Plumber Recommendations please!

[Discoburg]

14 minutes ago, Fcw75 said:

Bro, don't kenna ketok for nothing.

3 things I always do when the basin is choked.

1) Unscrew the cap below the sink to clean the gunk

2) Use a plunger to pump at the sink hole

3) Buy a Mr Muscle declogger and use it. Pour the whole bottle in and wait 30 mins. Then use boiling water to pour into the sink hole. 

 

I’m not one who DIY. Will pay someone to do the work for me. Don’t wish to be chopped but more then willing to pay for a reasonable fee.

[Discoburg]

1 hour ago, inlinesix said:

Try my steps.

I am not a plumber too.

That’s a bit scary coming from a person who is not a plumber.

[Discoburg]

1 hour ago, inlinesix said:

What happens to your toilet basin pipe?

God knows? Me and the Mrs are not plumbers.

[Mkl22]

2 hours ago, 13177 said:

Wa, he earned $900 from you siah! And yet cannot guaranteed the choke is resolved permanently?! 😅

Hahaha. Deserved to pay. 

[Mkl22]

In truth chokes in residential units are not difficult to resolve. There is just the U bend to trap debris. Easiest way is to use a wet and dry vacuum and suck out the water in the gulley hole. Then the blockage can be seen. Or one can use the bore scope to check it out. 
then all is needed is dig out the debris. I have stuck my arm into the gulley hole to dig before and lucky the u bend was not too deep and managed to remove clumps of hair and solidified hair conditioner. 
the other way is to use those router snake and fit it to a drill if the u bend is too deep to reach

[Mkl22]

1 hour ago, Didu said:

 

If you're referring to below pipe under your basin. One option is to replace the whole assembly. Should not be too expensive if it's all plastic. Just take out the whole set and bring to to your hardware store for a replacement set. This way, you don't have to mess with the gunk inside the pipe.

Seconded. Just remove the bottom trap. Of course with a pail under and wearing gloves. Just clear off all the scum and hair and make sure the o ring is seated well and screw it back. No need for thread seal( white tape)

my plumbing skills are all learnt via screw ups and frustrations. Haha. 

[Wind30]

3 hours ago, 13177 said:

Wa, he earned $900 from you siah! And yet cannot guaranteed the choke is resolved permanently?! 😅

To be fair, the first time he say something is still stuck and the choke might come back. The second time he said he got out the blocking stuff so the choke will not come back anymore. 
he called in a high pressure jet to try to flush out the choke the first time and fixed it partially. He say still got something stuck inside which later turned out to be a gunny bag which he say my contractor use to block the dead water trap. Basically I covered one water trap to extend my ground floor room bigger and it seems my shower drainage pass through that water trap before hitting the sewage. 

I think I probably spend more than $900 on Mr Muscle over the years until it does not really work. So if he really fix my choke permanently like he said, I consider it money well spent. 
If not… then look for a cheaper plumber and do periodic maintenance. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Wind30

[therock]

I tried to keep out of this but I had some plumbing issues before and whilst I had bros help me, I also faced others who .. well ..

 I’m okay if you say google it, or something 

but if you can’t help, let’s just say, you don’t have to punish the man for asking for help

as for overpriced.. well you won’t feel good if someone wants to give you $10 to drive over and spend an hour or more on your back, sweating, potentially smelling poop or worse, elbow deep in that. 

So pay the man his worth. 

As for DIY, I’m with disco. I’m no good with this and some things are best left to the pros.

I agree that for clogging you can try some Mr Muscle and other compounds first, but it's not always straightforward.. my old place had a clog, and it was related to the shape of of the piping. So no amount of 'medicine' would have helped.

I had to activate a contractor to rebuild the area under my sink, and he managed to do it without cracking my floor or requiring me to remove the sink / cabinet. He could have just said, he needed to do radical surgery, but he tried his best to save me $$$.

Another time, my gardener actually found a clog in the drain - there was some trapped cement and he helped with that. Just because he wanted to do a good job clearing the leaves. I give him 110 marks for the service and effort.

Not every one is a crook.. have faith and trust in your fellow man...

Its the stress and helplessness, and the relief a job well done brings. 

