Okay, not exactly DIY related, but I'm sure posters here can help.
Just noticed my wall and ceiling are damp and yellowed. This is the party wall and my neighbour has his ensuite shower and bath in that spot.
Anyone know how I should proceed from here? Do I have to deal with my insurance or should my neighbour be sorting it?
Any other advice appreciated.
Ta!
Have you discussed it with your neighbour? Are you *sure* that the problem is caused by the neighbour's ensuite - or are there other possible explanations?
[Assuming that the party wall is 9" brick, it would take a sizeable leak to penetrate it - and there should certainly be some symptoms on the neighbour's side of the wall!]The first thing to do is go and talk to your neighbour! If the leak is from his side as you suggest then he is responsible for the costs. Ask him about his insurance and try and deal with it in a calm and sensible manner.
Well there are no pipes running along that wall on my side and I know from my same construction house that his shower, bath and various hidden pipework (including the soil pipe) runs exactly at that point. This is a 1969 built townhouse btw.
I've already spoken to him and all he said was that he would call a plumber to check it. He didn't even want to check the damage on my side.
It's not my month. Neighbour eventuually called a plumber and found one of the pipes was leaking coming from the loft tank. He had just had those pipes lagged by some idiot a couple of weeks previously and more than likely that is when the leak began. This last plumber who resolved the pipe leak also put his foot through my neighbour's ceiling while in the loft!
Anyway, after asking for his insurance details I did get them a week later. Now I'm trying to get some decorating quotes. Have waited in for 3 decorators so far. None of them have turned up. Meanwhile my neighbour has already had guys fixing his place up. Having waited in all day Wednesday for a decorator he decides to turn up Thursday when I'm not in. Friday, I come home mid-day to find my neighbour has some roofers working on his house. One of them has his ladder in my garden and is fixing one of the fences. Maybe they are doing an odd-job as a favour I'm thinking, no biggie. They leave and I try to turn the Sky box on that evening - "No signal being received". Go to check the dish and find it has been dented in three places and one of the heavy duty 'T' brackets is ripped from the wall. Spoke to my neighbour this morning and it turns out these last pair of clowns dropped their ladder my side breaking the fence, smashing my dish and also smashing my neighbour's conservatory window.
I've had it up to here with these so called tradesmen.
As my son recently pointed out "tradesman" and "professional" merely mean they get paid to do it... It doesn't mean they're any good...
Gordon Bennett! If I were unfortunate enough to cause damage to someone's satellite dish like you have I'd be knocking furiously on their front door to ask what I need to do in order to effect repairs! Leaving the situation the way they did is unforgivable.
Whilst damaging something in pursuit of your profession is one of those unavoidable situations that can occur to the best of us, trying to hide it (or in this case totally ignore it) is totally unreasonable behaviour.
Little wonder tradesmen get a bad name!
PoP
-----
My published email address probably won't work. If you need to contact me please submit your comments via the web form at
What hacks me off even more is that I'm sure my neighbour knew about it but waited for me to find out. I went round the following morning and told him about it. He paused and pretended to search his memory about 2 roofers smashing up the place the previous day, "Erm... Ohhh...yeah...yes I did. You better call them", he says. " No, you better call them", I replied.
This roofer idiot calls me back saying he'll come round to look at the damage. The conversation went as follows:
Me: Have you got any insurance? Roofer: No, Why? Me: Because I want it fixed by a qualified installer" Roofer: I'll have a look at it Me: Do you know anything about satellites? Roofer: Yes Me: Have you got all the tools for the job? Roofer: Yes Me: Do you have a meter to check for a signal? Roofer: No Me: Then you'll be p*ssing in the wind.
No chance I'm letting that clown near the place. Going to get a satellite guy to sort it and make the neighbour pay. I could do it myself but why should I freeze my arse off. If I had called a roofer and he had done likewise I would have ensured he repair my neighbour's damage there and then or I would have paid out of my own pocket to have resolved it. The world is full of too many selfish sly barstewards.
Be careful about getting into a dispute with a neighbour though. Should you move house in the future you'll have to declare any disputes to the buyers solicitor, who will advise the buyer, and buyer will then come back to try to negotiate a better price.
PoP
----- If you need to contact me please submit your comments via the web form at
I'd never go down that route. Life's too short.
I believe its ok if nothing is put in writing or for example the police had to be called. If its just verbal I was told you don't have to declare it.
Do I have to declare beating him over the head with a lead pipe and burying him in my garden?
It depends how deep you've buried him. And if it weren't your garden that might make a difference.
PoP
"StealthUK" wrote | > I believe its ok if nothing is put in writing or for example the | > police had to be called. | > If its just verbal I was told you don't have to declare it. | Do I have to declare beating him over the head with a lead pipe and | burying him in my garden?
That's not a dispute, that's just what happens to neighbours who don't take their turn washing the stair.
Owain
I don't know what I did to deserve these last few weeks.
Called Sky to have the dish sorted out. They said they would replace the whole dish installation for £99. Seemed fair enough so I paid the full amount in advance. Installer (sub contractor) turns up Friday. He looks at the dish and says there is no need to change it. I told him it was mashed at the edges and as I have paid for it he may as well change it. Next thing he tells me he isn't going to change the LNB because he doesn't have one on board. Cheeky sod then pulls out the new dish and rather than replace the dish with the attached new arm, he takes 10 minutes taking the new arm off and storing it in his van when it would have been quicker to have installed it as is. I later asked for the arm as I could use it with the old dish - he wasn't too pleased and nor was I when he shouted back, "Okay, don't worry, I'll give it to ya".
This is the worst bit - the bracket had come away ripping the screw and wallplug out one side. He simply bangs it back in with a hammer. I told him that was not going to be very secure. "That's the best I can do, the hole has got bigger", he says. Like I didn't know that, why do you think I called you arsebrain, I could have banged it with a hammer myself. This was such a simple job as the dish is only placed 10ft up and he still couldn't be bothered to do a half decent job.
The sly sod then puts 'Full Installation completed' on his job sheet before he gives it to me to sign.
Calling Sky Monday morning to complain.
Mistake No. 1. Always use an independent contractor.
Of course he did. He gets a fixed payment from $ky for doing installations and fixes.
Most of these guys are not very skilled, and if they could get away with it would nail the dish to your front door and leave.
It would have been more cost effective to have paid an independent installer about £150 and done with it.......
Did you?
Make sure that you have a coffee lined up and a speaker phone so that you can do other things. You are likely to be able to paint the Forth Bridge before you get through to customer service.
Also, make sure you call during the day. After a certain time, the Bombay outpost takes over and is not very good at relaying messages....
Finally, take the vice from the workshop and write Sky on the side. Open the jaws and drop your nuts between them to remind yourself of who has the upper hand.
One useful technique with Sky is to call the sales number relating to upgrading the subscription, getting another box or Sky+. This will be answered very quickly. Tell them that you were thinking of upgrading your sub, but you had had such poor service (relate the story) that you are thinking of dumping the whole thing and switching to cable. More often than not, this will bring forth a month's free subscription; so at least you can recover something.....
.andy
To email, substitute .nospam with .gl
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.