This is a follow on from the recent 1st floor wetroom we have installed where the customer had a leak coming down his ground floor hall wall (not the stairs wall) and notified us around 2 weeks after we had installed it.
13/03/2014: - Final payment for the wetroom transferred by BACS on 13/03/2014.
31/03/2014: - Call at 7:30am to inform me the downstairs wall under the shower is wet. I attend at around 9am and spot a small gap in the silicon seal around the concealed shower plate. I reseal and I wait to hear if that fixes it.
01/04/2014: - Email from customer stating that although the affected area has expanded slightly (the damp mark on the wall) there appears to be no further leakage. He believes that the issue is sorted. I reply by email offering to repair the wall and repaint but suggest we should leave it for 2 weeks to do this first. I agree.
03/04/2014: - Email at 8:30pm informing me that the leak has gotten worse again. Water is coming out of the door frame downstairs immediately below the shower. I have to reply stating that I am away down South for a funeral of a friend and won't be back until Monday.
04/04/2014: - Email at 21:21 from the customer stating they have found the leak with the endoscope camera they have borrowed from their work. I am unable to pick this email up until today as I am away. Leak is on a plastic push fit 15mm tee on the cold mains feed to the shower (under the floor of the wetroom/above the hall ceiling, immediately over the damaged wall downstairs).
05/04/2014: - Email at 13:07 from the customer stating they have had to bring in another plumber to fix the issue as they can't wait 4 days without cold mains water. I am unable to pick this email up until today as I am away. No effort was made to call/text me to agree this on my phone. Had it been I would have sent my employee over to fix this. The charge from the other plumbing company was £137.80p - £7.50p for a replacement Speedfit 15mm equal tee, £104 for labour then 20% VAT on top.. Customer also states there is a 2nd leak on the tap connector connecting onto the shower head (concealed shower) that comes on when the shower is running hot water. It does not leak when the shower is not running and it is a slow leak so is unlikely to have contributed to the damage.
07/04/2014: - I visit the property and open an upstairs wall on the opposite side of the stud wall to the shower in order to fix the leak on the back of the shower head. This head has not been connected too with a copper to iron elbow due to the cavity not being wide enough to fit one in, thus a bent tap connector has been used. The shower head (supplied by customer) is in effect too wide to fit properly in the cavity but I made it fit by fitting a bent tap connector instead of a copper to iron elbow, not ideal though I know. I have offered verbally to patch, skim and repaint all 3x affected walls and also the downstairs hall ceiling. Customer states that he wants all 3 rooms repainted entirely including the upstairs hall (unaffected by water damage). I have stated that I would not be willing to do this. Customer is concerned about getting an exact colour match with the other walls. My view is that the house will be left in a better state once repair work is done than it was before (the existing decor was rather old even before the damage). Customer cannot remember what brands/colours of paint was used in each room although they have stated that they decorated the rooms since the house was built (it's around 10 years old).
I am proposing to offer replastering and painting of the damaged walls/ceiling only and also pay the plumber's charge too, even though we were not contacted before he was brought in. Does this seem reasonable?
13/03/2014: - Final payment for the wetroom transferred by BACS on 13/03/2014.
31/03/2014: - Call at 7:30am to inform me the downstairs wall under the shower is wet. I attend at around 9am and spot a small gap in the silicon seal around the concealed shower plate. I reseal and I wait to hear if that fixes it.
01/04/2014: - Email from customer stating that although the affected area has expanded slightly (the damp mark on the wall) there appears to be no further leakage. He believes that the issue is sorted. I reply by email offering to repair the wall and repaint but suggest we should leave it for 2 weeks to do this first. I agree.
03/04/2014: - Email at 8:30pm informing me that the leak has gotten worse again. Water is coming out of the door frame downstairs immediately below the shower. I have to reply stating that I am away down South for a funeral of a friend and won't be back until Monday.
04/04/2014: - Email at 21:21 from the customer stating they have found the leak with the endoscope camera they have borrowed from their work. I am unable to pick this email up until today as I am away. Leak is on a plastic push fit 15mm tee on the cold mains feed to the shower (under the floor of the wetroom/above the hall ceiling, immediately over the damaged wall downstairs).
05/04/2014: - Email at 13:07 from the customer stating they have had to bring in another plumber to fix the issue as they can't wait 4 days without cold mains water. I am unable to pick this email up until today as I am away. No effort was made to call/text me to agree this on my phone. Had it been I would have sent my employee over to fix this. The charge from the other plumbing company was £137.80p - £7.50p for a replacement Speedfit 15mm equal tee, £104 for labour then 20% VAT on top.. Customer also states there is a 2nd leak on the tap connector connecting onto the shower head (concealed shower) that comes on when the shower is running hot water. It does not leak when the shower is not running and it is a slow leak so is unlikely to have contributed to the damage.
07/04/2014: - I visit the property and open an upstairs wall on the opposite side of the stud wall to the shower in order to fix the leak on the back of the shower head. This head has not been connected too with a copper to iron elbow due to the cavity not being wide enough to fit one in, thus a bent tap connector has been used. The shower head (supplied by customer) is in effect too wide to fit properly in the cavity but I made it fit by fitting a bent tap connector instead of a copper to iron elbow, not ideal though I know. I have offered verbally to patch, skim and repaint all 3x affected walls and also the downstairs hall ceiling. Customer states that he wants all 3 rooms repainted entirely including the upstairs hall (unaffected by water damage). I have stated that I would not be willing to do this. Customer is concerned about getting an exact colour match with the other walls. My view is that the house will be left in a better state once repair work is done than it was before (the existing decor was rather old even before the damage). Customer cannot remember what brands/colours of paint was used in each room although they have stated that they decorated the rooms since the house was built (it's around 10 years old).
I am proposing to offer replastering and painting of the damaged walls/ceiling only and also pay the plumber's charge too, even though we were not contacted before he was brought in. Does this seem reasonable?
