Worried about quality of window company building work - Please help!

[theopposite]

Hi all,
Sorry if I sound panicky, but I so worried about the quality of this work, I really need some second opinions. They company is due back at my home on Tuesday.

We paid over £12k for 5 new windows and a front door, which included building work of splitting a bedroom window into 2. This building work is what I'm concerned about.

The existing window opening was enlarged and a brick column built in the centre to create 2 separate windows. (photo below)

The builder installed the external steel lintel first, then removed the window and enlarged the opening. Then built and centre column of bricks. This photo shows the lintel installed and cut lines in the wall either side of the window.

He used an angle grinder to cut the outer skin of bricks. However for the inside skin, instead of grinding or stitch drilling, he just hacked at the wall with a kango meaning the inside edge of the bricks were in a complete mess with lots of bricks missing.

After he made the enlarged opening the external steel lintel was clearly bowing down in the centre, by at least 10mm, probably more like 13mm. You can see this in the next photo

If you look at the left side you can see where he kangoed the bricks (same on the right hand side). The internal concrete lintel is sat on top of this and most of the bricks beneath are missing! Surely this compromises the integrity of the lintel support? Also, the lintel is sat on steel shims (which he has banged in everywhere) so it is effectively only sat on the first brick which is 100mm wide. It doesn't have the required 150mm.

This seems dangerous to me.

Also you can see the external steel lintel bowing down in the center. Surely if this lintel was adequate it should be straight? The lintel is a L shape 2.4m long, 10mm thick and 8cm x 5cm.

Both lintels are sat on steel shims, not a bed of mortar.

Below you can see the concrete lintel sat on the steel shims meaning it only has 100mm support and missing bricks beneath it.

He built the centre column external skin up to the steel lintel, and to 'attach' it to the steel lintel he hammered in steel shims. The internal skin he made from breeze blocks. So the internal and external skins aren't attached together. He put steel shims above the internal breeze block column too. But this column moves if i press it.

And as you can also see, he has put steel shims everywhere to support bricks which have obviously become dislodged/fallen, maybe because he didn't use acro props, or some other reason.

Is hammering steel shims all over the place normal?

Should I get building control to come and inspect the lintel to see if it meets the standards of support?

Is the centre column of bricks with steel shims above adequately help in place?

Is the steel lintel bending so much normal and not being sat on any mortar etc?

Are steel lintels supposed to have corrosion protection? These have rust patches on them and the ends look like freshly cut steel with no coating at all on them.

I am really worried about this. The stress is killing me. I want to go and talk to them about it tomorrow so some other opinions would really help me.

Many thanks for any help / advice.

 

[DAZB]

Steel shims are often used but not as many as seen here and where they are packing brick courses you may find issue further down the line if moisture gets to them and you will have rust spots appearing on the wall. A better more acceptable option is to use slate which does the same job and will not have any issues later.
A visit from BC is an option but you haven't mentioned if you have any drawings or calculation from an architect or Structural Engineer as they should have advised the materials to be used in this instance.
The bending of the lintel is a concern if it were not supported centrally by the wall so the span is most likely well within tolerances although it should have wall ties between the inner and outer courses to bond it together and the outside edges of rough chopping out could and should have been done with a Stihl saw or grinder to give a nice clean edge so it is shoddy at best.
The steel should ideally be coated in red oxide paint or similar including any cut ends so to prevent rusting too.
I would have a word with the builder and voice your concerns and say you are not happy with the structural elements and the amount of shims in place or slate and you are not happy with the outer edges and want them reinstating better.
One other thing that is evident is the size of your window... it has an add-on sat on top and still appears to be rather shy of the opening, also the 2nd last photo shows it short in width too, is that right ?

 

[Notch7]

I am really worried about this. The stress is killing me. I want to go and talk to them about it tomorrow so some other opinions would really help me

I wouldnt say the images indicate cowboy practices, but there are questions you need answers to

firstly this is notifable work and needs building regs application -the lintel needs BCO approval

bear in mind the external steel lintel isnt holding up much weight -just the bricks
the inner skin is probably holding the weight of the roof rafters and needs to be strong enough.

