Brick issue on new house:(

Heytherek · #1 16-01-2012, 05:15 PM

Hi,

I am fast learning that building comes with a lot of issues - especially if you are a perfectionist like I am

Just wondered what peoples opinions are on my issue with the bricking done on our house. I had no problem with it until the builder did some kind of high pressure cleaning. It left chips on bricks on all the walls, some chipping is the size of a 10 cent coin. Some bricks have multiple chips. There is also a lot of holes and cracks in the mortar.

I raised this with the builder only to be told that the brick I had was a "flakey" type of brick and that the chips would have always been there in the brick, and that I am only noticing it now that it has been cleaned. Then the SS said that if they had chucked all the bricks with chips they would have had none left for the house. I have photographed these bricks a lot and I know they were not there before cleaning took place.

My concern is that it is unsightly, that why did the brickies use so called chipped bricks in the first place and the builder is just trying to fob it off as they have done numerous times whenever an issue is raised.

My reply was that the bricks did not look how they did in the displays or the brick producer's portrayal of the brick so I would expect the bricks to look the same.

I have contacted the brick company who are going to look at the bricks in a few weeks time but it is so frustrating that the builder is trying to just fob it off with the attitude that we should just accept this quality.

NOTE - have added some pics further down in thread.
Thanks
K

Di · #2 16-01-2012, 05:39 PM

How disappointing but you have done the right thing in contacting the brick company to come and make an assessment of them.

Are you able to go and get some samples from the display centre? I know we were able to take some samples when we were trying to match the bricks for our extension.

Should they stop work on the house in case the brickwork needs to be redone?

Heytherek · #3 16-01-2012, 05:52 PM

Hi,

Yes I know, it is very disappointing how the bricks have turned out, I really liked them before they cleaned.

The brick company said that no obvious chipped bricks should be laid in the first place, and nothing bigger than a thumb nail in size.

Unfortunately the brick underneath is red or orange red so it is very noticeable.

The builder is unlikely to stop work as they don't see it as a problem at all and basically tried to make me think that it was the style of bricks and just how they are.

The SS was just going to talk to his boss about it but he wasn't really concerned at all.

I just wonder what sort of quality control there is with a new house. This is our first house and it is really disappointing to see what they try to get away with.

K

NewHome · #4 16-01-2012, 06:19 PM

I'm sorry to hear that this has happened to your bricks heytherek. Can you show us some pics to get a better idea of how they look?

Heytherek · #5 16-01-2012, 06:23 PM

Hi,

I took some pics tonight, unfortunately my wireless connection goes really slow at this time of night. I will keep trying but in the morning I should be able to upload a few quickly.

K

Di · #6 16-01-2012, 07:06 PM

If you're not happy, make sure you stand your ground. You are paying THEM to build YOUR house. I sometimes think builders/tradies think they are doing YOU a favour when in actual fact you are doing them a favour in giving them your work.

If they do not compare to what is displayed at the brick place, then they need to sort it out.

Di · #7 16-01-2012, 07:08 PM

I also think people will tell you everything is fine when it isn't because it is not a simple, straight forward thing to fix.

I was told some of the biggest porkies during our building work like they thought I'd accept it because I'm female. *shakes head*

Example, our granite is two x 20mm pieces joined and I can see the seam in one bench and questioned this many times. The stone mason told me is was due to the glue they put the backing on with, even though the island bench does not have the same problem and they were consecutive numbered slabs.
A guy came to quote for our our outside paving and happened to be a stone mason in a previous life so I asked him about the granite. He told me I had been lied to and it was due to the colour of the bonding agent that had been used - 2 different colours had been used (one for the island and another for the other bench tops). I felt relief that I knew I had been lied to.

thisisme · #8 16-01-2012, 07:17 PM

Sorry to hear that

Is it possible that the bricks were
Faulty and therefore chipped too easy during the pressure cleaning process?

But I am thinking that the guy who pressure cleaned them had the machine on too high/powerful setting and/or had the nozzle too close to the bricks.

We pressure cleaned ourbricks but they are exposure grade (not sure of that makes any difference) and there was only minor chipping...

thisisme · #9 16-01-2012, 07:18 PM

But mortar chips could be a serious issue depending on how big/deep they are. It's a good thing you've got inspectors coming in.

Heytherek · #10 17-01-2012, 02:09 AM

Finally some pics, this one is actually where you step down outside the back door to the alfresco - quite a bit of chipping around here.

The other one shows what it is like on probably 40 to 50 per cent of the walls at least - just lots of chips. Some more noticeable than others. Some bricks have several chips on each one.