New homes 'crumbling due to weak mortar'

sal_III

I'm likely to be biased, having bought a new build (flat not a house), but all these news are a bit exaggerated and lumping together all new builds in the same category. Sure there are some bad apples out there.

But there are at least as much horror stories of "old builds" as there are with new builds. The difference is that with the old build you are out of pocket, where with the new build you have 10 year warranty. And looking at the article everyone mentioned was compensated.

NDAs used as gagging orders in a settlement really need to go though.

ruperts

This is just another example of the type of thing that happens when you have a government that is ideologically opposed to regulating businesses.

We even hear non business owners talking about "cutting red tape" like it's always a good thing. I guess they don't realise a lot of that red tape is there to protect them against this sort of thing.

stuart45

Weak mortar mixes on new builds happened years ago as well. If the hod carriers were shovel gauging into the mixer, a shovel of cement from the bag was often a lot smaller than a shovel of damp sand.
You can easily tell by the colour, or when you use it, but when working for a subbie on site the bricklayers will still lay bricks with it.
The only problem with a repoint is that when you normally repoint a wall the mix should be slightly weaker than the original, which in this case would not be possible.
This allows for movement in the wall without the stronger outer mix damaging edges of the bricks, or the mortar cracking.

Choccygirl123

It happened on an estate near me and they had to demolish 4 houses. They blamed it on the mix being wrong in the silo. It's a huge estate and they buy the muck ready mixed!

EachPenny

ruperts wrote: »

This is just another example of the type of thing that happens when you have a government that is ideologically opposed to regulating businesses.

We even hear non business owners talking about "cutting red tape" like it's always a good thing. I guess they don't realise a lot of that red tape is there to protect them against this sort of thing.

What red tape do you propose that would ensure that every house is built using mortar which meets the design specification?

Even if the mortar is delivered ready mixed there is nothing stopping the bricklayer adding extra water (or worse) to make it easier to use.

Are you proposing we should have a "Government regulator" employed to watch the work of each and every bricklayer, or do you accept that at some point the system has to rely on trust and good faith? (with financial consequences for those found to be abusing that trust)

ruperts

EachPenny wrote: »

What red tape do you propose that would ensure that every house is built using mortar which meets the design specification?

Even if the mortar is delivered ready mixed there is nothing stopping the bricklayer adding extra water (or worse) to make it easier to use.

Are you proposing we should have a "Government regulator" employed to watch the work of each and every bricklayer, or do you accept that at some point the system has to rely on trust and good faith? (with financial consequences for those found to be abusing that trust)

They're called building inspectors, but ultimately they aren't much use if the regulations are weak or non-existent in the first place.

parkrunner

Tomg84 wrote: »

Another reason why gagging clauses should be banned.

Depends on the offer for me but I always look after number one (plus family) first.

parkrunner

ruperts wrote: »

This is just another example of the type of thing that happens when you have a government that is ideologically opposed to regulating businesses.

We even hear non business owners talking about "cutting red tape" like it's always a good thing. I guess they don't realise a lot of that red tape is there to protect them against this sort of thing.

What building regulations have been weakened or removed completely since the tories have been in government?

Tammykitty

Same thing has happenened in Ireland with Mica bricks


The bricks themselves are crumbling
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/irish-family-forced-out-dream-13083183

stuart45

Makes Mundic blocks look like high quality.