Hapless diy and b and q.

Paul Barker · 30 Sep 2006

Went to an emergency last night, you know ceiling coming down around their ears new carpet getting ruined. " a friend was helping us fit a shower and he's run off and left us and now the ceiling is coming down".

What are b and q doing selling this stuff to people. diy people should surely have to pass a basic intelligence test before being sold stuff. They had everything they needed, but with no site servay they. The stuff they got was entirely unprofessional and the site was wholely inapropriate.

Anyhow I extended my remit of just fixing the leak for about 5 minutes and took out the bath for them (they had wanted to do the pipework for the shower first, where the bath now stood.), explaining how to proceed and first fixing the hot and cold for them.

They haven't got a snowballs chance in hell of finishing the job, they will be without a proper wash until they have saved enough to get a plumber in.

I think there is a major problem with b and q selling this stuff to them and making it sound so easy to do. If they do get it finished, the waste will leak the whole kit will look like a diy disaster, and the shower valve will probably be impossible to regulate and providse a dribble from their gravity system.

Paul Barker · 30 Sep 2006

Oh by the way, they had tried to fix the leak with plumbers m8. Trouble is they bough t the wrong one, they bought the original putty, what thj person advising them probably meant was the two pack epoxy. Anyhow that won't work either if you have only "shut" the dhw primary balance gate valve. (which actually they had fully opened).

How do people get through life with suchg limited intelligence? or are we that superior? I thought plumbing just took middling mental aptitude.

These guys are embarking on fitting a shower enclosure in an upstaris scenarion where once stood a bath, a job we would put a deal of servay thought and preperation into. They are armed with some white flexible pipe of enoumous length, flexible waste about as thick as a johny and as flimbsy as a femidom, which actually might do the job better. I have absolutely no idea how they are going to terminate it, I did find that it fits inside a pushfit socket but as it has no substance to it there was no pressure on the o ring or resistance to being blown apart.

I do hope they know a good plasterer, they will certainly become very familiar with the joists above the living room for years to come, or accept a tin bath in front of the fire like we used to have at my Grandparent's home.

Whjere do b and q find this stuff?

geoff@cetltd · 1 Oct 2006

Paul Barker said:
Went to an emergency last night, you know ceiling coming down around their ears new carpet getting ruined. " a friend was helping us fit a shower and he's run off and left us and now the ceiling is coming down".

What are b and q doing selling this stuff to people. diy people should surely have to pass a basic intelligence test before being sold stuff. They had everything they needed, but with no site servay they. The stuff .

But then, they'd have to apply the same test to plumbers

How would the NE manage , devoid of plumbers able to obtain parts ?

goooba769 · 1 Oct 2006

Paul thats how they make money by making it sound easy. That way they can sell them hundreds/thousands of pounds worth of stock for doing bugger all apart from saying yes that fits straight in where the old one was with little modifying!
I do the odd bathroom/kitchen and I'm not trained to a high plumb level. Iv done basic plumbing and electrics courses which allows me to do the basic none regulated stuff. Even with my limited training I find it difficult at times so B&Q sending people off who know bugger all is a bit daft.

On the other hand people like to DIY so I suppose they think lets have a go and if it fails then get someone in. But as you mention when it goes wrong it goes wrong big time.

Then again any DIY holds a risk, my mate nailed a door strip down and just punctured the main heating system pipe so you can imagine the phone call I got when he found a shower in his hall way!

Agile · 1 Oct 2006

Paul, we get called to many results of DIY ( and some professional ) disasters. However for each disaster there must be several hundred successful DIY jobs.

Take this weekend, in our local area with say 5 million people there are probably about 500 DIY jobs being done. So far we have had not a single call to anything gone wrong.

B&Q perform a very useful function in stocking a wide range of tools, fixings, plumbing and in the case of the Warehouses three different makes of condensing boilers and they are open all weekend.

My local has a "plumber" hanging around the fittings shelves and you can ask her a question. If she does not know the answer she will ask Eamon who can speak Arabic if necessary. ( I once him telling an arab customer about boilers! )

Tony

breezer · 1 Oct 2006

I dissagree with Paul Barker.
You can not blame any outlet for selling something for diy, its the people who buy it that you should blame, no matter what the client told you they are not telling the truth, since if there were, why did they get some one in to do the job (ok he didn't have a clue either)

The problen is most "punters" have no idea about anything, unless its what they do for a living, i have seen countless times in my various jobs punters who think you can do what ever and it will work / look nice, its not untill you expalin to them that to have x you need to have y to make x work but also y would be better off with k (you see what I am saying / getting at)

so if the punter was to do some research, as is often suggested on these forums they would have got the right kit in the first place and learnt what to do with it. Untill they do, you will still get "emergency calls"

carryoncamping · 1 Oct 2006

breezer said:
I dissagree with Paul Barker.
The problem is most "punters" have no idea about anything...

