chief-long-shin

Gents and Gals

I was wondering if I could pick your brains with an issue I have at the moment.

Just to give you some background;

I purchased a house in 2009 brand new. Shortly after moving in I had noticed that there was no hot water in my shower. Upon speaking to the builders they identified it had two cold water feeds plumbed. Problem 1 fixed.

I had issues whereby the tap heads were screwing off or spinning and the water not stopping. Again builders fixed problem 2.

Mrs moves in and starts to use bath ( I never used through showering in ensuite). Anyhow noticed a leak coming through frontroom ceiling and this was traced back to an issue where the bath feeds werent even hand tight and using the bath had flooded the cavity between upstairs and down. Problem 3 fixed by builders (notice the plumbing trend)

Little time passed and came downstairs one morning to find that the hall was flooded. Cold water feed to toilet cistern wasnt tight. Builders sorted again problem 4.

All this so far in the first two years.....

Now we fast forward a little to a problem where the shower is now leaking somewhere and running through the wall, warped ensuite door frame so I cannot close and creating mould on the wall. Now outside the first 2 years they dont give a monkeys. (Problem 5 needed to be resolved)

I then a fortnight ago when we had the snow was chilling on the lounge floor when i realised the pins and needles i thought i had was a torrent of water coming from the light fixture. I isolated power and had to drain the area for approx 6 hours before nothing more came out. I called insurance company and luckily had home emergency so i was pleased someone would come out. Anyway sods law coldest day of the year and I had to sit in the house with no downstairs lighting, no heating and no water. Reported to the insurance company approx 12pm on the sat and the plumber was sent down on Sunday from Derby to Peterborough (WTF?? But thats another story). So this was located to the join from the tank to the outside tap giving out in the cold and I am now left with another chunk of ceiling missing which i need to sort. Problem 6 needed to be resolved.

So then this weekend just gone turning the hot water back on after it had shortly gone off i was stood in lounge and through aforementioned hole I had another leak which i traced back to a pressure relief valve not appearing to have a fully sealed wastepipe. Good job i didnt have the hole from problem 6 done yet as it was exact same space. So this is Problem 7 related to plumbing within 3 years.


What action have I taken to date.

I had submitted details to NHBC who had subsequently responded in writing stating that plumbing isnt covered from year 3 onwards.

Now this is fine however i have a kitchen and lounge that needs repainting due to water stains, a hole in my lounge to fix and ceiling to subsequently paint and a shower that all needs to come out totally.

NHBC do cover structural damage so I am thinking of going in on that angle as surely the damp wall in the shower and the ceiling fall into structural in some sense.

Alternatively what options do I have? I'm not in a position at the moment to try to take the builders for compensation however have not formally complained to them as yet.

Can anyone that has had a similar problem or have any legal knowledge help me please??

Much appreciated in advance.

Begrudged (bar****ts) home owner!!

scud8

iTrader: (1)

Your buildings insurance should cover repairs after water damage. My cold water tank split a few years ago. Buildings insurance wouldn't cover a replacement tank, but did cover repairs to ceiling and walls and redecorating.

chief-long-shin

Sorry yes I am cool from an insurance point of view however I am curious as to if there is anything I can pursue the builders for.

scoobychris300

thought this was a subaru forum!!??
chris.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

It is .. thanks for reminding us ..

PaulC72

my guess would be seek legal advice

scoobychris300

am i missing something??

Hanley

You mean other than this is the 'Non Scooby Related' section??

CrisPDuk

Turbohot

I have never lived in a brand new house. I have lived in renovated properties in past, and never faced such ongoing problems. Can't help you much, but IMO you should complain to the cowboy builders. At the same time, make a contact with a solicitor for legal advice on the matter + further support if required; just in case the builders act awkward with you. Best of luck. Such a shame that the dream pad you buy for your rest keeps putting you at unrest.

acstua

iTrader: (1)

this a persimmon house by chance? ive had so many niggles with mine and they fecked off as soon as i paid...

took me 14 months to get the extra cupboard i was promised

scoobychris300

wasnt yesterday ,now its been moved it is
chris

boxst

Talk to the builders. I had a leak in the shower after 4 years of being in a new house and they came and fixed it. It took a while to 'persuade' them and the fix involved destroying the (extremely expensive) tiles on the wall, rewelding the pipes (in fact welding them as they were just pushed together (muppets)) and then tidying everything up.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Welding - soldering you mean

boxst

Possibly. I'm a techie, so soldering to me is little fine things on a circuit board not pipes with a blowtorch!

Steve

speedking

Have any of your neighbours suffered similar issues? Assuming that you are on an estate where other properties were constructed / completed at around the same time.

Partition walls and ceilings are not structural. However the NHBC insurance does appear to cover those parts for years 3 to 10. But not sure whether that includes conequential damage rather than just original workmanship issues. Your issues may be deemed cosmetic.

Snagging forum. You are not alone

Mungo

A friend of a friend who's a tiler working in new-builds advised us never to go near a Persimmon house. Their build time is so short (18 weeks I think), they take massive short cuts and he wouldn't touch them with a barge pole. He won't warranty his tiling in their builds because of the state of the place when they get him in to tile.

And BTW, we're buying a new-build on Wednesday, from a developer who won't give an NHBC guarantee as he's had too much trouble with them not paying out on issues. He uses a different warranty provider.