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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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floors in new house
We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new
home 16 months ago.... See following for more info http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mis...hread/thread/= 11c3f6fc51f93744 Our last remaining problem is our upstairs floor. The floor beams sit at different levels. This is cause to our unlevel floors and we cannot lay floor coverings. Redrow has tried to repair the floors once and promised they would not bodge it to just within tolerance. Well that is exactly what they did. Our floors still do not meet the NHBC standards. Apparently the standards are not actually standards but guidelines. If there is going to be too much cost involved with fixing things to within standards then the NHBC does not force the builder to do so. We have had professionals round to look at the floors and they have agreed that the floors are unsuitable for coverings and cannot believe the mess Redrow has left our floors in. It is going to cost us approx =A33000 to fix the problems by packing the floor boards. That is all our savings. Is there something else we can do??? Since removing a floorboard last night we have discovered that Redrow have bodged the packing they carried out and there is random pieces of plastic and plywood over the beams and the floorboard in some places are not screwed into the beams just resting on it. I am at a loss... Kelly |
#3
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wrote:
We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new home 16 months ago.... See following for more info http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mis...thread/thread/ 11c3f6fc51f93744 Our last remaining problem is our upstairs floor. The floor beams sit at different levels. This is cause to our unlevel floors and we cannot lay floor coverings. Redrow has tried to repair the floors once and promised they would not bodge it to just within tolerance. Well that is exactly what they did. Our floors still do not meet the NHBC standards. Apparently the standards are not actually standards but guidelines. If there is going to be too much cost involved with fixing things to within standards then the NHBC does not force the builder to do so. We have had professionals round to look at the floors and they have agreed that the floors are unsuitable for coverings and cannot believe the mess Redrow has left our floors in. It is going to cost us approx £3000 to fix the problems by packing the floor boards. That is all our savings. Is there something else we can do??? Since removing a floorboard last night we have discovered that Redrow have bodged the packing they carried out and there is random pieces of plastic and plywood over the beams and the floorboard in some places are not screwed into the beams just resting on it. I am at a loss... Kelly Have you tried bbc's 'Watchdog'? inform Redrow your going to do this and see what they say, give them a time limit to correct the problem with a successful repair but carry out your threat if they do not meet the deadline. http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/ -- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite |
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We have tried to contact watchdog but they are very selective about
there stories. You get 40 secs to describe your problem. They say due to the number of calls they cannot follow up every story. We had a follow up story in the local press this week and a national newspaper consumer section is interested. I called redrow all day yesterday to tell them this and the person who can make the decisions is too busy to return our calls. |
#6
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House insurance I am sure has legal cover.
However, we have already used the solicitor and Redrow just ignores anything we send them. They know that we do not have enough time money or sanity ( we have been living like this fighting for 16 months) to go through that process. They have us cornered. |
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That would mean a file the size of an epic novel. I am not sure they
would bother to look into all that.. However, might be the only way to go really. Thanks |
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#10
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kellywatson wrote:
Redrow has tried to repair the floors once and promised they would not bodge it to just within tolerance. Well that is exactly what they did. Our floors still do not meet the NHBC standards. Apparently the standards are not actually standards but guidelines. If there is going to be too much cost involved with fixing things to within standards then the NHBC does not force the builder to do so. We have had professionals round to look at the floors and they have agreed that the floors are unsuitable for coverings and cannot believe the mess Redrow has left our floors in. It is going to cost us approx £3000 to fix the problems by packing the floor boards. That is all our savings. Is there something else we can do??? Post to uk.legal.moderated, and ask what your chances are of a successful small claims procedure. |
#11
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wrote:
