New windows

[Pnd123]

Hi.
We are in the process of having new windows fitted .
When they attempted to remove one of the windows they said the bricks above were moving.
So now they want to charge to get a builder to remove the bricks and put a lintel in place.
Is this normal practice or should this have been noticed and priced in the estimate?
This window was changed 20 years ago by anglian and nothing was mentioned about a lintel.
Thanks for any replies.

 

[crank39]

20 years ago stuff like this wasn't picked up, the big nationals just wanted your money and fast so didn't want to get into lintels and brickwork, things have moved on a bit since then IMO and reputable companies do call this out now with the homeowner during the survey stage but sometimes is missed by the surveyor only to be picked up by the fitters, its the fitters that suffer when bricks move, you withold payment, they then don't get paid and really they weren't to blame but just trying to do the job properly. I feel your pain though as this should have been picked up by a good surveyor, I would try and argue that point and try and meet halfway on the cost, its better that its been picked up now at the early stage rather than years later when possibly they aren't trading anymore

 

[Pnd123]

The window fitter is a local company so he done all the measures etc.
He mentioned the bricks above had a crack between them and he would point it up when the window was installed.
I will see what price they come up with.

 

[crank39]

IIRC there was a huge thread a few years ago on this very subject whether lintels form part of a window OR whether they are part of the house and thus are chargeable extras, the thread starter was arguing that they were part of the window and should have been fitted, an obvious stance to take if you've ended up with cracks appearing

 

[Pnd123]

Definitely part of the house

 

[Pnd123]

The saga continues....
We are still having issues wIth the window fitter.
He says there is nothing with his finishing off ,trims, sealant etc...
The door handle is very stiff to move even with the door open.
There are loose bricks around 2 windows.
I could go on all day with faults
Where do i go from here, looks like a stalemate.

I will upload a few of many pics i have
Any advice is welcome
Thanks

 

[Notch7]

The saga continues....
We are still having issues wIth the window fitter.
He says there is nothing with his finishing off ,trims, sealant etc...
The door handle is very stiff to move even with the door open.
There are loose bricks around 2 windows.
I could go on all day with faults
Where do i go from here, looks like a stalemate.

I will upload a few of many pics i have
Any advice is welcome
Thanks

there are some pro upvc guys that run their own businesses on here -If you post some good pics they will give their opinion.

those images look like poor trimming / mastic work.

 

[Pnd123]

Thanks for the reply.
I will put some full size pics on

 

[Pnd123]

 

[crank39]

The sealing is appalling and has also shrunk away, now a question - was there a smell of vinegar in the air when they were sealing up or after they'd left for the day?

 

[Pnd123]

Hi.
No smell of vinegar but he said it was high quality silicone. Im sure it was called soudal??
He came out today but couldn't see anything wrong with the sealant

 

[Notch7]

I think it's best to seal gaps with silicone, then cover with trim which is not siliconed.

Silicone only weathers and looks garbage anyway

 

[crank39]

Soudal is good quality but looks like it's been applied with a spatula, the areas where it's shrunk would lead me to think they've used high modulus acetate cure rather than low mod neutral cure, low mod has a higher elasticity this able to expand and contract to a higher degree before it let's go of one surface, high mod smells of vinegar hence why I asked.

Other than that if he thinks there's nothing wrong with the sealant he needs to change careers

And like Notch suggests it's always a better finish if you can foam up then seal and then cloak over to tidy it up, I've done the same on my own house, much neater I think

 

[Pnd123]

That is how the bottom of the cill is done. Only because he had silicone all over the brick cill and i asked him to cover it.
As for the sides of the windows they have a 50mm trim on it to cover the old silicone "his words" .
Could also be for other reasons too

 

[crank39]

That is absolutely shocking, ok the window is sitting over the cavity and can be a pain sometimes, you can either fill the void with construction foam and let it expand onto the side of the frame or knock in some 2 x 2 chocks into the cavity and fix into that. What he's done there is bad practice, taken from a fitting guide

• Corner fixings should be a minimum of 150 mm and a maximum of 250 mm in from the corner
• No transom or mullion fixings should be closer than 150mm to the welds, or further than 250 mm from the centre of the transom or mullion. All intermediate fixings should be at centres no greater than 600mm