Jump to content

Fed up of decorating .... and the ruddy sink plug!


Mel B

Recommended Posts

As some of you will be aware, we've been putting in a new bathrooms suite and consequently I have had to decorate the bathroom. I decided to put in timber panneling to half-height and make a matching radiator cover etc. Well, it's still not finished, the paneling has taken 4 coats of paint to cover, the wallpaper above 2 coats, and the skirting and door 2 coats (undercoat & top coat).

 

We'd already put the bath and toilet in (what a palaver that was, "... In, out, shake it all about"!), we've put the square sink in today and I've had to trim the worktop/vanity type unit, to make it fit - it is slightly narrower than the one we took out that was more oval, so I've been using some of the pieces I've had to trim off to patch up the two half moon shapes (6mm x 100mm) at either side, once it's dried and touched up it'll be invisible fortunately.

 

Out new mirror is up and shower curtain rail, towel rail etc at back up, I've still got to do the blind, fit the bath panels, and do the odd bit of touching up to odd spots that you always see after you've cleaned all the brushes! We bought some vinyl floorcovering this morning which should set it all off nicely and hubby has been painting the cupboard doors so they can go back on once the vinyl is laid (probably on Tuesday). It's looking really posh though!!!

 

But, there is one thing that is driving me to destraction ... the plug for the flipping sink! It's one of those pop-up chrome ones which works when you press a little lever down on the back of the tap and it pushes the plug up - its a real rickety piece of crappy engineering so the connecting rods wobble around and come apart if you're not careful - does anyone know how to sort the ruddy thing out! At present to put the plug 'in' (ie so we can keep water in the sink), I'm having to hold the lever up and then push on the plug to keep it down until there is enough water to hold it there, but it still leaks out as it doesn't sit tight, despite loads of adjustments ... there must be a secret to these things ... anyone any ideas? At this rate I'll resort to a good old fashion type of plug! 8-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly Mel we have had the same problem. We managed to get the sink one adjusted reasonably well but we still have to push the plug into place or the water just drains away.

 

But we never got the bath one to adjust properly. This one has a large chrome circular knob under the taps that when you turn it the plug goes up and down.

 

And it does that quite well - but getting that damn plug to seal to run a bath is all but impossible.

 

Just as well we shower - then it does not matter.

 

The other thing we really HATE about these mechanical cock-ups that do not work is the amount of hair and gunge they trap in the mechanism. Ours have circular plastic rings to ensure the central rod stays central. It does that ok as well as acting as a filter trap for all that hair I am losing in frustration!

 

My advice?

 

Bin them

 

Buy an old fashioned rubber plug and chain and figure out a way of fixing one end of the chain to the tap above.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi. I modenised our bathroom sometime ago and used pop-up waste fittings.They are the large chrome type, where you push the waste plug itself down to seal, then down again to release and drain. So far they work very well, the only draw back is that you cannot remove them for clearing the hair that collects underneath them. I use a thin wire, with the end bent into a hook for cleaning underneath them, that works and they do look very neat.

Brian B.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest pelmetman
Progress eh? (lol)..........................It seems a lot of things now days are a case of style over function *-) .............I reckon there's a few motorhomes that fall into that catagory following some of the posts I've read on here (lol)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally sorted the plug! :->

 

We had 2 lots of fittings, one set from the 'display' sink, the second lot we got from the shop afterwards as some of the parts for the original suite were missing (they'd probably slung them when they put it on display).

So, eventually we removed the sink 'display' waste etc and compared them, it looks like the design has been changed with the new set (... I wonder why *-) ) to a much better one, so we put that in and it now works perfectly.

 

Bad news - the new shower curtain we bought, which has remained bagged up until I hung it up yesterday, has got a brown mark on it from 'new' so that's gotta get changed now! 8-)

 

Good news - its nearly finished!!! :->

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Progress report for all those who are so fed up and with nothing else to do and are actually READING this thread! :D

 

Well I decided to fit the vinyl today ... lovely stuff, nice and thick but ooooooo, my poor head (banged it a few times!), sore fingers and hands .... and I just about got high on the spray adhesive too! *-)

 

It took me ages, and I do mean ages .... round all the cupboards and fiddly bits and of course the toilet base. Not a bad job at all even if I do say so myself, certainly a million times better than the pillock who laid the last lot (and charged a lot of money to do so!).

 

I was worried about having a 'straight' pattern as our bathroom has a taper on it (old property) but I settled on a small mock 'mosaic square' one, and it's actually very difficult to see the taper at all and I know about it! Hubby's going to finish painting the cupboard doors so they can go up in a day or two once the paint has hardened a bit. So, nearly done ... think I'll give decorating a miss for a while though! :-S

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mel B - 2011-05-10 6:43 PM

 

Progress report for all those who are so fed up and with nothing else to do and are actually READING this thread! :D

 

Well I decided to fit the vinyl today ... lovely stuff, nice and thick but ooooooo, my poor head (banged it a few times!), sore fingers and hands .... and I just about got high on the spray adhesive too! *-)

 

It took me ages, and I do mean ages .... round all the cupboards and fiddly bits and of course the toilet base. Not a bad job at all even if I do say so myself, certainly a million times better than the pillock who laid the last lot (and charged a lot of money to do so!).

 

I was worried about having a 'straight' pattern as our bathroom has a taper on it (old property) but I settled on a small mock 'mosaic square' one, and it's actually very difficult to see the taper at all and I know about it! Hubby's going to finish painting the cupboard doors so they can go up in a day or two once the paint has hardened a bit. So, nearly done ... think I'll give decorating a miss for a while though! :-S

 

Not been funny Mel but whos doin cooking , ironing , darning , gardening , shopping and turning TV over for hubby while your doin all this unimportant stuff .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

bob b - 2011-05-10 7:35 PM

I been reading of your prowess for some time now regarding jobs you've carried out at home & on the motorhome Mel.

In short, I've been looking for a gal just like you. Will you marry me ? 

I think bigamy is illegal in this country so I can't have more than one husband I'm afraid ... :-(
Link to comment
Share on other sites

antony1969 - 2011-05-10 7:56 PM

 

Not been funny Mel but whos doin cooking , ironing , darning , gardening , shopping and turning TV over for hubby while your doin all this unimportant stuff .

 

What do you think I've got a husband FOR! Well, for doing most of it anyway .... he's still trying to work out how the TV remote works! (lol)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...