The grumpy thread

[Zelandeth]

So I have confirmed that the plumber who wanted a grand to sort out shower was speaking complete nonsense when he claimed that the valve inserts couldn't be removed from the front.

However now I need to get new ones.  Three people had recommended a place over in Bedford so I went over there full of optimism.  Guy didn't even look up from his phone, claiming that without make and model that it would be impossible to find a replacement.

Tried three other specialists in the vicinity and got similar levels of enthusiasm.

The level of cannot be assedness that I keep running into whenever trying to give money to businesses around here just seems to defy belief...or is it really just me?

[somewhatfoolish]

What make of shower unit is it? Do the knobs not give a clue?

[Zelandeth]

2 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

What make of shower unit is it? Do the knobs not give a clue?

That's half the problem - there are absolutely zero markings on anything whatsoever.   Not even a H/C or on/off indicator.

[somewhatfoolish]

20 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

That's half the problem - there are absolutely zero markings on anything whatsoever.   Not even a H/C or on/off indicator.

Got a picture? I'm not an aficionado of 1980/90s shower knobs/fascias, but someone might have a clue.

[Talbot]

<rant>

Local HWRC (tip) now requires that you book in advance for a visit.  Shit to get rid of, so I book to pop over at lunchtime.  Load up the car, got my confirmation email, all good.

3 miles down the road to the tip at lunchtime, and it's all closed up.  Security guy wanders over:  Apparently there's been a covid incident on site this morning, so they've closed down the whole fucking site.  Despite the fact you can lob stuff in a bin while remaining outside and without touching ANYTHING there, they completely close the site.  No email sent out, no warning.. nothing.  For a service that now needs booking.  Fucking brilliant.  A complete and utter over-reaction.

2 options:  Re-book for saturday, or hot-foot it over to the next nearest one, which is 10 miles in the opposite direction to which I've come.  Well, I've a boot full of shit I need to get rid of pronto, so that leaves me with sod-all choice doesn't it.  Barrel over the 13 miles to the other tip, thankfully get let in to be able to drop off.  Lob it all out and then drive back the 10 miles to work at the speed of sound.  Get back late, hot, bothered and now with an empty fuel tank, so I need to fill up this evening, rather than at the weekend as I was planning.

All because some lazy arse who never actually assists with anything anyway at the local tip has had a positive lateral flow test.  The way they were reacting you'd think there had been a murder on site.  I know some people will say "well you can't be too careful".  Given the ridiculousness of some gatherings of people at the moment, there are bigger risks than standing in the outside air and touching nothing other than what you've brought on site yourself.

</rant>

[beko1987]

A large group of parents from my daughters year group and I stood in the car park behind the school field over lunchtime and watched their sports day. 

I think Eva cried less than when we were stood on the playground watching. But we're not allowed on site due to covid

[Zelandeth]

33 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Got a picture? I'm not an aficionado of 1980/90s shower knobs/fascias, but someone might have a clue.

It'll be from 2006-12 as that's when the previous owners pulled out all the original good quality fixtures and fittings and had fancy tat installed by the lowest bidder.

After giving the valve inserts a dunking in some aggressive deacaler, this is what they look like.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

.....The level of cannot be assedness that I keep running into whenever trying to give money to businesses ...

This is just a small taste of where society as a whole has been heading.

[AnthonyG]

2 hours ago, wuvvum said:

I did half-arsedly apply to them a few years ago but it didn't get very far as their office is in Ipswich and the time / cost of commuting was going to be prohibitive.  That might of course have changed though in these strange new remote-working times we find ourselves in.

It’s got to be worth a look, you might find you only have to go to Ipswich once a week/fortnight or so.

Although I appreciate it’s a major wrench for a Norfolk boy!!

[AnthonyG]

Maybe this is for the Covid thread, but it’s slightly concerning this dependence on lateral flow tests, given that the American govt/surgeon general have told their population not to use them and throw them away due to major inaccuracies, both positive and negative.

This affects exactly the same ‘Innova Medical’ ones that the NHS has ordered millions of. 

[AnthonyG]

Just to show I haven’t made this up 😜 - it was the US medicines regulator, the FDA: 

[Zelandeth]

What's that dripping noise I can hear from in the utility room?

Sounds like it's coming from under the bath in the main bathroom... let's pull the panel off and look.

