New A2-rated house is very draughty!

szrxebrf

After a long journey, my partner and I finally managed to buy a new A2-rated house in a new development. Shortly after moving into the house, however, we started to notice draughts coming from literally all of the external doors and windows. On windy days you can hear the wind whistling through them and there is a noticeable chill in many of the rooms.

On closer inspection, it looks like most of the windows and doors have been fitted badly; many appear to be slightly bowed and there are gaps in the seals too. I have approached the foreman about this but he has attempted to play down the issue. When we wouldn’t back down he eventually relented and said that he would get the window installers back to “adjust” them but it’s already clear to me that he is going to do his best to fob us off. I think a lot of the windows will need to be replaced.

This is causing us a lot of stress and I’m now wondering what our options are? We have a defect liability clause in our contract as well as a guarantee on the windows, which could offer us some recourse if we go down the legal route. Should I get an air tightness test? Would a structural engineer investigate an issue like this? Any help would me much appreciated!

frank730

I think you need to get an engineer report first then ask builders to resolve these issues, if not then a solicitor needs to get involved, we had issues with new built 3 months after we moved in, after 2 years long battle builders agreed to redo all 12 houses, problem we had was with floor, they had to put all of us in hotel for 2 weeks, all expenses covered by builder too

jhegarty

I would give them a change to adjust first. A badly adjusted window can leave a big gap.

donnaille

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120102366#Comment_120102366

Exactly this, give the opportunity to the builder to help first and try maintain the relationship with the builder. There's no winners once a solicitor needs to be involved.

Calahonda52

Sounds like the airtightness test results were falsified.

Ask for a copy of the airtightness test for the house.

Then

Get a full blower door test, along with thermal imaging done to see if the current airtightness complies with the regs.

The thermal images will show where the leaks are.

This report will give you evidence based material to work with.

mike_2009

They only have to do an air tightness test on a "sample" of the houses built though don't they? Didn't think they had to test every one....

zg3409

Do you know the name of the windows/door company? As others have said an independent report or assesment may be best

keno-daytrader

Defiantly go for an airtightness test, around 250 euros plus or minus depending on the tester and location.

If its a new build A2, anything over 3m3/hr/m2 is shambolic these days. At least you will be armed with knowledge when you approach the window company or contractor.

It used to be the case that only one of every house type in a development had to be BER tested and the same BER would be applied to all the other houses. Generally more care was taken during the construction of that house and they were often used as the show houses.

BER is really a guideline rating on how much energy the house will consume based on the materials used in its construction. The real life figure will depend on the quality of the workmanship.

You don't say if you used a snagger during the purchase but I would have expected them to inspect the windows and doors.

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120102639#Comment_120102639

I found that snaggers don't do thorough inspections. A good plasterer and painter can hide a lot of problems and snaggers just report what they can visually check.

szrxebrf

We had a snagger but they never picked up on these issues (among others). Having said that, it’s difficult to spot issues with the windows unless you inspect them closely with a spirit level and then it becomes more clear - the thing that we picked up on first was the draughts. I’ve thought about getting an air tightness test, but are there any regulations that stipulate the air tightness levels of a new A2 rated house?

Ush1

Would they not use the likes of intello air tightness tape around all windows and doors as standard?