I sent a decent handyman contact to disco yesterday.. if anyone needs a contact, just pm me  - not everyone wants to have their phones posted so I won’t post it here  

sorry for the rant bros  and thanks again to the bros who chipped in when I needed help - much appreciated 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by therock

[Fcw75]

7 minutes ago, therock said:

I tried to keep out of this but I had some plumbing issues before and whilst I had bros help me, I also faced others who .. well ..

 I’m okay if you say google it, or something 

but if you can’t help, let’s just say, you don’t have to punish the man for asking for help

as for overpriced.. well you won’t feel good if someone wants to give you $10 to drive over and spend an hour or more on your back, sweating, potentially smelling poop or worse, elbow deep in that. 

So pay the man his worth. 

As for DIY, I’m with disco. I’m no good with this and perhaps I deserve to be tekan but somethings are best left to the pros. I agree that for clogging you can try some Mr Muscle and other compounds first, but it's not always straightforward..

My gardener actually found a clog in the drain - there was some trapped cement and he helped with that. Just because he wanted to do a good job clearing the leaves. I give him 110 marks for the service and effort.

Not every one is a crook.. have faith and trust in your fellow man...

Its the stress and helplessness, and the relief a job well done brings. 

I sent a decent handyman contact to disco yesterday.. if anyone needs a contact, just pm me  - not everyone wants to have their phones posted so I won’t post it here  

sorry for the rant bros  and thanks again to the bros who chipped in when I needed help - much appreciated 

 

 

The key is how to differentiate a crook from a decent plumber. That can only be thru’ recommendation from friends, forum and definitely not google. 

Some people will just snap, I can only say it’s 更年期。

 

[Kb27]

i use high power pressure jet to clear all the discharge pipes.

As long as you know how to use it properly, no need for a plumber.

It's also useful to clean dirty/oily kitchen floors, balcony, and much more.

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Kb27

[therock]

Well bro disco if you wanna borrow, I have the high pressure spray and the snake too..

[Volvobrick]

4 hours ago, Mkl22 said:

I have stuck my arm into the gulley hole to dig

This is quite risky - someone got his arm stuck and needed SCDF to hack up the floor/pipe to free him! 

And you could get scratches and expose the wounds to the sai water.

Proper tools are invented for a reason. 

[Discoburg]

5 hours ago, therock said:

I tried to keep out of this but I had some plumbing issues before and whilst I had bros help me, I also faced others who .. well ..

 I’m okay if you say google it, or something 

but if you can’t help, let’s just say, you don’t have to punish the man for asking for help

as for overpriced.. well you won’t feel good if someone wants to give you $10 to drive over and spend an hour or more on your back, sweating, potentially smelling poop or worse, elbow deep in that. 

So pay the man his worth. 

As for DIY, I’m with disco. I’m no good with this and some things are best left to the pros.

I agree that for clogging you can try some Mr Muscle and other compounds first, but it's not always straightforward.. my old place had a clog, and it was related to the shape of of the piping. So no amount of 'medicine' would have helped.

I had to activate a contractor to rebuild the area under my sink, and he managed to do it without cracking my floor or requiring me to remove the sink / cabinet. He could have just said, he needed to do radical surgery, but he tried his best to save me $$$.

Another time, my gardener actually found a clog in the drain - there was some trapped cement and he helped with that. Just because he wanted to do a good job clearing the leaves. I give him 110 marks for the service and effort.

Not every one is a crook.. have faith and trust in your fellow man...

Its the stress and helplessness, and the relief a job well done brings. 

I sent a decent handyman contact to disco yesterday.. if anyone needs a contact, just pm me  - not everyone wants to have their phones posted so I won’t post it here  

sorry for the rant bros  and thanks again to the bros who chipped in when I needed help - much appreciated 

 

 

Exactly. Thanks.

[Mkl22]

7 hours ago, Kb27 said:

i use high power pressure jet to clear all the discharge pipes.

As long as you know how to use it properly, no need for a plumber.

It's also useful to clean dirty/oily kitchen floors, balcony, and much more.

 

Care to share which pressure drain snake you use. Was thinking of buying one. Looks fun. But after 11years here only had to clear my shower gulley once. Now I flush it more often by pouring a pail of water. 

[Wind30]

9 hours ago, therock said:

I tried to keep out of this but I had some plumbing issues before and whilst I had bros help me, I also faced others who .. well ..