I notice that the wall seems to be a solid 9" brick wall with no cavity -the second course above the window has a row of about 10 bricks which are headers for some reason -these look loose on the inside and need resetting

make sure the proper vertical DPC is fitted and there should really be some insulation on the reveals

 

[theopposite]

Steel shims are often used but not as many as seen here and where they are packing brick courses you may find issue further down the line if moisture gets to them and you will have rust spots appearing on the wall. A better more acceptable option is to use slate which does the same job and will not have any issues later.
A visit from BC is an option but you haven't mentioned if you have any drawings or calculation from an architect or Structural Engineer as they should have advised the materials to be used in this instance.
The bending of the lintel is a concern if it were not supported centrally by the wall so the span is most likely well within tolerances although it should have wall ties between the inner and outer courses to bond it together and the outside edges of rough chopping out could and should have been done with a Stihl saw or grinder to give a nice clean edge so it is shoddy at best.
The steel should ideally be coated in red oxide paint or similar including any cut ends so to prevent rusting too.
I would have a word with the builder and voice your concerns and say you are not happy with the structural elements and the amount of shims in place or slate and you are not happy with the outer edges and want them reinstating better.
One other thing that is evident is the size of your window... it has an add-on sat on top and still appears to be rather shy of the opening, also the 2nd last photo shows it short in width too, is that right ?

The builder told me it is illegal to use slate shims. Is this not true then?

There are a whole bunch of steel shims right to the edge of the external brickwork, with just a bit of pointing covering them. I was wondering if this might be a problem with rust spots.

No, I do not have any drawing etc. I do have the contract I signed which includes a pencil sketch of the opening and mention of the size of the lintels. They told me they do building work all the time and didn't tell me anything about building control.

Sorry, the window pictured is not the final one. They sent incorrectly sized windows, which the builder realised after doing the brickwork.

They have now installed the actual windows. I'll get some photos of those.

Is it reasonable of me to call building control and get them to come and inspect it?

 

[theopposite]

I wouldnt say the images indicate cowboy practices, but there are questions you need answers to

firstly this is notifable work and needs building regs application -the lintel needs BCO approval

bear in mind the external steel lintel isnt holding up much weight -just the bricks
the inner skin is probably holding the weight of the roof rafters and needs to be strong enough.

I notice that the wall seems to be a solid 9" brick wall with no cavity -the second course above the window has a row of about 10 bricks which are headers for some reason -these look loose on the inside and need resetting

make sure the proper vertical DPC is fitted and there should really be some insulation on the reveals

Yes I noticed the bricks were loose. They move a bit if I press them.

I'm not sure where a vertical DPC should be put nor what it is? (apart from being a damp proof course).

 

[theopposite]

Just to add I did express concern to the builder about the condition of the internal bricks that he kangoed out, so he screwed a piece of thin plywood against it and filled the gaps with mortar. Although he hasn;t even done that properly and it's full of voids. Plus it add zero strength to supporting the lintel above it.

 

[A Trowel]

Is it reasonable of me to call building control and get them to come and inspect it?

It’s your responsibility to inform BC, is the builder fensa registered to self certify the windows or is he ignoring that requirement too

 

[theopposite]

It’s your responsibility to inform BC, is the builder fensa registered to self certify the windows or is he ignoring that requirement too

Yes they are fensa registered. It is a window company that also does building work.

They didn't tell me I need to inform building control. I had no idea.

So I will contact my local building control tomorrow and get them to come and inspect it.

I am glad I keep an eye on what they were doing and took some photos.

 

[theopposite]

Here are a few more images with the windows and of the lintels. The windows have some kind of packing underneath them. Each on only held in place by 4 screws, 2 either side. Not sure if this is normal.

To me the lintels just look like normal angle iron. I guess that doesn't matter if this is acceptable practice.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

I made the mistake of getting a window fitting company to do some structural work. They were very keen to quote but actually had no building capability within the company so subbed it out to some randoms.
Total disaster. I ended up having to completely redo the structural stuff and refit the windows myself. Did get a certain amount of revenge.....

As above, the lintel is structural work which is NOT covered by FENSA etc self certification. Hopefully you've not paid much yet- tell the builder to pause, stick a Building Notice in (to your local authority), get a BCO out to have a look.

That raggy inner wall isn't going to be acceptable- 150mm bearing needs to be continuous for a few courses.

Usually with fabricated lintels (concrete or steel) BCO will accept suppliers calculations. Random bits of angle iron or rsj they'll usually want an SE to do some sums.

Slate packers banned? News to me.

 

[^woody^]

Unsuitable internal lintel, likewise the poor choice for the external angle iron. I bet the builder was swayed by the £30 cost.

Building control should be involved. Involve them.

Poor quality work for the opening and installation.

 

[Koolpc]

Waw, that is horrendous!

Stop all works and get it checked out as above..

 

[George_engineer]

I agree there are quite a few concerning problems here.

Building control and a reputable builder who can offer remedial work needed.