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Peculiar builders
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- Lemon Half
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Peculiar builders
Following on from the Saniflo thread, but I thought it might be more interesting to widen this out a little. There's something about the building trade that attracts oddballs and losers. Our business has lost count of the numbers of carpentry firms we've had to drop because their workmen turn up drunk or plainly in need of a fix. (We found one young man slumped at the wheel of his van, right outside the building where he was supposed to be working. Can of cider sitting on the dashboard.) Which was a particularly sad thing because he was quite a skilled workman.
I once had a roofer who was eventually forced to give up the game because he got so fat that he fell right through two roofs. (Fortunately, neither of them was mine.) But things could have been worse. We had another roofer whose young apprentice had invented another game to pass the time. We caught him standing on the apex of our roof, with one foot on each side of the ridge, and then he'd suddenly jump into the air and spin 180 degrees so that he landed facing the other way. (Try and imagine that. And then imagine that the roofline was nearly fifty feet up in the air. It was! Never mind the damage risk to our roof, it was a helluva good way for him to break his neck, or indeed his back.)
And then there was the specially-accredited gas Rayburn fitter who didn't think that a fifty foot stone flue required putting any heat insulation around the stainless flue liner. So when our £8,000 Rayburn started pouring gallons of condensation water down into the oven, where it rusted up the whole works within a couple of weeks from new, he baldly told us, "they all do that, sir". No, they bloody don't. We had to get Rayburn in to force him to do the job again. But how do these idiots ever survive?
Your own recollections?
BJ
I once had a roofer who was eventually forced to give up the game because he got so fat that he fell right through two roofs. (Fortunately, neither of them was mine.) But things could have been worse. We had another roofer whose young apprentice had invented another game to pass the time. We caught him standing on the apex of our roof, with one foot on each side of the ridge, and then he'd suddenly jump into the air and spin 180 degrees so that he landed facing the other way. (Try and imagine that. And then imagine that the roofline was nearly fifty feet up in the air. It was! Never mind the damage risk to our roof, it was a helluva good way for him to break his neck, or indeed his back.)
And then there was the specially-accredited gas Rayburn fitter who didn't think that a fifty foot stone flue required putting any heat insulation around the stainless flue liner. So when our £8,000 Rayburn started pouring gallons of condensation water down into the oven, where it rusted up the whole works within a couple of weeks from new, he baldly told us, "they all do that, sir". No, they bloody don't. We had to get Rayburn in to force him to do the job again. But how do these idiots ever survive?
Your own recollections?
BJ
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Peculiar builders
The inevitable range of drills and chisels through unexpected pipes and cables of course, but a couple of my employees (small electrical business) spring to mind.
One was rewiring a standard lamp with a longer piece of cable for a customer. Part way through the job he had fitted a plug to the end of the cable and for reasons unknown decided to plug it in and switch it on with the rest of the cable still tucked under his arm. He wasn't really hurt but his yell brought me running to see what had happened.
Another was having some trouble locating a near-short circuit and decided to wire across the old-fashioned fuseholder with a length of 2.5mm copper to see if he could keep the circuit live for long enough to track it down. The electricity board replaced the main fuse at no cost and the house didn't burn down.
Lastly myself. I had (have) a habit when replacing a lamp of giving the spring pins in the lamp holder a quick push to check their springiness. You can guess the rest and I broke a collarbone when I slipped off the stepladder. Noone's perfect .
One was rewiring a standard lamp with a longer piece of cable for a customer. Part way through the job he had fitted a plug to the end of the cable and for reasons unknown decided to plug it in and switch it on with the rest of the cable still tucked under his arm. He wasn't really hurt but his yell brought me running to see what had happened.
Another was having some trouble locating a near-short circuit and decided to wire across the old-fashioned fuseholder with a length of 2.5mm copper to see if he could keep the circuit live for long enough to track it down. The electricity board replaced the main fuse at no cost and the house didn't burn down.
Lastly myself. I had (have) a habit when replacing a lamp of giving the spring pins in the lamp holder a quick push to check their springiness. You can guess the rest and I broke a collarbone when I slipped off the stepladder. Noone's perfect .
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Peculiar builders
We had a contractor fitting central heating pipes and reflooring units with laminate. their fast track approach was to lift the floorboard where they wanted to run a pipe, fit the pipe over the top of the joists, fit the laminate at right angles over the pipes. Net effect was people walking on floors burst the pipes which leaked into property below.
We then had the wonderful process of a court case which we won, but once our costs (not recoverable-small claims) were taken into account we netted about £300 (claim for damage/making good less our legal costs)
Lesson-never let any tradesman close up unseen areas until you have inspected the work they have done.
We then had the wonderful process of a court case which we won, but once our costs (not recoverable-small claims) were taken into account we netted about £300 (claim for damage/making good less our legal costs)
Lesson-never let any tradesman close up unseen areas until you have inspected the work they have done.
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
ap8889 wrote:Your stories illustrate why the skilled and professional outfits have a backlog of work.
That said, a few years spent in the Middle East was an education in construction trade fail.
Yes indeed. In India, I never came across a tradesman doing a job with electrical gear who posessed any kind of plug. The two bare wires were just pushed into the socket. And gas stoves had a compartment for a propane cylinder, with the gas connected using a rubber hose. Fitters would check for leaks with a match (I kid you not).
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
Nimrod103 wrote:
In India, I never came across a tradesman doing a job with electrical gear who possessed any kind of plug.
I don't think they've got room on the van for plugs - what with all the ladders.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcW8Yo17qvs
I tell you what though, I don't half admire their 'can-do' attitude!!
Cheers,
Itsallaguess
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Peculiar builders
Nimrod103 wrote:Yes indeed. In India, I never came across a tradesman doing a job with electrical gear who posessed any kind of plug. The two bare wires were just pushed into the socket.
