Bodges you’ve seen.
Discussion
Ace-T said:
Had to create a bodge to fix another bodge this weekend. Gas man had to do a weird channel in the plaster and dog leg pipework due to the new cooker not having enough clearance in the back to fit against the wall (it's a good make and they will be getting some pissed off customer feedback on Monday).
Would the brand by any chance be 4 letters that can be coupled with the word "head" if you are a Red Dwarf fan???If so, yes. Not really designed for the UK market as they have no clearance space behind for pipework.
When refurbing the kitchen in our current house we replaced the 30 year old range cooker with a new one... ahem the same 4 letter brand as above, but let's ignore the clearance issues....
Installers turned up..... "where's your red cooker switch mate?"
Errrmmmmmm..... hmmmm, that's a very good question...
Had an electrical survey done when we bought the place and the lack of one was not picked up and we hadn't noticed it's absence......
Installers go away and agree to come back when it is sorted.....
OK, cooker fuse on the fusebox.... switch it off.... cooker remains on. Strange. Flipping various breakers revealed that the cooker was on the downstairs ring main
Much testing later revealed that the cooker mcb in the fuse box was connected to one socket, the other side of the kitchen.
Turns out that when the kitchen was extended in the 90s the cooker position moved to the other side of the room, and it was clearly too much trouble to move the cooker circuit to the new position, and hey, where that 6mm wire comes out of the wall would be a great place for a socket (let's also not mention the flexi gas pipe to the old cooker lying flat on the floor)
Spent a day channeling a route to the new location and the sparky came in to extend the cable and fit the correct sockets...
All great, until the fitters came back with the new cooker and discovered the clearance issues... grrrr..
Installers turned up..... "where's your red cooker switch mate?"
Errrmmmmmm..... hmmmm, that's a very good question...
Had an electrical survey done when we bought the place and the lack of one was not picked up and we hadn't noticed it's absence......
Installers go away and agree to come back when it is sorted.....
OK, cooker fuse on the fusebox.... switch it off.... cooker remains on. Strange. Flipping various breakers revealed that the cooker was on the downstairs ring main
Much testing later revealed that the cooker mcb in the fuse box was connected to one socket, the other side of the kitchen.
Turns out that when the kitchen was extended in the 90s the cooker position moved to the other side of the room, and it was clearly too much trouble to move the cooker circuit to the new position, and hey, where that 6mm wire comes out of the wall would be a great place for a socket (let's also not mention the flexi gas pipe to the old cooker lying flat on the floor)
Spent a day channeling a route to the new location and the sparky came in to extend the cable and fit the correct sockets...
All great, until the fitters came back with the new cooker and discovered the clearance issues... grrrr..
MikeStroud said:
OMITN said:
....
However, no-one spotted (until after the borders had gone) the back to front plumbing of the new bathroom basin mixer tap. Left for cold, right for hot.
Oh dear in that case I am a bodger and guilty as charged!However, no-one spotted (until after the borders had gone) the back to front plumbing of the new bathroom basin mixer tap. Left for cold, right for hot.
I always plumb cold on the left and hot on the right. The reason being is as I am right handed I hold the kettle in my right hand, or a glass in my right hand etc, then use my left hand to turn the cold tap on.
The other way around would feel kack-handed to me. Appreciate most mixer taps come the other way around so it must be me that is wrong.
Learn something new every day.. unless I'm due a wooooosh
TriumphStag3.0V8 said:
Ace-T said:
Had to create a bodge to fix another bodge this weekend. Gas man had to do a weird channel in the plaster and dog leg pipework due to the new cooker not having enough clearance in the back to fit against the wall (it's a good make and they will be getting some pissed off customer feedback on Monday).
Would the brand by any chance be 4 letters that can be coupled with the word "head" if you are a Red Dwarf fan???If so, yes. Not really designed for the UK market as they have no clearance space behind for pipework.
t. It is a Stoves cooker, made in the UK, so no fking excuse whatsoever! 
Ace-T said:
Nope. I refused to even look at one of those as we have a dishwasher from them and it is st. It is a Stoves cooker, made in the UK, so no fking excuse whatsoever!
I used to work with a pair of ex GDHA employees. t. It is a Stoves cooker, made in the UK, so no fking excuse whatsoever! The mechanical engineer was seriously low grade individual and a bit of a dick, the electrical engineer was sound, but neither of them had a good thing to say about the place or the products. Decades of under investment in manufacturing or design and a complete lack or interest in developing the product.
