Raised floor boards - new build flat

Norman_Castle

^ Does that woman get tired?

xsor

Haha, trust me - we walked all over that spot soooooo many times!

It was even obvious to the person who accompanied us to the flat.

Such a shame, great place, cheap terms, but our flat just happens to be heavily flawed compared to the rest

SuboJvR

xsor wrote: »

Haha, trust me - we walked all over that spot soooooo many times!

It was even obvious to the person who accompanied us to the flat.

Such a shame, great place, cheap terms, but our flat just happens to be heavily flawed compared to the rest

Well, your flat has an obvious flaw - it may be the others are not so visible.

See what the builder is willing to do about fixing it. As an aside, is there an upstairs neighbour? Laminate can be noisy in flats I believe... depending how much underlay etc..

xsor

Hey Subo,

The flats are all connected, but left side is with 3 floors, and right side is 2, which ours is the highest on the right side..

So, I can imagine the flat below will get pee'd off

When we first raised it, he tried to assure us that the raised surface was normal and due to the nature of the product.. so I didn't pursue on it. BUT I'm going to speak to my solicitors first and their warranty provider before speaking to him again about it.

chappers

whatever he says and whatever the warranty says, the floor shouldn't be like that and he is trying to fob you off.
Every warranty I have seen has a period, usually 2 years whereby the builder is responsible for any issues.
Bottom line is it's unacceptable and I wouldn't buy a flat with a floor like that.

SuboJvR

Yep whoever put that flooring in is responsible for it. The builder didn't actually lay it of course, it will be a contractor, but they need to get them back in to sort it.

I've been advised that laminate should sit in the room it's going in at room temperature for it to acclimatise. For this reason ours got delivered to our otherwise empty house on Saturday, with the thermostat set to a comfortable temperature, and it has been there for two days now before the fitters come. Therefore any expansion in that temperature should've happened. They should also leave a bit of room at the edges for further expansion (which may well be under the trim/beading so not visible). Any decent laminate fitter will know all of these details but some floor fitters don't do laminate so often, or it may be they've got carpet fitters to give it a go and missed a few of the important steps...

It probably won't need a big fix but even if it does it's not your problem - it's theirs! Don't compromise now or you'll then have a costly mistake to fix rather than they.

xsor

@chappers, Yeah probably.. I've raised it as a snag now and given the list to developers, EA and my solicitor. I've also found out that their warranty is not like NHBCs.

All claims throughout the 10 years is with the warranty provider itself, not 2 years devs, and 8 years with the provider.

@Subo, Sounds very logical, the developer tried to reassure and that gaps of 12mm were given for expansion.. luckily I got my dad over, he was the one who noticed and said it's just badly done..

I've given them the asking price, and it's relatively quite high for that area.. seeing that second hand 'luxury' flats are selling for about 80k less than what I'm buying now..

Well, I hope not, even if it was a big fix - I'd still expect them to do it. Why should my potential flat be any less perfect than the others!

But thank you guys for the support, advice and info - I will update this again when there are results/news.

societys_child

Why are they putting laminate in flats? All the neighbours are going to hate each other in no time at all

Mutton_Geoff

societys_child wrote: »

Why are they putting laminate in flats?

Same reason as dot & dab, plastic pipes, cheapest appliances, contract paint, contract doors, ERA locks, single pendant lampholders, unbranded electricals, sanitaryware & taps.


Their sale price is pretty well fixed by the local property market. To maximise their profits, all they can do is skimp on just about everything and hope Crashy Time's dreams don't come true between land acquisition and completion date.