40mm Gap between blockwork

[Gus Potter]

Bri.

 

I missed Peter's post.

 

Hang fire with the legal stuff, the lender and so on, it's probably not as bad as you think although it's no fun at all. Yes, it's a nightmare but it's worth keeping things under your control. Loose that control and ask yourself if this is what you want. In some respects as they have made such a mess of things it's actually often easier to pin them down. You've got all the emails and photos.

 

This is the time to keep a cool head, calm things down and be forensic. It may only take a week or so to set the cat..  Once you raise the safety issue in my exerience things can start to happen quite fast as you shove a lot of liability onto the developer / builder / Enginneer and this impacts on their policies etc (you can save the facebook stuff for later). They can also get a HSE notice against them.. they (developers) are not keen on that as it has an impact on their insurance premium for example. Or, if they are also doing public works it's not a good look.

 

Hope things work out ok. I'm not in your neck of the woods and but if you want you can PM me or look me up and I'll give you a few pointers if I can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

..

 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Bri44]

6 hours ago, Gus Potter said:

Hello Bri.

 

Sorry to see you are still having problems, I appreciate your frustration.

 

Hi Gus.

 

When the SE was here I was asking him questions like how do we know the inner wall is not cracked everywhere. He said don`t worry your house won`t fall down, it`s the inner wall that holds everything together and keeps the house structurally safe. I have requested him to come back out for another survey with the render off, before they repoint and the developer has agreed. This was Monday gone, still waiting on a date.

 

Should I get my own surveyor out as there is a few local?

 

He inspected inside for signs of cracking and said there were none, however my walls are plaster boarded and the main cracked areas are wallpapered. There was a cosmetic repair a few years ago when they were fixing creaking stairs. The wood attached to the plaster board that runs up the stairs had a small gap where it had detached itself from the plasterboard. They filled thiswith mastic or similar. There are lots of nail pops in ceilings and hairline cracking in plaster and ceilings. 

 

Here`s a quick list of issues which may not be in order and some probably missed.

 

Move in Feb 2017

 

First day roof leaks, site manager blames this on lead replacement. This was a lie as lead was not replaced. water damage to paint, re painted local area only.

 

Second day boiler leaking. No heat or hot water for over a week. had approx 15 more call outs to boiler, various faults such as the  hot water temperature at 78 degrees.

 

Onsuite sink plughole cracked. Water leaking through landing ceiling. 3 weeks to fit a plughole and months to repair ceiling when dried out.

 

Dead trees left in 3 foot wide pots submerged in garden. Well clay and rubble,

 

Live electrical cables in garden where they use to run power from my house to sales cabin next door. Electrician came and made safe. I found these when digging out the above dead trees. Could have been killed if I`d touched them.

 

House is cold.

 

House seems to let in lots of noise from street.

 

Bouncy floorboards. 3 attempts and starting to bounce again

 

Creaking stairs. 4 attempts and creaking again

 

Kitchen worktops dropped, lifted and put back on.

 

floor tiles cracked.

 

Missing fence post, then new post (4x2) bolted to end of single skin brick wall. It pulls the wall apart. 2 years and 5 visits later they put a post in the ground and repair wall badly. Think he must have been drunk or cross eyed.

 

No access for internet cable, entry point in floor tiled over.

 

all outside ground levels above the DPC . Air bricks covered, damp on base  of outside walls. 2 years to correct after Labc said they had 3 month deadline from Feb 2018. waited in for contractors who never turned up and cancelled on a few occasions. repaired january 2020

 

Roof leaks again 2017. whole roof replaced, takes 3 months. No one inspects work. I take videos. Roof is still faulty. Flat part of roof is lower than water exit point. Roof tiles and lead work bad. 3 month to complete work.

 

2017 I complain, developer says it is built to specification and not an issue. I notice cracks and tell developer. They say movement and not an issue. November 2017 I get LABC involved. They say faults need rectifying, roof needs  re doing, cracks repaired and ground level sorting. Report dated Feb 2018 giving developer 3 month deadline.

 

April 2018 - ish roof repairs begin again. They take 6 month to complete. no tv service, debris everywhere, can`t open windows all summer,  can`t use garden,  it was a red hot summer. Roof leaks during repair. Water damage to all upstairs ceilings and some walls. Takes months to dry out and then get painted to damage areas only.

 

September/October 2019. Render repairs begin. Company is not a render company, they make a big bodge of everything. I complain, developer agrees its not good. This company walk off the job. Scaffold comes down December. 3 month it was up for. 

 

Work due to begin in March 2020 by another company. I chase developer for start date. Everything stops due to Covid.

 

Developer says original bodgers have to come back to put right. I say no way.  

 

June 2020 another company takes job. 

