French Door quality of install query

[Chris Type R]

We recently had some new windows and doors installed and the room seems colder than expected. During the course of installing new flooring (because the installer did not leave enough of a gap for the flooring despite being aware of it), I've had cause to view the handywork on the job.

The installer cut out the brickwork to DPC, installed the door on what appears to be a length of timber (can't see any new DPC below this). They then covered the cavity with a hardwood windowboard bedded on the old DPC and a small amount of expanding foam. The reveals are simply 10mm plasterboard over the cavity.





To my mind this does not seem well insulated. I'm considering bridging the gaps between inner and outer walls with celotex (ripping out the plaster board). And on the floor, a new strip of DPC as best I can, followed by a small amount of floor levelling compound to match the floorlevel.

So, the questions to PH'ers:
- is this a shoddy job by the not-cheap Fensa installer, and if so is there any recourse ?
- does my rectification plan sound sensible ?

[lrdisco]

That’s not great. There should not be timber up the sides.
Don’t bother with Celotex in the cavity as it looks to have blown fill fibreglass type material. I would use cavity slabs and fully fill the cavity.
There should be dpc up the reveals from the door to cover the cavity then the plaster board bonded to the block work. The Plaster board is more than of to carry across the cavity.
Most window fitters are not trades men. They usually just learn on the job.

[Chris Type R]

lrdisco said:

That’s not great. There should not be timber up the sides.

The timber is along the bottom (the photo is of the reveal).

[wolfracesonic]

Has just replaced what was there before? If so and his quote just said something along the lines of 'make good disturbed surfaces' I don't think you've got a complaint. That being said, it could have been pointed out to you that it could be done better regards insulation.

[V8RX7]

So they have cut out a new opening ?

It depends what was there originally and what they quoted for, it's not ideal but I've certainly seen a lot worse.

[Chris Type R]

wolfracesonic said:

Has just replaced what was there before? If so and his quote just said something along the lines of 'make good disturbed surfaces' I don't think you've got a complaint. That being said, it could have been pointed out to you that it could be done better regards insulation.

As ever one places a certain amount of trust in a tradesman to do a good and complete job. In this case, it's their speciality. A layer of 10mm plasterboard between the cavity gap and the interior of the house seems too little.... even perhaps in violation of building standards. A breeze blowing from below the windowboard again does not seem right. Yes, I did not specify that the door surround should be well insulated, but I also didn't specify that it should be cool and breezy.

[Chris Type R]

V8RX7 said:

So they have cut out a new opening ?

It depends what was there originally and what they quoted for, it's not ideal but I've certainly seen a lot worse.

Yes, there was an 8ft wide window there. They've cut out the original window frame and then the removed the bricks and blocks to floor level. So, the 10mm plasterboard probably runs about 4ft from floor to where the original opening was, on both sides.

[wolfracesonic]

So they've left the original reveal plaster on and just patched up to it? Last one I did like this was to chop out brickwork under window, remove existing reveal plaster, build up cavity with a vertical d.p.c incorporated, insulated plasterboard to reveals then unibond and skim the whole face of the wall so the new doors look like they've always been there; threshold was hardwood with some celotex to the cavity if memory serves.

[Chris Type R]

wolfracesonic said:

So they've left the original reveal plaster on and just patched up to it?

Pretty much - and poorly, the new plasterboard is proud of the original plaster, and where they've tried to feather it in I suspect they stood on the other side of the room and threw filler in the general direction The room is almost certainly being re-painted and the guy who normally does decorating is a dab hand at correcting stuff like this, so less bothered about it.

wolfracesonic said:

Last one I did like this was to chop out brickwork under window, remove existing reveal plaster, build up cavity with a vertical d.p.c incorporated, insulated plasterboard to reveals then unibond and skim the whole face of the wall so the new doors look like they've always been there; threshold was hardwood with some celotex to the cavity if memory serves.

That's helpful, thanks.

Consensus seems to be that my expectations in terms of insulation are unrealistic.

Edited by Chris Type R on Saturday 25th November 14:04