Mis-sold a house!

Doozergirl

babyblade41 wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I've been ignored by many ...broad shoulders is something I was blessed with :j

One of my favourite phrases is 'you don't have to tell everyone you're leaving the party'; just meaning that there's zero need for any kind of confrontation if you're in any situation in life that makes you unhappy, you can just shut the door quietly.

Ignore is a nice feature. It doesn't require announcement, or for the person being ignored to ever actually know. No confrontation required, nor big shoulders.

I've only used it once, after getting a PM from someone offering to show me pictures of 'himself' and asking if I'd like to reciprocate.

Davesnave

Folicky wrote: »

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[FONT=&quot]The building Control officer said that raised batons would need to be put down to raise the height of the floor so that the insulation would not be compressed and that, at the owner’s own risk, flooring could be put down in a large middle section of the house if desired.
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[FONT=&quot]Any advice welcome.[/FONT]

The BCO is correct,but as anselld points out, loft legs have been invented if you just want a somewhat larger area for storage.

Or you could use wooden battens to increase the depth of the joists, lay 100mm sold Celotex insulation in its place and span that with ply if you want a larger area. However, the same caveats about not putting very weighty objects up there apply.

In my bungalow with roof trusses, I've made a central walkway insulated with Celotex instead of the soft stuff and I've designed plywood shelves to fit in the V of the trusses that may be reached from it. Again, nothing really heavy is placed on these, but it's useful storage.

For many years, houses have been built in a manner which doesn't lend itself to creating a room in the loft or storing large amounts of stuff up there without serious modification. Your builder has done nothing unusual or wrong. If you want a new house with modifications to allow an attic room, you'll need to negotiate that and pay for it at the design stage. It won't be cheap.

markin

How many sqft is in the contract? ........................

eddddy

Folicky wrote: »

I had it entered as an ‘agreed extra’ in the contract of sale that the builder would put some flooring in the attic for storage purposes.

It does sound like the builder messed up.

• They contractually agreed to put flooring in the loft

• They contractually agreed to give you a warranty

However, it sounds like the flooring would invalidate the warranty. And the builder is the 'expert', not you, so it's completely reasonable that you relied on what they said in the contract.


In your position, I might start seeking professional advice on how the loft floor could be strengthened, and flooring can be laid, such that...

- It can take the required load
- It meets building regulations
- It does not invalidate the warranty

... and expect the builder to do the work required, or cover the cost of the work required.

It sounds like the builder might be wanting to do a botch job. So I would specifically tell the builder that they must not do anything that potentially invalidates the warranty, or that does not meet building regs.

ethank

We recently bought a new build and we've been told if we put any storage in the loft, it will invalidate the NHBC warranty.

AdrianC

So what - exactly - is the wording that got added to the contract?
How much extra did the builder charge for flooring the attic?

It's cheap and quick to get up there with lengths of CLS and sheets of ply to floor it out. This really isn't worth getting that excited about. Chalk it up to experience, and make a mental note not to buy from this developer again in the future.

Enterprise_1701C

We have been storing stuff in the loft for years, that said the house is more than 50 years old, maybe they were just built differently?

We have never put flooring down in the loft, we have a couple of pieces of wood we move around to walk on, and we have never put anything heavy up there. We are simply careful not to put anything directly on the ceiling.

What surprises me is that you already had plans to store things in the loft when you moved in. It took us about 5 years after we moved in before we started storing stuff in there, and we have regularly cleared it out so we only have a limited amount of stuff up there. Basically if it has been there for a couple of years and we have no attachment to it it goes.

RelievedSheff

Maybe just get rid of some junk so you don't need to store anything in the loft.

Either that or buy a bigger house which has the required amount of storage that you need.

As with others above we have been told in no uncertain circumstances are we to put anything in the loft of our new build as it will invalidate our NHBC warranty. They will, like all insurers, look for any excuse not to pay.

You would be wise to forget the idea of boarding out the loft and get a decent shed instead if you really need the storage and can't get rid of the clutter.

RelievedSheff

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

We have been storing stuff in the loft for years, that said the house is more than 50 years old, maybe they were just built differently?

We have never put flooring down in the loft, we have a couple of pieces of wood we move around to walk on, and we have never put anything heavy up there. We are simply careful not to put anything directly on the ceiling.

What surprises me is that you already had plans to store things in the loft when you moved in. It took us about 5 years after we moved in before we started storing stuff in there, and we have regularly cleared it out so we only have a limited amount of stuff up there. Basically if it has been there for a couple of years and we have no attachment to it it goes.

Older houses have roofs constructed with rafters and purlins, they tended to be more heavily built and with thicker timbers.

New build homes are designed to the nth degree so that there is no wasteage, The roof trusses are designed to take the roof load, the celiling and nothing else. There is no wriggle room for adding extra weight on the trusses.

We never stored anything in the loft of our old house and don't plan to in this new one. We were pretty ruthless in the run up to our move at Easter and got rid of anything we did not want or need. We didn't see the point in carting a load of crap to the new house. It was strangely satisfying having a good clear out.

Strangely we were concerned about not having much storage in the new build house we have moved into but since moving in we have found that there is more than enough.

Doozergirl

eddddy wrote: »

It sounds like the builder might be wanting to do a botch job. So I would specifically tell the builder that they must not do anything that potentially invalidates the warranty, or that does not meet building regs.

You've just gone full circle. The roof isn't designed to carry an additional unknown weight.

The OP isn't going to be getting a new roof, so there isn't a solution that fits that criteria. That's why the builder has barely put anything up there, because lofts should barely carry any weight.