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Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
why do kitchen fitters fit the units then the appliances and THEN tile the floor? is it too simple a concept to grasp start at the bottom and work up? have they ever tried to remove anything for servicing? mind you some of the more bloody minded ones actually grout the machines in!
wilf
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Built in DW wedged tight into the opening, fitters hadn’t tighted a conex pipe fitting enough, dripping away for three years 😥 customer doesn’t notice the leak. I am called in because the DW packs up I try to take the plinth off and it crumbles in my hand 😯 Then I noticed the cupboards are all warped, customer hadn’t noticed that either but did comment that they thought the doors weren’t lining up :rotl: Next thing I find that the DW wouldn’t budge for love nor money the cupboards had swollen that much. Customer tried to make contact with the kitchen fitter (loosely phrased) :rotl: only to find out that he had done a bunk.
Customer asks me if I could do something 😈 two mins I said and came back with the hammer out of the van. In full agreement I pulverized the units 😈 Customer ended up with a working DW and several redundant cupboard doors, and apologized for all the hassle gave me an extra fiver, YES!Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
wilf wrote:why do kitchen fitters fit the units then the appliances and THEN tile the floor?
Because they don’t think and don’t read the instructions. The thought that the appliance may one day have to come out never crosses their tiny minds.
wilf wrote:is it too simple a concept to grasp start at the bottom and work up?
Apparently, yes, it is.
wilf wrote:have they ever tried to remove anything for servicing? mind you some of the more bloody minded ones actually grout the machines in!
Need you even ask that? They’re not bloody minded at all, they don’t have the intelligence to be bloody minded. 😆
Mal, you’re a BAAADD man! :rotfl:
K.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Bloody good fun though Ken, you know us Vikings 😆
By the way my mates are on the way 😉 http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article … king.shtml
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
The most effective tool in the box, the hammer. An assured result either one way or the other is guaranteed. 😉
Wassat, they got the Danes to build the boat properly? 😆
Great people, unless you have to work for them. 😉
K.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
wilf wrote:why do kitchen fitters fit the units then the appliances
wilf
I’ve had a couple where they fitted the appliance (stacks of 1in square chipboard pieces under each foot) then fitted the units around them 👿
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Had a tiled in Indesit integrated washer/dryer a few weeks back. Massive, expensive looking tiles as well. Customer says I’m desperate, what can you do :snigger: . Turns out her husband is a tiler although she tries to tell me this kitchen was fitted before they moved in, ‘apparently’ :rolls: . Now call me cynical but she phones him on his mobile, he confirms that they have more of these tiles in the garage and gives me the go ahead. Normally I would just walk away from one of these but I was a bit in front so I got out the trusty Knockometer (Birmingham screwdriver) and a large cold chisel and really enjoyed myself smashing her nice tiles to smithereens, it really was cathartic. 8) 😆
Jim.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
It’s a favourite for cooker hoods. Customers look at you weird and often go off on one when you tell them that the appliance is “inaccessible for service” and that they will very probably be charged for the visit to do nothing but tell them that we can’t fix it. 😉
This often followed by a call from idiot kitchen fitter telling us that we’ve to remove and pay for the damage or just get on with it. Uh-huh…
The response is usually not to their liking. 😆
K.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
The worst bodge I ever had to deal with was a call for a leak on a Zanussi integrated washer drier. The kitchen was about 2 years old.
Removed the decor door and plinth; found that water had been leaking underneath for some time. Chipboard flooring was sodden. So I unscrewed and removed the top spacer piece; this is followed by a loud ‘crack’ noise. I then brace myself and tug the machine out of the cupboards about a foot. Much louder cracking noises and the machine falls back and down through the floor. 😯 😯 . It pulls me off balance: I let go and the machine is now laying back against the wall at a 45 degree angle…..the floor has collapsed underneath it. :eeek: :eeek:
The customer, like me, is mortified. Between us, we haul the machine out of the ‘hole’ and onto the tiled floor. A look behind the machine reveals the chipboard flooring was rotted through and was only held up at the back by 2 shelf brackets screwed to the skirting board. After removing the chipboard remains, it was found that the joists underneath had been sawn off and were hanging in space.
The customer then recalls a conversation with the kitchen fitter – “Your joists are rotted under the sink; I’ll sort that for you before we fit the machine in its place”.
So the stupid sod sawed the joists off, obviously forgot about what he was supposed to be doing, and just slapped in this piece of chipboard to cover the hole.
At some point it must have dawned on him to correct the oversight. Probably not. :rolls:
I repaired their dishwasher about a year or so later and the customer told me that the company no longer traded and attempts to contact them had failed. They had to have a large part of the floor rebuilt as 4 joist were at fault.
How can these people sleep at night??Steve.
P.S. 💡 UKW Christmas idea!! Kitchen fitter dartboards!! :innocent:
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
I went to a DW in Henley once which had completely been siliconed in – Looked nice but cost the lady £300 in fitters fee’s to free it !
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Yep, so long as it looks pretty on the outside your average kitchen fitter is well chuffed..and off he goes. We are usually the ones to touch it next & then his monster becomes our problem..super. Only good thing about integrated generally is the punters are willing to go ahead with more expensive repairs than they would with free standing. Mind you, still dream of the days when you could run around all day fitting carbons &door seals to hpt 95 s getting home made shortbread & fresh brews at every job.. Or was that just a dream.. 🙂
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Went to one this afternoon. Tumble dryer, the mains plug had obviously been plugged in, then the cupboard unit had been fitted flush up against it. The only way to remove the plug would have been to remove several metres of cupboard and worktop. Switching off at the mains is fine in daylight. I pointed out to the customer that if the dryer had an electrical fault in the middle of the night she might have a problem. 😥
Took a pic, will post it later.
Jim.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Couple of years back went to a strange Bosch integrated washer dryer – feet jacked up to about 3″ – took kick board off to move it, it stopped after an inch – looked underneath – four pipes, two of them with GAS tape round them between the front and rear feet.
I walked.
Chris.
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
I’ve had that too….. Hot and cold water pipes betwen the front and rear feet :rolls:
Re: Kitchenfitters tricks!
Some years back I went to a new machine with a no cold fill complaint. Valves appear OK. Found there was no water coming from the cold tap even though it was a new fitting. The hot tap was connected to a copper pipe just under the sink unit at the side, the cold one onto a copper pipe that ran across the back of the machine. I traced this pipe into the hall, and into a cupboard under the stairs, it was connected to the gas meter 😯 .
The house was harnessed for gas but it was not actually used and fortunately the meter was not connected to the mains. Just imagine his shock if he had hacked into a ‘live’ gas pipe with his trusty blowlamp by his side.
Jim.
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