Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 02, 2008 6:34 pm Hi All,
This is my very first post and I am hoping it will provide a sense of comfort. My husband and I are building a Clarendon home (Terrigal design) in Kellyville Ridge and the process has been going pretty smooth - up until now. The bricking of our house has just finished and now that they are cleaning the bricks we can see that quite a few bricks are chipped. Some are small chips but a couple are quite large. As we are using the smooth faced bricks the chips are very noticable. One of the bricks is even the wrong way round so the brick doesn't even look smooth. I am planning on ringing our site supervisor first thing tomorrow about it, but was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue? If so were your bricks fixed? How did they fix them? and did you have to fight to get the repairs done or was it an easy process? I look forward to hearing back. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 2Nov 02, 2008 7:37 pm Had a client that had similar damaged bricks, they were quite badly damaged to large area. They are unacceptable and you can advise the builder in writing immediately. do not assume verbally they will be fixed. Importantly pay for a independant building consultant to write a report on the brickwork and present to builder via registred mail and inperson aswell.You can look up building standards and tolarances etc but so better to quickly get professional report done asap and not rely on just verbal discussions.
After a long drawn out dispute our client was compensated financially simply because it was easier for the builder to settle rather than rebuild the wall. but if it can rebuilt quickly then great but usually it takes time before the builder starts to respond as they hope you will just give up on the problem and by then the house has progressed considerably Good luck not easy. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 3Nov 03, 2008 6:50 am Hi Dakis
Thanks for your help. I was consildering getting an independent inspection and now think it is even more vital. I definately won't give up on it, I'll just keep nagging until its fixed. Thanks again. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 4Nov 04, 2008 9:02 pm Jacqui - we have the same builder and the same issue with smooth face bricks - we have a couple of chipped bricks right in the very top row on the second storey, apparently damaged by the klutz doing the cladding.
we were told - 'sorry, you chose those bricks and that's one of the problems with them, they chip easily' and 'no, we can't fix it'. Good luck - you'll need it. Built a Clarendon 'Balmain' 2008 Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 5Nov 05, 2008 9:16 am Hi Maxie,
That's no good! Did you guys get an independent inspection?? If Clarendon claim that the bricks we chose chip easily, I'll argue that this was not outlined to us when choosing the bricks. We chose a dark coloured door and Clarendon made us sign an agreement that they would not be responsible for any warping due to the colour. If they had made us sign a similar agreement for the bricks, I'd understand the point they gave you however since they didn't I plan to keep at them until our bricks are fixed. Thanks for your post Jacqui Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 6Nov 05, 2008 9:08 pm No, no independent inspection (hubby didn't want to pay ). They never mentioned any 'problems' with teh smooth face bricks to us either at selection.
As you can see, we have a dark grey front door - I remember the original sales rep mentioning having to sign some waiver about the door warping, but it was never produced on the selection day. I'm not too worried about that as direct sunlight never hits the door anyway Built a Clarendon 'Balmain' 2008 Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 7Nov 06, 2008 6:46 am I love the look of your house!! I've don't think I've seen a Balmain before.
Where abouts are you building? Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 8Nov 06, 2008 8:30 am we just had an inspection yesterday. A few of ours were chipped as well, revealing the red brick beneath. They were not severe, in fact it is hard to see in some places as they were not smooth face bricks. SS will replace those bricks for us. Mind you, there were really only two bricks that really needs replacing, not a lot. Our builder didn't have to do it, but they will so we are very happy about that.
Maybe talk to your PCA if you are unhappy. They are a cheaper alternative to getting independant inspector. Our PCA has been very good at when we had an issue with our builder. chipped bricks 9Nov 07, 2008 7:21 am Hi, as a bricklayer of 20+ yrs, I can only give you a few bits of advice. Firstly, if the brickie has any level of integrity, any chipped bricks will be left out during the laying.
