Creakyfloor
New Member
We bought our new build home in 2006. The contractors have gone out of business but the developers are still trading.
The house had creaky floors, we assumed it was settling and tried to ignore it. By 2014 when doing decorative work we discovered there was something wrong with the construction of our floor.
After six NHBC inspections our claim was rejected as their expert witness stated in years 3-10 there needs "to be damage as of a result of a defect in the subfloor or parts of it.
The defects are:
Our suspended block and beam is not contiguous, ie it has 60mm gaps in it down to bare soil.
The screed layer is missing completely.
There is no vapour control layer.
The load bearing insultation is not on a flat surface, it is not taped together, thus there are voids under the decking.
There are no battens of any kind.
The decking is not marine waterproof, it isn't glued of nailed.
There are no expansion gaps in the decking.
The wooden floor had cracked, has evidence of end splitting, and cupping, the boards have pulled away from the skiritng board.
The tiles in the utility have cracked under the dead weight of the washing machine.
The floor moves with live loads. We know this because we exposed our block and beam in the hall for 18months while they conducted their investigations and got expert witness report. It was very cold and dusty and detrimental to our health, we all got dust related injuries.
The NHBC expert ignored all evidence of damage and declined our claim
The bathroom upstairs has parallel cracks at 600mm intervals and cracks radiate out from the pedestal, the wc has pulled away from the wall cracking the wall tiles. The bathroom claim was finally agreed, but wouldn't cover any damage caused by the remedial works. I rejected their offer and insisted that any wall tiles damaged (now discontinued) would have to be repaired. Begrudgingly my claim was agreed.
I cannot go through with the bathroom repairs until the downstairs is gutted, skirting taking of, kitchen ripped out, fireplace removed, block and beam filled in, screed levelled and set, correct construction of floor completed. We estimate we will be out of the house 6mths as 50mm screed takes 1day per mm to go off.
We will not accept a non standard construction as we wont be able to sell to a normal buyer if we have to explain the entire ground floor is non standard construction.
We have got our expert witness to confirm defect and damage in the subfloor and floor. We had a QS quote for remedial works including insurance, contract manager, site safety. The cost is in excess of £130k.
We are about to disclose our expert report and QS damages and go to mediation, which we are not inclined to settle at as this has gone on for nearly three years. NHBC do not know we have a full record of the Building Control records. There is not one record of the NHBC inspecting the site, but there is correspondence from BC that if the developers continue to fail to comply with their instructions they will take out work unapproved.
Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated
The house had creaky floors, we assumed it was settling and tried to ignore it. By 2014 when doing decorative work we discovered there was something wrong with the construction of our floor.
After six NHBC inspections our claim was rejected as their expert witness stated in years 3-10 there needs "to be damage as of a result of a defect in the subfloor or parts of it.
The defects are:
Our suspended block and beam is not contiguous, ie it has 60mm gaps in it down to bare soil.
The screed layer is missing completely.
There is no vapour control layer.
The load bearing insultation is not on a flat surface, it is not taped together, thus there are voids under the decking.
There are no battens of any kind.
The decking is not marine waterproof, it isn't glued of nailed.
There are no expansion gaps in the decking.
The wooden floor had cracked, has evidence of end splitting, and cupping, the boards have pulled away from the skiritng board.
The tiles in the utility have cracked under the dead weight of the washing machine.
The floor moves with live loads. We know this because we exposed our block and beam in the hall for 18months while they conducted their investigations and got expert witness report. It was very cold and dusty and detrimental to our health, we all got dust related injuries.
The NHBC expert ignored all evidence of damage and declined our claim
The bathroom upstairs has parallel cracks at 600mm intervals and cracks radiate out from the pedestal, the wc has pulled away from the wall cracking the wall tiles. The bathroom claim was finally agreed, but wouldn't cover any damage caused by the remedial works. I rejected their offer and insisted that any wall tiles damaged (now discontinued) would have to be repaired. Begrudgingly my claim was agreed.
I cannot go through with the bathroom repairs until the downstairs is gutted, skirting taking of, kitchen ripped out, fireplace removed, block and beam filled in, screed levelled and set, correct construction of floor completed. We estimate we will be out of the house 6mths as 50mm screed takes 1day per mm to go off.
We will not accept a non standard construction as we wont be able to sell to a normal buyer if we have to explain the entire ground floor is non standard construction.
We have got our expert witness to confirm defect and damage in the subfloor and floor. We had a QS quote for remedial works including insurance, contract manager, site safety. The cost is in excess of £130k.
We are about to disclose our expert report and QS damages and go to mediation, which we are not inclined to settle at as this has gone on for nearly three years. NHBC do not know we have a full record of the Building Control records. There is not one record of the NHBC inspecting the site, but there is correspondence from BC that if the developers continue to fail to comply with their instructions they will take out work unapproved.
Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated