No Cavity Wall Insulation Fitted in Persimmon Houses

Curiously after all the snags minor and major that we have experienced over the last 4 months we decided that because the house never stays warm after the heating has gone off that i would get a reputable company in to survey my 4 month old new build house for cavity wall insulation.
LOW AND BEHOLD the results were that Persimmon have nt fitted any at all. I'm amazed that they left this out and this is what is hevily contributing to the heat loss in our new 4 bed detached home.
Even the NHBC have missed this one because they are supposed to check this out before signing the house off for completion.
I have been throwing money out of the walls for the last 4-5 months and putting up with cold drafts and excess outside noise etc etc. I am wondering how many other houses on our site have not been insulated too as it is supposed to be standard practice that all NEW BUILD HOMES should cavity wall insulated. Surely the NHBC and Persimmon should be repremanded and i should be compensated for this and all the other 250+issues that have been overlooked by Persimmon and the NHBC.



Be very very aware when buying a new build Persimmon home around Christmas time, any contacts would be appreciated because i want to make an example of this Lazy Site Foreman and the Construction Director who tried to say that these snags are common.

[Tony]

Hi EATay,

If you register you can discuss your differences with Yosser in private via the private messaging system. You can also contact me and I will help you publicise your expereince of Persimmon Homes. If you look on the home page you will see links to messages from the two television production companies covering this at the moment. I believe Channel 4 no longer need case studies, but you may be able to convince them otherwise.

Tony

[RedRocket]

I too have a Persimmon home but how can you tell if the insulation has been installed, as it is mightily difficult unless bricks are removed or you have access to a cavity camera or something?

Would you be willing to let me know by Private Message, which persimmon development you are on and where in the country?
:?:

We moved into our new Persimmon home 8 months ago... after having to live in rented accomodation for 4 months as the house wasnt completed on time! (nothing unusual apparently!) We employed someone to install the tv ariels on the day we moved in and were staggered to find that none of the loft spaces had been 'lagged'!! apparently the building inspector had 'passed' our house before the loft spaces were cut into the ceilings!, so as well as all the usual bedlam on moving day we had to tolerate workmen in and out lagging the loft spaces and correcting numerous other problems (72 in all!),
We had to have the upstairs windows taken out as none of our furniture would fit up the stairs (apparently another common problem with 3 storey townhouses), In the kitchen, none of the appliances fitted as not enough space had been left between the units to accomodate them! , every 'painted' door in the house (17 in all) was either chipped, marked or wouldnt shut, all the taps dripped, the toilets wouldnt flush properly! the walls were all marked, pitted and filthy! the electrics were faulty and even the windows hadnt been finished off properly (this still hasnt been completed!!)
We are still tolerating workmen in and out 8 months after 'moving day' - its been an absolute nightmare and not one confined to just us, surrounding neighbours have had similar problems too, the motto of new builds seems to be 'throw 'em up - move 'em in and sod 'em'!!!

[RedRocket]

Hi Batlet.....We had very much a similar run with Persimmons in Melksham, Wiltshire. Halfway through the build, when we were really looking forward to the moving in day, to our horror we saw the documentary on TV about new builds and were dismayed that Persimmon were one of the 'baddies'.
After seeing this, we instructed an independant surveyor to visit the property straightaway and then at intervals throughout the build stages. Fortunately, he managed to get onto the premises despite Persimmon's greta reluctance to admit him!
Thankfully, he caneback and said that apart from a few minor issues, the basic construction of the house was sound.
That said, two years down the road, Persimmon are still vsiting sorting out issues with our house!!! However, from what I can guage, certainly where we live, Persimmon seem to be the best house builder....you should see some of the houses in the development next to us...it beggars belief to see what they have done yet people still buy these houses.
We had a total of 85 defects, but these were all minor and we didn't have as much trouble as you have, by the sound of it. I hope you manage to get everything sorted but don't let them get away with half a job. Good luck.

[ron]

We too were victims of the heat sapping feature by Persimmon. The house style we purchased was the Buckingham which has the family room (2nd lounge) above the double garage. I was aware at the time that this room would be cooler in the Winter months - 1 as the house faces true North/South and 2 because the volume of cold air in the garage was always going to have an affect on the floor temperature above. However this was too cold be be true so I did a bit of investigating. I puched a small hole with a screw driver in the garage ceiling, low and behold no insulation. Can't be right I thought, punched another hole same again. The site manager was still onsite, so I told him the story,he looked at me disbelieving, he then dragged out the drawing to check on the insulating spec, definelty insulated he said, definietley isn't I said. He then came down to the house, punched a bigger hole and looked through in amazement. I said to him, it doesn't matter how long you look it won't appear. At the same time we were having the usual problem with the lack of interest on getting snagging done. Persimmon then wanted to do a quick fix. No way I said, this is an NHBC breach, so it went though the soloicitors, Persimmon were then all over us like a rash, fitted fire hatches in the eaves of the garage to run the insulation, I also got extra sockets and cabling ran and a host of improvements. All the guys were helpful but at the end of the day all these housebuilders ahve a cowboy element. Advice to everybody buy a new house, check all the big bits as well as the small things. On the whole we are happy with the house but it did give us a bit of a bad taste for a few weeks.

[Tony]

This is good advice. The usual bodge for this is to install extra thick carpet underlay. You did the rght thing getting the solicitors involved, you will probably be able to make a case for damages. The problem is it takes a large investment up front in solicitor fees and there is a risk of not winning. However, there is only a small chance of this happening and in all the cases I know about the developer has settled out of court to avoid the negative publicity.

Tony

[andyk]

.....the recent sold snap has felt extremely chilly in my persimmon ground floor flat and I am suspecting that it's not had any cavity wall insulation either. Last month I had to reseal the patio doors from the lounge and master bedroom as I could feel an icy chill coming from the doors.

On removal of the wooden plinth which bridges from the carpet to the UPVC frame I found large gaps where the insulating foam had not been sealed in letting through the cold air. The bedroom was worse as there was a gap in the floor concrete about 5x5 cm sq and the plinth had just been set on top of it using no more nails - not great for draught insulation. I used expanding foam to seal the hole and then went over the other gaps with frame sealant in both rooms. The seals on the doors themselves are hopeless and I replaced them with some adhiesive ones from screw fix.

Even after all this the flat is still very hard to get warm. Is there someone I can contact (who doesn't work for Persimmon) to get the insulation checked out??

After 18 months I cant wait to get off this joint Persimmon / Morris site. Persimmon have stopped building here and have left the place with half - finished apartments at the front of the development. To rub salt into the wound they're now giving the places away at massive discounts to new customers.

[Tony]

Andy I don't think your situation is uncommon with regard to the state of the site - many have been effectively closed down.

With regard to insulation, this does require physical inspection. Although this time of year thermal imaging works well. I'll dig up another thread on this.

Tony

[Tony]

Here is the original thread - New build property ? insulation & heating advice

This is the company - costs £500 - Ti Thermal Imaging Ltd. UK's leading thermographic inspection, rental and sales supplier.

Have you spoken to your neighbours, they probably have the exact same problem.