Leako Home | Oxley Woods Living | Oxley Park

Posts Tagged ‘leako home’

Glad we couldn’t afford carpets…

November 4, 2008

Or this could have been even more stressful!

As you can see if you look over our snagging lists, and read our other problems with rain water entering our Oxley Woods eco home, we’ve had quite a number of issues. This in itself has been extremely disappointing and stressful. Some of the workmen, who to their credit do often go out of their way to try and help and for the most part and are very approachable, have said our house is by far the worst on site for faults and snagging. But beyond the initial problems, it’s often the quality and care of the workmanship that’s lead to further stress and created new problems.

The most dramatic of these has probably been the bodged and bodged again window work to stop them leaking, but there are other instances too, this is just a snapshot of some of them, although there are more we could mention.

We’ve had problems with radiators. Several of them had dented front panels when we moved in, some still do, but with the hassle we’ve had getting them changed we’re feeling inclined to l leave them that way, if you’re not looking for the dents you wont notice them, and we don’t feel we can face further stress in getting them changed!

One problem has been new radiators have arrived with dented or cracked casings, some of which were installed, and then, of course, had to be replaced again (after waiting for the replacements to come in, again), the other has been problems with actually installing the replacements.

The reason I titled this post “glad we couldn’t afford carpets” is pretty obvious, because while it’s difficult saving up and making decisions on flooring for the house, the leaks and mess we’ve encountered due to problems could have been so much worse if had actually laid carpet at the time.

The photos below, probably not in order, show the mess left and materials used in one of several attempts to reach a compromise between landing doors that don’t let in wind or howl, and can actually be opened and closed without requiring excessive force.

Leak onto our first floor living room floor following the first radiator replacements.

Water on our ground floor living room floor because a part (rubber stopper/bung) was missing from our sliding door.

Huge water marks after our top floor landing floor was left literally soaking (and a cardboard toy chest drenched) after problems with the radiator during work (valve accidentally left open and unattended apparently).

Smaller water marks in our hallway after valve not shut off properly following draining to allow for radiator work to be carried out.

So you see, it’s not just the rain water coming in that’s lead to me calling this place a leako home rather than eco home!

To their credit once again, the site manager has offered to replace anything damaged by workmen, we had a trampled play mat replaced already, and got some shelving into the bargain, which was a nice gesture.

Tags: accidents, eco friendly homes, eco friendly houses, eco home, eco homes, eco house, eco houses, george wimpey, leaking, leako home, mess, milton keynes, oxley park, oxley woods, Problems, radiators, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, taylor wimpey, wood newton, workmanship
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Meetings that never happen and a house stripped and redressed

November 3, 2008

Due to the problems we have been experiencing since early July with rain water coming into our Oxley Woods eco home, it was decided by someone at Wimpey that a meeting should be held with several important people present. We’re not entirely sure who was supposed to be at these meetings with us, but the list included as many people as a CAD designer from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, one or more directors/managers from Wood Newton, and senior manager(s) from George Wimpey.

The meeting was originally organised for Tuesday the 14th October. We were told that the workmen would be in early to strip the house, and then people would come and discuss possible problems and solutions with us and each other. This was cancelled the day before, and rescheduled for a week later, apparently because some of those due to attend could not make it.

Tuesday 21st October came (and I called the day before to confirm it was still on) and first thing in the morning the all too familiar sound of the cherry picker making it’s way over signalled the start of the panel stripping process.

Unfortunately, the meeting didn’t happen then either. In fact it was apparently never due to happen then, but the following morning. So again we waited for the meeting. We said that one of us would have to take our Son to school and would appreciate it being held after about half past nine, so we could both be there.

So, Wednesday came, and first thing there was a gathering of people outside the house, staring at the property and bringing out some materials to work on the house with. I set off for school and back as soon as possible, only to find that the only member of management who did arrive, John Green from Wood Newton, had left, despite being asked to stay by one of the team on site from George Wimpey, as requested by myself. He had other things to do it seemed.

Nobody from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners or management from George Wimpey attended. So quite why the previous meeting had been postponed we do not know.

John did speak to my wife in my absence and seemed to be confident he had the solution to the leaks , and he assured her the work would be done in a day.

The fix basically involved stripping off all the Trespa panels (already undertaken for the examination of the house) some of the batons around the glazing, and other areas, and applying some sort of sticky breathable waterproof tape made by Tyvek to the house, using some dark, sticky resin applied to the breathable panels on the house.

We were concerned by the amount of tide marks on the side of the house. These, we are told, are perfectly normal and to be expected as the panels are themselves waterproof and are designed to breath, so water should be able to get behind the trespa and then just run down them and off into the French drain below. The horizontal tide marks seemed more of a concern, and it was these areas, as well as around all the glazing, that efforts (and the waterproof tape) would be focused.

All batons were them treated to a bit of mastic for good measure, not that the water should get in behind those anyway, and then the trespa panels re-applied. The work should be invisible behind the panels, and, finally, waterproof.

We were also assured that while the house was leaking, apparently far worse than any other house on site (although we get the impression we’re not alone in experiencing some rain water coming through), it WAS built to spec. This raised the concern that the house isn’t faulty by construction, but by design. Which would mean in turn that every other house on the Oxley Woods development has the potential to suffer the same problems. The reason, we’re told, we’ve had so much suffering is our relatively exposed positioning compared to other properties. This could be a blessing in disguise, as getting wet, and (we hope) getting fixed could be better than getting damp, and never even realising it.

