You thought my radiator was bad?... Brace yourself Nelly

[TheDarkOverload]

I will be "asking" for this to be ripped out and an alternative sorted.

We have a couple of inches gap between our bath and wall. The bathroom fitters suggested tiling it so that any water runs back into the bath.

This dear reader is the result...

Pics in below posts as I can't load them on this post.

Oh, that's bad

Sending you assertive vibes.

Do not back down. Make a list of every single thing that is wrong and ask him one by one how he is going to fix them.

I wouldn't want him to fix them. He clearly isn't skilled enough! I'd want a professional tiler, ie one that does tiling and nothing else. I would be seeking to work out how much he is iwed for work done up to shit tiling you will have to rip out then send him on his merry way.

That is an absolute disgrace.
As app said they haven't got the skills to do this properly. I would fire them and get another tiler in to quote for fixing and finishing the job.
Do not pay them a penny until the job is finished to your satisfaction. You may even need to charge them for remedial works done by another tiler.
Good luck

Oh my goodness. My bathroom building skills are far better than that and I am completely self taught. Its just all too messy.

God it is all so awful. Such a disappointment when you expected a showroom standard by getting someone in.

What has he said? I certainly wouldn’t want him touching anything else and would want him to pay for remedial work. Where on earth did you find him? Did someone else recommend him?

Have to agree with PP, I don’t think I’d want to give him the opportunity to fix this, the fact they found this acceptable in the first place says enough. They are either clueless, lazy, take no pride in their work, or all of the above.

So he's in there now fixing a leak I spotted (sigh).

He's not very happy but will:

• Replace the outside pipe.
• Reseal the toilet in white.
• Rip out the bath ledge thing. The tiles aren't sealed at the edge so they need some sort of edging. He did show me and I agree about that. He's going to use a smaller edging and make sure the angle is correct. He will also move it further away from the tap.
• The tiling (or more accurately, mostly grout) down the side of the pipes by the bath is a bit more difficult. He's going to do the top tile again so it is properly cut to shape. The grout around the pipes can be mostly hidden by those pipe cover donought things you get. It's far from ideal but I think it's the best I'm going to get.
• He doesn't put heating pipes behind walls apparently. That was actually really important to us so I know my husband would have spoken to him about it before contracting him.
• He's dropping the radiator to reduce the amount of pipes. This will mean holes where the current brackets are which will need to be filled but they will be hidden behind the radiator. Again, far from ideal but I just can't face him doing more tiling.
• The pipes will be covered in chrome casing. We discussed actual chrome pipes but apparently they are very expensive and you still need those pipe elbows because they can't be bent. So it didn't seem worth it? I forgot to ask about moving the inhibitor (is that the right name?) on the pipe so it's not stuck in the middle.
• He'll make sure the pipes are straight and at right angles and will replace the plastic white clip with something better but he's not sure what yet.

There are lots of other issues which I've written down for him and we've agreed on.

It's a compromise and far from what we wanted and he agreed but at this point I just want it done.

And yes, husband has been removed from the project due to his apparent low standards and willingness to just accept what is done. He thought the radiator pipes were ok.

If it's any help you can get chrome pipe elbows. Chromed copper pipe isn't that expensive, but I note he has recycled scavenged old copper pipe rather than pay for new so that is cutting into his profit margin.

We might get the pipes boxed in at a later date (by someone else) but I don't have the energy right now or the money.

I don't actually mind that he recycled pipes. I suspect he kept them from our previous bathroom which is better than wasting them. Once tgey are covered you won't be able to tell anyway.

You can bend chrome pipes with a pipe bender. It will bend fine unless it’s cheap stuff in which case they can get a refund.

For the amount of copper you have exposed it wouldn’t cost much more atall.

Some quick google prices no shopping around or discounts.

15mm copper £5 for 2m
15mm chrome plated copper £13 for 2m
15mm to 19mm chrome capping £12 for about 2m worth

Sounds like they don’t know what they’re doing rather than saving money.

Hopefully it works out in the end, It’s always so stressful when trades people do multiple mess ups.

The fitter who did my bathroom supported the waste pipe from the bath with 2 siliconed offcuts of pipe rather than putting in brackets or even a block of wood.

One evening it gave way and I had 100 litres of water come through the ceiling..... bodgers...

Eek! That sounds awful Squireltamer. Did it cause a lot of damage?

OK so chrome pipes aren't expensive at all. I guess he just doesn't want to use them or doesn't feel he knows how to. Looking at the work he is confident about I don't want to risk asking him to do something he isn't! It would be a disaster!

I used chrome pipe for my shower, it really is just the same as regular copper when using the compression fittings. Shove it in and tighten up until it stops leaking! Really can't see why he doesn't want to do it apart from cheaping out.

[TheDarkOverload]
It wasn’t so bad there was an RSJ below which made the water track to the corner of my kitchen so just a few weeks drying. Lots of stainblock and paint. Had to get 2 new kickboards so could of been much worse!

If I were you I’d get a few spare tiles and grout and sink the pipes in wall in the future once you have funds. A good tiler would be able to do this without you knowing it was ever done. But you’ll probably forget about them in time.

I sometimes think we should have got someone in to fit our bathroom, 2 years on our toilet is still just sat on wedges. But then I see posts like this and i'm glad I didn't.

You should be able to expect much better results from someone who does this for a living.

Tiswosliz - our kitchen is the next big job. I think we'll be doing most of that ourselves after this. At least then if it's rubbish, we only have ourselves to blame.

You can paint radiator pipes if you want.
I really feel for you, that job is just a mess really. I am not a brilliant tiler but I could have done a tidier job.
Why doesn't he put heating pipes behind walls? I would really question his competence. Anyway, I suppose it's a lesson learnt in the hardest way possible. Hope your kitchen, when you get round to it, goes swimmingly and looks beautiful.