Cracked tiles newly bought house

eimersteffi

Hi,

we bought a house in August and have only tiles or timber floors throughout. Now the timber floor upstairs has started moving down, leaving a gap between the skirting board and the floor.
Between bedroom and en-suite (that's tiled) was no space left to let the wood dry out. As a result a few tiles in the bathroom have cracked (1 long crack through 3-4 tiles).

Is there anything that can be done to level the timber floors again. What do we do about the tiling, to prevent cracking? I guess for the tiles already cracked we can only exchange them...

Our builder leaves nearby and still has a few jobs to finish here.
Is there anything legal that would make him do the jobs and carry costs for that?
Obviously snag was done and by that time neither floor nor tiles were damaged...cause it took some time to dry out...

Thanks for experiences and exchange...
Steffi

Mellor

I've edited the title as legal situations are not to be discussed. I'm tempted to lock this, but i'll let it go as long as no legal advice or opinions, that may be taken as legal advice, are expressed.

The defects would of course not be covered by a snag. But the contract should of have a defects liability period that covers these exact ecpected defects.

sinnerboy

have you tried just talking to the builder ? you may be surprised ....

Stevie Dakota

You will always get a degree of settlement, and this will usually be most noticeable upstairs as the floor joists loose their moisture and contract. As you bought in august I would suggest that there is more settlement to come, a safe rule is 2 years, but that may not be practical with your cracked tiles. Try to get them fixed, but don't be shocked if the problem re-occurs.