The Brew Cabin

Posted: **Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:13 pm**

Hi,
i purchased some yellow riven 'wet cast' slabs from my local supplier/ manufacturer last summer, i bought them in 3 lots of 40 (120) over the space of approx 4-5 weeks, as and when i had the spare cash. my cousin who is a builder then laid them on the weekends. I had to buy 10 more to do some steps at the end of october. and after checking some of the information on your site, the slabs have been laid correctly as far as I can see.

Now since the new year about 80% of the slabs have lost the face and the chippings underneath are showing. the last 10 I bought for the steps are fine. I know the weather has been shocking with all the snow we had, but they should not break up like this in the space of a couple of months surely?

I spoke to the supplier/ manufacturer and they are saying it is down to the snow and frost and that I just take a look at the news about the roads cracking up etc.

I bought slabs from the same company about five years ago for my front patio and those slabs are fine but they couldnt explain that.

Can you please help me with advice for what I should next?
can the weather really do this to concrete slabs or are they faulty?

thank you

Darth

Posted: **Wed Jan 26, 2011 5:25 pm**

they sound faulty to me
the manufacturer will say anything to squirm out of this but the bottom line is that they are not fit for the purpose they were intended for
.give them an opportunity to make thing right before you go down the legal route, say a partial refund or something like that
LLL

Posted: **Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:34 pm**

There's been a spate of emails and phone calls similar to this, with most of them coming from Scotland and Norn Iron, and they have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

The short answer is that severe and prolonged sub-zero temps can and does damage the face of relatively new concrete paving, particularly wet cast which may have a lower cement content and w/c ratio than hydraulically pressed paving. So, the reason proffered by the manufacturers is correct but does that mean they should get off scot-free?

It seems to depend on how amenable the company is to its customers. One small-medium manufacturer I spoke to earlier this week is replacing damaged flags FOC, but is concerned that some clients are demanding the cost of reinstatement which, he rightly points out, could effectively bankrupt him, as the cost of the flags is often only 20% or less of the total job cost. Some other manufacturers are doing the "nuffink to do wiv us, mate" routine, which I think is a little unfair.

I can't tell you what the legal position is. many manufacturers have a clause in the small print that states they are only liable for the cost of replacing the goods they supplied, but a Trading Standards person told me this would never stand up in court if it could be shown that the fault was 100% due to manufacturing and nothing at all to do with the installation. This may explain why some manufacturer's first response is that the paving has not been laid correctly.

So there you have it. Until someone takes a case to court, we have no real guide to how the law would be interpreted, and even then, there are so many local variables that one case could be win only for a near-identical case to be lost.

I would suggest that you try to negotiate with the supplier, see what they offer, and if they are at all reasonable, take what you can get. If, however, they give you the cold shoulder, a call to your local Trading Standards might bring about a reconsideration of their position.

Posted: **Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:37 am**

Thanks for your help guys!

That gives me something to work with,

let the negotiations begin!

(Great site by the way)

Thanks Darth

The Brew Cabin

Face off slabs - Aggregate showing