With most of the Stoves if basically just the entry spec Belling with some chrome trim.
mdw said:
I've actually been guilty of that back in my younger days, when we woke to find water dripping through the ceiling of our first house. Traced it to a leak in the roof, all the membrane long since torn away, and crumbling concrete tiles above. Being a) rather strapped for cash, and b) in the middle of the night, I grabbed a tube of no more big gaps and went to work in the loft.It was still watertight when we sold the place 3 years later. But it does leave those tell-tale yellow mushrooms on the roof...
Jonathan27 said:
The guys who came to do it said that the macerator thing wasn't working. So we got them to replace it. Once they put the new one it it still wasn't working. This is when we remembered about the socket. He went up and reconnected the wire behind the socket and it all began to work again.
Bonus bodge there - replaced macerator without checking the power supply first. Used to have joiner work alongside us who was fitting wet walls in an en-suite bathroom in a children’s home we were refurbing.
Despite being on good money he didn’t care about his workmanship at all.
Fitted the wet wall panels 20mm to 35mm short from the ceiling, ended up tell him to fire another sheet of gyproc on the ceiling to lower onto the wet wall to hide his mistake(something which would have took him 5 minutes.)
Came in on Monday morning and he had filled the gap with white silicone and it was horrendous. Room was condemned and client was already pissed off with his level work so ordered the wet wall to be ripped off and done again.
Seen plenty in my time though
Despite being on good money he didn’t care about his workmanship at all.
Fitted the wet wall panels 20mm to 35mm short from the ceiling, ended up tell him to fire another sheet of gyproc on the ceiling to lower onto the wet wall to hide his mistake(something which would have took him 5 minutes.)
Came in on Monday morning and he had filled the gap with white silicone and it was horrendous. Room was condemned and client was already pissed off with his level work so ordered the wet wall to be ripped off and done again.
Seen plenty in my time though
The wet wall thing reminded me
My nan used to look after my grandad who had Alzheimer's.
They decided to get the shower room turned into a wet room so it was easier to take care of him.
My parents were friends with a plumber who said that he would do it and started.
The first problem was that they had to pay for everything up front, and the porcelain was a lot more expensive than it was supposed to be, then expensive tiles etc.. My grandad always used to manage the money side so my nan had no idea if it was expensive or not and kept paying.
He was there for quite a few weeks and then my nan heard a lot of swearing and then he left and she didn't see him again.
I went a few days later and had a look. It looked a really nice job, but when I turned the shower on the water ran out into the kitchen rather than down the plug hole. He had got the drop totally wrong.
They had to get another company to take up the floor and redo it with a vinyl type material with the proper drop.
It turned out later that Tony the plumber also used to run a company and paid all of the Christmas wages and bonuses with cheques from a closed account and then closed the company. What a scumbag
My nan used to look after my grandad who had Alzheimer's.
They decided to get the shower room turned into a wet room so it was easier to take care of him.
My parents were friends with a plumber who said that he would do it and started.
The first problem was that they had to pay for everything up front, and the porcelain was a lot more expensive than it was supposed to be, then expensive tiles etc.. My grandad always used to manage the money side so my nan had no idea if it was expensive or not and kept paying.
He was there for quite a few weeks and then my nan heard a lot of swearing and then he left and she didn't see him again.
I went a few days later and had a look. It looked a really nice job, but when I turned the shower on the water ran out into the kitchen rather than down the plug hole. He had got the drop totally wrong.
They had to get another company to take up the floor and redo it with a vinyl type material with the proper drop.
It turned out later that Tony the plumber also used to run a company and paid all of the Christmas wages and bonuses with cheques from a closed account and then closed the company. What a scumbag
As mentioned before but worth a reprise.
Went into a council house that had at first glance a line of drying washing hanging across the lounge area. Second glance realised the washing line was a catenary of twin and earth cable.
Third glance realised that cable was wired into a plug at one end and a socket used for powering the TV etc at the other, so a live 'extension'.
Fourth glance realised that the cable hadn't been clipped to the walls but attached by nails driven through the middle of the insulation and running between the live and neutral.
Went into a council house that had at first glance a line of drying washing hanging across the lounge area. Second glance realised the washing line was a catenary of twin and earth cable.
