Upvc shiplap cladding air bubbles

[marktheman]

Hello, I am having this installed and just been to inspect work in progress. I have noticed lots of blistering / air bubbles and wondered if this was normal. Thank you

 

[Mr Chibs]

I'd say no, it looks like the foil is not stuck down properly. Which could get worse when you get a load of sun/weather on it.

I've got foiled windows and they are not like that.

If you've just bought it, I'd ask for it to be replaced.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

@crank39
@ronniecabers

 

[crank39]

I cannot believe they carried on and fitted that unless is was fine when it was fitted but the recent/today's sun has bubbled the foil, dark surfaces absorb heat like no tomorrow and if not now then maybe 5 years most of it could look like that especially if it's south facing.

Those faulty lengths need replacing, let's hope they haven't installed too much above them because it's has to come off to get access to screws or polypins

Oh dear oh dear

 

[marktheman]

I can only guess that they didn’t take the plastic protection off until they’d finished. A synic might say that it is three stories up and the customer will never know. I will call the company tomorrow and get the boss to come and inspect it.

 

[crank39]

I'm shocked, it would be in their interests to stop and not carry on because now they have to rip down all the ones above, if they've poly pinned the cladding on then its very likely they could crack the edges while pulling it off UNLESS they bash the nails straight through and re nail it next to

 

[mrrusty]

Who specced the material? is it your choice and the fitters are labour only? or is it a supply-and-fit contract? The product is obviously faulty - the foil has expanded more than the substrate and wrinkled. The remedy is going to some extent going to depend on who has the design risk.

Black PVC is a challenging choice for a south facing wall (judging by the shadows). The thermal expansion of uPVC is fairly horrible - typically 0.07 mm/deg/m so a 5m length over say 40 degrees (and black gets very hot in full sun) has an expansion of 40 x 0.07 x 5 = 14mm - it needs plenty of expansion space.

 

[marktheman]

They supply and fit. It is the same firm that fitted all our windows last year - no problems, same black finish. I have only paid 10% deposit, they are on day 2 of a 6 day job, only 25% of the job done so far. It is south south west facing so gets sun all afternoon.

 

[marktheman]

Update: on arrival the fitters agreed that it was unacceptable and after checking with their boss, everything has been stripped and they are now replacing with a fresh batch of cladding. They had some left over cladding which they used before opening the fresh delivery. I expect they used a product return by mistake. Anyway I’m happy and thank you for the advice it has helped enormously.

 

[ronniecabers]

The perfect outcome... except I'm still lost as to why they bothered putting it up to start with! They just made more work for themselves lol

 

[marktheman]

Either they didn’t notice or if they did they hoped I wouldn’t climb the scaffolding and see it for myself. Their work is excellent so it doesn’t really matter now. I do however suggest anyone who has work done inspects it at the end of everyday.

 

[crank39]

To be fair it does look a tidy job