New Build Booklice, bulging plaster, HELP!

Jose1990

This year in February we moved into a new build property which cost us everything we had, planning on keeping this house for a 'forever' home to start a family in a few years.

Around April we had some condensation come through the ceiling from the loft, we went to have a look and there was condensation on the insulation in the loft, the builders came in and fixed extra ventilation up in the loft, it's not leaked through again, we've never been all the way into the loft, but from sticking our heads up/feeling the insulation we now think everything is ok as it's all dry from what we can tell. We then had a bit of mold on the living room window sill and black beetles, which I found out were plaster beetles. I kept cleaning this myself and as the weather warmed up it disappeared in a couple months, they came in and repainted, did some other bits on the snagging list and left.

Around 6 weeks ago I was in the kitchen and noticed a bug on the wall, I squashed it and realised there was lots. They didn't look like the plaster beetles in size/colour but I thought they could be larvae. I told the builders and they arranged for a local Pest Controller to come out, who took them away to I.D. In the meantime they gave us an industrial dehumidifier for 2 weeks, at the end of the two weeks, I wasn't noticing any improvement, they were still there all the time. The builders agreed to 'spray' everywhere and leave the dehumidifier for 2 weeks out of 'good will' but said that our 'lifestyle' (we have two dogs) will have caused this and they've never heard of booklice in new builds... I was a bit upset by this as obviously it's all over the internet and we know someone who works in the building industry and says it can sometimes be a common problem. Within 4 hours of the pest controller leaving after spraying, we had booklice back on the kitchen wall & bedroom wall above the kitchen. After 4 weeks of the dehumidifier set on 20% (to draw out as much moisture as possible), we've still got booklice (only on this wall, not in the rest of the house currently). We've also noticed the plaster bulging, a more than normal amount of 'sweating' on this wall and asked our friend who works in the building industry what could be causing the problem with this wall, he said it could be a cold bridge?

I know the builders who built our house will not want to spend anymore money than they have too to resolve this problem (obviously) but they also like to cut corners, something we didn't realise until after we bought the house. We also weren't told when we buy the house that if we make any claims on the warranty we have to pay £1000, money we don't have at the minute... since we're also within a year of buying the house, we've been told the builders should be sorting this out.

Has anyone else got any other suggestions on what could be causing the bulging/booklice/extra sweating on this wall? Or could confirm if they think it might be a cold bridge?

If it is please can I have a rough idea of how to check? I've found that if I have some knowledge the builder realises he can't blag his way out of it!

Background on build:

Started August 2019, was stood for some time roof went on about October time (ish) and when I use to go look at it (only up the road) with my mum, we noticed there was never much ventilation. They gave it two weeks for the plaster to dry before painting, (though I know not many windows/ventilation/anything! was used to help dry it out at this time.

I'll try answer any other questions if I can!

Thank you

theartfullodger

Talk to / go see your local citizens advice or a pro-bono (brief chat for free) solicitor.

What formal letters/emails (copied kept) have you served on the builder, please?? What other formal things have you done about this in the last 9 months please?  Any other people on the scheme also getting similar problems?

Have you put in de-humidifiers that were allowed to run for quite some time??

Got any other sources (family, friends) of £|£££??  No spare cash for a rainy day is not a good factor in your position, apologies for being blunt.

https://bpca.org.uk/pest-aware/Page-3/booklice-control-how-to-get-rid-of-booklice-psocids-bpca-pests/189178

Good luck, hope things get better.

Jose1990

Hello
I've kept all emails and texts from the start.
We had the dehumidifier for 4 weeks.

rachel230

Try the unhappy new home buyers Facebook group.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/unhappynewhomebuyers/
Also NHBC Victims group. You may find others with similar issues who can advise.

