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have a look at my lovely house on my profile. you wont believe whats happened to it. am so upset : (. advice also needed in respect of insurance claiming

45 replies

belcantwait · 27/02/2009 11:44

yesterday, we had a plasterer come in to replace a small patch of render which seemed to be hollow and to fill in a few small hairline cracks so it can be redecorated in april.
half an hour later i had a phone call telling me to come straight home. bad sign.

the render was removed between the bottom left window and the top left window. within it, all the timber (lath and plaster on the top, stone near the bottom) and lintels are rotted through, the stones are all loose and falling off. the render is holding the structure together (and thats not even attached to the building!)

so basically its now left, gaping great holesi n the wall and bits falling out. and theres no way its just that piece affected- its the whole bloody front if not round the sides and back as well . i ad to call out the council to barracade it off as its really dangerous to pedestrains. which apparently we have to pay forwhich will run into hundreds of pounds

we informed the insurance co and have now made a claim but i am worried because:
1- they keep saying wear and tear wear and tear and thsts not covered. well who would have known it was like that underneath? the mortgage survey that was done on it showed there are cracks that were not thought to be significant and usual for the age of the building. i still have aa copy of it fortunately
2-if they do pay out, will they redo the whole house or just the little bit uncovered so far? theres def more than whats showing atm
3- that section of the house which is already unstable is being supported by a not-wide-enough-anyway rotten lintel- what if it all totally collapses? is it even safe to be in it? i know its been there for ages but we havent known about it and thats the difference. also now the render is gone from there thers nothing really holding it up.
4- if they dont pay up wtf are we going to do??? its going to cost thousnads and thousands

{worried}

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belcantwait · 27/02/2009 13:36

thank you mr cmotdibbler

would that be in addition to the contractors that the insurance co are sending out to look at it? do i need to inform the insurance co that that is what we're doing?

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belcantwait · 27/02/2009 13:37

pesto- fancy a trip to sunny devon?

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belcantwait · 27/02/2009 13:38

dh took some photos of it with his phone yesterday. if i can work out how to do it later i will try and post them on my profile

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PestoMonster · 27/02/2009 13:40

Your insurers will appoint someone to come and look at it. I wouldn't, at this stage, arrange it yourself as you would most likely be duplicating the work and have to pay for it yourself.

Dh does occasionally venture down your way for a claim, and we do have family that way....

However, seriously, get your insurance company to appoint someone to come asap

belcantwait · 27/02/2009 13:44

they have. they are coming tuesday. i owuld have preferred today but apparently they dont deem it to be that urgent.

what i dont get is how can it be general 'wear and tear' when its encased in render? its not like its exposed to the elements or anything. nothing can hit it or knock it etc. and it was clearly there long before we moved in. the insurance person did so 'oh dear that sounds serious' when dh mentioned on the phone that we had the council blocking off the path outside. maybe thats a good thing ...

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cmotdibbler · 27/02/2009 13:47

He's wandered off to do ironing - so I'm being the secretary

"I wouldn't trust an insurer appointed contractor to make a decision on a technically complex case such as this. Tell them that you are appointing a Structural Engineer to act on your behalf"

cmotdibbler · 27/02/2009 13:52

Oh, and :" if the insurers do accept the claim, then you can claim back the cost of the structural engineer from them"

"Wear and tear in your case, means that the render has failed, and is no longer keeping water out. The penetrating water has caused the rot. As render is expected to fail with time, it's not an insurable event"

belcantwait · 27/02/2009 14:05

ironing?!! [jealous]

insurance co have just rung me to say they want us to move out til its fixed!

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jeanjeannie · 27/02/2009 14:06

Belcan - sorry but no there was no payout - I was daft enough to buy a Victorian house without a structural survey

I got in a structural engineer and it ended up with a huge steel beam across the window - as technically there was nothing much holding up the upstairs! The Render collapsed through rot and damp due to years of poor maintence, plus the house was split into two flat and the company who did the work didn't do a great job which made it all much worse.

Definately get insurance company to have a look but if it's render it may not be covered - mine wasn't

PlumBumMum · 27/02/2009 14:12

Oh belcantwait no advice sorry for you and a bump for you

catMandu · 27/02/2009 14:13

Belcantwait - were you the poster who posted a while ago about the render on their house causing condensation because it hadn't been done by a professional company? If not, has the render been done in the last few years, any comeback on the people who did it?

lalalonglegs · 27/02/2009 16:12

That's appalling. I wish I had something useful to add. I can't imagine how confused and upset you must be feeling.

lalalonglegs · 27/02/2009 16:14

I would just add that, as you can't do anything about the structure yourself and as it sounds from the other MNers you might not be covered by household insurance, then it might make you feel you are doing something constructive if you sit down and work out strategies for raising money towards the work. It might give you a plan of action and make you feel more in control.

PestoMonster · 27/02/2009 21:25

Back again. I have spoken to DH and he believes it is unlikely that your insurance will cover it. He reckons your plan of action ought to be to get the opinion of at least two or three professionals, such as a structural engineer and a builder and the insurance company and then try to contain the amount of work done, to minimise the amount you end up having to spend.

Sorry it's not better news.

Lilyloo · 27/02/2009 21:31

so your poor house and you!

Shandyleer · 03/03/2009 14:40

Bel, have you had any news about your house yet? Hope you're not feeling too stressed out.

belcantwait · 05/03/2009 09:37

um well its been a bit stressful tbh as insurance people have said 'at the moment' they cant place the damage under a single 'peril' (???)) so at present they are not liable for costs.
dh had structual engineer that we have employed privately come out today. he doesnt think its as bad as it looks. tbh i am a bit but he was her for an hour ad he is the dogs danglers when it comes to this kind of thing.
still waiting to hear back form insurnace co , we arent taking it lying down. dh has a colleague whose mm had exactly the same prob and the insurance co initially said they wouldnt pay but they just kept on and on until they agreed to pay 75% of costs so fingers crossed. i am going to annoy them til they pay up lol

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belcantwait · 05/03/2009 09:46

i have uploaded photos of it to my profile.

just got angry with my mum who phoned me to find out about it. tbh its all really getting me down now. i have finally tipped over the edge. am sat her with tears pouring down my face and a thumping headache. bloody hate staying at my mums i just want to go home.

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Shandyleer · 05/03/2009 16:04

Oh, poor you. Didn't realise you were at your Mum's. Is the whole family there? Its awful staying with the parents isn't it? Can't really think of anything constructive to say to you other than to put your trust in the structural engineer, he should know what he's on about. Have you any idea of cost etc yet? Wish I could be of more help, but have been thinking of you. Keep us posted.

jeanjeannie · 05/03/2009 17:12

Oh wow - you poor thing - that looks c*ap But it does look very similar to what happened above my bay window and that ended up taking much less time to fix than I thought.

Keep plugging away at the insurance - you never know. I wish I had but I was just desperate as I was the freeholder and people upstairs were in danger of crashing into my living room!!

If this structual guy is the dogs then you can bet he's seen loads worse. Better than him sucking his teeth, rolling his eyes and shaking his head....then you know you're in big^ trouble. DP's uncle is a Struc engineer and he's basically not peturbed until it's actually almost on the floor!

Keep us posted, and have a damm good cry. Bloody stressful though.

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