Hello everyone thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice would be much appreciated, I would like to point out it's a timber frame home.
We moved into our first new build home by Walker Homes in Dumbarton on March 2014 and to say I was naive was an understatement. The list of "Snags" within the first two years has been lengthy to say the least, but through mainly persistence the majority has been rectified for example:
1) Glass windows replaced due to damage prior to moving in.
2) Tile breaking through the night in the shower cubicle.
3) Interior doors replaced due to delaminating.
4) Car port re rendered due to cracking.
5) Failed switches.
6) Crack in render at the front of the house.
7) Mono blocks replaced numerous times and kept sinking.
I could go on and on, all in an email folder.
They have just completed drainage works to the rear garden and re turfed after three years of evidencing how the garden was just a drain for other properties as we are at the lowest point. Had to start a case with the NHBC to get this works carried out.
I have two outstanding issues that were reported within the first two years-
1) When you are flushing any of the toilets (refilling) or turning the hot water on in the sink there is a ticking noise from the ceiling in the kitchen which you can also hear coming from the bedroom floor above. This seems to be only when they have not been used in a while.
Walker have advised again no proposed actions, I requested an inspection from the customer care manager which is being scheduled.
If after this the proposal it is still the same I will be going through the NHBC.
2) The turn at the top of the stairs has five steps and during the first two years they carried out a repair on the top two as they were creaking. Now all five stairs creak and the last step before the landing flexes in the middle under body weight. Again no proposed actions and an inspection is taking place as above.
If I have to get the NHBC involved in this I know for a fact that all the carpet gripper was attached with nails to the stairs as it was their fitter that fitted all the flooring as part of the sale deal and most of the flooring has been fitted twice as the majority was cut short.
Recently there has been what can only be described as a cracking noise from the ceiling in the living room when someone is walking in the bedrooms above, bedroom 2 & 3 both cover the living room. The Walker group advised me that ceilings were not covered in year 3-10.
I have noticed over the past couple of days that the bedroom floors in both rooms are cracking under body weight in areas and this seems to be related to the noise in the living room. I am unsure who to contact first in relation to this as it seems the floor boards are moving/flexing and whether the NHBC warranty will cover this? Are the floor boards classed as structural? The main noise seems to be the same distance from the wall in both rooms if that makes any difference? We are not planning to move home any time soon and the fact that there are noises in year 4 doesn’t give me confidence going forward specifically where the NHBC stats that the structural components should last 60 years.
Any advice and help would be very much appreciated specifically on the last item as I know builders try and palm you of with rubbish and you have to be very careful how you present this to the NHBC to ensure that it meets their requirements to be covered. If you require any other information please ask.
Thanks again for taking the time to read this Kevin