The Curse of Defective Concrete (Mica, Pyrrhotite, etc.) in Donegal homes - Read Mod warning Post 1

Sheedy234

I know of one of the first 5 in Clare to be given a grant offer and there are going to be 50k out of pocket and I don't know if that is replacing foundations. My own father who is heading for 80 is currently on the scheme, how is he supposed to come up with that sort of money. It's absolutely disgusting.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122139383#Comment_122139383

When you have Donegal County Council reps and Mayo County Council reps in the ongoing Oireachtas Committee meetings spoofing about why homeowners aren't engaging with the grant scheme you know they dont give a f*ck. 1 saying its a lifestyle choice and another saying they dont know. They know rightly its because it doesn't cover the demolition and rebuild costs. Would boil your blood listening to them.

Sheedy234

Yes absolutely lifestyle choice to be living in a defective home!

NIMAN

Who said its a lifestyle choice? Name and shame them.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122139852#Comment_122139852

Yesterday's Joint Committee Session On Housing, Local Government And Heritage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4iKrq_TaB0

Question at 28:20 "Why are people not applying?"

Just have a listen to the reply from Michael McGarvey - Donegal County Council - Director of Services for the next minute or so.

He spoofs for a bit but is then pinned directly on could the reason be the financial pressure and need for upfront funds. His reply is beyond belief - he actually refutes the grant shortfall question completely and uses the phrase "lifestyle choice". He gets pulled on it and backtracks but he still said it.

SBourgaize

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122084127#Comment_122084127

Steps involved are;

>Get a registered ISwhatevernumber person out who checks the property and declares if they think it's damaged enough / provides a report of the same

>submit the report to the housing folks

>housing folks send out their own person to assess it

>progression/no progression is decided by the housing association person.

From what I've seen, there's at least 1 case where it wasn't damaged enough visually, but the person applying was able to prove the mica content from core sampling and the housing agency person greenlit the progression based on it.

But who knows, it's all a toss up really.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122143518#Comment_122143518

Ah ok. So in your case you are hiring someone to core for peace of mind after being told the damage wasn't bad enough to get on the enhanced scheme. Then when you get those core results take it from there depending on the results?

SBourgaize

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122143745#Comment_122143745

Exactly! Hoping the % is low and the cracks really are normal, though some of the houses on our estate (carraig craobh) look terrible.

tohaltuwi

I am not in any way affected by defective building materials, I live in Dublin, but I 100% get it how people, who have paid their life’s earnings to have a family home, are driven beyond their tether. I would be in same circumstances. Lack of regulation of building materials created this, there must be payback to people affected.

Penfailed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122143518#Comment_122143518

...and this is part of the problem. They're basing it on mica content rather than following the science. Pyrrhotite is the problem. Reactive iron sulphides.

jj880

I saw this posted recently on social media which sums it up for me really. It's not a homeowners responsibility to sort out who was at fault for this.

If you trusted this country to invest in it by building / purchasing a home which has been destroyed by gov and quarry gross negligence then you deserve to have it replaced.

Homes should be rebuilt now properly and while that's happening do whatever needs to be done to make sure it doesnt happen again. It's unbelievable that this is even a fight.

There are some signs that things are moving in the right direction though. I notice the Engineers Ireland rep in the Oireachtas Committee Meetings is saying things like "we now believe IS465 is not fit for purpose anymore" for the first time. It's hard to believe they didnt know this already but a statement like this in public is very telling. They are trying to cover themselves for the future. I think there will be a major inquiry into this whole situation eventually which will reveal who was complicit in trying to cover up this scandal up with the MICA BS narrative.

NIMAN

Locally in Inishowen, we would have some very high profile Donegal CoCo councillors who claim they are at the heart of Mica redress scheme, and have been since the scandal broke around 2014. These have been councillors all the time this has been ongoing.

When they call round my door looking for my vote, I'll be asking why all their hard work and diligence has meant that only 61 houses have been fixed out of 8500 in a decade.

jj880

Unfortunately Councillors have very little power when it comes to legislation and Council Executive decisions (anything important). There are a few that are helping people progress through the grant scheme but whats the point in that if the scheme is legislated to fail for the vast majority who cant afford to use it at all.

If there is an inquiry then proper redress will be part of that process. No options 1-5, shortfalls, square foot rates, funding cap or any other nonsense that goes along with a grant.

jj880

Information night about Judicial Review of I.S. 465 from last Friday May 31st. Recording available here. Main judicial review portion is from 28:00 to 53:00:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=3593023574290878

Some good Q&A from the floor at the end regarding legal costs also.

NIMAN

Another sad story from an affected homeowner, which will fall on deaf ears

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/id-have-been-better-off-leaving-the-whole-house-to-tumble-down-fixing-the-wrong-cracks-a-new-mica-crisis/a1271003494.html

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122212974#Comment_122212974

It at least shows whats stopping a lot of homeowners engaging with the scheme. Its definitely not a "lifestyle choice" as the higher ups in Donegal County Council would like the rest of Donegal/Ireland believe. Pure propaganda.

volchitsa

Does anyone know what percentage of homes built since the issues began are NOT affected? I'm wondering if there's a risk buying any house in Donegal, other than maybe the very old ones, like over 50 years old? If it's possible that a given house that seems ok just hasn't (yet) been identified as being concerned, how would any potential buyer dare to take that risk?

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122213007#Comment_122213007

Well you would like to think that since the issue became known about in 2014, that no more bad blocks would have been used.

But of course this is Ireland. And Cassidys was still open and supplying blocks for several years after that. So I would think there is probably homes built up to the closure of Cassidys which could be defective in the future.

volchitsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122213011#Comment_122213011

Thanks. That's worrying. I'm not a Donegal home owner, but could potentially be thinking of buying there within the next few years. I'm thinking Derry might be a safer bet than Inishowen though, TBH.

I'm unclear as to what percentage of homes built within that time frame are liable to be affected - there may only have been the one quarry involved, but that's still a large number of builders. Is there any way of knowing afterwards which homes don't contain any material from Cassidy's? And wasn't there a suggestion that it may not have been Mica after all, but Pyrrhotite just like the problems in Mayo and Sligo? Those weren't from Cassidy's quarry, were they?

It's all very concerning because it doesn't seem to be getting clearer, never mind getting sorted.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122213037#Comment_122213037

I wouldn't be buying anything these days without a sulfate attack analysis from Petrolab UK or as you say at least 50 years old. If anyone thinks concrete is being properly regulated these days they could be in for a shock. This has always been the first question of mine in this scandal: how can you be sure concrete produced now is free of all contamination when building / rebuilding?

Technique

No one will be able to give you an exact figure regarding number of houses affected - each house you look at will have to be judged on its own merit. Also, the block suppliers would have sold between one another, so no guarantees that blocks sourced from another supplier would be fine. I think that you'd be better looking at houses from the 70s/80s/90s and doing them up with help from the energy retrofit grants.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122212974#Comment_122212974

Full version of this article: https://archive.is/gQ5b4

Good reading. Should not be pay walled.

NIMAN

A shocking read.

Probably the biggest ongoing scandal in the state.