Leaky shed under 12 months old!

Pennpoll

Thrugelmir said:

Pennpoll said:

Jumblebumble said:

Pennpoll said:

First time forumite here, so bear with me.....

I bought a garden shed in March 2021, currently on finance. The shed was delivered to us and we paid builders to put it up, as per the guidelines from the supplier, on a level concrete base, 1m away from trees, walls, fences and boundaries - to maintain the 15 year guarantee. The shed is T&G with a rubber roof and was pressure treated to prevent it from rotting. The supplier website mentions that the shed would save me money as I would never have to treat it again.

We recently noticed damp and mould inside the shed. We took photos and sent them to the supplier saying the shed is less than 1 year old and leaking. They have come back and said that we should have treated the shed within one month of having it erected to stop any leaking and that now our 15 year guarantee is void. There has been no offer of a replacement, or partial refund so that money can go towards repairing it.

Do I have any recourse? It's under 12 months since I purchased the shed and it's still on Finance. Many Thanks

This one is  really simple
Their T and C s say

Pressure treated products are treated at our facility prior to delivery so do not require treating, however, should you choose to treat you can. The application and/or mixing guidelines provided by the manufacturer of the timber treatment should be followed

and

 With pressure treated timber, it must not have any wood preservative applied to it until the building is fully dry, which would be at least 1 month after rain to prevent trapping any moisture inside the timber, which would also void the guarantee.

Therefore if it really  needed to be treated in the first month of it being erected  no one buying this shed could ever claim on the warranty if it rained the day after it was assembled what ever they did which is idiotic

I would  not be surprised if you have been dealing with an imbecilic  intern who does not know the difference between pressure and dip treatment

 I would
Point this out to the shed manufacturer
Go after the finance company
Last Resort small claims court

The saga continues...they've come back to me and said that the reason there's damp and mould inside the shed is because we didn't treat it after it was assembled. They're saying because wood naturally expands and contracts due to temperature changes, this is needed to form a protective layer around the building to ensure it's watertight.

I don't want to get into a long protracted legal argument, but the fact is their website is misleading and contrary to their T&C's.

They've not offered any kind of compensation towards me fixing this problem myself at additional cost.

Why not identify the cause of the problem first? Should be easy enough to do. 

My husband is pretty sure it's the side panel that is leaking water (has a hole and has started to go damp and mouldy internally) Yes we should be able to fix this, but we've not been happy with the quality of the wood, the customer service or the value for money. I don't feel it's unreasonable to expect something from the supplier since I wouldn't expect holes to appear in less than a year.

Thrugelmir

Pennpoll said:

Thrugelmir said:

Pennpoll said:

Jumblebumble said:

Pennpoll said:

First time forumite here, so bear with me.....

I bought a garden shed in March 2021, currently on finance. The shed was delivered to us and we paid builders to put it up, as per the guidelines from the supplier, on a level concrete base, 1m away from trees, walls, fences and boundaries - to maintain the 15 year guarantee. The shed is T&G with a rubber roof and was pressure treated to prevent it from rotting. The supplier website mentions that the shed would save me money as I would never have to treat it again.

We recently noticed damp and mould inside the shed. We took photos and sent them to the supplier saying the shed is less than 1 year old and leaking. They have come back and said that we should have treated the shed within one month of having it erected to stop any leaking and that now our 15 year guarantee is void. There has been no offer of a replacement, or partial refund so that money can go towards repairing it.

Do I have any recourse? It's under 12 months since I purchased the shed and it's still on Finance. Many Thanks

This one is  really simple
Their T and C s say

Pressure treated products are treated at our facility prior to delivery so do not require treating, however, should you choose to treat you can. The application and/or mixing guidelines provided by the manufacturer of the timber treatment should be followed

and

 With pressure treated timber, it must not have any wood preservative applied to it until the building is fully dry, which would be at least 1 month after rain to prevent trapping any moisture inside the timber, which would also void the guarantee.

Therefore if it really  needed to be treated in the first month of it being erected  no one buying this shed could ever claim on the warranty if it rained the day after it was assembled what ever they did which is idiotic

I would  not be surprised if you have been dealing with an imbecilic  intern who does not know the difference between pressure and dip treatment

 I would
Point this out to the shed manufacturer
Go after the finance company
Last Resort small claims court

The saga continues...they've come back to me and said that the reason there's damp and mould inside the shed is because we didn't treat it after it was assembled. They're saying because wood naturally expands and contracts due to temperature changes, this is needed to form a protective layer around the building to ensure it's watertight.

I don't want to get into a long protracted legal argument, but the fact is their website is misleading and contrary to their T&C's.

They've not offered any kind of compensation towards me fixing this problem myself at additional cost.

Why not identify the cause of the problem first? Should be easy enough to do. 

My husband is pretty sure it's the side panel that is leaking water (has a hole and has started to go damp and mouldy internally) Yes we should be able to fix this, but we've not been happy with the quality of the wood, the customer service or the value for money. I don't feel it's unreasonable to expect something from the supplier since I wouldn't expect holes to appear in less than a year.

Wood has knots that are known to fall out. Simply a question of plugging the hole if they do. Timber is extremely expensive. Unless the building has a purpose other than a shed. The additional expense for a better quality plank simply isn't worth it. 

born_again

Brambles will force openings in between panels.

We had some at the back of a garage (not on our land) and the damned things forced their way through between bricks & the cladding wood & then inside.