[Deleted User]

I've learnt something here today.
I'd not heard of Booklice before, just searched them and they're uncommon it seems.
I hope the house issues get resolved quickly.

frogglet

We bought a new house 30 years ago, I dont remember damp being such a problem, houses are plasterboarded and skimmed.
People produce a lot of moisture 
Double glazing usually has a locked position to allow ventilation. As houses now are basically sealed units with no natural ventilation.
Its harder in winter to have ventilation. Dont leave rooms with doors shut, no heating and the windows closed.

RelievedSheff

frogglet said:

We bought a new house 30 years ago, I dont remember damp being such a problem, houses are plasterboarded and skimmed.
People produce a lot of moisture 
Double glazing usually has a locked position to allow ventilation. As houses now are basically sealed units with no natural ventilation.
Its harder in winter to have ventilation. Dont leave rooms with doors shut, no heating and the windows closed.

We bought a new build last April and damp really hasn't been an issue. We were told to expect some moisture in the first 12-18 months as the building dries out but it really hasn't been too bad at all. Through the summer months we had the windows open as much as possible to naturally ventilate the building. This is more difficult in the winter but we do still try to open the windows for half an hour a day to allow fresh air around the house and moist air out.

The windows on a new build should have trickle vents to allow air to circulate while the windows are shut. Make sure you keep these open, especially so in the problem room. Use your bathroom and kitchen extractor fans and where possible also open the windows in these rooms after showering and cooking to fully ventilate the rooms and let the moist air out. After showering and cooking leave the bathroom and kitchen doors shut to stop the moist air escaping into the rest of the house.

Try to keep the house at an even temperature while it is drying out. You want to avoid the house getting cold as this is when you will get condensation forming in the cold spots of the house.

If your feel that there is a problem with that one wall then you have to give the developer the chance to investigate it and put it right. If you get nowhere with the developer then you can turn to your warranty provider NHBC or whoever the developers used. Don't expect a quick fix though.

RelievedSheff

Just had a quick Google of booklice and they need a damp environment to survive. The advice for getting rid of them is to drop the relative humidity below 60%, below that they can't survive. So plenty of ventilation in that area and they should disappear of their own accord.

The good news is that they are not harmful to humans or dogs and that they do not cause damage to buildings. They feed on mould and spores caused by high humidity environments.

So bring down the humidity and the lice will go away.

Jose1990

frogglet said:

We bought a new house 30 years ago, I dont remember damp being such a problem, houses are plasterboarded and skimmed.
People produce a lot of moisture 
Double glazing usually has a locked position to allow ventilation. As houses now are basically sealed units with no natural ventilation.
Its harder in winter to have ventilation. Dont leave rooms with doors shut, no heating and the windows closed.

Hello

We haven't, we've followed all the builders advice since moving in. We have also been putting the extractor fan on just to make a cup of tea, reducing showers to 5 mins & under, fan on, window open to let steam out, we've not had clothes drying on the radiator, a family member has been drying all our clothes in their dryer. We are producing minimum amount of moisture, only two of us. It's only also a problem with one wall, so this is why I believe it is to do with the wall.

Jose1990

RelievedSheff said:

Just had a quick Google of booklice and they need a damp environment to survive. The advice for getting rid of them is to drop the relative humidity below 60%, below that they can't survive. So plenty of ventilation in that area and they should disappear of their own accord.

The good news is that they are not harmful to humans or dogs and that they do not cause damage to buildings. They feed on mould and spores caused by high humidity environments.

So bring down the humidity and the lice will go away.

Hello

We've had a dehumidifier in for 4 weeks, set at 20%, sometimes the dehumidifier would go off, increasing this amount of time spent off towards the end of the 4 weeks, and you can tell the house is dryer, however they're still living in this wall and having excess sweating & bulges etc...

We have always had heating on a constant average temp as advised by builders.

Took every precaution and extra that the builders have asked, even putting the extractor fan on to boil the kettle....

We just can't seem to get rid of them.

Our builders are now saying we must pay 50/50 to get a structural surveyor out. The warranty company has advised that the builders should be covering this

theoretica

Have you got a hygrometer?  Knowing what the humidity levels are in your various rooms, and attic, might be useful.