Grand Designs: polystyrene house

The "polystyrene house" on the Devon coast turned out to be expensive! I got the feeling that the architect was using the old lady's nest egg to fund his (farcical) attempts to win an architectural award.

Who picked up the 50k tab for replacing and refitting the windows,

*all* of which were leaking? I'm not sure if this was due to a manufacturing fault with the glazing units, if the wrong units had been specified by the architect, or if the installers had somehow fitted them incorrectly. Anyone know more about this?

PS: Grand Designs is still an enjoyable programme. Its got a house makeover presenter who doesn't actually get on my nerves.

Thanks Bruce

Reply to
bruce_phipps
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I was curious about the polystyrene with the render aplied directly - it sems to me that a good kick would crack the render and leave a big dent...

No, but did you notice that the faces on all the glazing installers were fuzzed out? I guess they didn't want the bad publicity...

I think he's improved slightly over the years... Doesn't seem a full of doom and gloom as he once was!

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

... and that they do not appear in the list of suppliers on the website.

Andrew

Reply to
Andrew

We-ell, KM does have a tendency to spread gloom and doom during the construction stages of just about every project he reports. 'I do wonder if they know what they've let themselves in for'. 'I don't think they have any idea....'. etc.

Reply to
The Wanderer
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Really? He drives me crazy with his constant carping and whining, followed by the inevitable "Oh, my, it's marvellous" in the last 10 minutes. He does it *every* week.

Reply to
Huge

Perhaps there's an outstanding court case?

Reply to
Huge

I see what you mean although "good kicks" aren't liable to leave a great many materials in useful shape. Perhaps if the rendering had reinforcing fibres it would help though.

Is that what it was? I thought i'd become over-tired, so I switched off and went to bed.

No, poor chap, he's become totally delusional now.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

Yup, the result was interesting. Can't really make up my mind if I like that one or not. Great location though. I expect the finished result must be worth a good deal more than 400K though, so she (or her estate) ought not be too out of pocket)

Sounded as if she did... although you would expect someone else ought to have copped for it. I guess much depends on the details of the contracts, and for that matter how hard she was prepared to push them (not far by the sounds of it)

At first it sounded like a fault with the windows, but then later they mentioned a problem with the way the sills were fitted.

I expect someone is lucky that she was not at all litigious!

Reply to
John Rumm

mentioned a problem with the way the sills were fitted.<

Sounds like cowboy window installers. I don't think a manufacturer would send out a batch to a Grand Designs build with 100% dodgy units. However, if we assume that the units were OK, how did they arrive at a figure of 50k to re-fit them?

Reply to
bruce_phipps

The system has been around a long time - I first saw it on a student trip to Interbuild which would have been in 1974. I would imagine that the polystyrene is fairly dense and you use a similar render to that which you would use when externally insulating existing solid brick walls. Beco site:

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also referenced a BRE paper on this system which states that the daily pour height should not exceed 3m. Pity they didn't follow this when doing the stair tower!

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Reply to
Tony Bryer

Depends on what you include in the cost I guess. If you end up with teams of builders sitting round at your expense the costs can rack up quit quickly. It would probably cost a fair bit if they need to remake the windows for any reason.

Understandable I guess.

I only saw the last half of the program, so missed that bit.

I think you are right about the stairs though; if they cost 6K to buy, and they must have spent at least another 4K to install them. That is a rather expensive flight of stairs. A couple of chippies on site for a week could have knocked them up in the same time for a third of the price you would have thought.

Reply to
John Rumm

To be fair to KM, I read an inerview with him a couple of years ago where he talks about this. Apparently it's all put in at the request of the producers who want a mini cliffhanger before each ad-break (notice that it's always before a break that we get the doomsday prediction). He said that he sometimes finds it quite difficult to work one in!

Totally agree with the criticisms of the architect though. Im not sure that the owner really knew that she was effectivly giving him a sandpit and unlimited toys to play with.

Reply to
Rich

The staircase was a steel spiral staircase which had been manufactured off-site at great expense. The plan was to use a big crane and drop it down through a gap in the roof. The staircase was designed to fit snugly inside. Tighten a few bolts and the job is finished!

Of course, come install day, the custom-design staircase didn't fit and bits of it had to be sliced off. Quite entertaining to watch!

As you say, a couple of chippies could have made a really nice wood staircase for less.

Bruce

Reply to
bruce_phipps

Got the old dear in a bit of a frenzy when he suggested the green colour to her, didn't he.

She wheren't having it. lol

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

bruce snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com wrote: [snip]

And a wooden staircase would have complimented it.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

Didn't she actually want a wooden banister anyway ?

Reply to
Séan Connolly

Probably due to the woman taking legal proceedings against the company, in which case thats why they remained anonymous or protected in the show.

My guess is GD showed the results of the first bad installation and a second part was shown when the firm reinstalled a new set of double glazing hence fuzzed out appearences on the glaziers.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

Reply to
The3rd Earl Of Derby

Hmm, dodgy roofing contractor charges little old lady for =A310k (for example) and ends up on Watchdog or Rogue Traders.

"Professional" architect takes little old lady for =A3200K and ends up on Grand Designs.

What a cruel, twisted world we live in.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

I tend to agree with you.

400k for a concrete house with a cheapo conservatory shoved on as an afterthought.

Bruce

Reply to
bruce_phipps

I wondered how much the house she sold fetched. It looked fairly spectacular. Surely a much better thing to leave to her family. The concrete house would be of debateable value I would have thought. Although it did look nice when they showed us round. Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

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