I've just fitted a new tap to our kitchen sink. It took me nearly 4 hours. That did include altering the pipework. Plus puzzling over the instructions on the rather complicated Bristan Easyfit tap. Great taps, awful instructions.
But 4 hours! I'd expect to pay a plumber no more than £100-150, and that might well include coming to quote first.
The bigger question is how often would they do as good a job as you might (assuming a reasonable level of physical competency that is)?
You want it right and may well delay the job whilst locating the right stuff to do it with. A tradesman may have other commitments and can only do what he/she can, what they can get quickly and easily or what's on their van (of come back, costing more money).
You might also take longer because you may not have the tools they do or the familiarity of doing the job. Now you have fitted that tap, how long would it take to do another?
Cheers, T i m
A bit quicker. Maybe 3 hours. ;) It's not my first tap, you know.
Just as an example, I decided to alter the pipework, so the flexible hoses wouldn't be kinked. But, there was a big dribble of solder, just where I need to put a compression fitting. So, I got the Dremel, plus the P3 mask, so I didn't inhale the lead. An experienced plumber might have heated it up and wiped it off. I'll try that next time.
The more DIY work I do, the more I respect people with the skills to do it for a living.
I expect the answer is either; they do it in 20 mins due to experience etc, or they simply turn the job down as its too small to make it worth their while.
I dont often do taps,but since lockdown I've had to do a number of plumbing jobs, I reckon I'd be able to do it in well under a hour. I did a deck mixer last week, I didnt adjust the pipework, took around 20 minutes.
I obviously need to go in the remedial class. :)
It took me five minutes just getting the doors back on the cupboard.
;-)
I'm sure plenty of plumbers wouldn't have bothered to do that ...
Was that your doing?
Can you get lead poisoning that way?
He's likely have a self-igniting gas blowlamp and heatproof mat to hand so probably.
Maybe it's because I've been doing such things from a kid I respect those people now (doing it for a living, not necessarily how they do it).
I was reminded the other day that I ran some SWA underground for a pond pump for a family friend when I was 15 and it's still going (63 now). ;-)
Not the same pump though.
Dad was a good carpenter but not good / inclined to do anything else so I generally did it.
Bought this house 40+ years ago as a 'fixer upper' and the only jobs I didn't do was replace the roof or build a new extension as it wasn't worth me doing it on the grant we were all getting at the time to improve the standard of these older houses (like getting an inside toilet). ;-)
I have replaced all the windows and doors in a medium sized house with / for a friend and didn't lose one bit of render. ;-)
Fences, concrete floors slabs, brickwork, gas / water plumbing, wiring, built a kitcar, built boats from plans etc, not always because I wanted to, but because it was the only way I could afford to get it done or what I wanted.
About the only exception would be plastering, especially ceilings as that really is a 'craft' (especially at the speed some of these guys work).
Still only 'Jack of all trades' of course. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
But at least I manage to snip, unlike you who are rarely responding to anything but the last line / word?
And 'of course' you will save characters if you don't bother with punctuation or forming proper sentences and you know this isn't Twatter, it's a *discussion group*, so you aren't limited to 280 chrs?
I realise why you post here not Twatter ... you aren't limited to 2400 posts a day here!
Cheers, T i m
No. That was left by a sloppy kitchen fitter. :(
It produces loads of tiny particles of lead, so I'm guessing yes.
In article , GB writes
When did you last hire a plumber? Would probably cost you ?100 just to get one to think about coming.
They can often be the worst when covering fields outside the straight fitting work.
I was thinking you might be grinding (heavy partials) rather than sanding (flying dust) but you are right, you don't really want to be breathing it in, *even* if it is only 50% lead (rather than lead-free, tin-antimony and tin-silver etc).
Cheers, T i m
totally...so...most the stuff you post here you could post there instead...tee hee
Cheers, T i m
GB wrote in news:rgehdr$mtq$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
You probably read the instructions - a tradesman won't as they consider they know everything - then end up with parts left over - or wrong sealants or things used.
It's just practice. After doing it a few times you know what to do & what w orks, what doesn't. Result: many times faster.
NT
The work was done 22 years ago, so I assume the solder had lead in it then?
But you never know what problems you are going to face left by the previous installer.
For some reason the previous owner here wanted the kitchen sink taps the "wrong way round". In other words, hot is on the right, and cold is on the left. You have to push the quarter-turn taps away to turn them on! That would be bad enough, but the pipework was installed to fit that design; the vertical pipes to the taps from the horizontal distributed H/W supply would now be in the wrong place if it was decided to fit normally-positioned taps. I suppose you could get away by crossing flexible hoses, but it wouldn't look very good in the cupboard under the sink. Otherwise it's a major mess-around with new pipes.
It could well have, even if 'unleaded' plumbing solder was available then.
You were right to be safe etc.
Cheers, T i m
You could swap the hot and cold cartridges, and then you'd be pulling the taps to turn them on. :)
What!? [1]
It would take me 5 minutes to empty out under the sink enough to be able to even *see* the pipes and what sort of things do you or any visitors do! ;-)
Visitor: "Ere, Jeff, I was just looking in the cupboard under your sink and noticed that you have the tap flexi hoses crossed over. Care to explain ...?"
'Most people' don't seem to know where the wall stops and the ceiling, light switch, architrave starts, judging by their painting skills and that's in plain sight so ... ?
Cheers, T i m
[1] No, I actually get it but whilst I wouldn't have installed any of it that way if I was doing it all myself, I wouldn't have any problems crossing some flexies if I was fixing someone else's f'up with the least inconvenience to me (especially when it's all out of sight).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.