How long is building work usually guaranteed for?

Dan_Iggulden

We bought a new house last summer. Over the winter the tiles on the kitchen floor have cracked right across the floor where the extension was built by the previous owners.... from reading on the net, i think this is down to poor sub flooring, sound right??

Surely this shouldn't be happening so soon, I think the extension was put in around 3 years ago.... I suspect it is too long ago though to claim poor workmanship?

Any help would be appreciated.

muckybutt

If it was a new house it could be covered by the NHBC guarantee for what its worth.

However you say the extension in 3 years old ....so its not a new house then.

Poor sub floor - ground settlement - ground movement all could be causes for the floor cracking, but doubt you will get any comeback from anyone unless its structural, even the the NHBC guarantee is crap.

phill99

Dan_Iggulden wrote: »

I suspect it is too long ago though to claim poor workmanship?

Correct.

Also, when you bought the house, you bought it under the tenet of "Caveat Emptor" ie Buyer Beware. This effectively means that you bought it, as seen, 'warts and all'. You will not be able to claim anything from anybody.

Dan_Iggulden

Yes sorry, not a new house, just new for us! House is 11 years old, kitchen was refitted when extension was done.

Actually have two lines of cracked tiles, one across the line of the extension, and one about 6 inches in from the end where the patio doors are, runs straight across in both cases.

Parts of it are obviously very sharp, is there a good way to seal them or repair them?

muckybutt

You might be able to grind them down with a diamond grinding blade and water, other than that you'll have to take them up, re screed the floor and either retile with ceramic tiles or vinyl

Dan_Iggulden

Great

Being totally naive here, if I can find the same tiles again, am I able to simply take up the old ones, re screew the floor (whatever that means!! ) and have the new ones relayed?

Obviously would get someone in to do it! :P

ormus

the chances of using the old tiles again or finding new ones to match is virtually nil.

bite the bullet and do the job properly.

Dan_Iggulden

ormus wrote: »

the chances of using the old tiles again or finding new ones to match is virtually nil.

bite the bullet and do the job properly.

Well that's easier said than done isn't it. It's a huge kitchen, to be completely re-tiled would mean moving all the kitchen fittings out too which would be an absolute nightmare.

Understandingly, since the floor was only done 3 years ago, i feel slightly miffed at the prospect of paying someone alot of money to have it re-tiled again.

macman

Can you not remove the kick boards, then rescreed and retile to the first grout line behind them? That way the cabinets don't all have to come out.
However if the cause is an unstable sub-floor, then the problem is likely to recur unless you fix it properly.
There's no warranty on a secondhand house I'm afraid.

ormus

and in any case most builders only guarantee their workmanship for 12 months.
and its not usually transferable.

MX5huggy

Just re tiling/screeding is not going to fix the problem, the cracks will just reappear. You will need some expansion strips where the cracks are.