The DIY/Doing up house Thread (aka My house is falling down)

South Wales Police have a quote I seen but your right with my use of the word illegal, it's to do with in case a emergency trip to hospital etc happens and your unable to get your car out, cases like that they will make an effort.

The new trend of wainscoting that dates back to the 1700s?

They double as acoustic panels, I'm eyeing some up for my rooms.

Roof is leaking again. Right in the same spot where its been “fixed” twice already this winter.

Fucking Hell

Shite innit. Thought we had a leak in the roof (we lost half a tile a few years ago), after spotting some discolouration on our bedroom ceiling. But it's all bone dry in the loft, some of the membrane in that area is a bit knackered but I think it's from a previous issue before we bought the place.

Water is the worst. As my plumber dad used to say, water finds the path of least resistance.

I'm balls deep in this trend..think it looks good if done right.

lol as if anyone can afford to have functioning radiators

Finally managed to get hold of the guy who “fixed” the roof and promised years and years worth of guarantees on it. He was very reluctant sounding but is coming to have a look tomorrow morning. We’re pretty convinced he’ll say that the job that was done was fine but we’ll need a different job that won’t be covered by the guarantee.

EDIT: we were right

I looked up ONE plastering video on Youtube and the algorithm now seems to think I’m building a house from scratch…

So, plastering. How likely am I to fuck it up given it’s my first try?

Well I’m not going to learn by not doing it I guess 💥

Good plastering job is ready to paint straight after it’s dry. A bad plastering job can be rubbed down with sandpaper and any dips filled with polyfilla before painting

Put down some flooring tiles in the bathroom that had to be cut, a couple of years ago. Awkward shape room. Then had a leak, had to relay some ply for the floor, remove the side of the bath and it knocked a few bits out of whack.

Anyway, decided I'll just get some decent vinyl down. Got a quote from a local firm at £35 per m2, fitted.

The first person to email the quote of about £250 was fine, saying they were available from mid March. I emailed back asking for dates and a breakdown of cost, just to see measurements and fitting charges. The girl responding manages to get a trifecta of things wrong

- addresses me by the wrong name
- tells me it's £35 per m2
- says the next available date is early March, with no other options.

FFS

Going through some similar shenanigans with our builder - you have my sympathies. My experience of multiple tradespeople is they give the absolute minimal amount of fucks.

Our one: new kitchen and boiler fitted last summer. Seems to be all good. Then come Autumn last year, suddenly a big wet patch appears on ceiling where the extension joins the original house. We'd had our extension roof repaired, so thought it was to do with that. At similar time, the pressure on brand new boiler had been losing about 1 bar per 12 hours. Basically draining out completely. Builder says, oh just bleed the radiators. Think that's a bit odd given the symptoms, but anyway do that. Problem remains.

I then find that the wet patch originated from the piping where builder/plumber man had taken out the old water tank. He'd put a plastic cap on one of the pipes which was supposed to be temporary. Great, leak found. Barely an apology for the oversight. He comes over to fully cap the pipe – in the process manages to not plug it properly leading to a load of water coming out and dripping straight out of a spotlight onto a rug in the new living area he also did. Fortunately I was in the room at the time and managed to get a bucket pronto. Again, barely an apology.

Pipe capped, then re-test the boiler and pressure still going down. Urgh. He then takes weeks to come back and takes up some flooring in various bits of the house looking for the leak. On my birthday, I might add, thanks. Can't find it. Says he'll look in a few areas but going on holiday and can't return for month. Nnrgh... January, he comes back and still can't find it, and has zero suggestions for what to do next.

Last week I paid a fortune for a leak engineer to come in. I had a bit of back and forth with builder around the source of the problem. Hard to prove – the timing with the pipe leak was when it all started occuring, so hard to see it not being tied to that. I ask him to cover the costs. Builder insists he can only be responsible for any new work they did. Says it's not new work causing the problem

The leak engineer gets damp readings... under the floorboards in the new kitchen. Oh where's that... where builder/plumber installed the new piping for the central heating system. Now it's this week (when I'm supposed to be on leave) and yesterday builder here ripping up the flooring and there is big damp circle in the concrete. Water must be spreading out radially from a pipe joint very slowly. Yesterday in the process of doing all this, they hit a gas pipe which they have to fix and hit a water pipe causing water to go everywhere. Hard to spot a fucking leak when the flooring is drenched. Realise chiselling around pipes in concrete is a hard, partially blind task, but again... no fucking hint of an apology. And, as yet, no admission that this relates to work they originally carried out.

I'm absolutely at my wits end with it. Straddling the line of just wanting it over and not pissing them off so they finish the job (otherwise getting someone entirely separate will cost a fortune) despite my fury with it all. The guy does want to fix it, but fuck me, he is not measured in his approach and has shown absolutely no conciliation.

This a guy who worked on five of my partner's friends' houses, so now I'm cynical even about recommended workmen. Gahhh.

I worked with construction departments of colleges. I'd say about 10-20% really take pride in their work but they get the big, big jobs and charge a fortune for home stuff.

It's just a working lifestyle that attracts the sorts of people we don't like dealing with - sometimes lazy, disorganised, "like being my own boss" types, which usually suggests a lack of response to being told what to do.