A rant

[Lazy-Ferret]

We have lived in this house for 19 years, and when we moved in, the kitchen had been done a few years before, but was in lovely condition, and to our taste. Over the years, it's got old, coupled with a burst pipe, which got into the chipboard of the cabinets, and caused them to expand, so it was looking steadily more and more shabby. We had the odd door fall off, but I was able to repair it, and keep it looking respectable, but I was now repairing repairs.

We decided the time had come for a new kitchen, and this may sound daft, but neither of us has ever bought a kitchen before, so it was a pretty daunting task trying to find out what we needed. After looking at loads of places, and getting various designs, we could only find "that will do" layouts, and nothing really felt like we wanted to part with the silly money involved, for what they were offering.

Finally, we went to Wren, and for the first time, a company came up with a design that ticked all the boxes.

Now, to do this, the old kitchen needed ripping out, and basically starting again from the ground up. Although Wren offer a fitting service, they do not offer new electrics, floor laying, new ceiling, and modified plumbing etc.. Also, we wanted to have a new heating system installed, which would be moved from the kitchen wall, into the old airing cupboard upstairs.

So Suz went online, and using a local Farcebook group got a recommended builder, who said he could do all the work we needed.

Well... I won't bore you with all the issues, just to sum up...

The tiles on the floor are not level, some sticking up 5mm higher than the ones next to them.
In several places the beige tile adhesive sticks up above the black grout, and in many places the grout has been missed completely.

The electrical sockets are crooked, and also not in line with each other along the work top.

Loads of issues with the waste plumbing, including mixing sizes, missing seals, and using glue and sealant to try and cover bodges.

He put plaster board sheets up on the ceiling, but did not tape the joints, so they are already splitting, and he just spodged plaster over the screws, so there are lumps all over the ceiling.

The base cabinets were placed very badly, when the guy came out to measure up for the surface, he pointed out that the cabinets were 40mm out of line with each other, and I spotted that one of the gaps for the tumble dryer was not actually wide enough.

He painted the walls, which were still not re-plastered from where the old tiles were removed, and got paint all over the new units.

The wall units are screwed to the wall, without using rawlplugs, and he has not used any packers, so they are twisted. Also many of the screws are sticking out, as they did not actually drive all the way into the wall.

He has chipped all the cut edges of the panels, and even worse, installed the cut side down on the floor, so the bare edge will get wet every time we wash the floor, and don't even mention the pelmets, which are diabolical.

Basically, the list just goes on and on.

Needless to say, he won't be coming back, and I am now trying to sort out the issues, but the whole point of getting a builder in, was my joint pains make it very difficult to do a lot of the jobs.

We have made a lot of progress, and even got Suz involved in doing the grouting, as that really does kill my wrists.

The main problem we have now found is, while he rewired the kitchen, and fitted a new consumer unit, he lied, and is not actually certified, so has not informed the relevant people, and we do not have a certificate, should we sell the house in the future.

I feel so let down, we used Suz's inheritance from her dad to buy the kitchen, and it's terrible.

I did have a few concerns as he was working, but I did not want to interfere, as I assumed that he knew what he was doing, and just because it was not the way I would do it, does not necessarily mean it not another way of doing it, but I wish I had now.