Came across that in a telephone exchange in Nigeria - I pulled the wires out of the wall, and when the contractors turned up tore them another [Deleted].
I then lent them a 4 way socket strip for the rest of the day, and the following morning they were back in business using their own socket strip with a plug attached.
All part of the outsourcing voyage to the bottom in the telecoms industry, but that's for another day on another board...
PochiSoldi
Moderator Message:
Expletive deleted. Not sure why it was in there really. Anyway, no harm done! - Chris
Expletive deleted. Not sure why it was in there really. Anyway, no harm done! - Chris
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
pochisoldi wrote:... I pulled the wires out of the wall, and when the contractors turned up tore them another [expletive deleted]. ...
The last part might be words used in the trade but what do they mean, please?
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- Lemon Quarter
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Re: Peculiar builders
PinkDalek wrote:pochisoldi wrote:... I pulled the wires out of the wall, and when the contractors turned up tore them another [expletive deleted]. ...
The last part might be words used in the trade but what do they mean, please?
I don't think it's a technical term.
RC
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
I'm familiar with the word but now realise it might mean something along the lines of "tore them off a strip" [of wire]?
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
PinkDalek wrote:The last part might be words used in the trade but what do they mean, please?
Ancient Sanskrit word, [expletive deleted]. As in "ar seehol, ar push wire into it."
BJ
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Re: Peculiar builders
Once had two workmen in to replace the wood around the garage roof. In the garage there is a twin socket, one of which has a RCD plugged in for when I use the lawnmower. They plugged their drill into the other socket, no real deal except …. their plug had a large piece missing and you could touch the metal of fuse holder.
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Peculiar builders
Itsallaguess wrote:I don't think they've got room on the van for plugs - what with all the ladders.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcW8Yo17qvs
I tell you what though, I don't half admire their 'can-do' attitude!!
Cheers,
Itsallaguess
Talking of 'can do' attitudes !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQEJHADBB84&t=3m05s
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- Lemon Slice
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Re: Peculiar builders
In my first job I ended up installing Terminals at a newly-built Departure building at Bangkok Airport. You know, the interminable corridor with tens of departure lounges leading off it and yours is always the last.
Quite straightforward. Plug in. Turn on, connect Network, configure, move on. About halfway down, one went Bang. It happens, even new kit can have faults. Tried another. Bang. Stopped and alerted my boss.
Turns out that halfway down the endless corridor, the sparkys had reversed Live and Neutral and that had propagated down through the rest of the lounges. Testing clearly wasn't their strong point. Luckily the covers were plastic mouldings rather than the Metal that the Company first manufactured.
Mind you, this was in the days of Cathode Ray Tubes and when I wasn't there, I was in the Hardware Department, designing and troubleshooting. One had its cover off and I thought I'd try and scratch off some of the oxidisation of one of the Power Supply Components, not realising that the said casing was Live, not grounded. The MD did the same with the HT part of the CRT even though it was switched off, whist showing Clients round. Soon after we added a Bleed resistor to the HT to drain any remaining charge after it was switched off.
Quite straightforward. Plug in. Turn on, connect Network, configure, move on. About halfway down, one went Bang. It happens, even new kit can have faults. Tried another. Bang. Stopped and alerted my boss.
Turns out that halfway down the endless corridor, the sparkys had reversed Live and Neutral and that had propagated down through the rest of the lounges. Testing clearly wasn't their strong point. Luckily the covers were plastic mouldings rather than the Metal that the Company first manufactured.
Mind you, this was in the days of Cathode Ray Tubes and when I wasn't there, I was in the Hardware Department, designing and troubleshooting. One had its cover off and I thought I'd try and scratch off some of the oxidisation of one of the Power Supply Components, not realising that the said casing was Live, not grounded. The MD did the same with the HT part of the CRT even though it was switched off, whist showing Clients round. Soon after we added a Bleed resistor to the HT to drain any remaining charge after it was switched off.
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
Not builders but.. The local power company back home managed to connect a street's power incorrectly , from memory phase to phase rather than phase to neutral..anyway result was 400V mains and a lot of fried TVs, kettles etc
D'oh!
D'oh!
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- Lemon Half
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Apres moi, le deluge
Another oldie but goodie. Renegade George the Plumber shows us how to fit a Leadlock without turning off the water supply first. (That's where you saw through an old lead water pipe and then fit an adapter that will enable you to go forward with copper pipe.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRu3KlqXkyE .
One minute twenty seconds for the wet phase. Not bad going, actually. Don't try this at home kids, not unless you've got an aqualung handy. But I mentioned it once to a plumber of my acquaintance, and he said he'd done it himself! If you can't find the stopcock, he said, all you need is a sharp hacksaw and nerves of steel, and a smile from Lady Luck. Oh, and some way of getting rid of the floodwaters as they happen.
BJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRu3KlqXkyE .
One minute twenty seconds for the wet phase. Not bad going, actually. Don't try this at home kids, not unless you've got an aqualung handy. But I mentioned it once to a plumber of my acquaintance, and he said he'd done it himself! If you can't find the stopcock, he said, all you need is a sharp hacksaw and nerves of steel, and a smile from Lady Luck. Oh, and some way of getting rid of the floodwaters as they happen.
BJ
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- Lemon Half
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Re: Peculiar builders
AleisterCrowley wrote:Not builders but.. The local power company back home managed to connect a street's power incorrectly , from memory phase to phase rather than phase to neutral..anyway result was 400V mains and a lot of fried TVs, kettles etc
D'oh!
Ah yes, somebody in our village tried to hard-wire his Sky box (I think) into the mains. On Christmas Eve. Blacked out the entire area's broadband for five days. That's a lot of Netflix subscriptions that weren't much use on the day.
BJ
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