We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new home 16 months ago.... See following for more info http://groups.google.co.uk/group/mis..._thread/threa= d/11c3f6fc51f93744 Our last remaining problem is our upstairs floor. The floor beams sit at different levels. This is cause to our unlevel floors and we cannot lay floor coverings. Redrow has tried to repair the floors once and promised they would not bodge it to just within tolerance. Well that is exactly what they did. Our floors still do not meet the NHBC standards. Apparently the standards are not actually standards but guidelines. lol If there is going to be too much cost involved with fixing things to within standards then the NHBC does not force the builder to do so. We have had professionals round to look at the floors and they have agreed that the floors are unsuitable for coverings and cannot believe the mess Redrow has left our floors in. So now youre wise to the NHBC game. It is going to cost us approx =A33000 to fix the problems by packing the floor boards. That is all our savings. Whoever quoted you that needs a kick where it hurts - unless your house is pretty big. Is there something else we can do??? Since removing a floorboard last night we have discovered that Redrow have bodged the packing they carried out and there is random pieces of plastic and plywood over the beams sounds exactly how its meant to be. and the floorboard in some places are not screwed into the beams just resting on it. you only need 2 screws a board. Maybe youre not familiar with this one. I am at a loss... Kelly Could you spare =A3100 to do it? That should just cover it. It means you doing the work, but its not difficult. Youve already seen how to do it, unscrew the floor boards, and pack them with assorted scrap to get the tops all level. Then rescrew the boards. You'll need a load of wood scrap for packing - see your nearest skip, or get a bundle of free offcuts from your friendly diy shed. And youll need a few tools. Electric saw, to cut the packing. Electric screwdriver to unscrew and screw. Possibly more screws. And finally a level. A long spirit level is =A31 from poundland, but check it before buying, as some read right, some dont. Or get a small level and sit it on a longer piece of wood. Or use a laser level if you like. Thats all it takes. DIY is really quite easy once you know what to do, and have been brave enough to give it a go. Just try not to stand on anything while the floors up lol. And be careful about treading on loose boards - stand on an unsupported end and it flips up, smacks you in the teeth, and dumpe you through the ceiling. Temporary boards can be (temporarily) screwed down to avoid this worry. BTW, I'd be tempted to buy half inch chipboard and lay that onto the packing before putting your floorboards back. This will give you a large smooth flat surface, so any little errors in packing wont show up: it would probably save a lot of work. Which electric screwdriver? go for fast charge, 2 or 3 batteries, and the higher v the better. Avoid junk brands. Which saw? Probably the friendliest and cheapest for your job is toolstation.com's =A327 mitre saw. That wont cut chip sheet tho, if you do that you'll need a hand held circular saw. Any such will cut chip like butter. BTW, if the height differences are only small, I'd forget packing altogether, and just put chipboard down then your nice floorboards on top. Its not 'ard, and it certainly wont cost you 3 grand! NT |
#12
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Unfortunately I am not that great at DIY as I have not had much
experience. I am running out of time as the carpet place that is storing our carpets (and has been for 18 months) wants us to take our carpets away. We have family coming at Christmas and nowhere to put them. Family that are storing our stuff are needing there space back again. =A33000 is all the money we have for everything else we need in the house and doing the garden. It just seems like a heck of a lot of money! |
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#18
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The house was bought from plans and the mortgage valuation was based on
the plans as it was not built. I had never heard of professional snaggers before I got all these problems. This is my first property purchase and I was a bit (ok a lot) naive. The problem we have is exacltly as described the worst area is in the landing next to the adjoining walls. There is sharp downhill slopes over the door ways and we are unsure how to tie in all the rooms and match to the stairway. Thanks for you help anyway! kelly |
#19
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Thanks for all your help everyone. Looks like I got a major fight on
my hands and a lot to think about. kelly |
#20
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wrote:
We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new home 16 months ago.... Forget the DIY, get a professional in to assess the floors and the cost to rectify, put it in writing to Redrow AND all their directors - get their addresses for a few quid online at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ Give them a set time to respond. Then if no response get someone (NOT YOU) to do the work and then proceed through the small claims court to recover your costs. -- |
#21
