Hi, I know that this may be more a legal matter, but it would be useful to have your thoughts.
I had a 12ft x 7ft patio installed in June 2010, and we were happy with the patio and paid the contractor £2,500. Within 4 weeks, the pointing started to crack and in places it had actually disappeared under the slabs (which were made of natural stone).
The contractor came out after we called, said he would replace all of the pointing in October when the whether was not so hot. So after a call in October he and a couple of mates redid all of the pointing and he also had to re-stick some slabs that had come loose since he first did the job.
Job was done and it looked fine. In December we noticed that again a lot of the pointing had cracked ang again some had disappeared completely. In addition to this, the slabs on the steps were loose and had started to lift and some of the other slabs had started to move.
We tried to call him throughout December to advise him of the position and left messages, but he did not respond and we understand that he was on holiday for the majority of January 2011, but caught him at the back end.
He again came round to have a look and said that the slabs had lifted due to frost and wasn't his fault and could again happen next year if we had a bad frost. He said he could do the work, but would have to charge us.
As we did not really want to pay again, we asked two independant contractors to look at the patio (although they probably were competitors) and they both said that the patio looked awful, it should have been laid on a full motar bed and the whole thing needs to be taken up and relaid. Our original contractor seemed to do a box of cement and a small blob in the middle when he placed slabs.
My queries are :
1. Should the patio have been installed on a full motar bed (he used compacted soil, groundsheet for stopping weeds and type 1, about 4cm, and compacted all this down. We live in a clay area.
2. If he had done the job properly should frost have got in and made the slabs loose?
3. Do we have a case, under the Sale of Goods Act under the experience and skill of the tradesperson to go to the small claims court (if necessary) and ask him to do a full motar bed and relay all the slabs at his own cost?
4. If he says he will repair, should be accept?
5. Or do you think we should pay?
Sorry about the novel, but I wanted to include all my points.
I look forward to hearing from you.
I had a 12ft x 7ft patio installed in June 2010, and we were happy with the patio and paid the contractor £2,500. Within 4 weeks, the pointing started to crack and in places it had actually disappeared under the slabs (which were made of natural stone).
The contractor came out after we called, said he would replace all of the pointing in October when the whether was not so hot. So after a call in October he and a couple of mates redid all of the pointing and he also had to re-stick some slabs that had come loose since he first did the job.
Job was done and it looked fine. In December we noticed that again a lot of the pointing had cracked ang again some had disappeared completely. In addition to this, the slabs on the steps were loose and had started to lift and some of the other slabs had started to move.
We tried to call him throughout December to advise him of the position and left messages, but he did not respond and we understand that he was on holiday for the majority of January 2011, but caught him at the back end.
He again came round to have a look and said that the slabs had lifted due to frost and wasn't his fault and could again happen next year if we had a bad frost. He said he could do the work, but would have to charge us.
As we did not really want to pay again, we asked two independant contractors to look at the patio (although they probably were competitors) and they both said that the patio looked awful, it should have been laid on a full motar bed and the whole thing needs to be taken up and relaid. Our original contractor seemed to do a box of cement and a small blob in the middle when he placed slabs.
My queries are :
1. Should the patio have been installed on a full motar bed (he used compacted soil, groundsheet for stopping weeds and type 1, about 4cm, and compacted all this down. We live in a clay area.
2. If he had done the job properly should frost have got in and made the slabs loose?
3. Do we have a case, under the Sale of Goods Act under the experience and skill of the tradesperson to go to the small claims court (if necessary) and ask him to do a full motar bed and relay all the slabs at his own cost?
4. If he says he will repair, should be accept?
5. Or do you think we should pay?
Sorry about the novel, but I wanted to include all my points.
I look forward to hearing from you.
