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Render
LBMEFM - 9/9/16 at 04:38 AM

Any ideas on how I stand legally. I engaged a "tradesman" to render my bungalow which I am doing a full refurbishment on. The rendering was completed some twelve months ago. A local guy, when the render was dry then applied a first primer coat of masonry paint. I spent some time away with work at the time and wife paid the "tradesman" in full on completion.

I then continued the internal refurb. The time has now come to finish off the external painting and only now have I realised the extent of the poor quality work. All the new plastic sills are badly scratched, poorly finished reveals and cracks have now appeared and some areas the render has blown.

My question is by paying in full on completion and that the work was carried out some twelve months ago, legally, have I got any way of getting compensation from him now to allow me to pay for repairs to the faulty areas or have I just got to put it down to lesson learned.

nick205 - 9/9/16 at 09:30 AM

As a start I'd look at any paperwork you have relating to the work. It may contain "terms and conditions of sale" giving some written guidance on where you stand. Failing that does the contractor have a website with any written conditions on it (and were they in force at the time of works?). Again it may give some guidance. There may also be legal conditions on work/timescale etc relating to the trade which apply.

The above may (or may not) help, but my gut feel is that after 12 months and having paid in full the contractor could be free of any obligation to correct or recompense the work.

coozer - 9/9/16 at 05:56 PM

Outside of my house was pebble dashed... Was looking at the gable end one day thinking something looked odd... Climbed on the garage roof to get a closer look and tapped it. The whole lot came off in one massive triangle on top of me....

Been painting the bricks since then

TKPM - 9/9/16 at 08:34 PM

How many coats of paint did you apply, you should have applied at least 2 coats as soon as possible.

New render is porous, if moisture gets between the render and bricks/blocks and then freezes, this will cause the render to blow.

Terry

[Edited on 9/9/16 by TKPM]

van cleef - 10/9/16 at 07:57 AM

quote:
Originally posted by TKPM

New render is porous, if moisture gets between the render and bricks/blocks and then freezes, this will cause the render to blow.

[Edited on 9/9/16 by TKPM]


Not necessarily true..... If a tradesman is relatively good at rendering he would of added a waterproofer additive to his cement mix, stopping water penetration.

Ive been in the trade for 20 years and blowing cement has caught the best of plasterers/ roughcasters as we call them up here.

I've just bought a new house a year ago where two gables have blown and was done by a really good local firm. They've put their hands up and claimed responsibility and are now pencilled in to re-do the blown areas. The blown cement was due to the thermal blocks drawing the water out of the cement to quick and causing not to take to the blocks.

I would approach your tradesman and see what he has to say and the worst thing that he could do is tell you to sling your hook!

morcus - 10/9/16 at 11:15 AM

My instinct on this is that where you stand legally will have very little effect on the out come in that if they are still liable to do something or refund you and they decide they don't want to you probably won't get anything anyway. Call them up though and talk it through is your best bet.