DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Tenants’
Regulations broken:

When called to attend a small building job this week the tenant at the property was complaining about plumbing issues. We were told that the toilet had been overflowing for some time but they had fixed it. Now they had a very loud noise happening as well when they flushed the loo. continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad ‘Gas Fitters’
Regulations broken:

Earlier this week we received a call from a desperate social worker who required a cloths washer hooked up ASAP. She told us that a plumber appointed by the council had been around two days earlier to sort out ‘a’ boiler issue. When she asked him if she would be able to hook up a cloths washer he told her there was no problem. No problem for him! She ordered a washer and upon arrival the delivery staff told her that there was no water or waste connections.  continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad Plumbing
Regulations broken:BS6700:1997 Clause 3.1.7

My neighbour recently asked if we could repair a few plumbing issues at his property. I went over to take a look and found a dead electric shower and a few taps that needed replacing. I was then shown a water meter installation that looked like Niagara Falls! Water appeared to be coming out of every connector. The leaks had been getting worse and before anyone noticed the kitchen unit surrounding the pipe work had been damaged beyond repair. The cause of the problem? continue

We received a phone call last week from Ms. Reynolds who lives in Glasgow, Scotland. She was looking for some advice. Her recently installed boiler froze up in the cold snap a few weeks back. She has called the installer who showed up, removed a section of the condensate waste pipe that was frozen and then left it like that. As you will see from the photos below the open end of the waste pipe coming from the boiler is now leaking acidic water onto her garage roof where it is freezing! That’s not all! continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad DIY ‘Electricians’
Regulations broken: BS7671:2008 Reg 411.3.1.2

We showed up to a plumbing call on Friday afternoon to install the hookups for a new washing machine. We knew that we would have to create a cold water feed and a new waste hookup. While getting ready to cut into the water pipe work we spied the earth cable shown below! continue

DANGER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bad DIY ‘Gas Engineers’
Regulations broken: The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 : PART B Gas Fittings – General Provisions(Qualification and supervision, Materials and workmanship, General safety precautions, Protection against damage, Existing gas fittings) / PART E: Gas Appliances – Flues/ Regulation H1 – Paragraph 1.14

While working on a re-wire last week we spied this pooly installed boiler across the alley from where we were working. Our first impression was that it was installed with much haste and with little background knowledge. After speaking with the tenant all was confirmed. continue

The installation of the new dishwasher is the reverse of removing the old one with a few extra steps to ensure a leak proof and secure job You should also check the hot and cold water isolators to make sure that they have been upgraded and have built in check vales installed. Current building regulations require a check valve so that foul water cannot be accidentally sucked back into the clean water supply which you will drink from: continue