Try going to my local Plumb Center, the woman behind the counter didn't know what a compression joint was!

.

I think B&Q do an excellent job and agree with breezer, it's the incompetence of people buying it that's at fault.

suffolklad · 1 Oct 2006

i must say i agrree with breezer cant blame the diy stores , at least its open 7 days a week , and stocks lots of choices . i must say its the publics fault with the internet and cheap plumbing joints you can always buy some fitings and have a practice before u rip the bath out lol . then find out how to solder a joint. theres so much out there for the diyer

ollski · 1 Oct 2006

Bit of a godsend really, I was helping my bro fit a bath last week and he had bought 2 22mm tap connectors. One was not formed fully so the washer didn't fit (probably why they didn't bother giving him one!), the other was split on the washer seat and sprayed out water when connected. Two replacements from homebase....perfect, the difference in quality between homebase and plumbcentre fittings was massive and it was 7.30pm aswell.

Paul Barker · 1 Oct 2006

I must admit I have had to rely on Bnq for spares over the weekend. Nearly ended up there yesterday afternoon because i had a burst lead main to deal with. Turned out I had two 7lb conexes on the van so I managed, but nearly had to go and find out whether bnq have got into lead fittings. Must restock on Monday.

ps was mighty glad I bought that heavy breaker the other week.

keego · 1 Oct 2006

ollski said:
the difference in quality between homebase and plumbcentre fittings was massive and it was 7.30pm aswell.

Agree with you on that one, B&Q are guaranteed to get you out of the brown stuff sooner or later by staying open until 9pm. As for DIY'ers & plumbing that's why I went & got my gas Qualifications, what with push fit joints etc everyone & his dog are doing their own plumbing. I can't blame them really, I don't employ a mechanic to work on my bike so why shouldn't anyone have a go at their own plumbing jobs, at worst they will get wet, or if they get it right they will save themselves a few quid.
The other thing is, if they do get it wrong you get to charge them extra for fixing someone elses c*ck up.

keego · 1 Oct 2006

Paul Barker said:
I must admit I have had to rely on Bnq for spares over the weekend. Nearly ended up there yesterday afternoon because i had a burst lead main to deal with. Turned out I had two 7lb conexes on the van so I managed, but nearly had to go and find out whether bnq have got into lead fittings. Must restock on Monday.

ps was mighty glad I bought that heavy breaker the other week.

Paul, you would have been OK going to B&Q, they do 7 & 9lb lead packs,
not cheap but at least you can get them on a sunday.

kevplumb · 1 Oct 2006

raden said:
How would the NE manage , devoid of plumbers able to obtain parts ?

about as well as our southern counterparts buying second hand tat

Paul Barker · 1 Oct 2006

Actually some of their stuff is cheaper than the merchants. Was doing a gas fire one Saturday morning and needed a bent 8mm gas cock as my straight cock wouldn't quite do the job, went to city for it, £8.

Next day I was in B and Q buying an Immersion for an emergency job, and out of corner of my eye, saw very same cock for £3.50 or something.

The worry is some customers, acutely aware of b and q prices think we are ripping them off for parts. No love, it's us that is being ripped off by the shareholders of the big corporations who own the merchants. Greed!

micky p · 2 Oct 2006

Well i went into my local B & Q at the weekend and I was confronted by a young boy handing out leaflets with a Solar panel and a windturbine. Now i find that quite scary. These are very specialized products and if incorrectly installed can be very dangerous. Fair enough they will not sell you a windturbine without attually letting there fitters install it. but as for the solar panel I asked the sales man (knowing full well they wouldn't have a clue what this solar panel attually does) She was very honest and said she doesn't know much about the products.

Thing is how many people will they sell these solar panels too and the customer will slap it onto his/hers roof facing in the completely wrong direction etc. If they manage to get the panel aiming in the right direction the temps theses things can get too is 200 deg C + so you don't want Glycol springing a leak at those temps.

.

Not only that they will be selling theses to people that will just think they plumb straight into your combi boiler or Hot water cylinder.

B & Q will be selling boiler spares next and that will be scary.

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Hapless diy and b and q.

breezer

keego

keego

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