Help! Cowboy contractors have not insulated cavity walls or roof

[Farah Jones]

We have been trying to complete a small ground floor extension ( with a wetroom) for my parents who are both disabled and seriously unwell. 
 

it has been a nightmare that seems never ending. Today our suspicions were confirmed  that they did not insulate the cavity walls (save what would have been the visible bits around window and door) or the roof at all. We removed a breeze blocks in an external wall and accessed tgd roof from the front. 
 

The inside has been completed ( tiles/ fixtures/painted etc) now by us as we were unaware of the issues. Only the first visit for building control has taken place to date.

 

weve also noticed a crack that has appears outside on the upper corner of the extension as the placement of the breeze blocks was not correct. 

 

what can we do? Our desperation to give my parents some dignity with the use of these facilities is overriding. 
 

Can we fill cavity walls and roof now with the heat insulation or is this impossible? 

how do we get past building regs on this? Should we tell them (!)

Should we get a surveyor in or is money best spent elsewhere.

 

Any advice gratefully received. 

[SilverShadow]

Hi there,

 

Sorry to hear about the shoddy way you've been treated. Out of all the trades, i've always found builders to be the ones to be most-wary of

 

I'm sure many on here will have much more sound advice than me (i'm usually the one asking for advice), but this article may be helpful in terms of next steps: https://www.checkatrade.com/blog/ask-a-trade/how-to-deal-with-cowboy-builders/

 

You can also get insulation retro-fitted into the cavity wall, as a last resort (EPC beads, for example)

 

Apologies i can't give anything more specific - i hope you manage to resolve this

[Redbeard]

@Farah Jones, So sorry to hear this. The issue you may have is persuading a cavity insulation co. to 'get out of bed' for a small job. They are generally so busy with full-house jobs that smaller (in your case 'one-room' ones may be considered less popular (or if you're lucky, the fact that your job is small may mean it's just the one to fill in that unexpected gap that's just popped up).

 

Assuming you know who the BC provider is (is it the local authority or a private co.?) it will do no harm to contact them and raise your concerns. Sending photographic evidence of your inspection of the cavity should mean that they will not sign off, and until they can sign off, assuming the contract is clear, the builder has not finished and does not get the final payment.

 

Is the roof a pitched roof and is there a hatch (your post suggests not). Can the builder reasonably answer that the roof insulation was to be put in at the end, and they haven't reached the end yet? Harder to argue for the CWI. If it were me I think I would be on to Trading Standards as well. 

[Farah Jones]

Thank you for your response 

 

it’s the local authority who need to sign the build off

 

im worried the local authority will require us to do work we can’t afford ( including removing walls to put in insulation), apart from the cost, we just can’t have the disruption for my parents. The room is their bedroom and wetroom.

 

unfortunately there is no hatch. It’s obvious he has done this on purpose to us as he put in plastic bags to hold in place the “visible” insulation in the cavity walls. In the room he has stuffed something in told is not appropriate and left the rest empty.

 

these builder hasn’t been paid in full ( he continues to threaten us saying he completed the job). This latest revelation looks like it was his contractor - he pretended to be our saviour when the relationship broke down with the builder and took further sums from us to complete the work ( we had wrongly thought at the time he was competent) and he has money on account. 

 

these are the pictures taken by friends when we investigated this week .

 

honestly I could cry. A simple 4 week (urgent) project for disabled premises and the nightmare goes on

 

my further query is - will insulation via foam be accepted by the local authority? I know that it has a lot of negative press

 

 

[Redbeard]

Don't worry - we are not suggesting foam cavity insulation. @SilverShadow and I would recommend expended polystyrene (EPS) beads. They are mainstream and fine if you can get someone to do the job.

 

We have seen what has been done. I am now worried re what else has not been done, or has not been done right. I rather think an RICS surveyor would be a wise move. You want someone who is prepared to 'dig deeply' to spot any and all potential issues.

[Andehh]

Have you paid the full balence? How complete is the work?

 

. Cavity wall insulation can be retrofitted, and based in the imagine you've got of the roof pushing rockwool down the void with a broom is an option.

[ProDave]

27 minutes ago, Farah Jones said:

these builder hasn’t been paid in full ( he continues to threaten us saying he completed the job). This latest revelation looks like it was his contractor - he pretended to be our saviour when the relationship broke down with the builder and took further sums from us to complete the work ( we had wrongly thought at the time he was competent) and he has money on account. 

If I am understanding that correctly YOU paid a BUILDER to build the extension and you still owe the BUILDER some money because he thinks it is finished.

 

The BUILDER chose to employ a CONTRACTOR to do some work, and they did not do all that was needed, such as the insulation.

 

Get your BUILDER to come and look at the examples you have showing the missing insulation.  And since your contract was with him, tell him it is his responsibility to correct the omissions, and once that is done to your satisfaction, you will pay the final bill.

[SilverShadow]

16 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

Don't worry - we are not suggesting foam cavity insulation. @SilverShadow and I would recommend expended polystyrene (EPS) beads. They are mainstream and fine if you can get someone to do the job.

 

We have seen what has been done. I am now worried re what else has not been done, or has not been done right. I rather think an RICS surveyor would be a wise move. You want someone who is prepared to 'dig deeply' to spot any and all potential issues.

 

Indeed - we recently had EPS (not EPC, as i mistyped! 🙃) retro-fitted to our house & it's made a huge difference. The process is fairly quick (albeit noisy & potentially a bit messy), and involves drilling holes though the exterior brickwork cement, at intervals, to blast in the beads (which have an adhesive coating). I can't be sure of costs, n terms of your extension. We had ours done as part of the GBIS gov't scheme, which should help pay for costs. I don't know if an extension would qualify for that scheme (or ECO4, is another govt scheme)

 

Ideally, (as others have mentioned) you really want this to be fixed by the original builder - but if all else fails, options like this could prove viable

[Andehh]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

If I am understanding that correctly YOU paid a BUILDER to build the extension and you still owe the BUILDER some money because he thinks it is finished.

 

The BUILDER chose to employ a CONTRACTOR to do some work, and they did not do all that was needed, such as the insulation.

 

Get your BUILDER to come and look at the examples you have showing the missing insulation.  And since your contract was with him, tell him it is his responsibility to correct the omissions, and once that is done to your satisfaction, you will pay the final bill.

 

This! And keep an eye on the quality of the work.

 

You should have drawings that stipulate the amount if insulation to be installed? They form part of the contract of work needed, for payment to be made.

[SteamyTea]

Have you done some Googling about this builder.  Companies house is a good place to start.

If he has a history of shoddy work or a string of dissolved companies, then you will probably have to just move on and get some beads pumped in (probably the best option open to you, but does depend on how the wiring if fixed).

6 hours ago, Farah Jones said:

it’s the local authority who need to sign the build off

Might be worth having a word with them and see if they can be on site at the same time as the builder.

[Andehh]

Check that cavity as well, how much rubble is in there? Beyond where you have rightly taken out a brick to check.

 

All being said, this can be fixed!