Hole in the wall

[Dan103]

Just had the hallway and landing painted yesterday. He did a good job and was very happy until he told there was a big hole behind the radiator. Upon finding this i thought of checking the rest of the house. I found another in the upstairs bathroom.

Persimmon on not interested as we have been in house for 3 years past their 2 year warranty despite the fact we have never even thought of looking behind the radiators and we have only began decoration now. The LABC also have a £1000 excess and i dont think it would cost over this to fix.

Not sure how to go about fixing or whether i can claim on anything else. Had nothing bad to say about persimmon till now. which is a suprise

 

[Dan103]

This is the one downstairs

 

[Dan103]

This is upstairs

 

[Semple]

Just looks like shoddy worksmanship that they knew was going to be behind a radiator and probably figured it wouldn't get noticed.

Shouldn't be too tricky for a DIY repair, probably fill with some expanding foam, and then could sand down and paint, wouldn't need to be too perfect as you won't see it behind a radiator.

 

[psd99]

that's terrible! very very poor workmanship but just shows how bad some of these I presume new builds are!

I wonder if you could get a small piece of plasterboard wedge it in then just filler on top?

 

[thezappa]

Yup, fill it with plasterboard. Loads of videos on YouTube.
I’m not surprised there are holes there, especially as it’s Persimmon.

 

[Iron-man]

easier to do a little diy repair rather then claim on insurance etc. Also a good chance to practice as it wont be seen when you put the rad back on the wall

 

[a1ex2001]

Just put the rads back on and forget about it, you can't see it do what does it matter? Most I would do is stuff the hole with some rock wool life is too short to waste on such things, he'll I wouldn't even have had the radiators off to decorate!

 

[kaptainmarc]

as above, put radiators on and forget about it

 

[Minstadave]

I’d just square off the hole and patch it with plasterboard. Doesn’t take long or cost much.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Correct way, square off area, patch with plasterboard

What I would do, expanding foam, leave to set, trim to roughly flat to wall, quick coat of paint

You do want to fill it, it will be leaking heat. Expanding foam will be fine. You couldnt see the hole before so some expanding foam trimmed to flat and painted will be nigh on undetectable

 

[Dan103]

I would leave it but its bothering the mrs now that she knows its there. will look to diy then instead of claiming, will try on the upstairs first where we havent painted. I was just going to use expanding foam due to location.

As we have bendy connecting pipes we have painted behind all of them if they had been fixed i wouldn't have bothered

 

[Daaaavvveee]

Looks like a Bovis! I had a couple like that also

 

[manic_man]

You should see behind my radiators! They haven;t even bothered putting the covers over the backbox where the rad pipes come through the wall in most cases and where they have, it's not the correct type like you have, it's a simple blanking plate someone has drilled a few holes in! Of course to retro-install means disconnecting pipework so we haven't bothered.

I think the general rule of thumb for any new build is to assume anything you can't directly see (and to be honest sometimes what you can see) will be done with little or no care. It's the main problem with the way we build houses in this country, we mostly let national house builders throw up hundreds at a time, they use local labourers who bid the least and they get paid when the whole job is complete. The customer (the home owner) isn't part of the building process so unless there is a fastidious foreman on the site (who lets be honest isn't being paid enough to care *that much*) then it's only when customers to the house builders complain bitterly and constantly for the first 2 years that you end up with a good job and most people either a) can;t be bothered or b) don't notice things like that anyway.

It's only going to get worse as builders are told to make houses cheaper and to build more of them more quickly....

 

[Rroff]

First one looks like you can do a bit of prep-work and fill it with some Polycell Polyfilla, sand off and paint the whole section if required - the second one looks like you will need to patch with plasterboard.

 

[Adam]

It's wrong that the workmanship was so poor that this happened, but it's behind a radiator that you will never see and will not need to remove until you get the walls painted again.

It really isn't worth worrying about. As long as the radiator is held on securely (which it appears to be) then it's best to put them back on the wall and forget all about it.

 

[a1ex2001]

I would leave it but its bothering the mrs now that she knows its there. will look to diy then instead of claiming, will try on the upstairs first where we havent painted. I was just going to use expanding foam due to location.

As we have bendy connecting pipes we have painted behind all of them if they had been fixed i wouldn't have bothered

Bendy connecting pipes or not I'll never understand moving a radiator which always risks a leak to paint a wall you can't see!

As for the Mrs re hang the radiators and tell her you fixed the holes she is hardly going to take them off to check!

 

[Schizo]

I would contact the them before I fixed it to show then the mess there builders have left behind.

Have you checked your neighbours and see if the same holes are there ?

If your neighbours have the same you could get it done for free.

 

[Dan103]

I would contact the them before I fixed it to show then the mess there builders have left behind.

Have you checked your neighbours and see if the same holes are there ?

If your neighbours have the same you could get it done for free.

The wife has numerous times with the same repeated " your past your two year warranty" She spoke with the manager of customer care and then was supposed to get a call back from his boss but hasn't. The thing is they have builders and work men on site so it would take them no time and barely any material to fix there own mess. We know a builder on site quite well so might have a word if he can sort it as he has done other small things for nothing before.

Haven't checked with neighbours but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[DrCheese]

Have you tried the HNBC? They should cover your house from building defects for a further 8 years after the builders warranty finishes.