Oxley Woods Living

Life in an Oxley Woods eco house

 
 

Posts Tagged ‘Problems’

 

Are we nearly there yet?

April 24, 2010

Maybe so… at least, sat here on a sunny morning in Oxley Park, with the estate feeling quiet and bright, it feels like we may really, nearly, be there.

We now only have a handful of outstanding items. Sure, some of them seem quite big, some seems quite mysterious and apparently very hard to solve, but it feels like, ALMOST two years in, we’re finally approaching a point where we can just settle in and get on with living in our Oxley Woods home.

So there’s a couple of hurdles and no doubt stumbling blocks to be negotiated yet, but we’re almost there.

It’ll be amazing when we finally arrive!

The drip drip effect at Oxley Woods

February 3, 2010

It’s not been long since we moved back into our home at Oxley Woods. The newly installed windows are a vast improvement over the old. Personally, I prefer their appearance, but most importantly, so far, they’re proving weather proof! We’ve had rain, we’ve had snow, we’ve had wind… and so far so good, the water has remained on the outside of the property!

So, for the first time since June 2008, it seems our Taylor Wimpey and Wood Newton constructed eco house is water tight!

Unfortunately, it’s water tight, but still, in the case of one room (and the skylight area, of course), still rather wet.

Our Son’s bedroom is at the front of the property. It has a corner window, the same design and orientation as the kitchen on the ground floor. Unfortunately it gets wet. Very wet.

A couple of days ago I grabbed some photos, it wasn’t actually anywhere near as bad as it can be. Below show his bedroom window, our daughters window in the neighbouring room, our bedroom window, and finally the kitchen window for comparison.

Front bedroom

Middle bedroom window

Master bedroom

Kitchen window

As you can see, there’s quite a dramatic pool of water in our Son’s bedroom.

This is not unusual. It’s been very bad since we moved back in, and following a meeting on site here at Oxley Woods last week with Wood Newton and Taylor Wimpey we’re not even sure what’s going to happen. It seems they don’t really know what the problem is (sound familiar) and why this particular section of glass is suffering so much, when all others around it are not. It’s not a hot room in the winter, and it’s not unique in it’s style/position (other than elevation, it’s much the same as the kitchen, which by rights should be the “damper” of the two rooms.

Our son doesn’t breath more than myself and my wife combined, or even probably much more than our younger daughter in the next room. We don’t hang things on the radiators… there just seems to be a problem with the glazing in his room.

We really hope this gets resolved as soon as possible, as water on wooden windows cannot be a good thing, neither can the damp in a children’s bedroom, and the fact the water runs down the recently painted walls, leaving run marks as it goes, certainly isn’t pleasant at all.

Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions as to what could be causing this, please feel free to comment below, as we feel we need all the help we can get to resolve our problems right now!

Warped and wondering at Oxley Woods

January 31, 2010

In July 2008 we reported an issue of a warped fridge freezer door. That’s eighteen months ago. During that time, several doors have been sent to the site by the supplier Symphony, apparently all also warped, or warping. This has been ongoing the entire time we’ve been in the property.

We spoke about this once again towards the end of last year. Apparently Wimpey were going to talk to their head buyer and sort this problem once and for all. It did seem they were taking it seriously, but as I said, from our point of view it’s been a year and a half of living with an increasingly warped door, a faulty product, and we seem no closer to getting it fixed.

The fact that Symphony appear to be continually supplying the builders with replacements that are also faulty is neither here nor there from our point of view. We paid our money to Wimpey and it is, of course, their responsibility to make sure we get wait we paid for, a product of suitable quality.

Anyway, this is what the door looks like, at the top from both sides, and at the bottom. Quite a difference I”m sure you’ll agree.

Fridge door

Fridge door

Fridge door

Anyway, last week (January 2010, remember, this problem has been present since July 2008!) we were told once again about Taylor Wimpey talking to their head of buying talking to Symphony to get this sorted. The same thing we were told over a month ago?! I’ve no idea what’s been happening in the mean time, but this is another example of us waiting… and waiting… and waiting… and putting up with a substandard product, and here were are, a year and a half down the line, and it feels like we’re getting nowhere fast.

Maddening.

Oxley Woods, where next week means what?

September 25, 2009

Nothing. Apparently.

When Peter from Wood Newton visited last Thursday afternoon, I had to tell him it was not convenient for the painters to attempt to paint the ceilings and walls of our property that same day. The reply came it would have to be “some time next week”. Which seemed fair enough at the time.

Only, here we are, Friday morning of that very “next week”. The painting still having not been addressed.

Have we seen or heard anything of Peter or the painters? Other than when Peter popped by the blog to effectively accuse myself, my wife and mother of being liars on an earlier post? No. Not a word.

So when does “next week” mean?

I’ve asked for clarification from George Wimpey customer care, who also appear to struggle with the concept of time where Wood Newton are concerned, but my request for clarification appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Positive movements?

September 21, 2009

Well there’s been a lot going on lately that I’ve not been blogging about, purely because a lot of it was timing based.

Unfortunately, it appears that the wishes of over half of the residents here at Oxley Woods may have fallen on deaf ears. Hopefully this will not prove to be the case, but time is running out. More on that perhaps another time, maybe with good news for everyone!

Anyway, aside from the doom and gloom, it does appear that last week and this, there is more activity on site in terms of joiners and other workmen flitting about. I have heard from a number of residents that they have been contacted by Wood Newton about issues that they had not had any news on for some time. This is good stuff.

Perhaps so many residents coming together to express their support for one another, and their frustration, in some cases dismay with the situation on this “landmark development” of eco houses, is paying off. It shouldn’t need this in my opinion. I think everyone expects problems to a degree, but it’s when there’s too many, or they just don’t get solved in good time, that’s when things start to get out of hand and become intolerable for some.

Anyway, hopefully the increased activity on site IS following through and resulting in more people getting their problems solved now. There’s some people out there in a terrible position and maybe that is about to improve! We live in hope.

As for us, after chasing Taylor Wimpey head office/customer service on Friday I had a copy of a letter sent over this morning which sounds very positive indeed for our personal situation. Again, we can only hope it bears fruit and things do improve. We’ve felt positive like this before and had our hopes dashed, this time it does seem different.

Hope so.