New radiators falling off - what would you do?

New radiators falling off - what would you do?

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Discussion

MrChips

Original Poster:

3,263 posts

209 months

Thursday 12th December 2019
quotequote all
So we had new radiators fitted throughout the house around 10 weeks ago. Company has very good checkatrade reviews etc along with lots of recommendations on local fb groups.
The guy that came to do the work seemed young but said he'd been qualified for 4yrs.

Without going into a very long post.. the work took them much longer than they'd estimated, they also caused a leak which damaged the ceiling. Summary is that i paid over £1150 of what was originally a £700 estimate, and they claimed to be £1310 final bill. I paid by bank transfer rather than credit card.

We fell out over multiple inaccuracies in the final bills at the end of the process, with email exchanges getting very heated. Safe to say i don't want to deal with them at all ever again.

Wind forward to my current dilemma... i've had now 3 radiators fall off or brackets pull away from the wall. These are all new brackets. The guy that fitted them has made an absolute hash of it, even those fitted to an outside wall. As an example, on an outside wall, the fixings have come out, and i've found were a mix of:
- metal self tapping plugs
- screws going through into the blockwork but not into any rawl plug at all, just screwed into the thermal block
- small rawl plugs about half the length of those provided by the radiator supplier

I've also now found where they've fitted any brackets on a stud wall, whilst they've used good hollow wall anchors... they've not been fitted properly by using the correct tool to set the anchor, hence they've already started to fail.

So.. i'm competent at DIY... do I

- Suck it up, take off each each of the 11 radiators individually, and sort out the brackets properly myself, rehang and refill each once i've done it. If so, is there any likely impact on any additives and inhibitors that need to be in the system?

- Find another plumbing company to come and fix the issues and then issue a small claims against the original company?

- Any other options? Would I be able to claim on my home insurance legal cover? or claim against the original company's insurance?

Some pics:











shady lee

962 posts

181 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Never ever use checkatrade or any of the like....utter cowboys.

Drain the system, refit yourself properly, re fill with inhibitor and bleed bottom up.

Life lesson I think, the fact you can see where they have done wrong means you can sort it out.

tim0409

4,355 posts

158 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
I would agree with the above; given you are competent I would just get on with fitting them properly yourself. Don't give yourself the stress of a small claims action, just move on.

I used to have a small property maintenance company and I spent a lot of time sorting out this kind of nonsense from other "tradesman". The self-drill rawlplugs are useless for anything remotely heavy.

EarlofDrift

4,636 posts

107 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
With 4 days experience I would have made excuses and sent him down the road.

Rubbish job and how they can argue otherwise is beyond me.

I'd ask for a big part refund and failing that small claims.

To have one radiator fall off is rubbish, to have three just shows they haven't a clue what they are doing.

g7jtk

1,756 posts

153 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Call a proper Plumber

Djtemeka

1,802 posts

191 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Crap job.

I’ve been in to repair similar fitted radiators and use spring toggles.

Regular clients and the radiators are still on the walls with no issues.

myvision

1,931 posts

135 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
EarlofDrift said:
With 4 days experience I would have made excuses and sent him down the road.

Rubbish job and how they can argue otherwise is beyond me.

I'd ask for a big part refund and failing that small claims.

To have one radiator fall off is rubbish, to have three just shows they haven't a clue what they are doing.
I would also send him on his way if he'd have said 4 days OP says 4 yrs experience.

Dave.

7,324 posts

252 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
g7jtk said:
Call a proper Plumber
But there's nothing wrong with his toilet.... winksmile

Ex Heating Engineer waveybiggrin

jackofall84

537 posts

58 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
If you can (and it sounds like you can) I would re-tackle it myself...when finished at least that way you'll know it's been done correctly.

Joe5y

1,501 posts

182 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
shady lee said:
Never ever use checkatrade or any of the like....utter cowboys.
This. It's a paid advertising service that if managed correctly can make any company look bigger and better than most.

My cousin is a landscaper that currently features top of the list locally - he has no experience (at all) and has stock pictures and recommendations from numerous sources. No one of them work he has done.

Marcellus

7,111 posts

218 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
We had similar albeit with only one radiator, the issue it looks as if you’ve got is the size of the void between the plasterboard and the wall.

We tried batoning but had similar issues after a while so in the end bit the bullet, had the void filled, replastered then refitted the radiators.

Semmelweiss

1,591 posts

195 months

Friday 13th December 2019
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Charlie DIYte

https://youtu.be/aeFyQS2NGVM

You need to use the correct dry wall fixings

Marcellus

7,111 posts

218 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Semmelweiss said:
Charlie DIYte

https://youtu.be/aeFyQS2NGVM

You need to use the correct dry wall fixings
Thats does look as if it might work!

WinstonWolf

72,857 posts

238 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Marcellus said:
Semmelweiss said:
Charlie DIYte

https://youtu.be/aeFyQS2NGVM

You need to use the correct dry wall fixings
Thats does look as if it might work!
They're definitely worth knowing about thumbup

richatnort

3,018 posts

130 months

Friday 13th December 2019
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As a diyer I think fit yourself is the best option.

For outside walls use a 6mm drill bit if they aren't 6mm already and chuck some of these plugs in them.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/fischer-duopower-wall-p...

They will grip instantly and then the screws they've already tried to use.

As for internal again you can use those on internal but maybe some better metal ones.

It's a real shame this has happened and all I can say is don't pay anyone again until a week later especially if you have a funny feeling. If they are asking for the money straight away I always feel it's for a reason!

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

129 months

Friday 13th December 2019
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Chaulk it up to experience and move on, refit yourself using a combination of plugs and big screws and grip it’s I’ve found to be good so long as your walls aren’t double skinned

bungz

1,960 posts

119 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
As said those checkatrade things are a scam.

Nothing more than paid for advertising, as is trust pilot and the like.

I think you can tackle that lot yourself as you can see what is wrong and why they have all failed.

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Friday 13th December 2019
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All I'd add is that if they're still claiming you owe them £160 from the original invoice, make sure you document everything as you rectify it. Photos, written descriptions, and invoices for fittings. Then, if the pursue you over the unpaid portion of the original bill you'll have a file with which to counter their claim. And if it costs head upwards, you also have evidence needed for a claim against them.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
Sounds like a total cowboy, and to be honest while it is obviously too late now £700 seems mad cheap for 11 rads so I am not overly supprised.
However clearly he doesnt even know how to fix a bracket to a brick wall, so had no hope of being able to correct it even if he wanted to.

I would make it quite clear that you are not happy with the job, without insulting his ability more than needed and ask for a partial refund.
Then I would get an new person, who has atleast one personal good review, and get them to fix the issues.

austinsmirk

5,597 posts

122 months

Friday 13th December 2019
quotequote all
er- you paid tuppence for that scale of job- assuming that included all the gear, pipe and so on.

I disagree about checkatrade- they along with which trust a trader are the only sites that seem to vet companies, check yr work and so on.

(as I use them, so I know).

the rest are all builders paying for leads.


If they've got great reviews, maybe they've just had a bad job, used a poor workman and so on. it does happen. I've had lads working for me, cost me a fortune and turn the job into a loss.