Decking Help!

Emms

Right so we had some decking built last year and paid over £1000 for it. The handrail promptly fell off but we decided to just fix it ourselves when had had the money so were just getting round to it now. We decided to pull the boards off the front of the frame and change them a bit to fit with our new handrail and what we found underneath was not pleasant. There is no frame whatsoever under it! Just piles of broken up slabs, bricks and wood which are far from stable and some have already toppled over. Tried to call the guy yesterday but kept getting told he wasnt home yet and he would call me back. I would take him to small claims court but I dont have anything other than his first name and home phone number. On further investigation the company name he trades under doesnt seem to be registered as I cant find any info on it. There is another company registered under the same name though.

Has anyone any suggestions as to what I can do about this?

Dont know if this is the right board to post this in or not so sorry if its wrong!

Emma

HugoSP

Do you have a receipt for the work, or do you have any evidence that he has done it (for example photographs of it going up with him in the picture?).

If you do, then you are in a better position. If not then your best chance is his goodwill. However if he genuinely thinks he's done a good job then you're onto a loser. I neve cease to be amaized at what some people think is acceptable.

It sounds like your best option may be to get someone else in to insert a frame underneath if the rest of the job is adequate.

As for trading under a name that is not registered, this is quite acceptable, I do this as I am not a Ltd company. Many one man builders do this.

Emms

Might have a pic with him in it. I did take pictures when they were working on it to send to OH so will check when I get home. No receipts unfortunately. All I have is his card that be put through my door when he came over to quote for it before he started and he wrote on the back of it but that doesnt really prove that he did the work.

I didnt think you would be able to put a frame in without taking the whole thing apart tho?

Cheers for clearing up the company name thing. I wasnt sure you could do that.

He advertises in one of the local papers so if he does nothing about it then im pretty sure they will be interested to hear the story

Emma

amarg

Constructing a real deck is time consuming and can take a long time, see here for how to do it correctly- Decking

Unfortunately there are many people that think decking is easy and these are the ones that bodge the installations. For someone to build you a deck as you have mentioned and charge you £1000 he deserves to be on builders from hell.

I really hate it when people get ripped off, it makes my blood boil :mad:

I'd have a word with trading standards as he could be known to them!

HugoSP

Emms wrote: »

Might have a pic with him in it. I did take pictures when they were working on it to send to OH so will check when I get home.

If there is anything in the pictures that links him to the job then that may help you, even if his van is in the corner of the frame for example.

No receipts unfortunately. All I have is his card that be put through my door when he came over to quote for it before he started and he wrote on the back of it but that doesnt really prove that he did the work.

What did he write?

I didnt think you would be able to put a frame in without taking the whole thing apart tho?

It all depends how it has been erected, and how much access there is underneath. I assumed that he has used joists supported at one end by a timber bolted to the wall of your house, then supported the other ends on rubble, hence the joists would run perpendicular from the wall of your house (with the boards running parallel to the house). If this is the case then the rubble supported ends of the joists need to be supported using props then one may be able to build a frame to support them.

If the joists are quite a small section you may need to support them half way along as well.

I would need to see the job to comment with any authority.

Cheers for clearing up the company name thing. I wasnt sure you could do that.

He advertises in one of the local papers so if he does nothing about it then im pretty sure they will be interested to hear the story

Emma

So he's still in business then? Could you find out who's using him and have a friendly chat with him on site within his customer's earshot?

Emms

What did he write?

Just that he called over to see the job

It all depends how it has been erected, and how much access there is underneath. I assumed that he has used joists supported at one end by a timber bolted to the wall of your house, then supported the other ends on rubble, hence the joists would run perpendicular from the wall of your house (with the boards running parallel to the house). If this is the case then the rubble supported ends of the joists need to be supported using props then one may be able to build a frame to support them.

There is nothing attached to the wall at all. The deck boards are running parallel to the house, he has i think 3 bits of wood running perpendicular to the boards and the boards are attached to these. In total there are three posts into the ground on a 13x9 foot deck. I took pics on my phone last night but ive left my memory card in my home laptop. Will post some up tonight

So he's still in business then? Could you find out who's using him and have a friendly chat with him on site within his customer's earshot?

Advert in the paper this week. Will do some digging to see what I can find out

Emms

Well I managed to get hold of him on the phone. He acted like he didnt realise it was like that and he will come look at it. Need to call him back on Friday. We shall see!

Heres the pics





Emma

HugoSP

I see what you mean!

I assume all the beams ae supported in the same way. If I'm right then the whole thing should be done again, as you thought. The only possible solution would be to put a 8x2 standing on its edge to support the ends of all the joists and support them via timberwork in turn supported propery from the ground.

I cannot believe anyone, let alone a self styled handyman, would consider this acceptable. The guy is a joke!

BobProperty

:eek:

Can you post them and any more over at http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/forum1/rogues-gallery-f22.html

HugoSP

Emms

Can you let us know how you get on?

Emms

Tried calling him back today with no answer. Left a message on answer phone. Will try again tomorrow and if he doesnt get back to me Im going to leave a message saying that if he doesnt do something about it I will contact the local paper that he advertises in.

Emma