Hi all,
New here so apologies if this is in the wrong place. Need to ask for help regarding an issue I'm facing with leaking from under the patio doors and wrongly placed DPC.
Slightly different background in that I rent the house via a local Housing Association. This house was built mid to late 2013 by Avant Homes (was Ben Bailey) and I moved in November 2013. Previous issues have been sorted relatively quickly but recent issues are proving considerably more complicated.
Mid December 2015, I returned home from a day out to find a large, ever-increasing puddle extending from my patio doors. The water has damaged a large area of laminate floor, ruined a rug that was laid over a metre away from the doors and damaged a table.
On reporting this to the Housing Association, one of their contractors came out and found there was no sealant between the walls an door frame, therefore allowing easy access for water. He placed sealant round the edges of the frame an asked me to keep a watch on it over the Christmas break. Unfortunately, it had not solved the issue and during further heavy rain, more water was coming in.
Avant have advised the house is no longer under their 2 year warranty so the Housing Association sent their contractor back out today. On further investigation, he believes there are a number of issues contributing to the ingress of water:
- The external patio is slightly higher, by around 0.5in than the internal floor
- There doesn't seem to be any damp course laid under the patio
- Avant filled in the gap under the outer trim of the patio doors to stop it dropping underfoot but no drainage area has been left
- The damp proof course, whilst being correctly placed compared to the external floor, is actually 2.5in above the internal floor and no "stepping" made. I think from his explanation he meant that the DPC stys at the same level throughout the wall, rather than being curved down under the internal floor.
The Development Manager at the HA is going to speak to their solicitors tomorrow regarding taking this further with Avant as a Building Defect but has said she feels Avant will stand firm that the house is outside of the 2 year warranty so there would need to be a claim made under NHBC. The contractor that came out today is arranging for the patio and trim to be lifted so that further investigations can be made into the source of the water.
I just want to gather some further knowledge to make sure I am understanding any responses from the HA/Avant.
Many thanks