Plumber at Fault

moneen

Hi, I hope this is in the right section apologies if not. I hope someone can help me, we have just started re-tiling our en-suite and the tiler was taking down the shower and just realised that the plumber who installed the shower for us 3 years ago attached the shower with a screw and put in through the mains water pipe. My question is do we have any comeback against the plumber if this is a major job to get it repaired, it has also been leaking unbeknownst to us down into the kitchen walls. Thanks in advance..

Outkast_IRE

moneen wrote: »

Hi, I hope this is in the right section apologies if not. I hope someone can help me, we have just started re-tiling our en-suite and the tiler was taking down the shower and just realised that the plumber who installed the shower for us 3 years ago attached the shower with a screw and put in through the mains water pipe. My question is do we have any comeback against the plumber if this is a major job to get it repaired, it has also been leaking unbeknownst to us down into the kitchen walls. Thanks in advance..

It wont be a major job to repair, and its odd that it was leaking into kitchen walls but you weren't aware water shows up very very quickly usually.

If you got a proper plumber he would have insurance etc, but its very unlikely he will want to go through that, and if you haven't seen any damage by now chances are there is very little or none.

As I said it would be a very simple repair.

P. Breathnach

It's probably not that big a job to get it fixed, and I presume that the leak was small or you would have noticed it sooner.

That said, the plumber is responsible. If he is still in business, I suggest that you contact him and tell him what has been found. Make it clear that you expect him to put it right.

moneen

The leak does seem to be small so hopefully it is not a big job..it was a "proper" plumber that we used because we also used him to service our boiler and got his name from the rgii website!!

emeldc

There's something not quite right here. Even a pin prick in a water main would be quickly noticed, but over three years?
I suspect the tiler hit it by accident and he's blaming the plumber.
How have you stopped the flow of water after the shower unit was removed. (Sorry, I have a suspicious mind :rolleyes:)

Outkast_IRE

emeldc wrote: »

There's something not quite right here. Even a pin prick in a water main would be quickly noticed, but over three years?
I suspect the tiler hit it by accident and he's blaming the plumber.
How have you stopped the flow of water after the shower unit was removed. (Sorry, I have a suspicious mind :rolleyes:)

You would be surprised with a screw, I have seen screws into copper pipes and the leak only occurred years later because the tip of the screw started to rot from being wet constantly.

slimjimmc

It used to be a old trick to plug a hole by tightening a screw into it. A screw could easily have pierced the pipe but not caused a leak if it remained tight. I suggest that since you didn't notice any signs of water damage over the preceding 3 years then it was only when the screw was undone to remove the shower that the leak became apparent.

kbell

emeldc wrote: »

There's something not quite right here. Even a pin prick in a water main would be quickly noticed, but over three years?
I suspect the tiler hit it by accident and he's blaming the plumber.
How have you stopped the flow of water after the shower unit was removed. (Sorry, I have a suspicious mind :rolleyes:)

How could the tiler have "hit it by accident" if he was removing the shower and then made the op aware??