Warranty Claim

tigertrio

With my 5 year old home, I have a large bedroom, and when crossing from one part of the bedroom to the other, the floor dips, like a joint is there, and has dropped. It is carpetted, but is noticeable when you walk from one side of the room to the other

Upon making a claim with house warranty (for something else and this), I have been told that the policy does not engage for claims such as the bedroom floor drop. Here are the details...

We can refer you to Section 4.3 of the Policy, which is triggered by the requirements of Major Damage being met.

The relevant part of the Major Damage requirements are cited below for your ease of reference:-

Any fault, failure or defect in the design, workmanship, materials or components of the: • Structure;

As can be seen, a critical part of considering Major Damage is the Policy Definition of Structure, which we can provide for you below for your ease of reference:-

The following elements form part of the structure of the Housing Unit:
• foundations;
• load-bearing parts of floors, staircases and associated guard rails, walls and roofs, together with load-bearing retaining walls necessary for providing support to the structure; 

So, why is it not covered, is it not a load baring part of the floor?

DullGreyGuy

Have you actually had it looked at to work out what the problem is? 

tigertrio

DullGreyGuy said:

Have you actually had it looked at to work out what the problem is? 

No, I am not a tradesperson.

Alderbank

Are you saying you have a floor which is sloping or uneven?


If it's adequately supported by the joists then it's not unsafe and is not major damage within the NHBC warranty. Common in houses of all ages.

It can be very annoying, especially if you plan to lay a hard floor where the tolerances are small.

Five years is a long time not to notice it. Earlier you might have got it fixed by the builder as a snagging issue but the time frame for that has long passed.

Lots of videos on YouTube showing various ways to fix uneven suspended floors.

tigertrio

Alderbank said:

Are you saying you have a floor which is sloping or uneven?


If it's adequately supported by the joists then it's not unsafe and is not major damage within the NHBC warranty. Common in houses of all ages.

It can be very annoying, especially if you plan to lay a hard floor where the tolerances are small.

Five years is a long time not to notice it. Earlier you might have got it fixed by the builder as a snagging issue but the time frame for that has long passed.

Lots of videos on YouTube showing various ways to fix uneven suspended floors.

I have a noticeable drop, between two parts of the room. 1-2cm drop.

Five years is a long time not to notice it, the house is five years old, I have owned it less than 1 year.

Mr.Generous

Without lifting the carpets and having a look nobody will know, often this wont be enough and the floor board/sheet will have to come up. On an older property its often where pipes or wires have been run, on a newer home could be a warped joist or a broken board.