Third glance realised that cable was wired into a plug at one end and a socket used for powering the TV etc at the other, so a live 'extension'.
Fourth glance realised that the cable hadn't been clipped to the walls but attached by nails driven through the middle of the insulation and running between the live and neutral.
Not really a bodge but...
When I started in construction as a company trainee we had to do some time in their housing division.
Site half built and a quarter occupied. One day a lady came to the site office and said her toilet was blocked. On opening her manhole it was chock a block, with about 4 million condoms floating around.
Red faces aside we went down the run past several occupied houses and out into the main we had installed in the road.
Someone had left a giant bung in after testing and the groundworks guys drew lots as to who would go down the 6 foot deep manhole and free it.
The unfortunate "winner" got a rope around it and gradually it went - and with a bit of gurgling as a warning he scrambled out, followed by a loud rushing of sewage.
He got about halfway out before a column of st overtook him and sprayed like a geyser into the air.
I and all the others were crying with laughter - he looked like the creature from the brown lagoon. All you could see of him was the whites of his eyes!
The boys hosed him off and with a makeshift change of clothes he casually went back to work.
Nowadays H&S would have had a fit!
When I started in construction as a company trainee we had to do some time in their housing division.
Site half built and a quarter occupied. One day a lady came to the site office and said her toilet was blocked. On opening her manhole it was chock a block, with about 4 million condoms floating around.
Red faces aside we went down the run past several occupied houses and out into the main we had installed in the road.
Someone had left a giant bung in after testing and the groundworks guys drew lots as to who would go down the 6 foot deep manhole and free it.
The unfortunate "winner" got a rope around it and gradually it went - and with a bit of gurgling as a warning he scrambled out, followed by a loud rushing of sewage.
He got about halfway out before a column of s
t overtook him and sprayed like a geyser into the air.I and all the others were crying with laughter - he looked like the creature from the brown lagoon. All you could see of him was the whites of his eyes!
The boys hosed him off and with a makeshift change of clothes he casually went back to work.
Nowadays H&S would have had a fit!
gfreeman said:
Not really a bodge but...
When I started in construction as a company trainee we had to do some time in their housing division.
Site half built and a quarter occupied. One day a lady came to the site office and said her toilet was blocked. On opening her manhole it was chock a block, with about 4 million condoms floating around.
Red faces aside we went down the run past several occupied houses and out into the main we had installed in the road.
Someone had left a giant bung in after testing and the groundworks guys drew lots as to who would go down the 6 foot deep manhole and free it.
The unfortunate "winner" got a rope around it and gradually it went - and with a bit of gurgling as a warning he scrambled out, followed by a loud rushing of sewage.
He got about halfway out before a column of st overtook him and sprayed like a geyser into the air.
I and all the others were crying with laughter - he looked like the creature from the brown lagoon. All you could see of him was the whites of his eyes!
The boys hosed him off and with a makeshift change of clothes he casually went back to work.
Nowadays H&S would have had a fit!
When I started in construction as a company trainee we had to do some time in their housing division.
Site half built and a quarter occupied. One day a lady came to the site office and said her toilet was blocked. On opening her manhole it was chock a block, with about 4 million condoms floating around.
Red faces aside we went down the run past several occupied houses and out into the main we had installed in the road.
Someone had left a giant bung in after testing and the groundworks guys drew lots as to who would go down the 6 foot deep manhole and free it.
The unfortunate "winner" got a rope around it and gradually it went - and with a bit of gurgling as a warning he scrambled out, followed by a loud rushing of sewage.
He got about halfway out before a column of s
t overtook him and sprayed like a geyser into the air.I and all the others were crying with laughter - he looked like the creature from the brown lagoon. All you could see of him was the whites of his eyes!
The boys hosed him off and with a makeshift change of clothes he casually went back to work.
Nowadays H&S would have had a fit!
Nothing dangerous in my house but the shower was fitted with cold to got and hot to cold. Strange thing is that it is the original ensuite(sp?) in a 16yr old house. So none of the previous owners were able to use it and never got it fixed!!
Mind boggles. It took a plumber 40 mins so not too dear to fix either.
The only other bodge so the plastering! Rounded wonky edges at Windows and all shapes everywhere else. It was a property boom house.
Mind boggles. It took a plumber 40 mins so not too dear to fix either.
The only other bodge so the plastering! Rounded wonky edges at Windows and all shapes everywhere else. It was a property boom house.
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