Damp patches on new build house

[Daddy pig]

Another issue to add which I was going to post a separate thread about but I think is relevant here is water coming through the brickwork on the garage.
We have a single skin garage overlapping our neighbours garden slightly. When his turf was laid he had his sprinkler set to timer to come on for 1 hour per day. The sprinkler came into contact with our garage wall and after about 3 weeks of this I noticed a damp patch in my garage (boxes were stacked there so the photos show what I found when moving them out the way) the floor was puddled there was so much water and the bricks were dripping wet. Our property is higher up so my garage in his garden probably has 2-3 foot of foundations before the brickwork with raked pointing.
This was discovered 3 weeks ago and is still damp after my neighbour stopping the sprinkler when I informed him that day

 

[Leofric]

A new house bought in July should be covered by the Builder's warranty. ( Is it also under NHBC warranty ?)
Put your concerns with photos to the builder and keep copies of your correspondence. Don't try and do any remedial work yourself. The builder should sort it out and if he can't you could take it up eventually with NHBC, if the builder is NHBC registered.
Some builders used to prefer blown mineral fibre insulation injected from inside the house through holes drilled through the blockwork before the walls were plastered, but however it was done it should have been by an approved installer and come with a 25 year guarantee against water penetration due to faulty materials or workmanship. Incidentally , I understand removing bricks after installation of fibre cavity insulation can cause some insulation to drop down leaving gaps .

As others have explained the dpc and cavity tie photo shows a lack of basic bricklaying knowledge.
Regarding the garage photos , where is the horizontal dpc in the wall to prevent rising damp ? This should be at least 150mm (2 courses of bwk ) above the adjoin external ground level. ​

 

[Leofric]

Forgot to mention there is also a minimum external wall cavity width required for full fill cavity insulation depending on the exposure rating. You could check with the Building Control authority which dealt with the construction of your house ( they haven't done a very good job of inspecting the work on site allowing that horizontal dpc and wall tie work to go unnoticed )

 

[bobasd]

i suggested removing bricks to see inside the cavity - not to attempt any remedial work.

Removing bricks to check the condition of CWI is a common practice - why and how would it cause blown insulation to drop down?

 

[Charlie George]

The garage is not single skin it has headers in a unknown bond to man, these are a glorified concrete common, act like sponges, also solid no frogs or perferations.
They also require more movement joints than clay brickwork as they contract easily, i witnessed this recently on a 30m long retaining wall with 2 movement joints it had full vertical cracks in about 5 places.

 

[Notch7]

I think is relevant here is water coming through the brickwork on the garage.

I wonder if the bricks are too porous.

There is always a risk of a single skin garage getting a bit damp inside. Most bricks are a bit porous but I wouldnt expect bricks to soak right through from a sprinkler.

Are there any spare bricks around the site - it might be interesting to put a brick in a shallow tray of water and see if it gets soaked right through.

 

[Charlie George]

Notch these brick are totally unsuitable for houses, i was using them for 2 years on garden walls, if they got wet they took forever to dry out and you had no chance working in rain even if only light. The reason housebuilders started using them was after the recession they could be made quicker than clay bricks as many closed down, and Edenhall exploited this.
Jim

 

[Leofric]

bobasd , if fibre insulation is displaced when a brick is removed ,and insufficient insulation was injected in to the cavity in the first place, it could cause the insulation to settle and leave voids higher up the wall which could cause cold bridging and lead to condensation on the external wall inside the house (that is in theory anyway.)
regards

 

[bobasd]

why would the insulation be displaced when a brick was removed? the bricks dont support the insulation.

your answer is fanciful and depends on conditions that dont exist

 

[Leofric]

The photos show insulation missing where brick removed ! Doesn't the brick outer leaf hold the insulation in ? I think it is accepted that blown fibre insulation can settle if insufficient fibre is injected. Anyway, have it your way dude I am just trying to help. On a general note, if it was my house I would want to be knowing who inspected the building on site during construction .In my experience an architect's certificate or NHBC warranty is required for a purchaser to obtain a mortgage on a new house and an architect or NHBC inspector have to make site visits to monitor the building work . If that horizontal dpc and wall tie photo is typical of the workmanship that has been passed what else has gone on ?

 

[bobasd]

Your reply is not an answer its an attempt to escape owning upto what you've previous wrongly claimed.
please dont call me "dude" - we're only talking about a wall.
I dont want it my way - i'd like it the correct way.

"insulation missing where brick removed" is obviously down to the worker having manuallyremoved the insulation to test for damp - as described by the OP.
the previous photo shows the insulation undisturbed with the brick removed.

if blown insulation settles it compacts - it doesn't spread , it compacts.
the insulation we can see is firmly in place with no evidence of "insufficient fibre being injected."

 

[Leofric]

I accept my 'dude' comment was inappropriate , so apology for 'dude' - yes ; but 'attempt to escape owning up etc ' - no .
I am still not convinced that removing bricks can't result in some loose fill not being retained allowing insulation above to settle/slump/sag/sink.
You certainly would not want to remove a brick to find the cavity had been filled with loose EPS beads without adhesive.
ps I did start off by saying ' I understand ' and ' that is in theory anyway '.

 

[bobasd]

why are you "not convinced" when there's a real life photo showing undisturbed insulation after a brick was removed? plus i've mentioned my experience withremoving bricks in blownCWI walls.
if your not escaping consequences then why move the goal posts for about the third time, and start talking about "loose EPS beads"?
why keep going on about what you seem to think happens higher up the cavity when the only issue here is does the insulation come out with the removal of the brick?

 

[Leofric]

What consequences ?

 

[bobasd]

the consequences known as digging a hole an not knowing what to do next except to dig deeper.