Strongly suspect no cavity wall insulation

[gadgetman]

I believe myself and my immediate neighbours (3 terraced town houses) have this issue as well on a 2004 Persimmon homes. We have rooms that can be 5C cooler than the rest of the house, and beside costing money in gas, never stay warm.

NHBC told me to do one, CWI not covered under their guarantee, and Persimmon I got an email with someone else copied in (wonder why) telling me to check for drafts and replace any door/window seals. Oh and maybe run my heating longer or get it set up correctly

No reply to my response.


Any advice how to get these clowns to fix their mess, AND refund me the increase heating costs?

[luddo]

Hi

I eventually got all mine sorted. Firstly, I got proof by taking the temperature of the room over one week. Sadly the best time to do this is in Winter as obviously it becomes apparent there is a serious issue. Our room was only getting up to 9 degrees with the heating on. Once you have evidence you have to fight your case. My house had test holes drilled into the wall to see if there was any cavity wall insulation. There was no insulation in the roof either.

I wonder whether the NHBC are passing the buck as the 2 years are up. If you first raised the complaint within the 2 years then they will have to act. Did you get issued with a Cavity Wall insulation certificate by Persimmon in your new house bumpff? You should have been given one to prove the work was done. I would seriously consider organising test holes yourself and then finding out which company did the cavity wall insulation, then going for them too if you can prove it wasnt done properly. In the meantime keep badgering Persimmon, they live in hope that you will give up. Be persistent and contact a Manager and ask them to come and visit you at your house and show them the problem. I found this quite effective, as its easy for them to fob you of by letter or phone call but its a different matter when they are face to face with you and you are showing the problems first hand. Show them that the radiators work etc but its still cold. Make sure you invite them round when the weather turns really cold or they will say theres no issue.

I hope this goes some small way to helping. Just keep on at them and dont give up, frustrating though it is.

Luddo

[gadgetman]

Thanks Luddo. I'm the 2nd owner having bought in 2004.

So far they've both given their replies. Persimmon simply advise running my heating more, or full time!

Still no answer to my reply to that, but the fact someone was copied in made me think they know/knew something.

A Google search and boom. Seems it's a common issue with their homes.

So do I just hound them, give them the choice to fix it and thats that, or I'll do it and claim back ALL my costs AND heating bills for the last 4.5 years?

NHBC are making it quite clear CWI is NOT covered by their warranty.