The Curse of Defective Concrete (Mica, Pyrrhotite, etc.) in Donegal homes - Read Mod warning Post 1

malinheader

DrPhilG wrote: »

I had a fella out 2 years ago to install fibre to the house. He had to drill through the end wall to run the cable in and he said it was a brute to get through. He said he had done some installs in Mica houses and the drill went through way too easy and in most cases blew a huge chunk out at the exit hole.

The problem was known about along time before it was flagged. Take the council for instance using the blocks for council houses, surely the clerk of works,engineers or site supervisors must of seen and witnessed the worrying fact that the blocks were very weak.
Still no excuses for Cassidys supplying blocks with over %50 mica and no cement.
But there were alot of blind eyes regarding this matter leaving the owners to suffer the consequences.

NIMAN

malinheader wrote: »

The problem was known about along time before it was flagged. Take the council for instance using the blocks for council houses, surely the clerk of works,engineers or site supervisors must of seen and witnessed the worrying fact that the blocks were very weak.
Still no excuses for Cassidys supplying blocks with over %50 mica and no cement.
But there were alot of blind eyes regarding this matter leaving the owners to suffer the consequences.

Mica was first talked about in 2010/11 afaik.

It is shocking that houses were still getting built with dodgy blocks after that date.

Another shocking fact, pointed out by a woman on a Highland discussion and who used to work in property sales, is that banks were still giving out mortgages for house sales involving Mica houses until recently. She said many houses were filled in, painted up and sold on to unsuspecting buyers. IMHO, if banks were still doing this, they should take the hit.

DrPhilG

NIMAN wrote: »

She said many houses were filled in, painted up and sold on to unsuspecting buyers.

I know at least one person who was caught this way, bought a house at €300k or so and its now falling to bits. Seems that the previous owner patched up and sold ASAP.

I know someone else who has Mica and who was advised by a prominent local business man (unnamed) to do the same. "Ah sure just lash a coat of paint on it and sell the problem on". Needless to say she didn't follow the advice and has since rebuilt the outer leaf at her own cost.

I don't know how people could live with themselves after deliberately doing that to someone else.

NIMAN

It really has been a case of "buyer beware" buying a house in Inishowen over the last decade.

It wasn't getting much publicity nationally for the last 10 years, so you could see how the odd sale went through without the buyer knowing anything, but I wouldn't be buying a house now until it had a core sample done.

malinheader

NIMAN wrote: »

Mica was first talked about in 2010/11 afaik.

It is shocking that houses were still getting built with dodgy blocks after that date.

Another shocking fact, pointed out by a woman on a Highland discussion and who used to work in property sales, is that banks were still giving out mortgages for house sales involving Mica houses until recently. She said many houses were filled in, painted up and sold on to unsuspecting buyers. IMHO, if banks were still doing this, they should take the hit.

As i said alot of blind eyes contributed to this disaster.
Cassidys are to blame 100% in my eyes for producing and knowing that the blocks were defective, but and it's a big but there were alot of cute hoors who added to people's misery knowing that the blocks were pure useless.
Cassidys should definitely be closed and never be allowed to make as much as a plant pot in the future.

RandomViewer

malinheader wrote: »

As i said alot of blind eyes contributed to this disaster.
Cassidys are to blame 100% in my eyes for producing and knowing that the blocks were defective, but and it's a big but there were alot of cute hoors who added to people's misery knowing that the blocks were pure useless.
Cassidys should definitely be closed and never be allowed to make as much as a plant pot in the future.

They've actually grown in the last 10 years and the Council still giving them work, obviously well connected

malinheader

RandomViewer wrote: »

They've actually grown in the last 10 years and the Council still giving them work, obviously well connected

This is a question that needs to be answered.
Even when the council were trying to patch up houses on crumbling estates they still used the manufactuer of the defective block to supply again.
Something very very wrong.

NIMAN

There must be a lot of brown envelopes changing hands these last few years.

I have yet to hear any councillor or TD slag off Cassidys, despite the fact that there is total proof they are at fault. Its not like they could sue anyone for libel.

malinheader

NIMAN wrote: »

There must be a lot of brown envelopes changing hands these last few years.

I have yet to hear any councillor or TD slag off Cassidys, despite the fact that there is total proof they are at fault. Its not like they could sue anyone for libel.

100% there is a big can of worms to open here . There is alot of things not making sense. Especially how Cassidys are still producing blocks and concrete. Was it ever checked yet what is leaving the quarry.

