ᐅ Walls of New Single-Family House Ground Floor Are Crooked – Defect Correction and Remediation
Created on: 9 Jun 2014 21:06
M
Markusch
Hello dear forum community,
We are approaching completion and readiness for occupancy with our general contractor (GC), who built us a single-family house without a basement. Only the final payment remains after acceptance.
However, we have identified a significant defect in the GC’s workmanship. This defect can no longer be corrected due to the complexity and costs involved.
The walls on the ground floor are crooked, which is clearly visible from the alignment of the tile joints. The grout line of the living room tiles on the west side is not parallel to the wall. The deviation is 3 cm (1.2 inches) over a house width of 7.99 m (26.2 feet). According to DIN 18202, for a wall length of 10 meters, a maximum deviation of 1.6 cm (0.6 inches) is permitted. The tile grout line in the entrance area is also not parallel to the wall, with a deviation of 0.6 cm (0.2 inches) over a length of 1.85 m (6.1 feet).
These errors occurred during the masonry work of the walls in the shell construction phase. The GC’s bricklayer (subcontractor) has admitted the fault and offered us €500 for compensation. The GC is also trying to downplay the defect. They have proposed a price reduction, but we have not yet made a counteroffer. We are considering claiming several thousand euros. (The total construction cost of the house was about €190,000 (excluding the land).)
Now we wonder: How much money can be withheld from the final payment for such a defect? What steps can we take? Should we involve a technical expert from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) or hire a lawyer to determine the price reduction with the GC? We want to be treated fairly, and this defect is also emotionally distressing for us. We welcome your advice. Thank you very much for your help!
Best regards,
Markusch
We are approaching completion and readiness for occupancy with our general contractor (GC), who built us a single-family house without a basement. Only the final payment remains after acceptance.
However, we have identified a significant defect in the GC’s workmanship. This defect can no longer be corrected due to the complexity and costs involved.
The walls on the ground floor are crooked, which is clearly visible from the alignment of the tile joints. The grout line of the living room tiles on the west side is not parallel to the wall. The deviation is 3 cm (1.2 inches) over a house width of 7.99 m (26.2 feet). According to DIN 18202, for a wall length of 10 meters, a maximum deviation of 1.6 cm (0.6 inches) is permitted. The tile grout line in the entrance area is also not parallel to the wall, with a deviation of 0.6 cm (0.2 inches) over a length of 1.85 m (6.1 feet).
These errors occurred during the masonry work of the walls in the shell construction phase. The GC’s bricklayer (subcontractor) has admitted the fault and offered us €500 for compensation. The GC is also trying to downplay the defect. They have proposed a price reduction, but we have not yet made a counteroffer. We are considering claiming several thousand euros. (The total construction cost of the house was about €190,000 (excluding the land).)
Now we wonder: How much money can be withheld from the final payment for such a defect? What steps can we take? Should we involve a technical expert from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK) or hire a lawyer to determine the price reduction with the GC? We want to be treated fairly, and this defect is also emotionally distressing for us. We welcome your advice. Thank you very much for your help!
Best regards,
Markusch
Without trying to show off expert knowledge.
I think the original poster shared the photo of the tiled storage room because it is the easiest for us to see in the picture. However, the storage room is probably the least of their concerns.
As they wrote and marked, the entire "staircase enclosure" is affected. This might also include the wall in the living room (which is harder to see in a photo than tiles). In this case, the tiler likely cannot fix it—possibly only the plasterer can.
Whether or not they are emotionally affected, I can understand that the original poster might be annoyed if visitors point out an obviously crooked wall without having been told about it beforehand.
I think the original poster shared the photo of the tiled storage room because it is the easiest for us to see in the picture. However, the storage room is probably the least of their concerns.
As they wrote and marked, the entire "staircase enclosure" is affected. This might also include the wall in the living room (which is harder to see in a photo than tiles). In this case, the tiler likely cannot fix it—possibly only the plasterer can.
Whether or not they are emotionally affected, I can understand that the original poster might be annoyed if visitors point out an obviously crooked wall without having been told about it beforehand.
Yes, and why couldn’t the tiler have checked that himself beforehand? Didn’t he have a tape measure with him? In my opinion, he just started blindly in the corner, assuming (!) that all rooms were perfectly rectangular – which he should definitely have verified beforehand, especially for the larger surface areas.
I completely agree. The tiler finished tiling the room in one day, and when I came home in the evening, the ground floor was already done. This still needs to be addressed, because the two tilers definitely must have noticed it. But they just carried on – probably under time pressure to quickly move on to the next site.
We have now scheduled an appointment with a building inspector before our final acceptance, who will take a look at everything and then advise us on a possible price reduction.
Honestly, we regret now that we didn’t have an expert involved from the beginning.
Best regards
Markusch
I completely agree. The tiler finished tiling the room in one day, and when I came home in the evening, the ground floor was already done. This still needs to be addressed, because the two tilers definitely must have noticed it. But they just carried on – probably under time pressure to quickly move on to the next site.
We have now scheduled an appointment with a building inspector before our final acceptance, who will take a look at everything and then advise us on a possible price reduction.
Honestly, we regret now that we didn’t have an expert involved from the beginning.
Best regards
Markusch
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