 

Work starts 6 july. Guy cuts out render exposing cracks. Developer looks at my pictures and says, it`s nothing, just needs some mesh.  2 guys turn up who speak very  little English. I watch them from back lane. They proceed to mix render and simply start filling in the cut outs/ over the cracks without any mesh. I tell them to stop.

I say you never used mesh, he says i did, then admits he never when i said i watched him.  He rings his boss who cut out the render and hands phone to me to explain. His boss could speak English. I try to explain what they are doing. He interrupts me saying, don`t tell me how to render, then lets fly with a tirade of abusive F words aimed at me, finishes with an F... you and hangs up. I complain.

 

I insist on a structural engineer. He comes out within a week.  5 weeks later this present work begins 23 September.  I was quoted before the 6 july it would take approx 3 weeks to complete.  now 3 months and counting.

 

I have many smaller issues I`ve had to deal with and lots I just fixed myself.

 

I`ll see what technical stuff I have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bri44]

Just been to look at the what`s behind the blocks. There is different types of insulation all with gaps. I can`t see into the cavity or the inner blockwoirk.

 

 

[Carrerahill]

On 04/08/2020 at 13:13, Mr Punter said:

 

I have seen cases where, for example, the mortar mix for a brick / block house was 18 sand to 1 cement.  The "remedy" was to repoint the outside!

Sounds like the people who built the conservatory I demolished with my bare hands to build my new extension!

 

I lent the ladder against the block wall at the back which had been used to extend the conservatory past the side of the house, as I climbed I suspected the ladder was slipping, go a little fright, came down and noticed that actually the block wall had shifted! There was me ready with a hammer and bolster to drop the wall block at a time! On the plus side, I was able to reuse all the blocks as they cleaned up good as new simply sitting in the rain for a few months!

 

Fecking cowboys!

[Carrerahill]

12 hours ago, Bri44 said:

This shows more blockwork and missing insulation.

 

 

This is absolutely awful! It's a diesel and match cure in my eyes! But really, this building just looks BAD, really really bad. 

 

I think you need to get the SE back and get him to view it as is, I'd also want my own SE there at the same time. 

[Mr Punter]

I think that is full fill cavity insulation.  Because the boards are rigid it is important that they are fitted correctly - tightly butted and all in the same orientation.  The one in the tpp is fitted in the right orientation but I cannot work out what the DPC is doing.  The drawings for these products are often really sketchy for details like air bricks, DPCs and wind posts.  The gaps between insulation boards allow cold air to freely circulate which may be one reason the house is cold.

 

I would halt all works and take them to court.  Maybe your household insurance will cover legal costs.

[Bri44]

Some insulation is those plastic covered fibre glass, some is just fibre glass, one piece has a sheet of polystyrene in front of it. It looks as though they just used what insulation they had lying around which is why it`s a mix and match, then they ran out so left some places with none. My insulation wall looks nothing like this one which LABC recommend.

 

I`m waiting on developer to give a date when the SE will return. I`ve said it`s urgent and needs a visit before  re pointing. Otherwise all the faults will be hidden away. 

 

I know rain got in the cavity as it stormed a few times. I could see the blocks soaked, many had missing mortar. I had no downpipes so water from the roof just ran down the blockwork for the first 8 days.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Bri44

[Bri44]

28 minutes ago, Mr Punter said:

I think that is full fill cavity insulation.  Because the boards are rigid it is important that they are fitted correctly - tightly butted and all in the same orientation.  The one in the tpp is fitted in the right orientation but I cannot work out what the DPC is doing.  The drawings for these products are often really sketchy for details like air bricks, DPCs and wind posts.  The gaps between insulation boards allow cold air to freely circulate which may be one reason the house is cold.

 

I would halt all works and take them to court.  Maybe your household insurance will cover legal costs.

 

 

The house only has the air bricks below the ground level DPC. There are no weep holes on the house. 

 

The SE instructed them that this second floor DPC or whatever it is needed taking out. He did not know there was another at first floor level  as only exposed when render off. 

 

Any concerns I raise, they try to talk it down . 

[Bri44]

So, the helibars have been fitted. SE not returning until the 21st October. 

Should all damaged blocks and the ones that were cracked through the middle be replaced?

There is nothing to prevent rain going straight into the cavity via the many missing mortar joints and the exposed expansion joints. 

How the last lot repaired the chips in coping stones too.

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Bri44

[Declan52]

What about the gaps in the insulation. How are they going to fix that. 

Have you access to a thermal camera. You could turn the heating up full tilt then go outside and use the camera. All the cold spots will be easily seen.

[Bri44]

I have found more areas with gaps and missing insulation altogether. They say the  insulation company to attend and carry out cavity wall insulation to the affected
areas.

How will they be able to add more insulation to these gaps? The gaps with the DPC covering them will be impossible.

 

There is debris between the outer wall and existing insulation.