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wrote in message ups.com... The house was bought from plans and the mortgage valuation was based on the plans as it was not built. I had never heard of professional snaggers before I got all these problems. This is my first property purchase and I was a bit (ok a lot) naive. The problem we have is exacltly as described the worst area is in the landing next to the adjoining walls. There is sharp downhill slopes over the door ways and we are unsure how to tie in all the rooms and match to the stairway. It may have nothing to do with your problem but there were houses near here with a similar problem some years ago. The downstairs was open plan and there was meant to be a 12" x 12" main joist across the house that the other floor joists rested on. The builder had fitted a 10" x 10" (or worse) and the upstairs floor had sagged, leaving inch gaps under the stud walls in their centres upstairs. This was eventually sorted under the NHBC guarantee (as they were not built to plan) AFAICR. Good uck, after 16 months you must be a bit upset (in spite of our clever ways on this ng, most of us would be too!). -- Bob Mannix (anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not) |
#22
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In article ,
Matt wrote: wrote: We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new home 16 months ago.... Forget the DIY, get a professional in to assess the floors and the cost to rectify, put it in writing to Redrow AND all their directors - get their addresses for a few quid online at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ Give them a set time to respond. Then if no response get someone (NOT YOU) to do the work and then proceed through the small claims court to recover your costs. Including storage costs for your carpets. Not to mention wear and tear on yourself! -- John Cartmell john@ followed by finnybank.com 0845 006 8822 Qercus magazine FAX +44 (0)8700-519-527 www.finnybank.com Qercus - the best guide to RISC OS computing |
#23
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John Cartmell wrote:
In article , Matt wrote: wrote: We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new home 16 months ago.... Forget the DIY, get a professional in to assess the floors and the cost to rectify, put it in writing to Redrow AND all their directors - get their addresses for a few quid online at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/ Give them a set time to respond. Then if no response get someone (NOT YOU) to do the work and then proceed through the small claims court to recover your costs. Including storage costs for your carpets. Not to mention wear and tear on yourself! Threaten (in writing I guess) to charge 'em £10 ago for each letter and call as an administration charge. Then send them an invoice for those too! Alex. |
#24
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We are having problems with our builder Redrow. We moved into our new
home 16 months ago.... Having lived in a Redrow house myself, you have my sympathy... |
#25
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wrote:
That would mean a file the size of an epic novel. I am not sure they would bother to look into all that.. However, might be the only way to go really. I think that if I were in the same situation I would write to them informing them that theyhave n days to make a final repair, and if they fail to deliver in that time you will hire a contractor to do it and seek to recover the cost via a small claims action. Make sure you have good evidence (photos etc) of the state of the floor as it is now, plus copies of any letters you have received from carpet fitters etc that say the floor is unsuitable. You can process a small claims action for amounts up to £5000 on the web these days for a small fixed fee. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#26
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John Rumm wrote:
You can process a small claims action for amounts up to £5000 on the web these days for a small fixed fee. The question is, can you do that in Scotland? |
#27
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Chris Bacon wrote:
You can process a small claims action for amounts up to £5000 on the web these days for a small fixed fee. The question is, can you do that in Scotland? Good question... I don't know... (I did not realise the OP was in Scotland) -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#28
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wrote:
Thanks for all your help everyone. Looks like I got a major fight on my hands and a lot to think about. If you do have some option like the small claims procedure then it is supposedly relatively hassle free. You submit your evidence in advance in a pack, and it is up to the defendent to argue against. If they failt to respond they lose by default. -- Cheers, John. /================================================== ===============\ | Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk | |-----------------------------------------------------------------| | John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk | \================================================= ================/ |
#29
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In message .com,
" writes House insurance I am sure has legal cover. However, we have already used the solicitor and Redrow just ignores anything we send them. They know that we do not have enough time money or sanity ( we have been living like this fighting for 16 months) to go through that process. They have us cornered. A small claims procedure (if applicable in your case is not expensive, or difficult) -- Chris French |
#31
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floors in new house
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