NIMAN

As Paddy Diver said recently, how come something which has the potential to cost the taxpayer €1bn, isn't getting a public inquiry set up?

CastorTroy

NIMAN wrote: »

It really has been a case of "buyer beware" buying a house in Inishowen over the last decade.

It wasn't getting much publicity nationally for the last 10 years, so you could see how the odd sale went through without the buyer knowing anything, but I wouldn't be buying a house now until it had a core sample done.

And that's the thing. Whose responsibility should it be to do the sample? In my opinion, if I was selling my house I think it would be on me to provide proof I'm Mica free. But from what I know, if the buyer wants to know then they'll either have to foot the bill themselves or move on, assuming the seller isn't willing to get the test done.

RobMc59

CastorTroy wrote: »

And that's the thing. Whose responsibility should it be to do the sample? In my opinion, if I was selling my house I think it would be on me to provide proof I'm Mica free. But from what I know, if the buyer wants to know then they'll either have to foot the bill themselves or move on, assuming the seller isn't willing to get the test done.

I regularly look at property for sale in Donegal and I`ve seen a few which state MICA content has been found in tests .I saw one recently which said there are external cracks and the house would be sold as seen.

Topgear on Dave

CastorTroy wrote: »

And that's the thing. Whose responsibility should it be to do the sample? In my opinion, if I was selling my house I think it would be on me to provide proof I'm Mica free. But from what I know, if the buyer wants to know then they'll either have to foot the bill themselves or move on, assuming the seller isn't willing to get the test done.

Its standard practice for the buyer to get their own engineer to look at a house before buying, I certainly did.

If I was buying in Donegal and risking a few hundred thousand doing it, I would not accept a test from the owner. I would get my own test done.

NIMAN

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Its standard practice for the buyer to get their own engineer to look at a house before buying, I certainly did.

If I was buying in Donegal and risking a few hundred thousand doing it, I would not accept a test from the owner. I would get my own test done.

I suppose its a difficult one.

Say you liked a house in Donegal and you were interested in it.

You have to ask the sellers, if they would mind if you bored a few holes through their house so you can get the blocks tested.

Then you have to stump up 5k+ to get them tested. Think it takes a couple of months minimum.

And it comes back with Mica....and you pull out of the deal. You have spent 5k on a house now you have no interest in.

In the great scheme of things, of course it has stopped you buying a dodgy house, but are you going to spend another 5k on the next house you see?

NIMAN

DCC have been purchasing houses over the last few years to try to help in their housing list numbers.
They have been knowingly buying houses with Mica.

Where is the logic in that? Knowing they are going to have to fix them, and evict the residents while the work is being done.

You couldn't make it up. How some people are in positions of power in this country I'll never know.

Topgear on Dave

NIMAN wrote: »

And it comes back with Mica....and you pull out of the deal. You have spent 5k on a house now you have no interest in.

In the great scheme of things, of course it has stopped you buying a dodgy house, but are you going to spend another 5k on the next house you see?

A tough one alright. But Id rather spend the 5k than end up with a house that was given a lick of paint to look lovely and is likely to end up unsellable and cracking.

jj880

I dont think it would be 5k if you sourced the test yourself.

Would be interesting if anyone could give us their price if theyve had testing done outside the redress scheme.

malinheader

I was listening to paddy diver and Charlie mc conlouge on highland earlier. I know who I would want fighting my corner to hopefully get the redress issue settled. Mc conlouge more or less saying the scheme now should be used as to introduce another one would take a long time, really didn't stand up for the people as he should and state that the scheme will be not viable for a massive majority of people. I know who would get my support if paddy and Charlie came knocking at my door. As I said paddy has done more in 2 weeks than our representatives have done in 2 years, and that's all parties.

DrPhilG

malinheader wrote: »

Mc conlouge more or less saying the scheme now should be used as to introduce another one would take a long time

Jeez, Charlie just signed his own P45 there

RandomViewer

DrPhilG wrote: »

Jeez, Charlie just signed his own P45 there

It'll end up like Ferry Refuse, lots of shouting but in the end nothing will be done, Blaney and McConnellogue both went to bat for Cassidy rather than the voters,

jj880

I asked around. Here is a message from a residents group in inishowen. It seems this persons first set of results came back "unclassified" so they are waiting on the 2nd test back. I know they are still testing but theres no mention of the 5-7k being charged in the redress scheme. As Swindled said there is gona be serious p!ss taking if the revised scheme is grant based. This hiking up charges needs to be stamped out.

