The Charles Church plumber when he or she is at work is a talented and skilled individual, skilled at the botch, skilled at the cover-up, but do not be alarmed this is accompanied by other tradesman too, the joiner and the tiler.

Having had a recent flood of water from a connection to a cistern, I thought it would be useful to share what you might expect.

The plumber who came to repair the leak was utterly amazed at the ineptitude of how the joint had been made. Forced onto the cistern, putting great strain on the connecting plastic pipework, PTFE tape used because of cross threading the connections. Impossible to get at without opening up the boxed in soil pipe.



Figure 1: Pipe under strain


Figure 2: PTFE tape used

The boxing in had been glued, this is quicker than pinning and means it is destroyed when opened. The baton to support the boxing in, had been tried to be nailed to a concrete floor without success, other than taking lumps out of the floor. I assume the work of the joiner.


Figure 3: Baton with nails

The tiler had not grouted all the tiles in, but had finished leaving gaps behind the cistern and the radiator, thus allowing dampness into the gypsum wall board.


Figure 4: tiles with missing grout


Figure 5: Behind the radiator

So after the incompetence of the plumber, we are left with 3 weeks of drying out and all the inconvenience associated with the noise of the fans and the dehumidifiers, followed by replacement flooring in the cloakroom, family room, hallways and dining room and perhaps the tiling in the kitchen and utility room.

All this inconvenience as a result of the kind of tradesman Charles Church seam to employ.


Figure 6: The aftermath in cloakroom

Figure 7: The aftermath in the hall

Figure 8: The drying out process begins