole saws . . . .er . . I think not !
maybe I need a plumbers mate
There's no getting round it it's just hard work. I have my van racked, fittings boxes, suitcase style same for screws. But I have a thing about running out of stuff, so I've got a long wheel base Toyota hiace. (most reliable can I have ever owned) five years old and no issues. And I have secondary stocks for fittings and screws and carry two of every type of strap on boss and waste tee,s for the condensate. I even carry two bags of sand and cement. Is there a name for my condition?
Very rich ! :sifone:
Obbsessive, compulsive or 'seriously organised'. Depends on your slant.
I'd go on the latter and salute you.
For years I've been trying to whittle down to the perfect tool kit that I can take in to a house and it will satisfy 90% of the jobs without a return visit. As you can see from earlier in this thread, I'm getting somewhere, I work out of a little Vauxhall Combi at the moment. However I always have to go back for something, and usually back again....until I've half the van in the room and there isn't room to swing a cat.
It comes with the trade. If it helps, I've had other tradesmen say to me that all plumbers are like it!!
We need a lot of tools to do even simple jobs. The best thing is, have a big well organised van, and have a plumbers mate to do the running.
I can't say I have either of those luxurys, but one day I will!!
Plumbers mate .... and expirince will teach you !
Hate it now as I work on my own 🙁
Hate it now as I work on my own 🙁
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