Homebond Scheme

donutheadhomer

Hi Guys,

Anyone have any idea how Homebond works? How long and what is covered?
Our house is only 5 years old and we're the 2nd owners. The windows are pissing in air under the glass and under/around the frames, standard white upvc. This is the case on now just the opening but on the large panes of glass also.
Some of the sealing between glass and frame is badly fitted/coming out/showing. Windows in bedrooms are freezing and tons of condensation all day especially where the air is getting in.
Are windows covered and what is likely to happen? Anyone have any experience of dealing with them?

Thanks
Colin

Slig

Number one, is your house guaranteed by homebond?
If so try your home insurer first to see what they say then give homebond a call. I cant imagine they will be easy to get money out of but is any insurance company?

donutheadhomer

it is with homebond allright, are they instead of insurance?

kkelliher

Colin

Homebond covers the following:

* Structural Defects
Cover for 10 years in respect of the repair of major structural defects.

* Smoke Penetration / Water Ingress
Cover for 5 years in respect of remedial work in the event of water ingress / smoke penetration caused by major structural defects.

* Deposits & Stage Payments
Cover for Home Buyers for the loss of money deposited for the construction or purchase of a new home.

It is mainly a structural insurance and your solicitor should have a copy of the exact policy wording.

I dont think you will get any joy in relation to issues with windows.


regards and best of luck

keith

donutheadhomer

I'm going to try the builders anyway just to see

SPARTAN33

HI Folks

Myself and the wife moved into a semi detatched house about 2 months ago it is a superwarm home so block outer leaf and timber frame inner. Just a couple of queries as we are the second owners of this home, the guys we bought from bought the house just over 4.5 yeyars from the builder so it is still covered under the homebond guarentee, I was just wondering we have just noticed that the kitchen extractor fan is not connected to any ducting or external vent, so when you have it on the steam from the cooking is just going back in the kitchen, now can we get this job done under homebond? or can we get the builder who built these houses back to recitfy the problem at his own cost?. Also I noticed wet patches and mould on the upstairs ceiling up our bedroom, I checked it out and its not a leaking pipe or leak in the roof but probably condensation in the attic where the insulation wasnt done properly again is this homebond? or the builder we can get back to fix it?. Any help or adivce on this is grealty appreciated. I mean I cant believe the previous owners didnt pick up on those 2 things.

smashey

Homebond won't fix your fan and it's highly unlikely that you'll get the original builder back to do so. Did you get a survey done before buying?

By the way, I deleted your other thread on this as one is enough.

RKQ

Homebond provide a 10 year structural guarentee. Nothing more.

It is up to you to track down the Builder but so much time has passed its not really worth doing.

I'm afraid its a case of buyer beware! You have inherited these problems / snaggs. Its too late for a snagg list. I think you should get someone round to fix the extractor fan and leave the attic insulation in place.

SPARTAN33

Thanks for your reply guys, yes I got a survey done before we bought the house but the engineer i got a friend of mine didnt pick up on any of these issues as they werent visible to any of us just noticed these things since we have been living here. So where do I stand now guys? Where do I go from here?

muffler

As stated above Homebond will cover the structural components of your house

Slig

The general builders structural indemnity insurance is the same as homebond, only a guarantee on structure. There is generally a 1 year guarantee on the house. If anything goes wrong in the house, like power showers, leaks etc. its covered.

You are living in the house 4.5 years now, its probably time to start doing all the routine maintenance on the house anyway, just hire a builder to drill a hole for the extract fan and if necessary insulate the attic properly. You could also probably get some other jobs done around the place aswell as builders could be keenly priced now.

SPARTAN33

Once again thanks for your replies everyone. Slig I think you might have picked me up wrong, the house itself is about 4.5 years old we bought it from someine else we are living here just over 2 moths. What is the purpose of the vapour barrier thats attached to the attic side of the ceiling plasterboard? and also does it mean I have trouble when moisture is getting trapped between the plastic barrier and the plasterboard spots of mould is growing there too is this common? , this was the cause of the wet patches on the ceiling in our upstairs bedroom by the window, we also have mould in the area too.

donutheadhomer

Builders are saying this is going to cost a fortune to fix. said the glass nees to come out of the frame and be put back with good seals around the frame. Also where the pvc meets the walls is all pissing in air too. Any idea how much this costs? There are 3 4"6 windows involved.
Incidently the huge building company XXXXXX set up a seperate company to build my estate and they have wound tis up now, so nobody to complain to

sydthebeat

EurasianBadger wrote: »

Builders are saying this is going to cost a fortune to fix. said the glass nees to come out of the frame and be put back with good seals around the frame. Also where the pvc meets the walls is all pissing in air too. Any idea how much this costs? There are 3 4"6 windows involved.
Incidently the huge building company xxxxxxx set up a seperate company to build my estate and they have wound tis up now, so nobody to complain to

one glimmer of light is that now is the best time to purchase windows!!

unfortunately when purchasing houses its 'buyer beware'....
theres no excuse for not engaging a proper profesional to do a full indepth pre-purchase report on a dwelling...

muffler

Im moving the posts here to another identical thread. A couple of posts may get mixed up a wee bit but smashey is to blame for that

RKQ

SPARTAN33 wrote: »

What is the purpose of the vapour barrier thats attached to the attic side of the ceiling plasterboard?

To prevent moisture condensating in the attic insulation or on the roof felt ( see numerous recent threads)

SPARTAN33 wrote: »

and also does it mean I have trouble when moisture is getting trapped between the plastic barrier and the plasterboard spots of mould is growing there too is this common?

No the vapour barrier is functioning correctly.

SPARTAN33 wrote: »

this was the cause of the wet patches on the ceiling in our upstairs bedroom by the window, we also have mould in the area too.

This was caused by no insulation directly over the damp patch. (As addressed in your other thread)
I believe that the lack of insulation - caused a severe cold patch on the ceiling - excessive condensation on this cold patch = severe mould!!
Q.E.D - Elementry my dear Watson!

SPARTAN33

Fair play to you RKO you know your stuff, and thanks for you informing me on that