Hi i have just bought a George Wimpey home in Merseyside. I am disgusted with the finish of the property. I dont think that any tradesmen have worked on the house. The tiling is all uneven and the grouting is very poor, screeds all uneven, doors dinted, all walls and ceilings doors poorly painted.
I have so much stuff wrong with this house,
Does anyone know if there is a requirement to plaster walls and ceilings as they have only painted directly onto the plasterboards.
Make sure you notify George Wimpey Homes in writing making sure you keep copy for your records and date the letter.
Regarding your question about plasterboards. These should be skimmed with plaster to hide the nails used to fix the boards, the tape used to cover the joints between the boards and any uneveness. If nails or tapes are visible, add them to your snagging list. If they become visible in the first two years of your NHBC guarantee, notify George Wimpey Homes in writing. It is very common for nails to pop in new homes.
I hope this helps.
Tony
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thanks tony, i have been to look at other houses on the estate and none of the houses are plastered. They just tape and fill joints only and paint directly onto the boards. Is this acceptable. When you put a level horizontally accross walls they belly as with only the joints being bonded.
It is difficult to say without seeing it. The overarching principle is that the finish should of a standard achievable by an average worker. It sounds like this isn't the case. My advice would be to put it down on the snagging list and see what customer service say in response. It might be worth getting a local plasterer round for his opinion or to get an independent snagging inspection done.
Good luck, let us know how you get on.
Tony
__________________ Consumer Forums - for more general consumer advice.
Wimpy Homes use the drywall method for finishing!
This method is used throughout the building industry by all builder's!
The wall's & ceiling's Are indeed plasterboard, the joints are flushed out ready for direct decoration! It's a method called tape & joint!
This system is a fast, quick method with no drying time at all, thus speeding the construction time considerable, also enabling the insulation and sound specification's to be met quite easily!
Not even worth complaining about, it's uniform throughout the country!
It's very rare to purchase a traditional, plastered house, as the cheaper version's of the drylined one's are now widely accepted!
I have heard of a new technique used by another developer that exactly matches your description. The plasterboards are applied directly to the walls or studwork. This is the same as the traditional drylining however this new method doesn't require a skim coat. Decoration can be applied directly to the pasterboard.
We have a new GW house with the traditional plasterboard/skim coat and we had much sagging and bellying. Over many 6' runs with a straight edge, the gap beneath it varied from 0 - 3/4" in places. After the usual 'ducking & diving' from GW aftercare we eventually had the plasters back in to do the job properly. It really annoys me how they always flatly deny problems until you show persistance. When they can see that you either a) know what you are talking about or b) aren't going to fall for their feeble excuses they then eventually do the work that they should have done when you first raised the issue!
I believe the NHBC do have some guidelines on what is acceptable. As also pointed out above I would also suggest having a plaster view the work and give you direction as to how significant the 'bellying' is.
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