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Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 6:53 pm
by Paulipops
We have had a new patio laid and just been advised by a friend that the patio level is to high to the DPC .It is currently only 6cm away and beleive building regs it must be 15cm. What will be the problems if we leave it ,are we inbreach of the building regulations and will have to put right when we sell the house next year.
Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 10:38 pm
by James.Q
the surveyor will pick it up that is should be 150mm and the buyer will want to offer you less to buy your house because of this :
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:53 am
by matt h
you risk rising damp inside the property and any adverse moisture readings will affect your selling price
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 1:15 pm
by Paulipops
Should the builder have known about the rules - We are still holding back half payment for the work and it could get messy as they are saying the building regs do not apply.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:58 pm
by Rich H
The builder should know about the regulations. A visit from the inspector would resolve it for sure.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 5:51 pm
by Paulipops
Which inspector do I need to get to settle this matter in writting with the contractor -
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:48 pm
by Rich H
You could try building control at your local council. Unless the scope falls into their areas they may not be much help but it's worth a call. If you don't get any joy there then a surveyor would definitely be able to steer you in the right direction, for a fee.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:14 pm
by lutonlagerlout
the thing is pauli did you agree for the patio to be done in a certain way?
its not right of course, but not sure how you stand legally
if the builder has done what you asked him then its a tough one
LLL
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 1:27 am
by matt h
agree with LLL what was specified and what did you get? I always advise the client, but always do what they specify.. unless they are totally bannanas:D
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 1:29 pm
by Paulipops
The garden was just a slope from a back field towards the house - we wanted a back retaining wall ,dropping down to a garden level coming to a small dwarf wall ,dropping down again onto the patio up to the house to make three levels. It was our contractor who decided the levels we never knew about the DPC level unill after the build was finished when a friend spotted what they had done.Think the builder was trying to save money by not digging the garden out but surely he should still have built to building regs.
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 2:55 pm
by lutonlagerlout
hmm if the patio falls towards the house then it is bad, i keep getting asked to do overlays on existing patios bringing the level up like this but i wont do it
basically either the whole thing has got to come out and be lowered by 90 mm(lot of work) or he has got to install a linear drain to a suitable drain/soakaway
thats the problem with verbal contracts,very difficult to prove liability in court
a picture would be handy
LLL
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:15 pm
by Paulipops
[img]c:/c.jpg[/img][img]c:/d.jpg[/img]
trying to send pictures of work
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:22 pm
by Paulipops
[img]c:/a.jpg[/img][img]c:/b.jpg[/img]
right the first two shows the Pointing (if you can call it that) up to the house wall and the line levels .These two show the slope going right to left and the nice lining up we get in the flags. Is this work acceptable when linked to the closeness to the DPC.The builder is now saying that If we wanted the work done to building regs we should have told him.
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:46 pm
by Dave_L
The pictures you have posted are stored on YOUR computer Paul - we can't see them.
They need to be hosted somewhere, then linked into this thread.
This thread will give you some idea as to what to do - you can host them somewhere such as http://www.flickr.com
Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 6:58 pm
by Paulipops