- Joined
- 27 Jan 2008
- Messages
- 23,663
- Reaction score
- 2,666
- Location
- Llanfair Caereinion, Nr Welshpool
- Country
House now sold so no pictures sorry.
My mother lost her leg, so urgently needed the old pantry and toilet converting into a wet room, and my sister said we never finished a job so not going to be done DIY, she would find a firm to do it, which she did.
So work included digging up floor and rerouting drains, and putting in insulation in floor and electric under floor heating, fitting a steel RSJ where wall between pantry and toilet was, and moving access door about 6” so widest possible entrance for wheel chair without it hitting towel rail, and of course the shower, toilet, loo, and RCD protection for shower, this was 2005 approx.
So mother was in a care home while work being done, so speed was of the essence at around £600 a week for care home. Firm found and finish date agreed and work started, however not complete on time so mother came home to using a commode. And it seemed one man spending 4 hours a day, every other day, after it had over run by 2 weeks my son it seems lost his temper with the builder and he walked off site, so now needed to complete the work fast, and could not find a builder in a hurry to do the work, so only option was DIY, with my son and I.
So the faults:-
1) Tile cement not drying, had to remove all tiles on floor and some on the wall as cement used was out of date.
2) The under floor heating had been damaged and taped up, so had to be replaced.
3) We contacted the LABC to say we were taking over the job, only to find planning permission had not been applied for, the building control inspector only seemed worried about new Part P as it was then, and did in the end allow DIY electrics as both my son and I had the qualifications required.
4) Then found lintel over door was only supported on side, lucky found a builder who fitted new one for me.
5) The builders electrician had fitted a new consumer unit so it would have RCD protection, found no earth to new consumer unit, had to get DNO to provide new earth, it seems the electrician had tried to use the old GPO party line earth, one not good enough and two did not have RCD protection on all circuits.
Also many small problems, we tried to claim off the firm, but the LABC had beat us to it, and the firm had been wound up. In real terms we had more work removing and refitting than if we had started from scratch. And the lintel problem resulted in upstairs loo door never fitting correctly. I has also resulted in the family not trusting tradesmen.
My mother lost her leg, so urgently needed the old pantry and toilet converting into a wet room, and my sister said we never finished a job so not going to be done DIY, she would find a firm to do it, which she did.
So work included digging up floor and rerouting drains, and putting in insulation in floor and electric under floor heating, fitting a steel RSJ where wall between pantry and toilet was, and moving access door about 6” so widest possible entrance for wheel chair without it hitting towel rail, and of course the shower, toilet, loo, and RCD protection for shower, this was 2005 approx.
So mother was in a care home while work being done, so speed was of the essence at around £600 a week for care home. Firm found and finish date agreed and work started, however not complete on time so mother came home to using a commode. And it seemed one man spending 4 hours a day, every other day, after it had over run by 2 weeks my son it seems lost his temper with the builder and he walked off site, so now needed to complete the work fast, and could not find a builder in a hurry to do the work, so only option was DIY, with my son and I.
So the faults:-
1) Tile cement not drying, had to remove all tiles on floor and some on the wall as cement used was out of date.
2) The under floor heating had been damaged and taped up, so had to be replaced.
3) We contacted the LABC to say we were taking over the job, only to find planning permission had not been applied for, the building control inspector only seemed worried about new Part P as it was then, and did in the end allow DIY electrics as both my son and I had the qualifications required.
4) Then found lintel over door was only supported on side, lucky found a builder who fitted new one for me.
5) The builders electrician had fitted a new consumer unit so it would have RCD protection, found no earth to new consumer unit, had to get DNO to provide new earth, it seems the electrician had tried to use the old GPO party line earth, one not good enough and two did not have RCD protection on all circuits.
Also many small problems, we tried to claim off the firm, but the LABC had beat us to it, and the firm had been wound up. In real terms we had more work removing and refitting than if we had started from scratch. And the lintel problem resulted in upstairs loo door never fitting correctly. I has also resulted in the family not trusting tradesmen.