 

[Bri44]

I`m waiting on chartered surveyor to confirm if he can attend.

 

My front door surround.

 

 

[Bri44]

The back wall that leads to gable end has an expansion joint close to the corner. The gable was cracked and it bowed out. The expansion joint seems to have prevented the gable from buttressing up to the back wall. 

[Gus Potter]

Hello Bri.

 

You asked me "Should I get my own surveyor out as there is a few local? "

 

Consider this first.

 

There is a process that developer's often follow once a dispute starts to get serious. They know that from time to time (when serious flaws are detected) often a domestic home owner will eventually engage their own professional representation, and they know that this will start to rack up your bill. They then start to communicate with your representative, in the full knowledge that you are having to foot the bill for this...the war of attrition bit. It is unlikely that they will offer to initially cover the cost for your representation, unless you get them bang to rights, even then you may need to resort to other means to recover all your costs and maybe some compensation..wishfull thinking.. but not unkown.

 

Your representative will also look at how much you can afford and how much time you are willing to spend giving them the supplementary information and so on, such as the info you got on build hub. There is no free lunch here.. often no pro bono!

 

It's pretty clear from the other posts that all is not as it should be.

 

Bearing in mind that the "developer" that you are having trouble with may also be reading this. Here are a few points.

 

As I understand the Developer sent an Engineer to have a look. Their Engineer will (hopefully) have been briefed to some extent as to the scope of what they are to look at... it's unlikely that the developer will have briefed the Engineer to look at the whole building holistically and conduct a full intrusive investigation, as they see fit. You summarise to some extent that you were told verbally.. "it won't fall down" or words to that effect.

 

Before you start to spending your own money it's worth getting some clarification from the Developer's Engineer. Bear in mind here that they have a duty of care to the public so if you write to the Engineer and the developer directly they (the Engineer) should at least respond, even if it is  just to say they have received your communcation. They (the Engineer) will probably mention confidentiality etc, but it is the acknowledgement that matters, you are establishing the chain of accountability. if they don't acknowledge then more fool them.

 

As per my last post and to expand. Write and ask how they (the SE) have reached their conclusion that the building is structurally safe; given that there are indications that the workmanship has been shown to be poor in the places (say not compliant with the BS 8000 series of codes, Euro codes where applicable, manufacture's instructions and general good practice) that have been opened up.

 

Ask initially; have they looked at the wall ties else where. Have they checked if the mortar is to soft / too strong elsewhere how do they know what is driving the cracking? Is mortar variation localised, or generally homogeonous. Is this mortar strength influencing the cracking? How do they know the building is not settling.. why have they ruled out precise levelling techniques to check for settlement, if so on what evidential basis.

 

In general what evidence do they have that the walls are as per the original design intent. How do they know if the inner skin is not cracked too, are any shear ties over the inner inner skin joints (if any) intact and still functioning correctly for example.. hard to answer when it seems they have not investigated internally. How do they know how the building works structurally given that it seems to now differ from the original design.. even if they have building control record drawings. How are they confident that the "as built structure" is the same as the record drawings.. what steps did they take to check?

 

How do they know if there are other unidentified horizontal DPCs that are not breaking the bond in the mortar bed elsewhere. Have they checked that the alterations to the roof are compatible with the original design intent. I could list more but the essence is to get the Engineer to provide written confirmation of what they have been instructed to look at and what they have not. What they have inspected and what they have not. Getting to the bottom of this is the starting point.

 

Once you get a handle on this you can then progress to looking at the workmanship and the serviceability issues. In some ways the two go hand in hand, if the structure is not correct then that needs fixed and in doing so the serviceability issues can be resolved as you go. In other words, you want to make sure the building is safe, and in doing so you fix the other problems and concentrate the mind of the developer. It is harder to argue about structural safety rather than the insulation and so on as you can't compromise on safety. You may find that when you dig a bit their Engineer drops them like a hot potatoe! Then you ask why!

 

In summary you have been at this a while, maybe spend a few more days, a week or two asking these questions.

 

It may be that you get no response or some deflective answer. No matter, as it seems that you have a good bit of evidence and any answer that is not clear and concise can benefit too in the long run, although frustrating at the times. If you ask the questions and don't get a comprehensive response then you are perhaps in a stronger postion to recover your costs, not just the cost of your surveyor but the cost of an intrusive investigation. If you are going to do this then you must write to the developer and tell them you are doing this and give them the opportunity to attend etc. Also notify them that you will be seeking to recover your costs.

 

If you get no response or some deflection then this should bolster your postion to the detriment of the developer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Gus Potter
left handed typos

[Bri44]

Thanks Gus for your advice.

 

This expansion joint which is close to the corner is wide, I can`t see any ties attaching the gable end to the back wall. The gable is bowing out and not plumb. It is a stand alone wall by the looks of it as it cant buttress up to the back wall because of the foam.  Here are a few pics. One showing the mortar on gable end, one showing wall not straight. 

