Any builders to advise?

bylromarha

We're currently buying a new build home.

When doing the snagging list yesterday, we looked up the outside wall of the house and saw that the vertical mortars where the bricks are joined are not lined up with each other at all as you look further up.

Hubby also thought that as you looked down the line of this wall, it bowed slightly, but I couldn't see this.

We've only had a basic survey done, so this hasn't been spotted, but what do people in the know think? Is the unaligning of verticals on the bricks a problem/causing the bowing etc etc etc

We'd rather know now and just lose a small amount of money rather than the horrors which may occur later.
Thanks

nelly_2

no its quite usual, if the mortar is 1 mm wider then across 30 bricks its over an inch diffrence. Slight bowing isnt anything to worry about either.

HugoSP

If the builders are registered with NHBC then you have a basic 10 year guarantee against basic problems.

If it does not come with an NHBC guarantee then I would be very surprised. It's not that diffcult to get NHBC to put their stamp on it.

Other than that, I would suggest you ask a surveyer to take a good look at the house and provide a structural survey report. Do NOT go for a Homebuyer's Report. These are IMO not good value for money.

Then, if you go ahead on the basis of a structural survey and problems that should have been picked up are not, you have a claim against the surveyer's professional indemnity insurance.

H

woodbutcher_2

The joints you are refering to are "perps" or perpendicular joints.To get these to line up is very time consuming and costly.First of all the bricks need to be "class" A bricks,meaning that they are all exactly the same size to within permitted parameters(about a millimeter i think) and this means they are very pricey as a lot of sorting has to go on.Secondly the bricklayer has to take great care to make sure all the "perps" are the same width(about ten millimeters) which is also time consuming and all adds greatly to the cost.Most building companies won't shell out for class A bricks and most brickies aren't paid enough to mess about getting plumb perps as they are known.This only usually happens on high class work.I worked on the new local law courts and this was a stipulation for the brickies and they were paid accordingly.Didn't stop them moaning about it though.


As for the bow,i wouldn't worry about it.It won't affect the integrity of the building.