Oh balls...water dripping from above, hitting the pipework where I've circled.

Zero access to that area as it's behind the bath...money is currently on the connection between the supply and the tap on the bath (which is more or less directly above there) is to blame.  God only knows how they installed it!

How messily installed the plastic pipework is here makes me skin crawl... I'd rip the whole lot out and do a tidy job in copper if I had my way!

[somewhatfoolish]

That waste looks like it's been leaking and the MDF shows signs of longterm leakage; your housemates need apprised of the phrase 'penny wise, pound foolish'.

[hairnet]

so applying for something online - not in a massive hurry

service unavailable 7am 7pm

ffs

heres the details - just deal with it whenever youre in ffs

isnt that the whole point of online

i can wait till youre next in the office fuck sake - just take this info off me ffs

[cobblers]

We need to move house. Been looking for over a year. We can buy, or rent. I'm easy. We have what I would have considered a "generous" budget, 18 months ago. But locally the property market is just fucking ludicrous and anything with a parking space and any kind of garden is just impossible.

The last place we looked at was lovely and we immediately said we'd have it and if required pay a whole years rent up front. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to secure it, and someone else ended up with it.

This morning a mediocre house came on rightmove, to let. In a mediocre place. shabby decor at what I would have called "too much" money. But it was close to work and would have been fairly practical for us, so I was prepared to pay a bit over the odds and compromise. 

We rang to book a viewing. It'd been online for 4 hours.

"We do 20 viewings a day and have two days solidly booked, sorry. Shall we put you on the waiting list?"

ffs!

[Barry Cade]

7 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

 

The level of cannot be assedness that I keep running into whenever trying to give money to businesses around here just seems to defy belief...or is it really just me?

This. 

I'm going to be replacing the MIL's  clutch next week, as no garage in the area will do it, and the ones that would even give a price were in the region of 6-700 quid.

This example of an exotic,rare and difficult to work on car to justify this lack of enthusiasm and big price?

A 2010 Focus.. 1.6 petrol

 

Had a car on the back of the truck on Saturday, puncture no spare.. rip in sidewall, so transported the old guy and car round the local tyre fitting chains. He was distraught as he was going to hospital to visit his very ill wife.

Not one place had a tyre of any brand on the shelf. 

This rare exotic car which required a tyre to be specially ordered?

A 2013 Ford Fiesta Titanium..

I Despair.. I really do.

[Zelandeth]

40 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

That waste looks like it's been leaking and the MDF shows signs of longterm leakage; your housemates need apprised of the phrase 'penny wise, pound foolish'.

The waste was leaking like a sieve when we moved in and was responsible for the hole in the utility room ceiling (which the surveyor completely missed).  There was no rubber gasket in it.

The silicone along all edges of the bath was shot too which I think is where a lot of the historic water damage evidence is from.

Biggest problem we keep running into time and time again is things the previous owner wanted to look fancy...bought as cheaply as possible and installed by the lowest bidder.

That bath doesn't drain right because it's been installed a mile off level and I found the original lighting wiring just floating around loose and live in the loft insulation above it.  That set the tone for just about anything they had touched to be honest.

[timolloyd]

28 minutes ago, cobblers said:

We rang to book a viewing. It'd been online for 4 hours.

"We do 20 viewings a day and have two days solidly booked, sorry. Shall we put you on the waiting list?"

ffs!

Crikey. Where do you live, central London?

[cobblers]

1 minute ago, timolloyd said:

Crikey. Where do you live, central London?

Chesterfield!!!!!

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, hairnet said:

so applying for something online - not in a massive hurry

service unavailable 7am 7pm

ffs

heres the details - just deal with it whenever youre in ffs

isnt that the whole point of online

i can wait till youre next in the office fuck sake - just take this info off me ffs

Doovla by any chance?

[Zelandeth]

Follow up to my previous leak post... eventually figured out it was actually nothing more than the seal between the far side of the tap and the tub itself having failed...

Well...I say failed.  I can't see any evidence of it ever having any sealant or gasket under the riser to the tap...and there's a good 1/8" gap at the back edge as the cap catches on the lip of the tub.  So it's probably been leaking since the bath was installed...just happens to be directly over a wall cavity that goes all the way to the foundations so we never noticed!  Water as running down here as I had the taps open to prevent water getting into the wall via the valves I'd just dismantled and the bath tap was the lowest point so there was a slight drip there - it was running down the body of the tap and dripping down the back of the tub via the missing seal there.

