My Doors won't close - Advice Please !!!

Raiser

My house is ~5/6 years old - and was built by a large nationwide Building firm.

The builder is still at the other end of Estate building and selling houses.

I'm paying for the house and will be for another 20 years.

Now the point:

There isn't a door in the house that will close.

Frames expanded ? Doors have shrunk ?

- Or were they just fitted on day one by a blind idiot with lots of ambition and no measuring tape ?




This situation is a problem for me as I cannot go to bed any night with my doors shut to prevent a fire gutting the house in 3 minutes. Some people will dismiss this, but its a fact, a simple precaution that's universally recommended and I cannot apply it due to crap standards, workmanship or quality of materials [some of or all of may apply]

Also as the doors swing open at any mere draft I cannot contain my 13 month old son in any room in the house - or even to keep him from either climbing the stairs and potentially falling right back down and breaking his neck, or else crawling out of an upstairs bedroom and doing same - we currently have a stair-gate on some internal doors [as well as stairs obviously] :mad:

Surely this is not acceptable?

- I would say that its reasonable that a mutually agreed carpenter should be employed to fix this issue and then the builder foots the resulting bill?

As I assume that there is a fair chance that I would be told to fcek off on asking for the above, could anyone advise how I might get this resolved? Could an independent assessor be asked to create a report on the unsatisfactory situation and I could then pursue the builder in the small claims court or wherever it takes ?

Any and all advice appreciated.

sydthebeat

Raiser wrote: »

My house is ~5/6 years old - and was built by a large nationwide Building firm.

The builder is still at the other end of Estate building and selling houses.

I'm paying for the house and will be for another 20 years.

Now the point:

There isn't a door in the house that will close.

Frames expanded ? Doors have shrunk ?

- Or were they just fitted on day one by a blind idiot with lots of ambition and no measuring tape ?




This situation is a problem for me as I cannot go to bed any night with my doors shut to prevent a fire gutting the house in 3 minutes. Some people will dismiss this, but its a fact, a simple precaution that's universally recommended and I cannot apply it due to crap standards, workmanship or quality of materials [some of or all of may apply]

Also as the doors swing open at any mere draft I cannot contain my 13 month old son in any room in the house - or even to keep him from either climbing the stairs and potentially falling right back down and breaking his neck, or else crawling out of an upstairs bedroom and doing same - we currently have a stair-gate on some internal doors [as well as stairs obviously] :mad:

Surely this is not acceptable?

- I would say that its reasonable that a mutually agreed carpenter should be employed to fix this issue and then the builder foots the resulting bill?

As I assume that there is a fair chance that I would be told to fcek off on asking for the above, could anyone advise how I might get this resolved? Could an independent assessor be asked to create a report on the unsatisfactory situation and I could then pursue the builder in the small claims court or wherever it takes ?

Any and all advice appreciated.

firstly.... definitely fix a gate to the top and botton of the stairs!!!!!
I know what 13 month olds are like and if you loose them for 1 second theyre gone...

secondly, its unreasonable to expect the builder to accept defects after 5-6 years... most liability periods only last for 6 months.

A snag list should always be prepared before you purchase a house. If the doors were not an issue then, its then a case of you get what you purchase.

Its not unusual for doors to shrink over time, and it doesnt take much to fix them..... sometimes the reciever for the latch can be altered.

Raiser

sydthebeat wrote: »

firstly.... definitely fix a gate to the top and bottom of the stairs!!!!!
I know what 13 month olds are like and if you loose them for 1 second theyre gone...

secondly, its unreasonable to expect the builder to accept defects after 5-6 years... most liability periods only last for 6 months.

A snag list should always be prepared before you purchase a house. If the doors were not an issue then, its then a case of you get what you purchase.

Its not unusual for doors to shrink over time, and it doesn't take much to fix them..... sometimes the receiver for the latch can be altered.

Hey thanks for taking the time to reply Syd.

I know the way that reads re. the stairs!!! - there is a gate on both top and bottom of stairs, but there has been incidents where he motors for an open front door or the gate at the bottom of the stairs has been left open for a minute to carry a washing basket up etc.

Re. snags and the timeframe - I bought the house from someone so no snag done by me, I reckon 6 months standing over crappy workmanship or poor quality building materials is a bit poor. My mortgage period is a lot longer than 6 months!!!!!

- I bet with the right legal representation you could win it in court !!!

redzerdrog

sounds like a few minor issues that either a run of a plane on the door or adjustment of a receiver could fix any carpenter or even handyman could fix all the doors in a couple of hours so wouldnt even cost a lot.

muffler

Raiser wrote: »

I bet with the right legal representation you could win it in court !!!

Oh oh. Read the charter.

Thread locked.