Dangerous DIY

[gness]

Electrician friend called to check last night`s exploding light. Seems previous house owner had moved light fitting leaving the wires too short. More wire was added using a now black and melted connector and what looks like the remains of sellotape. Lots of bare wires in ceiling too. Cooking by candlelight tonight.
Roman blind [it came with the house] had had the rings on the back replaced with paper clips which had unwound with the weight of the blind.
Cat is home but giving the ironing board a wide berth.

[jno]

don't tell me - the bathroom walls turn out to have been made from conflake packets and the cupboards are being held on by Blu Tak...

Blue Peter has a lot to answer for.

[gness]

Nothing will surprise me jno. Amazing what you discover when you move house.

[parkie]

Probably teaches DIY at the local College.

[gness]

Parkdale. Exactly what electrician said having seen mess made by plumber/lecturer on a previous job. Off to lift old slabs for new patio. Wonder what I will find.

[paddywak]

It's not just DIY people. A few years ago I called into my nieces who was having a new kitchen fitted and the so called "Electricians" were doing some re-wiring I took one look at their work and politely told them to go away and tell thier boss to send a proper sparky. Ten minutes later a merc pulls up and the boss arrives all mouth and bluster giving it the old what do you know about electrics, it's a skilled trade and my workers are all time served etc etc. I let him rant a while then told him I was a time served electrical shift charge engineer at a local colliery with nearly 30 years experience of the trade and that if he didn't get the job done properly he could expect a visit from the local S & H. needless to say the job was done properly. I know the majority of craftsmen are well trained and skilled at thieir job but it sometimes make you wander what some jobs are like behind the plaster or under the floorboards

[Mosaic]

.....could your electrical 'experts' have a nephew plumber who did my upstairs bathroom - gigantic hole in floorboards left underneath the vanity unit he installed. This was no problem at all for 15 years then when we re-did the bathroom....no floor on which to stand the washbasin pedestal.
Or another relative who is a builder? Couldn't be r-sed with the last half course of blocks under a window on my extension, so stuffed it with old newspaper and cement bags and plastered over it.....which I discovered when the radiator fell off the wall.
And they wonder why we call them cowboys.

[craft1948]

I unfortunately bought my current house from a DIY fanatic..............shortly after moving I called in my usual heating engineer and electrician to check things over..............they were both amazed the house hadn't burnt down or blown up :-(

[vulcan]

A friend asked me to fit two curtain rails in a spare bedroom which had recently been decorated by professionals. As I started to screw the brackets to the mounting board, it came away in my hands. Thinking the screws had come away from the wall I checked and discovered there weren't any screws. The mounting boards were literally held in place by wallpaper and paste.

[douglas9401]

"Off to lift old slabs for new patio. Wonder what I will find."

Brookside!! :)

[DTCwordfan]

Are you renting or bought, gness?

[gness]

From these tales I`m not alone! Worried about looking under floorboards and behind plaster now PW.
The house is bought DT.
Nothing sinister under patio yet. Doug.
We had a new bathroom fitted by professionals in our last house. After a week without ,there was a mad rush for the first bath. Pulled out the plug and the water poured down into pantry and I promise you this is the reason the plumber gave on his return. "Well, the weight of filling it with water and sitting in it can often disconnect the pipes."