Of course there's no way I can release the risers as they're screwed on from underneath...so I had to settle for prying it up and trying to blob a bunch of silicone sealant under it.  This bathroom really wants gutting and redoing from scratch in the next couple of years so my willingness to spend hours on this is seriously lacking.  The door was never properly laid, the tiles were never properly fitted so the grout is all cracked and they randomly fall off the walls, the sink has no expansion gasket around it so is cracked, the air bath is always full of mould because it doesn't drain right because it's about an inch higher at one end than the other (plug hole is in the centre) and the suspended toilet feels like it's secured with cable ties.  It's a mess.

Never, EVER buy a house that has been owned by an interior designer...

[New POD]

15 hours ago, Talbot said:

<rant>

Local HWRC (tip) now requires that you book in advance for a visit.  Shit to get rid of, so I book to pop over at lunchtime.  Load up the car, got my confirmation email, all good.

3 miles down the road to the tip at lunchtime, and it's all closed up.  Security guy wanders over:  Apparently there's been a covid incident on site this morning, so they've closed down the whole fucking site.  Despite the fact you can lob stuff in a bin while remaining outside and without touching ANYTHING there, they completely close the site.  No email sent out, no warning.. nothing.  For a service that now needs booking.  Fucking brilliant.  A complete and utter over-reaction.

2 options:  Re-book for saturday, or hot-foot it over to the next nearest one, which is 10 miles in the opposite direction to which I've come.  Well, I've a boot full of shit I need to get rid of pronto, so that leaves me with sod-all choice doesn't it.  Barrel over the 13 miles to the other tip, thankfully get let in to be able to drop off.  Lob it all out and then drive back the 10 miles to work at the speed of sound.  Get back late, hot, bothered and now with an empty fuel tank, so I need to fill up this evening, rather than at the weekend as I was planning.

All because some lazy arse who never actually assists with anything anyway at the local tip has had a positive lateral flow test.  The way they were reacting you'd think there had been a murder on site.  I know some people will say "well you can't be too careful".  Given the ridiculousness of some gatherings of people at the moment, there are bigger risks than standing in the outside air and touching nothing other than what you've brought on site yourself.

</rant>

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

[Talbot]

33 minutes ago, New POD said:

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

Their statement was "the entire site needs deep cleaning".

Well, yes, that's absolutely true, but has nothing to do with an employee having a positive Covid test.

[Bren]

2 hours ago, New POD said:

Indeed. If the person suffering from Covid isn't standing sneezing next to you, what is the risk. 

There are lots of people - especially in public services - who would happily use the virus as an excuse not to do very much.

[chaseracer]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

Their statement was "the entire site needs deep cleaning".

"Deep cleaning"??!  It's a fucking TIP.  Literally.

😳

[Talbot]

Indeed.  And given the state of it, I suspect any covid virus landing on any surface there would die instantly.  It's pretty minging, even for a tip.

[chaseracer]

Just now, Bren said:

There are lots of people - especially in public services - who would happily use the virus as an excuse not to do very much.

Not the vast majority of the public service staff I (and @Floatylight) represent.  Still, sweeping and inaccurate generalisations are an easy alternative to fact-based argument...

[Bren]

3 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

Not the vast majority of the public service staff I (and @Floatylight) represent.  Still, sweeping and inaccurate generalisations are an easy alternative to fact-based argument...

I did'nt say the majority. And I work in public services as well.

[Talbot]

When it comes to the staff at the local tips around here, I can ABSOLUTELY believe that rather than properly risk-assess the situation and do what would actually be helpful, useful and proportional,  they would happily use it as an excuse to close the site and "self-isolate" for a couple of weeks.  On full pay of course.  I've witnessed several incidents of people who asked for some assistance, and the attitude of all the staff there was inexcusable. 

[Dick Longbridge]

8 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Follow up to my previous leak post... eventually figured out it was actually nothing more than the seal between the far side of the tap and the tub itself having failed...

Never, EVER buy a house that has been owned by an interior designer...

Or one which has appeared on a daytime tv makeover makeitruined show. 

Not our house, fortunately.