problem with house builder

steevs28

Hello all

Hope someone can offer some advice here.

I bought a new build from barratt homes 6 months ago, straight away i noticed the patio doors were not opening fully, when opened they were too tight against the skirting board which caused them only to open at 45%.

I reported this straight away and about a month ago barratt sent a joiner, his solution was to take off the skirting board and take away some of the plaster just at the outside wall end of the wall so now I am left with a wall where the skirting board is a different thickness all the way down until it is actually only the same thickness as the wall at the end.

The doors now open as they should but cosmetically it looks bloody awful, I have told Barratt and also sent pictures of the botch job but yesterday had a letter telling me that they think the work is acceptable and they will not pursue anymore.

Obviously I am very angry about this, what can I do next to help resolve this?

Fire_Fox

Get a professional builder (one who is a member of a trade association) to quote for putting right the bodge. Has any of this gone through your conveyancing solicitor?

delmar39

We reported our builder to the NHBC and they sorted it out for us.

chappers

Don't listen to them, that is not acceptable, how the hell are these doors fitted, for the doors to be pinching on the skirting ,the skirting must be protruding beyond the door frame.
Assuming these doors are on the ground floor why aren't they opening outwards anyway.

steevs28

No, I didnt think to contact my solicitor, I have lived here for about 5 months now, is it too late to involve the solicitor?

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Get a professional builder (one who is a member of a trade association) to quote for putting right the bodge. Has any of this gone through your conveyancing solicitor?

steevs28

Its a 4th floor apartment in a 5 floor block, I will try to post some pictures so you can see what they have done.

chappers wrote: »

Don't listen to them, that is not acceptable, how the hell are these doors fitted, for the doors to be pinching on the skirting ,the skirting must be protruding beyond the door frame.
Assuming these doors are on the ground floor why aren't they opening outwards anyway.

steevs28

here are some pics, I hope I did this right.

steevs28

steevs28

sorry for file sizes, didnt realise they were so big, so is this worth pursuing?

chappers

If you are not happy then yes it is, I have seen this many times on over mounted doors such as those, one solution would be to completely remove the skirting in the reveal and plaster neatly to the floor.
The proper way to fix/fit those doors in this situation, is to fit a doorset 50mm narrower and used a 25mm plastic knock-on piece on all sides.

If I ever fit inward openers in uPVC I get the manufacturers to make the sides of the frames 25mm wider than normal, to account for the plastering.

By the way is the rest of the flat finished like those corners, the trim, joinery and painting are terrible, i would be onto them with a big snagging list also.