conservatory help

austin1967 · 06-17-2012, 10:48 AM

hello. i had a conservatory built 8 years ago by b and q and when they dug the footings they put all the dirt inside the room to raise it up with no hardcore, we have had a problem with the conservatory coming away from the wall which they came and fixed and the builder said they should not have put the soil inside. the floor is not concrete but wood. please help asap, many thanks.

Bonzai · 06-17-2012, 11:04 AM

Pictures would help ... Is this a ground level conservatory or elevated at all? Sounds like the footings settled causing it to tilt and pull away from the main structure. When you say they put the soil "in the room" I assume you mean within the bounds of the room but under the floor? Are you saying the wood floor is touching the soil?

austin1967 · 06-17-2012, 01:29 PM

yes the floor is wood and beams and was raised 5 or 6 bricks, the builder said he should have taken the dirt away and put hardcore in, this builder also works for b and q. the flood we had because of the rain coming in has totally ruined the floor and we are worried because the wood is damp now, b and q said we should claim from insurance which is nice of them,

Bonzai · 06-17-2012, 01:59 PM

I'm from UK originally so very familiar with B&Q. Here we have Home Depot which is similar in concept. Do they not provide any warranty on workmanship or has that expired already? I would also check with the home builder warranty program in UK as there may be grounds for them to fix this as clearly it was not done right from the start. You could also threaten to take them to the small claims court but that would probably just drag on and B&Q probably have very good lawyers.
I would be inclined to have an independent home inspection done and then submit an insurance claim against B&Q. They have to carry commercial liability insurance so that may be who ends up paying.

Daniel Holzman · 06-17-2012, 03:18 PM

Your post is extremely confusing, since I have no idea who b & q is, I can't tell from the pronouns in your post who exactly did the original work, who exactly put the "dirt" inside, who built the floor, what the bricks you refer to are intended to do. I also am unclear exactly what your question is. Are you wondering who to sue? Are you wondering how to clean up the water mess from flooding? Are you wondering how to repair the project? You need to go back to square one, fully and accurately describe the project, its history, and post pictures. Then you need to frame specific, unambiguous questions that can be answered by an internet chat group. Bear in mind that you are not likely to get design solutions, but you may be able to get practical recommendations based on personal experience. The better you describe your situation, the more likely you are to get useful advice.

Joe Carola · 06-17-2012, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austin1967

yes the floor is wood and beams and was raised 5 or 6 bricks, the builder said he should have taken the dirt away and put hardcore in, this builder also works for b and q. the flood we had because of the rain coming in has totally ruined the floor and we are worried because the wood is damp now, b and q said we should claim from insurance which is nice of them,

Did you have this thing inspected 8 years ago?

tony.g · 06-17-2012, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Holzman

I have no idea who b & q is,

Daniel; as Bonzai pointed out, B&Q is the UK equivalent of HD in the US; big, relatively cheap, and staffed by people who don't seem to know or care about what they stack on the shelves, at least imo. Or is HD better than that?

Austin1967; this looks like a bad job and may need re-building rather than repair. One of the problems is that conservatories don't come under Buiding Control, and there is the temptation on the part of builders to throw these things up. There is even less control when these things are sub-contracted. Spreading the excavated earth back under the floor is very poor; at the very least you would expect a couple of inches of concrete on a damp-proof membrane just to seal the space from ground vapour.
As Bonzai said, try and get an independent report to give to B&Q and at least they will then know you are serious about the matter. Good luck.

Bonzai · 06-17-2012, 10:42 PM

Tony.g ... Spot on with HD, but this is only my opinion of course ;-)