Is there anywhere to report a dodgy builder? Our new build has had a leak from the extractor in the bathroom from day 1 and they came out to “fix” it today finally. I got home from work and had a look in the attic to see this “fix”. Obviously this didn’t work and the extractor is still leaking.

45 comments

  8. I’ve spent my fair share of time in attics. That’s obviously not going to work. The pipe going up like that, when condensation builds up its just going to come back down again. If you put it flat along the wool and try vent it to the outside by the soffet.. Or even bore a hole in a gable. Don’t vent it through the roof. You will have a proper leak on your hands of you do

  9. The extractor fan blows the hot humid air up into the white pipe, where it condenses into water because the attic is much colder. Then the water runs back down the pipe and drips out of the extractor fan. It’s not uncommon. You might even see that the fan has “drip points” (for lack of a better term).

    One option is to reduce the length of the pipe so that less condensation occurs but that means moving the exterior vent. Or you could insulate the pipe for the same reason. But when your attic is cold and the outside air is already very humid, the hot humid air from your bathroom is going to condense because air has only so much capacity to hold water.

    As for the tape, I couldn’t find a better way to secure the pipe in the correct position in my own attic. Maybe there are brackets that you can buy but those ventilation pipes are flimsy as fuck and a bracket could easily damage them.

    And when you add the weight of the condensed water into the equation and the fact that the pipe is “stretchy” they can easily move out of position. You can start off with a straight run of pipe but over time you can end up with a sort of a U bend going on that has a liter or more of water in it. And that’s not fun to drain, take it from me.

    I even considered just connecting it to the water tank. But that’s probably verboten.

  10. That needs to be heavily insulated to stop condensation forming and dripping back down through the fan regardless of the angle.

    It’s not uncommon for this to be forgotten in new builds, and get fixed later with insulation and replacing the fan.

    Your builders are shit cowboys.

  12. Would you be better off having the extractor recirculated and not vented outside? If they don’t/can’t fix it for you.
    Could just use charcoal filters instead.

  13. Was there a snag list done before you moved in?

    That’s a disgrace but keep onto them and start looking for any other short cuts now as well.

  16. Fucking hell, that photo has given me awful flashbacks. I lived in a house where the person we bought it from had a bullshit set up like this. We had a tonne of discolouration in our downstairs bathroom (extention) that we ignored for about two months. We had decided to sell up and move and around that time, the ceiling eventually started to go black and leak (we were just about to sell and move when the water started to appear).

    The attic space wasn’t very accessible (bolted shut) so at first, we thought it was a slipped slate on the pitched roof. Had a roofer inspect and he told me that it was the pitched roof. Charged me 500 blips and we proceeded with viewings. We were comin close to sale and I needed to get the bathroom leak sorted as I didnt want to pass on the leak omen to the next buyer. When it came to view our house, there was water literally pissing out of the light fixture. As a quick fix, I shoved three sanitary pads into the fixture which proved to work and keep the bitch at bay for the hour or so of viewing.
    I finally managed to get in and ‘Bruce Wayne’ through where I found the venting pipe full of water and sagging into the drywall.

    The pipe came from a dryer (pipes are supposed to just straight exit out the wall) up 7ft through a ceiling and then around 16ft across an attic space before exiting through the wall. Ended up buying a small condenser box that solved the issue. The entire oreal fucking scarred me.

  19. You should compare your install to the requirements laid out in the technical guidance document (TGD) F (ventilation). Page 13 may be of interest to you…..

    “Fans and ducting placed in or passing through unheated voids or loft spaces should be insulated to reduce the possibility of condensation forming”

    [https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/62f06-technical-guidance-document-f-ventilation/#current-edition](https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/62f06-technical-guidance-document-f-ventilation/#current-edition)

    Now you’ve got some ammunition to fire at the builder.

  20. If he’s back tomorrow (which I doubt), be careful he doesn’t claim that it’s a work in progress. Every artist has a discovery period.

  21. Usually it’s best too have the vent in the sofit with the shortest run, it’s better still to have it in the wall. As others said condensation is building up due to the long run of flexi. It almost looks like they tried introducing a backfall in the pipe to stop water coming in? I’d expect the vent exit needs its location changed to completely rectify the situation.

    The tape is a bit much though, I’d only use it for fixing the holes I blow in me trousers. For jobs like this that need support, you use a reducer that joins the flexi to 100m round pipe, then brackets to nearest timber. It’s actually quite common to find this in attics, even with new/recent builds I’ve often spotted silly shit like this. We do compliance work for people who are looking to rent out properties, fans/vents would be the most common issue/problem we see with that work

  23. Sweet titty fucking Jesus, even as someone that would rather spend money on UberEats rather than a pension, even I think this is just a waste of time.

  26. Just check there is no plastic 90-⁰bend over fan that’s cose problems when steam has to go through cold plastic duct getting condensation and looks like leaking from fans. To be honest that’s pipe don’t need to be attached in to the roof went she can go over rockwoll straight to the vents under roof on the edge of the building

  27. It’s not leaking, it’s the hot air condensing in the pipe and running back down.
    The exit point on the roof is too far away from the extractor.
    I see this a lot.
    You could insulate the pipe , that will help but there will still be a little condensing of the steam. AND get rid of that little dip at the higher section.It will eventually fill with water.
    Any extractor installed in a bathroom should be installed above the shower tray to allow for drips from condensation, or exit through the wall.

  28. Within the first year, the contractor has to fix any defects. Mrs is an architect and says this falls under poor workmanship. She said to ensure you send an email with photos now. Tell them the material is not fit for purpose and ask them how they will resolve it.

  31. Im not sure about reporting but i can help with the problem.

    Your fan is working just fine the problem is that the pipe is allowing the stream to cool and liquify then gravity will make the water flow back down.

    This water will damage your ceiling, fan etc.

    If you insulate this pipe lagging you can buy it in woodies its not too expensive and tape or cable ties to hold it in place it should solve your problem.

    A side note make sure that rain water does not have an entry point as that will only make this issue worse.

    On another note dont use that builder again.

    I hope this helps.

  34. Change the 4inch flexi duct to an insulated one or divert the flexibility tube to the eave of the attic. Moisture is from warm air hitting cold air

  35. Such a long run of ducting is going to result in shitty extraction anyway, look into installing an inline fan. Guarantee the builders have put in the cheapest possible fan available.

  38. Keep going back to them until they get it right. If they won’t then you have a contract and solicitor. A letter outlining the issues and requesting action shouldn’t be too steep. I bought new last year and spent the first 3 months going back and forth trying to get stuff sorted. Some of it was so ridiculously stupid. Like if they paid any care they could have avoided it entirely. Still a few minor things but I’m sorting myself – mostly door and window adjustments.

  40. Scum. I had similar. In my place 16 years. Back the. They three the ‘young fellas’ in to just get the house up. My snag list was huge and loads of problems following years

  43. From personal experience a big fat NOPE…Nobody will want to know, I went through various “organisations”

    Unless he is registered with an organisation there is no one to report an actual cowboy.

    I resorted to screaming at the engineer they both agreed to “fix” the issue.It wasnt, it was a temp fix, sure its not my fault thats another 2 years down the line.

    We ended up having to just pay for someone to come out to us actually fix the problem.

    ​

    EDIT: however as its a new build/just finished I would keep screaming at them until it is resolved correctly. Keep all correspondence.

  44. REAL QUESTION: Why are irish attics on residential builds so bad , considering the money paid for houses here , Bare Joyce’s everywhere never understood it

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