 I’m okay if you say google it, or something 

but if you can’t help, let’s just say, you don’t have to punish the man for asking for help

as for overpriced.. well you won’t feel good if someone wants to give you $10 to drive over and spend an hour or more on your back, sweating, potentially smelling poop or worse, elbow deep in that. 

So pay the man his worth. 

As for DIY, I’m with disco. I’m no good with this and some things are best left to the pros.

 I agree that for clogging you can try some Mr Muscle and other compounds first, but it's not always straightforward.. my old place had a clog, and it was related to the shape of of the piping. So no amount of 'medicine' would have helped.

I had to activate a contractor to rebuild the area under my sink, and he managed to do it without cracking my floor or requiring me to remove the sink / cabinet. He could have just said, he needed to do radical surgery, but he tried his best to save me $$$.

Another time, my gardener actually found a clog in the drain - there was some trapped cement and he helped with that. Just because he wanted to do a good job clearing the leaves. I give him 110 marks for the service and effort.

Not every one is a crook.. have faith and trust in your fellow man...

Its the stress and helplessness, and the relief a job well done brings. 

I sent a decent handyman contact to disco yesterday.. if anyone needs a contact, just pm me  - not everyone wants to have their phones posted so I won’t post it here  

sorry for the rant bros  and thanks again to the bros who chipped in when I needed help - much appreciated

 

The rebuild for the area under the sink is to fix a persistent choke? That is what the plumber suggested when he could no remove the choke after almost 2 hours... but my wife don't want and insist that he fix it before he leaves because the choke became worse after he tried to clear the choke using the snake thing. After 2 hours, something happened and the choke cleared. Hopefully it last.

I don't want to hack my floor tiles....

 

 

 

 

[therock]

Sometimes the plumber sees things in a different way

not that he’s trying to cheat us..

for my contractor to spend a morning on this, he’s not really making big bucks.. and there will be more than one trip

he has to assess, get the right materials and then fix it, let it dry and then test it

not simple ..

[Othello]

the trick/hassle/problem in engaging handyman/electrician/plumber is most normal folks will not know anything, and leave it to them to diagnose and solve the problem. Like what FCW75 pointed out, very hard to know who are the honest folks and who are the crooks. So if got word of mouth recommendation, the best. 

I have no qualms about paying someone his dues. Do job, pay money. What I cannot accept is paying more just because of the difference in housing type ?? Its just like car wash charging you 2X more because one is driving a C Class compared to a Civic. 

I supply electrical stuff to electricians and some sub cons. Yes, generally their charges are on the high side cos they usually deal with corporate customers. So when a homeowner call them up, they also quote the same pricing. I have also heard many stories from homeowner customers about how they were ketok-ed jia lat jia lat. So yes, there are many crooks around !! HAHAHA

I hope this bunch of people can be more transparent in their pricing. Like what the TC forced the service providers under them to do, have a Price List for common jobs. Of course, there will be variations. That is up to both parties to nego liao. 

[Kb27]

2 hours ago, Mkl22 said:

Care to share which pressure drain snake you use. Was thinking of buying one. Looks fun. But after 11years here only had to clear my shower gulley once. Now I flush it more often by pouring a pail of water. 

I use a basic high pressure washer, about 100 bar, should work. You can try other brands like Bosch

https://www.nilfisk.com/global/consumer/products/high-pressure-washers/core-compact/c-1007-5-eu/c_128470902/

Ingo is cheaper https://shopee.sg/INGCO-1400W-High-Pressure-HP-Washer-HPWR14008-i.234444379.3551191133

Don't need a snake.

Just blast the water jet at the discharge hole. Start from further away, about 1 foot, so the top dirty stuff don't fly out. Then move nearer so the jet is more powerful to push the rubbish out. You'll get the hang of it after a while. Who needs plumber, unless it's a leakage ? 

I've tried blasting at

1. Basin drainage hole. It didn't damage the plastic pipe, but it will clean anything stuck there, like bits of rice or black crud/hair ball, stuck there that reduce water flow

2. Shower drain hole, remove hair fall-out when you shower

3. Clean toilet walls

4. Clean kitchen floor

5. Clean aircon compressor fan with lots of black stuff stuck on the fins. Just aim straight, so it don't bend the fins.

You can also car, it you have electricity water point near it.

It's simply very useful.