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Thread ID: 122985	2012-01-26 00:52:00	Advice on repairing my house cladding anyone?	dugimodo (138)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1255912	2012-01-26 07:17:00	Disagree with you there as I reckon architects are probably about 70% to blame with the builders the rest but at the end of the day the leaky homes should not have been signed off. The person and company I know has done countless places over 40 odd years, they do the exterior and other coatings, and sure while some designs are a bit sus, it has also been mentioned on several places that the actual building standards are not anywhere good enough. I know for a fact that many places are not done correctly due to costs. Cut corners and theres problems. The biggest problem is sometime the people doing the inspecting before signing off are not doing their jobs. I was told and know of at least one place where the inspector came in and was gone within 5 minutes, taking the word of the builder that all was done. The person I know took pictures of what was meant to be a finished place that he told the builder wasn't good enough for the coverings to work. He did this so when it came back to bite later he had proof. Sure enough it came back 8 -9 years later, and guess what builder suddenly had disappeared. Its the old saying, if the foundations of a house are bad, doesn't matter how good the rest is.	wainuitech (129)
1255913	2012-01-26 09:33:00	My sympathies Dugimodo, its a big worry. Fortunately there are building companies specialising in assessing and fixing leaky homes - there must be a few in your area. Your house may be fine as long as you seal it now. Recladding is a big job but not required in every case. As for blame...pick your choice: architects, monolithic coating companies, builders, plumbers, council inspectors... Old school architects builders and plumbers worked together. If a design was impracticable to weatherproof they all agreed on what would work. The property boom brought in property developers who screwed down tradesmen to the lowest price without any thought for experience and ability. The career builders didn't get the jobs and their expertise was lost. We have all heard about council requirements holding up a building. Well after the 1991 Building Act council inspectors were told to be helpful and not block projects, so they trusted the guys on site.	Winston001 (3612)
1255914	2012-01-26 22:29:00	Blame the builders.....well, builders just build. If you tell them to make you a house with cardboard and sellotape they will. Can't say it's then their fault if it falls apart in the first rain. Once houses were made properly, they took a long time to disintegrate, now everything is made of crap, it takes 5 minutes. Most likely a design feature, right? Look at this article: www.telegraph.co.uk Here they are blabbing on about new materials and all this rubbish, missing the point, the old, old house just had a wood burner and was made of wood, and is toasty and warm. Good example if you ask me.	pctek (84)
1255915	2012-01-27 01:21:00	I would get one of those infra red camera diagnostics companies to go over the problem area to see whether you have actually got a problem area - you might not! In which case it is a matter of choosing the best way to seal the cracks.....	ellpow (16400)
1255916	2012-01-27 03:47:00	I have a guy from Glamourcoat coming round on Tuesday to have a look and another guy from Prendos has offered to have a free look and a chat about options the following week so fingers crossed the news isn't too horrendous. I'm of the optimistic opinon I just need to have the cladding repaired and repainted but I still need to hear from the experts. It seems they can grind down the joints and redo them. To compound things I discovered today the power box on the outside of the house has the plastic widows fallen off and water getting in , right through into the visible wall cavity! which is a massive unsealed hole in the back of the box. Starting to think my house was built by Cowboys. Prendos offer the infrared and destructive testing if it is deemed advisable.	dugimodo (138)
1255917	2012-01-27 18:38:00	I'm going to risk going contrary to the rest. Sure, your house design has some worrying features, but that does not guarantee it'll be leaky. The only issue you've reported is cracks at the corners, and frankly, over time with wind loads and settling, I'd expect cracking at corners. However, you've not reported any cracking anywhere else. You've not reported mold or rot anywhere inside. Perhaps you could rip into the coating around a corner and a window and investigate how well these features are flashed beneath the coat. It might reveal reason to worry, on the other hand it might be quite reassuring. Without any eaves I'd strongly suggest you make a point of keeping your gutters clear. Get rid of trees that are foulng the gutters. Here and there use a hole saw to cut an overflow hole on the outside of the guttering at a height that will see water spill outside the gutter before it reaches a height that allows it to spill over the rear of the gutter.	Paul.Cov (425)
1255918	2012-01-27 21:32:00	Hmm, interesting Paul. I have seen no signs of rot, but I can't see inside the walls. I have unfortunately got moisture and mould problems inside the house but I'm fairly certain it's an issue with heating/insulation/ventillation rather than leakage and I'm working to correct it. The windows and walls in the two rooms in question have some major condensation issues and they are at opposite ends off the house so are unlikely to have a common leak. Also being a triboard house it's not constructed how you might think, moisture could be inside the walls and damaging them without being able to enter the house as the interior walls are 35mm think painted triboard which although not waterproof is a much more serious barrier than gib. There are no large trees near the house and I'm sure the gutters have never overflowed but I'll get up and check them out. This all started with me having builders / contractors around quoting some renovations, one of the builders pointed out the cracks and that started my research. I may have panicced a little when I realised how similar too leaky homes mine is but I'm still hopeful it just needs some maintenance. Even so the stigma of monolithic cladding lowers the value of the house whether or not there's a problem. The other projects underway not related to the cladding just out of interest are (some to improve ventillation, some just because); Added a 12V extractor fan to the shower cubicle - huge improvement on the moisture in the bathroom Installed a vented rangehood in the kitchen - hoping this also helps Installed a microwave cupboard unit and blinds in the kitchen - cheap and makes a huge difference to the appearance. Getting quotes to build a new bathroom into an unused bedroom which is too small to be useful as a bedroom but will be spacious as a bathroom (I haven't had a bath in 12 years, only a shower in my house) Got a quote to retrofit tinted double glazing for the whole house, I haven't accepted but I'm quite keen on this one pending finding out about the cladding and what that'll cost. Once all that is done I'll be getting new carpet and lino as well I've lived here since 1999 and haven't really spent any time or money on upkeep so this years resolution was to start fixing up the house after deciding moving/ upgrading was too big of a financial burden to take on right now. I've never really paid much attention to the exterior until the builder pointed out the problems.	dugimodo (138)
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