BUMFLAPS ! The plumber has just been to give me a quote and has walked chunks of mud on every single one of my stairs.

[NOMurDErousPLUME]

I didn't realise until we were on our way downstairs from the 3rd floor.

Carpet is short pile and cream/beige/neutral coloured.

Shit

Best way to tackle it ?

Should I wait for it to dry before I attempt to clean it up ?

I have carpet shampoo (meant for a Bissell cleaner), if I mix that with hot water and give it a good scrub, will that do ? Or should I get some vanish type stuff ?

He's made a right bloody mess . There are over 30 stairs to clean with patches on 3 landings too.

sorry but rofl @ bumflaps

i would wait for it to dry tbh then scrape off what i could and get the carpet cleaner out. not sure if thats the best way though

I would call the plumber back and then grab him by the ear and show him what he's done and get him to clean it
honestly, men have no idea

lilli, I did say to him, "xxxx, have you got muddy shoes?". His reply ? "Oh yes probably, it's only a bit of mud. It'll come out easy enough"

&

He's an excellent plumber, very reliable and fairly priced (a very rare find in these parts, I can tell you). But he does have that stale B.O., stale fags, not had a bath for about a fortnight air about him. So I suspect Mrs Plumber doesn't give two hoots about mud on the stairs.

It's my own fault I suppose. I should've asked him to take his shoes off (no shoe household for this very reason!). I will be making sure he takes them off next time.....

I don't think you can ask him to take his shoes off. They are probably steel toe capped. For good reasons (e.g. if he drops something on his toes).

Well then he'll need to either

a) Wear clean soled shoes

b) Wear those little slipover covers that the sky installer blokes wear

or

c) Foot the bill for professional carpet cleaning !

Definitely wait for it to dry and dry hoover up what you can before tackling what's left. Good luck.

What a PITA.

I think he should also stop the rain falling!

I'd go for option b) Next time have asome carrier bags ready to cover up the shoes. Or maybe he'll trip on them and sue you

Thanks for the pep talk christina

Well, OK, sympathies then. I just thought it was fair to tell you that if plumbers don't take off their shoes it's not because they want to get your carpet muddy or because Mrs Plumber's standards of cleanliness are not up to scratch, maybe they think of their own incomes and families and don't want to damage their feet by dropping a boiler on them. They're not out to get you. You'd already had carpet cleaning advice - so I offerred something else.

I would wait for it to dry and you might find you can hoover most of it up.

Any bits left zap em with 1001 spray (an essential in this house lol)
am also rofl at bumflaps btw.

christina, why do I get the feeling you are the DP/DW of a plumber ?!

Thanks for the cleaning advice btw. I'll give it a bit mre time to dry then I'll set to with a scrubbing cloth etc

Yes, I am, do I sound knowledgeable? You also have to provide them with hot drink making facilities and...wait for it...toilets. Like any other employer.

Tea

AND

toilets ?!!

Surely not !

Sad news, I'm afraid, but 'tis the truth. You don't actually have to make them the tea, don't worry, but provide a kettle or hot water and they can bring their own (my DH brings his own anyway as he has decaff tea). Yep, toilet too. I think you need to go and have a lie down now

leave till dry

vacuum

NO WET CLOTHS

have had enough plumbers up and down my stairs, blither blither, madam madam

if he's coming back, wait till it's all finished, and if it's still grubby, hire a carpet cleaner

or you could fix it yourself in your clean slippers

when he comes to do whatever it is he is being paid to do take £20 from his bill and say that it was to pay for cleaning the mess he left.

oh god no! don't piss off a good plumber

£20 sounds about right. Half an hour's pay for half an hour's work cleaning the carpets. I think he'd agree to that. DH recently flooded some guy's 200 years old bible.

Definitely let it dry completely and then hoover it up! Most of it will go, honest. If you scrub at it wet, you'll rub it in further and make it much much worse.

yikes christina !

WRT health and safety and steel toe caps etc. I'd agree with you if he was in to fit a new boiler etc, but he was here to give me a quote, which meant the most dangerous thing he handled were his car keys !

FWIW I won't be deducting money from his charges. It's just a pain in the 'arris for me to clean it all off the carpets, that's all.

LOL at car keys. What if he dropped those? You can't be too careful

DH's mishap with the bible was the only one so far (he's only just re-trained from IT and started working in April). Given he's a raving atheist, he was quite proud of that, retrospectively. They agreed to one day's deduction rather than DH puttin it on insurance etc. The old guy has asked him again since.

Only just seen this - NdP you daft cow, why didn't you phone me for the Bissell?

(offer still there if you need to clean up).