Rate my soldering

[PaulV]

mickk said:

The chippy needs a revisit as well.

Same chap - for the hole on the top.
Some of the boarding is mine, I can live with that as it will be covered up

Edited by PaulV on Tuesday 7th May 18:58

[mikees]

PaulV said:

mickk said:

The chippy needs a revisit as well.

Same chap

Cowboy

[PaulV]

I took the panelling off to see what lay beneath. The panelling and framework is mine, I admit it is not beautiful woodwork but it is functional. The slotted brackets are there to cope with the growth/shrinkage of the beams.

The plumbing was done in two stages, the first being from the stop cock (which was originally too low and fouled the floor boards) around to the shower, and the new bit added today for the LPG boiler.

I do like the piece of cut pipe used to space the one pipe off from the wall in the 3rd picture.








The shower tray (1200x800) has been bedded on expanding foam. Not sure how that will last.

All in all, I am not very happy with the quality of the work.

[R6tty]

Oh dear. Brutal, but sack him NOW. He really doesn't know what he's doing. Shower trays need to have no movement at all to stop them failing. Looks like it's his first go at soldering. Get rid or it will cost you.

[shtu]

OK, now we've seen a few more pictures -

fk my old boots that's shoddy.

Scorch marks everywhere, pipes flapping in the breeze, and bending a crossover is something a first year apprentice should be able to do. Definitely not "bend a pipe a bit, add a random join, then just let the pipe make it's own way back to the wall".

Does this person have the relevant bits of paper to do this installation? Have you seen them or checked them?



Edit,
Couple of giveaways...

Random joins in otherwise straight sectiosn of pipe. This is not a man who has a vanful of pipe. He's patching it together with whatever offcuts he has, even though the extra fittings and labour are more expensive.

The solder blobs on the TOP of some horizontal sections show at least some bits are being pieced together then fitted. Nothing wrong with that as such, but why? It's not complex pipework.

Edited by shtu on Tuesday 7th May 21:30

[andy43]

I especially like the mix’n’match of talon and nail on pipe clips. Classy.
Your foam-fitted shower tray will last for years.
As long as you only use the bath.

[NRG1976]

To be honest the whole thing is a visual horror show, woodwork to the pipes, so depends how precious you are about it.

The shower tray on expanding foam did make me chuckle

[Simpo Two]

Mr Pointy said:

In the last picture the 90° bend is way over 90° - not sure how you managed that.

Pipe cut too short maybe?

I use solder ring joints - much easier and tidier

[Mr Pointy]

Simpo Two said:

Mr Pointy said:

In the last picture the 90° bend is way over 90° - not sure how you managed that.

Pipe cut too short maybe?

I use solder ring joints - much easier and tidier

Me too, but then I'm not buying 100s of them. I can see that pros would use end feed for the cost saving.

[richhead]

oh dear, still if it doesn't leak, then it will be fine, but box it in.

[Gareth79]

"Yikes" I've soldered end feed to do a few things, an outside tap and move a washing machine, and all the joints ended up far better than that. It looks like they don't know how to identify a good joint, and just feed solder in until it overflows.

[fttm]

That is a horrendous mess , as said previously it's a bitsa cobbled together with needless joints . For what it costs I'd be ripping out and starting again , properly .

[Wheatsheaf]

I'd be thoroughly ashamed of that mess as a DIY-er. Why on earth has he not prevented those scorch marks, absolutely basic stuff. I get it's mainly all hidden by the boxing but there is a huge scorch under the boiler which is going to draw the eye of you and everyone who goes in there.

Awful workmanship with those offcuts of pipe wedged in. No skill or finesse shown in the actual soldering either - with good access to the joints and everything bone dry it's very easy to produce a clean smart joint.

I couldn't live with it looking like that, no way.

[shtu]

Ah, found a link,

https://www.plumberparts.co.uk/advice/general-plum...

He's got longer videos on soldering, but look at how little heat and solder is used to get a tidy joint.

[Trustmeimadoctor]

The biggest crime is it's not been brasso'd and stuck on instagram

[Slagathore]

PaulV said:

The shower tray (1200x800) has been bedded on expanding foam. Not sure how that will last.

All in all, I am not very happy with the quality of the work.

On to what sort of floor? In any case, that's almost certainly not going to last at all, but if it's on to a timber floor, that's even more ridiculous.

That alone would be enough for me to deem them incompetent and kick them off the job.

What has he done for the walls around the shower?

[PaulV]

Slagathore said:

On to what sort of floor? In any case, that's almost certainly not going to last at all, but if it's on to a timber floor, that's even more ridiculous.

That alone would be enough for me to deem them incompetent and kick them off the job.

What has he done for the walls around the shower?

Tray is set onto the floor beams on some plywood. Floor boards have been cut around it.

I am doing wet wall shower panels, they are going to be stuck to 6mm ply fixed to the batten framework. I have tanked the ply and will be using bottom U trims with some adhesive / sealant to keep the water in place.

There is another story with the battens.

[AdeTuono]

Mr Pointy said:

In the last picture the 90° bend is way over 90° - not sure how you managed that. You definately need to invest in a heat mat before you burn somethng down.

You didn't read the OP properly, did you?

[119]

There is no such thing as a multi skilled tradesmen
And this thread proves exactly that!

[PaulV]

We sent the company an email stating the issues that we have, they are sending around a boss next week.

Hopefully things can be resolved sensibly.