I wish I’d taken my camera today…
…as I was the only tradesman to not refuse to work in one particularly pleasant house. The previous occupant had been evicted, but before leaving(perhaps the cause of subsequent eviction,) had decided to relieve their bowels down the side of the WC pan, bathroom floor and wash hand basin.
Of course my job was a bathroom replacement, lovely.
In the same house I also have the kitchen sink to replace. There was some sort of brown goop clogging up the existing inset sink, and the smell in the kitchen was absolutely revolting. I got the thing disconnected, (non-plumbers, imagine kneeling down in front of your sink and reaching the tap connections at the back for an idea of how close your nose is to the sink,) and shoved the big screwdriver under the edge to break it free of the worktop.
It was giving me “the dry boke” the entire time, but the worst was yet to come. Upon the release of the sink from the worktop there was the broken seal of the drain to contend with.
Once I had my guts under control I had to tackle the bathroom.
Removed the shower pipework, then the basin, which actually wasn’t as bad as I had thought it was going to be, I could stay far enough from the thing to avoid contact with anything nasty. Then I removed the WC, which was also not too bad, it was all fitted with flexi stuff so nice and easy to get it out, plus it was fairly new so the cistern came off the pan as the bolts weren’t rusted up yet.
Anyhow, long story short, I got hold of some underlay foamy rubber backed stuff from the depot and covered the bathroom floor before commencing the installation. I tried to not think of ‘what lies beneath’ as I was fitting the bath. The bath practically fell into position with just a little bit of PITA with levelling it under the tiles.
That was enough for me for one day in that house, I need to return tomorrow to fit the basin and WC, but hopefully those will drop into place as well.
I didn’t find out until finishing time that others had refused to work there. I had actually spent the time between getting the sink out and starting on the bathroom pacing the hall wondering how bad it had to be before I could refuse.
That bad apparently… lol
Billy 
January 15th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
So… Do you do homers?
Hmmm. Maybe forget that. You might put photos of my dodgy 1970’s plumbing online
January 20th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
course i do homers, if you dont want a picture on the site, make sure it’s clean first ;o)
btk
February 6th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
I found your blog interesting. I am a general home remodeller in the USA. I do a bit of everything. Recently my plumbing froze. Not my water supply lines - since I have them heater taped - but my drain!
I put the faucet to drip knowing the weather would get colder while I went away for a few days, but the owner before me who built this hovel all by himself put the undersized, makeshift drains outside the house. There is no venting either! So, the drip slowly froze up, just the way icicles freeze falling off a roof!
I’m in the middle of re-modelling this house, so, the re-modeller’s house WILL get attention soon. I have no sweatheart to put out of her kitchen, or I’m afraid I’d be without one, or both by now.
Your blog reminds me of that show looking into what it’s like for a cleaning contractor in New Orleans, cleaning up after the dead who died - by natural causes or otherwise - in their homes.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:50 am
LMAO, that’s great. Brought a smile to my face. Luckily I don’t ahve any dead people to remove pre-installation, however, the guys who hold our cleaning contract(who I met in the house in the post) DO.
They had a death last year where the guy had some gut problem that had burst, reckoned there was blood everywhere, took them 4 weeks to clean the house. Then there was another one whereby one guy had killed his mate and left him sitting on his couch for a week until the cops picked him up on a parole violation and found his mate on the couch well dead.
Rather them than me!
Thanks for your comments.
March 23rd, 2007 at 4:57 am
Great blog. I am a plumber in Bend, Oregon, USA. Although I don’t do exactly what you do, I can appreciate the work you are doing. Can’t wait for more stories.