 

 

[Bri44]

The initial title of this post was 40mm mortar joints which mainly related to the vertical bed joints. Looking at the front lower level of my house there is one continuous horizontal 30mm joint that covers the full length of that section, approximately 16ft. There are other horizontal joints round the 20mm area. 

 

 

 

 

[Bri44]

Here`s one more of the gable which shows it is out and looking dangerous.

[Bri44]

On 11/10/2020 at 16:57, Declan52 said:

What about the gaps in the insulation. How are they going to fix that. 

Have you access to a thermal camera. You could turn the heating up full tilt then go outside and use the camera. All the cold spots will be easily seen.

 

I have not got a thermal camera. I have no CIGA certificate, should the developer have a copy of this?

I have been informed the cavity wall company has gone bust. 

Another cavity company came out who blow the insulation in and said they can`t do anything to rectify my insulation. 

I can`t see any way anyone can butt these boards together or add new boards to missing area`s other than taking down the outer wall.

[Declan52]

If as it looks that you have used full fill cavity boards there is only a few mms gap from the fins on the board to the outside bock work so would be impossible to get all the gaps filled in by blowing beads into the cavity. 

On Amazon prime day today they have this on offer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Thermal-Imaging-Resolution-Connector/dp/B0728C7KNC/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_mod_primary_lightning_deal?dchild=1&keywords=thermal+camera&qid=1602665321&sbo=Tc8eqSFhUl4VwMzbE4fw%2Fw%3D%3D&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sprefix=thermal+c&sr=8-6

It's just a question of do you buy this or use the money to get a heat loss survey done to prove the insulation in the cavity is not up to standard. 

Can you remove the filler piece in that gap and see if the wall is tied to the return skin or is it just standing there. There should be at least some sort of metal tie in a sleeve. 

[Mr Punter]

You are definitely doing the right thing photographing and documenting every defective area as it is exposed.  Make sure there is some context so you can see where it is on the building if / when it gets rendered over or otherwise covered up.  Maybe number the photos and have a drawing or photo showing where it was on the elevation or plan.

 

If you continue presenting evidence they will probably be more inclined to settle, as the house looks too bodged to repair and you will appear too determined to stand down.

 

Is there a cash sum that you would accept in exchange for releasing them from their obligations, or is full refund your aim?

[Bri44]

7 hours ago, Declan52 said:

If as it looks that you have used full fill cavity boards there is only a few mms gap from the fins on the board to the outside bock work so would be impossible to get all the gaps filled in by blowing beads into the cavity. 

On Amazon prime day today they have this on offer.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Android-Thermal-Imaging-Resolution-Connector/dp/B0728C7KNC/ref=mp_s_a_1_6_mod_primary_lightning_deal?dchild=1&keywords=thermal+camera&qid=1602665321&sbo=Tc8eqSFhUl4VwMzbE4fw%2Fw%3D%3D&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&sprefix=thermal+c&sr=8-6

It's just a question of do you buy this or use the money to get a heat loss survey done to prove the insulation in the cavity is not up to standard. 

Can you remove the filler piece in that gap and see if the wall is tied to the return skin or is it just standing there. There should be at least some sort of metal tie in a sleeve. 

 

 

All the blocks are back in place. The insulation company said they can`t put the blown insulation in. The house has 4 different types of insulation as is, gaps and missing parts all over.   I could not see ties as I was not looking for them but looking at the placement of the boards I can`t see how a tie could be applied as the top of the board was level with the middle of the block.

Edited October 14, 2020 by Bri44

[Bri44]

6 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

You are definitely doing the right thing photographing and documenting every defective area as it is exposed.  Make sure there is some context so you can see where it is on the building if / when it gets rendered over or otherwise covered up.  Maybe number the photos and have a drawing or photo showing where it was on the elevation or plan.

 

If you continue presenting evidence they will probably be more inclined to settle, as the house looks too bodged to repair and you will appear too determined to stand down.

 

Is there a cash sum that you would accept in exchange for releasing them from their obligations, or is full refund your aim?

 

 

They offered to pay my water bill and heating bill while this work goes on, gotta laugh. I know where most of my pictures are from. I have a bit more evidence which I`m keeping for our next meeting. A cash sum for this bodge could be never ending. The house has been built  and doesn`t conform to the LABC technical guide on many issues. 

[Bri44]

In an expansion gap, how far is the distance between wall ties?

 

In mine if you look at this image, at the bottom is a ruler where there is a flat wall tie. Then there is no more ties to the top elevation, 5foot in legth.

[Bri44]

Wall tie at gable end where the gable end blocks go out of sync to the back wall.  the gable block mortar is higher than the back wall. The tie is on an angle.