NIMAN

Why are there different costs for tests if done privately versus the redress scheme?

The amount of work is exactly the same, so this is clear price gouging. Should also be investigated?

Pity we have no quality investigative journalism in this country? Would make a great article, or these people doing the testing should be invited on to Highland Radio to explain the difference.

jj880

NIMAN wrote: »

Why are there different costs for tests if done privately versus the redress scheme?

The amount of work is exactly the same, so this is clear price gouging. Should also be investigated?

Pity we have no quality investigative journalism in this country? Would make a great article, or these people doing the testing should be invited on to Highland Radio to explain the difference.

It could be the same people doing redress and private testing. Redress testing for a bumper payday. Private testing the rest of the time when someone is looking to buy/sell a house.

A 100% completely covered scheme would pay for it and that is what we want no doubt. However I think every inch closer to the best possible scheme should be looked at. E.g. what if in the end its a proper 100% scheme but capped at 400k? Every euro shaved off the total bill now is a potential euro more in the pocket of the home owner.

Penfailed

The difference is, if you are only coring to determine if there is mica present, you only need one core tested. You don't have to get a chartered engineer to do an initial scoping exercise or pay for eight cores to be taken and tested and you also don't need a chartered engineer to compile an engineer's report. It's not comparing like for like. There's no gouging going on.

Technique

RandomViewer wrote: »

Blaney and McConnellogue both went to bat for Cassidy rather than the voters,

I think they were following instructions from their own party hq and/or the department of finance. At this stage it won't matter to Cassidy's if the redress is 1% or 100%.

NIMAN

The Cassidys angle is a dead duck for now, imho.
They aren't going to be made to pay for anything, so pushing it is wasted energy at this time.

The redress scheme is where its all at. Excuse the pun, but thats where 100% of the effort should be going.

Cassidys will suffer in the long run simply by people stopping buying from them.
There is zero chance people doing any building in Inishowen will ever use them again.
If the Council ever make the decision to stop, that'll be the end of them. Lets hope they do.

JustAThought

The Pyrite redress scheme, which arose out of class action court case almost 400 homeowners took, was a fop and based on the miserly amount the judge of the new commerical court said would be left over from the funds available from the builder. This set the so called standard for the pyrita remedial board which even at its height was grossly inadequate. The same political clowns that were gooning around then and doing and delivering nothing at local council level are now minister in charge & TD’s and show as little interest in it (or Mica) as when it was lkterally in their political and electoral back yard.

The same political goons - who appoint or try to stealth appoint each others brothers and wifes to council jobs are the ones who recently REDUCED the funding per house for the pyrite remedial board and who raised the damage level required by the pyrite before an application could even be made to have it looked at.

I would be making a lot of noise about this parallel issue of mica. We have paid millions to take entire built estates and appartment complexes from NAMA and hand them over to charities and so called designated housing authorities for people to be effectively put into them at low protected rents (as little as e20 week in some Dublin areas for a 3 bed townhouse) where our taxes pay and hugely subsidise the handover of these NAMA properties and the subsequent subsidy of the rents FOR LIFE. Never having worked a day or paid a penny of tax is irrelavant to getting these subsidies. Yet ruin, mental torture, lifelong debt and negative equity for Mica victims.

Why are hardworking people, committed families and people who have paid their taxes and are paying their way in society being crucified by the people elected in to protect them and serve a just society?

If each and every house with block mica issues costs 500,000 to rebuild to the same level then so be it. We pay 80,000 to keep a murderer ir criminal in prison for a year & feed them a choice of 3 hot meals a day. Is the mental health and imminent ‘homelessness’ of an entire family not worth as much as a convicted rapist?

malinheader

Just watched a video paddy diver put up on Facebook. 100% redress noless.
One of the best videos I ever seen put together, hopefully someone here might be able to put the link up.
The can of worms has definitely been opened and if this doesn't warrant a tribunal into corruption nothing will.
Totally unbelievable how this has been let go.
Really shocking.

malinheader

If someone could put up a link to the video .Its on the Facebook page called %100 redress no less.
Thanks

James74

Cassidys to close to the public. Can't post the link properly, phone issues. Maybe somebody can do it again the right way. Sorry.

https://www.derryjournal.com/business/donegal-firm-cassidy-bros-to-close-to-public-next-week-3260025