Concerned about bathroom work carried out

[MDJ]

You havent been free lancing in London on jobs have you Mike

Nah too smokey there for me fella, I wouldn't lose any sleep over that install if it were protected properly and all bonding in place though, I have seen far worse, much much worse in fact, that said I would have done it differently, but someone who knows a bit is a very dangerous person, I expect the spark on that job gave up and buggered off, He will probably tell the op to keep the money rather than go back.

 

[schmores]

Well as I am pretty unhappy about the job I and I haven't paid I am planning on getting them back in to rectify it.

obviously you have mentioned your dissatisfaction to the electrician, if not then perhaps you should have a chat before coming here telling everyone about your concerns. For what it is worth, unless I am missing something the intial photos do not shout out to me a cowboy has been in your house. I would like to chat to the electrician to hear his side, The install is far from perfect but looks anything but a cowboy job to me.

I was actually planning on speaking to them tomorrow. Glad to hear you don't think its a cowboy job.

 

[MDJ]

I was actually planning on speaking to them tomorrow. Glad to hear you don't think its a cowboy job.

It is not a perfect job as mentioned by some of the seasoned sparks here, you should address your concerns to your electrician and await his answers, he has not finished the job and may well intend to bond the water pipes together and issue a full set of results for the work carried out, you can question the cable run and mention to him you think it isn't right, but coming here saying your unhappy about the job, won't pay until he has rectified it when you have no idea what is actually wrong isn't very good on your part. Anyhow you can read through the concerns from the seasoned sparks and talk to your spark tommorrow, good luck.

 

[NickD]

I was actually planning on speaking to them tomorrow. Glad to hear you don't think its a cowboy job.

If it's any reassurance I think we've all of us on here seen plenty of stuff that even on first viewing is clearly a lot worse. (Fair comment?)

 

[schmores]

No no no no!

You cannot take the word of a few sparks on a forum as gospel! All we have to go on is one picture and a basic description of the work. We cannot make informed decisions as to whether or not the work complies with the regs or whether or not the work is unsafe, all we can do with what we've been presented with is guess.

Some people don't seem to see a problem, some people do. As I said in my original reply to you, I cannot say for sure as I am not at the job making a full assessment, but in my opinion there are certain aspects that concern me about the work and I feel some of it is suspect.

If you want to find out one way or another whether the work is safe and compliant, what you need to do is pay for an independant compliance inspection of the work so far carried out. Only then, upon presentation of the facts can you say for sure that you're either happy or unhappy with the work. I am not far from London if you wanted to go down that route. I also know a guy close to London who makes his living carrying out independant inspection and testing. There are other options available to you than taking the word of a few electricians on a forum who cannot possibly prove one way or another what is going on with the current state of the work.

As building control are already involved (as I am moving the shower) would they be the right people to look over the work?

 

[telectrix]

As building control are already involved (as I am moving the shower) would they be the right people to look over the work?

that might be the best idea. if BC express concerns, then you can approach the electrician without it seeming that you personally are complaining. causes less bad feeling.

 

[MDJ]

They have fitted an RCD at the old fuse box which seems fine if a bit messy.

out of interest, did your electrician try to get you to pay for a new Distribution Board?

My main concern is that they have run one cable into the bathroom and then split it into 3 fused switches inside the bathroom.

If the switches are not in the zones and the OCPD suitible I would not be concerned at all, the shower and lights will only be a few hundred watts, the shower is just a pump, no load hardly at all, nothing wrong with it although myself I would not do it that way.

Im guessing as you haven't picked up on it having switches of this type in a bathroom is actually acceptable?

I don't like that either, but if out of reach then okay, I would have had the switches outside the bathroom and flex outlets inside, but the spark has not actually broken a reg i can think of regarding those switches.

I am paying £450 for the job. This was meant to include them wiring up the pump etc which they haven't done. I'm not completely familiar with the price of these jobs but that sounds fair were the job done properly.

I wouldn't connect the pump either, thats because the job was not completed, the water may not have been on for one and perhaps the spark needed to bond the main water before energising, too many uncertainties I am afraid.

 

[NickD]

out of interest, did your electrician try to get you to pay for a new Distribution Board?.

Now there's a good question.

 

[uksparks]

I bet the poor sod who has done the work uses this forum and is sitting there thinking, right I'll stick an extra zero on the end! Maybe if you are him, you would like to surface and have an open discussion.

 

[MDJ]

to my untrained eye this looked unsafe.

I am not attempting to argue with you either way with your comment here Tom, I just want to know out of interest why you think that?

 

[schmores]

Now there's a good question.

Nope, was never mentioned though I did ask if I needed a new consumer unit.

 

[schmores]

I am not attempting to argue with you either way with your comment here Tom, I just want to know out of interest why you think that?

All of the information I have read states that you shouldn't have non pull cord switches in bathrooms. I was unaware that putting them behind a panel essentially meant they weren't. On top of this the fact there are holes in my walls and one of the switches isn't attached to its back box made me quite dubious about the quality of the installation.

Perhaps I jumped to an unjustified conclusion but it's not hard to see how.

I will admit that I should have spoken to the electrician before posting on this forum but I was concerned that I had inadvertently hired a cowboy and wanted some feedback from someone else before voicing my concerns to them.

 

[NickD]

All of the information I have read states that you shouldn't have non pull cord switches in bathrooms.

You haven't read the relevant section of the regs then, not that there's any particular reason why you should have. You can have a standard 13A plug socket in your bathroom, switch and all, if you can meet the requirement for it. Much depends on where stuff is in relation to the bath or shower. Good luck with your sparky.

 

[Octopus]

I'm beginning to feel sorry for the spark on this job as the OP seems to think he knows it all - but sadly he is some way off IMHO

 

[schmores]

I'm beginning to feel sorry for the spark on this job as the OP seems to think he knows it all - but sadly he is some way off IMHO

I do indeed. Exactly the reason I came on a forum and asked for advice...