The work that John from Wood Newton had assured would be carried out in a single day did, not surprisingly given the scale of the task, take the workers through until Saturday afternoon before they had the side of the house back together. The front and back of the house will also need to be checked and taped where deemed necessary.

The work was noisy, and very disruptive, we had a hell of a week. Our eight month old daughter suffered through disrupted sleep and we all suffered as a result. Having the workmen come in an extra day on Saturday to put the house together was a surprise (we found out Friday evening they’d be in), and it was good to see them working to get it done, but it caused further disruption and upset.

When all was completed, we were not happy with some of the panel fit, and some panels have been damaged in the process with small chips and scratches. But it does look much neater, and feels like a more complete solution than taping and covering a few patches as before.

The photographs below show various stages of the work, we have literally hundreds more, all on my Flickr page if you’re really that interested to see.

Tags: Architecture, eco friendly homes, eco friendly houses, eco home, eco homes, eco house, eco houses, faults, george wimpey, leaking, leako home, leaks, mastic, milton keynes, oxley park, oxley woods, Problems, repairs, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, taylor wimpey, trespa, tyvek, water, water ingress, window, windows, wood, wood newton, workmanship
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We have more water in yet another location

November 1, 2008

When term “leako home” came to mind after first discovering that our house wasn’t rain proof back in July, I would never have imagined that come November we’d still be waiting for repairs to be completed on some of those initial leaks and the damage they caused, let alone be discovering ever more locations where water is coming into our home, but sadly, it seems we just have.

In our Son’s bedroom he is fortunate to have a fantastic corner window that currently offers great views out into the distance over Oxley Park and Milton Keynes. Unfortunately, it appears this window is faulty, and lets in rain water. Not good, not good at all.

We had another paranoid, nervous scout around the house following some quite heavy rain and witnessing our leak above the kitchen window first hand tonight, and, as has all too often proved to be the case, this lead to us discovering yet more water coming into the home from outside.

This appears to be different from other leaks, most of the other leaks have appeared on the walls and ceilings first, while some have been diagnosed as problems with the windows themselves, and others have had to have several attempts and a complete strip down and resealing of one entire side of the house (so far), this one seems to be coming through the window itself, and running down the seam between the two pieces of glass.

We wiped the water away after first discovering this and taking the following photos, but very soon the area was just as wet again. We were hopeful it was condensation, but the speed with which the wetness returned seems to rule this out. We cant see or feel any particular dampness on the wall above the window, which is usually the case, and these windows do not touch the ceiling, as the top floor has taller, sloped ceilings. It really does seem this is coming through the window itself, which is nothing if not an unwelcome change from the usual modes of entry.

I’m writing this not long after finding this latest leak, and I have to say that not for the first time I feel absolutely terrible, fed up, distressed and quite drained by this whole affair. Horrible wet evening, again. I’m so tired of this every time we get bad weather, even if we don’t find a new leak, or one coming back, the stress it causes to just see rain outside is exhausting.

Tags: eco friendly homes, eco friendly houses, eco home, eco homes, eco house, eco houses, faults, george wimpey, leaking, leako home, leaks, milton keynes, oxley park, oxley woods, stains, taylor wimpey, water, water ingress, window, windows, wood newton
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Further, serious leaking in the kitchen

November 1, 2008

We already posted about the rain water making its way into the kitchen above the window. While we had seen the marks to show this, we hadn’t actually witnessed this water “in action”, not until today.

We’ve had a hell of a lot of disruption lately, including five consecutive days of work on one side of the house to attempt to remedy the apparently more serious problems of water ingress on that side of the home, which included a Saturday, and caused a lot of grief for our baby girl (and consequently, us!).

Anyway, more on that later, but this is about as much of a “live update” as I’ve managed to post on this blog so far. Today it’s been raining since mid morning, and this evening it has been raining pretty hard, and not in the most common direction across the house, so I decided to check the kitchen window.

Yes water is coming in via the ceiling above the kitchen window, there is a large wet patch on the ceiling, and the water is literally dripping from the window frame. This water was dripping down, on the glass, the kitchen surface, and irritatingly onto some Halloween sweets we’d bought for our Son and placed in the window the night before.

Not happy, but we knew this leak was here already, but now we’ve seen it for ourselves, we appreciate how serious it is. Apparently someone from the George Wimpey management team is due to visit us on Wednesday (it’s currently Saturday night) to check the previous repairs and decide if that’s the correct way forward (or something along these lines, I have no idea what they’re really up to half the time), they may have to put that, and the repairs forward, at this rate.

The leaks came back!

October 29, 2008

Following on from our series of leaks and fixes, during the weekend following the final painting and filling over the “repair hatch” that was cut in our wall for leak detection work, it turned out that all was not well.

As we sat in the living room on the evening of the 4th of October, my wife said those fateful words.. “Is that water?!”. Of course not I thought, and said, but unfortunately, on closer inspection, it was indeed water coming out of the wall and running down the side of our full length window! Disaster! Again!

Anyway, the following morning we inspected the new water damage, to find water marks and stains above and down the side of the Juliet window, and also below the power socket where water marks had appeared before. All the previous repair and repatching work, and all the disruption that brought with it, felt and seemed as if were all for nothing. We STILL had a leaky eco home!

So here we were, three months after first discovering leaks at our new eco home, several days of disruptions and multiple repair attempts later, and water was literally dripping down our walls and pooling on the skirting board. Not good, not good at all.