Yes, as it happens, sometimes a few sneak into the wall but these should be picked up on the day of laying or replaced later. Was the entire job acceptable on a whole, or were there other issues? If there are only a handful of chipped bricks in an otherwise good wall then they can be replaced easily, and at no extra cost to the client. Also, the type of brick and manafacturer are a big factor to the finished look. Some clinker types are very prone to chipping, while other 'doughy' bricks can look 'unfinished'. Before you build you should decide what you like, and then go and look at some completed homes, not just one but two or three if you can. Hope this helps. www.howtolaybricks.com.au Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 10Nov 07, 2008 1:00 pm Hi Charlie & Sammy
Thanks for your help. Sammy - the suggestion of contacting our PCA is a great one. We are going to give them a call today and have them take a look. Charlie - the overall job is pretty good, there probably are only a dozen bricks we would like replaced. We have ample leftover bricks that can be used, so I'm hoping the brickies will come back. Its funny, the bricks seem to be either chip-free or really badly chipped. There doesn't seem to be many in between. We also have quite big holes in the motar - is that normal? Do they come back and fix that too? I thought maybe the brickies didn't notice the chips and motar because we didn't until the brick cleaner came and cleaned them all - could this be the case? Thanks again guys for your replies - have a great weekend. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 11Nov 07, 2008 1:04 pm We had the same with the mortar, and brang it up in our PCI and the SS is going to get the brickie back to fix it! not alot but we thought we have paid good money may as well get it done properly first go!
So perhaps ask your SS about it! Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 12Nov 07, 2008 1:05 pm The holes in mortar could be due to brick clean. Builders usually get the brickies to come back to fix those near completion (well, our builder did anyway). chipped bricks 13Nov 07, 2008 3:10 pm Yep you're right, again depending upon the brick, it's quite possible that it was still intact when the brickie finished, and the cleaner comes along with a pressure washer and these chips then appear!
Was a pressure washer used for cleaning, it sounds like yes? Not alot of people realise but there are standards and guidlines published for the cleaning of bricks which outline the strength of the acid (if any at all), how strong the pressure is and how close your able to hold the nozzle to the wall. Unfortunately not too many follow this and tend to blow out any hairline chips in the brick and holes in the mortar, especially if they hit it too early and the mortar hasn't had time to cure properly. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 14Nov 07, 2008 3:38 pm Great news!! We spoke to our SS and the brickies are going to come back and fix the bricks and motar.
Thanks again everyone for your help. It is really good to have the forum to vent and find out solutions to the dilemas that pop up whilst building. Have a lovely weekend. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 15Nov 07, 2008 9:12 pm that's great to hear!
hope no more issues in the future ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Built the Nevada 42 Next project - landscaping! Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 16Dec 28, 2008 10:14 am Jacq_n_Paul
Has all your brick problems been fixed? Thanks for all your advice. I am building a Clarendon house as well and having the same problem with my smooth face bricks and the mortar. However, the house is not completed yet, so I will raise this with the supervisor. There are also some bricks that are not layed very evenly. Re: Chipped Bricks - will they be fixed???? 17Dec 28, 2008 9:42 pm Hi Behw.
Our issue was fixed. We asked our site supervisor to fix the bricks and after some hesitation they were replaced. Its really important that you stick to your guns. We do have some bricks with small chips in them still but they are hardly noticeable. We really wanted to fix the badly chipped bricks. We have also decided to get an independent site inspection once the job is complete. It will cost about $500 but in the scheme of things this isn't a lot of money for piece of mind. Let me know if you have any questions. Jacqs Building Standards; Getting It Right! These can be easily filled and repaired and it doesn't cost them much to do. Id get the builder to do this first and if the repair is not suitable then a replacement is… 12 31248 get them to replace the chipped tiles. It will stick out like a sore thumb overwise. Also tiler will be siliconing the miters rather than grouting. Grouted miters crack… 1 4031 Thank you so much everyone. This all makes a lot of sense. I guess when you talk to a builder who butters up everything to look very polished, you get to start believing… 7 17511 |