New roughcasting cracking, please help!!

[loril772]

Hello,

I have had the roughcasting on my house redone as it was very old and tired looking. I found the company doing it online and they seemed to have good reviews but now im questioning their abilities.
The first of many problems I have with them is that the roughcasting has cracks in several places and im worried come winter the frost will get in there and it will get worse and possibly fall off? There is also a darker horizontal patch between the upper and lower windows about 18 inches wide x 5 foot long. There is a cable that runs down the house for the sky tv and he roughcast over some of it and left some out, not sure why he did that but when i asked him about it he said he was trying to cover over all of it but it kept "popping out"??? He has told me he will chap the wire out and patch it but really didnt want my new roughcasting having patches in it already! He has not completed the job as the back is still to be done so I have not paid him yet, but I am really unhappy with the work he has done so far, not to mention the chips all over my windows, and feel like telling him just to stop where he is and not pay him, but dont know where I stand to do that.
I have saved for a long time as a single mother to have this done and feel like he is just taking the mick out of me.
Are the cracks/dark areas something I should expect? Any advice on this would be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks Lori.

 

[Alastairreid]

Can you post photos of this work up lori?

it doesnt sound good! The windows should have been covered.
and the wires should not be buried.

certainly should not be cracks.

 

[jrplastering]

i agree with alastar its doesnt sound good for ya im afraid if you can post some pics we will be able to give you better and more usefull advice. it certainly should not have cracked and the windows being covers with chips shows poor workmanship, when i render a house the windows get coverd with polythene an then a thick rigid plastic called corex just to be double sure the windows are safe. burying cables in render is not a good idea either im afraid.
get some pics up and we will advise you accordinly, its such a shame when the public specially single mums and oaps feel ripped off and have been as it gives the good guys a bad name aswell and we all suffer because of the cowboys, and in this climate there are alot of them at the moment im sorry to say

 

[spc]

Before and after pics, if the cracks are structural then you don't have a leg. If walls were sound, could have been a much stronger mix on the dash than the scratch. I'll keep an eye on this post

 

[loril772]

Thankyou so much for your replies. Ive had trouble uploading photos on here so instead have uploaded some on flickr-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61670167@N03/

If you could take a look and let me know what you think that would be great, I really dont know what to do or where to turn at this point.

I dont have before pics but 100% know there were no cracks in the old roughcast. I think the stuff there before was called wet dash? It had stones mixed into cement rather than thrown on top.

Thanks again Lori

 

[plstering]

wow that looks like a dodgy pebble dash job wasnt me
id strip it all off and rerender it

 

[Alastairreid]

Looks like K-rend or similar.
Not a very good job to say the least.

Did they remove the wetcast before re-casting?

The dark band you see along the top of the window is where the scaffold lift was, its caused by double hitting the same area.

You can either live with it or get the lot hacked off and redone £££££££.

 

[misterhelpful]

I'd advise against having it patched as well.

I had the back of my house done a few years back and there was an area that had to be patched a few days later where the boiler flue opening had been made too low. It sticks out like a sore thumb and that's only a single patch, so imagine what lots of patches will look like.

Wish I could be more optimistic.

 

[stevethespreader]

It sticks out like a sore thumb (

its looks like patching is best option here, either that or the whole lot would have to come off take a look at roy c's patching once painted you would hardly know, i would get someone in who knows how to do a good job to do it //www.diynot.com/network/roy c/albums/8465/32850

 

[Alastairreid]

I dont think the op is looking to paint Steve.

dry cast patching will always show up even after painting.

 

[jrplastering]

its a shame to have to patch it in but i think you could struggleto get the guy to take it off and redo it off his own back, but to get the result you wanted when you took the contractor on in my opinion it has to come off.

 

[stevethespreader]

I dont think the op is looking to paint Steve.

dry cast patching will always show up even after painting.

fair play m8

 

[loril772]

I phoned the roughcaster and told him I wasnt happy with the work he has done and I dont want him to come back to start/finish the back of the house. I have also told him I will not be paying him for any of the work he has done and have spoke to a solicitor who has told me I am well within my rights to do this. Needless to say he is not in the least bit happy about this and is still trying to convince me he has done a good job and that Im just moaning for the sake of it. I have also spoken to trading standards who are currently helping me draft up a letter to him stating he can come and fix this by removing the whole lot and redoing it and have an independant expert confirm, once finished, that a good job has been done, all at his expense. Im pretty sure he wont agree to this so if he wants to pursue payment for work he has already done, he can do so and I will pursue the cost of replacing all the windows which he has chipped and also the cost to have all the harling removed. In my opinion his best option is to cut his losses and run (very fast) haha. I will just accept Ive lost the money I have already spent on materials, put it down to experience and have some friends get to work at chipping the stuff off before having someone reputable redo the work.
Thanks so much to everyone for the prompt replies, Lori

 

[jrplastering]

good luck with everything and lets hope you get a good job next time round, as i said its such a shame that people get fleeced by cowboys and they end up giveing the good guys a bad name too, it just makes life alot harder for everyone, the public dnt like dealing with the trades people and are always hesitant (unless they know 100% your good) and the good trades people struggle to battle through the bad image they have got because of the joe bloggs the local bodger.

 

[plstering]

i really dont think youv herd the last of it m8 think you have gone ott here

just call him in and talk it out say to him look for your self show him the cracks and ask him what he plans too doo about it
if he says he will fiix it then sorted but if he tells you too *****then *******
has he left tools on the job keep them back till the work is sorted
i hade a custy once think it was funny too try and keep my tools but still 2 days prirer payed me in ful called him text him went round there knocked on the door even called the police

i left it till the weekend when i knew he ws the feeding his fat face on sunday roast

bang bang bang on the door he got his missis too open it and say he wasnt there too late id seen him foot in the door
and in walked 5 big skinheads like me walked straigt past the family eating there dinner in too the garage too get my tools there he was ****ting a brick

id seen a nice big fat wod of cash in his back pocket yonk ill have that thank you ill let you picture the rest