"Janet" wrote in message
...
In article o.uk,
says...

One of the comments is telling. How does this plant get through the
4" concrete slab and polythene damp proof membrane to appear inside
the house behind skirtings etc. Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?

Owner-builder exemption is available.

Perhaps the house needs to be demolished 'cause it ain't built
properly...

Havent they got buildings insurance, I wonder?

Trying to sue their own solicitor for not ensuring NHBRC cover is rather
strange too.


Obviously they can't have employed a surveyor, or his/her neck would be on
the block, not the lawyer's.

On 24/10/2011 12:24, Janet Tweedy wrote:
In whill.co.uk, Dave
writes
One of the comments is telling. How does this plant get through the
4" concrete slab and polythene damp proof membrane to appear inside
the house behind skirtings etc. Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?
Perhaps the house needs to be demolished 'cause it ain't built
properly.


Well i know that a Campsis climber was found behind a sofa growing out
of the skirting of a 1930's house in Amersham! Fairly sure the house
was sound, they didn't knock it down, just killed the plant outside just
in case it came up anywhere else!

Funny you say that. Only yesterday I sprayed with glyphosate a couple
of Campsis shoots which have just appeared, having pushed up through a
weedproof membrane over 3 metres from the original plant. That was cut
down (and the stump drilled and filled with concentrate glyphosate) a
year ago.

Campsis is a persistent weed which I will never plant in a garden again.
It is, like japanese knotweed, not easy to kill with glyphosate,
needing several treatments.

--

Jeff

In message , Bob Hobden
writes
"Janet" wrote ...

, nospamigg1937says...

That's horrendous!

It's a load of rubbish.


I must admit when I read they let it invade their garden and did
nothing about it I became a bit sceptical about this story. As for the
pulling down of the house that is stupid. If they are frightened of the
weedkiller then move into an Hotel for a few weeks, has to be cheaper
than pulling down the house etc.
Maybe they'd just watched 2Day of the Triffids"
--
hugh

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?
It's along long time since I looked at it but NHBRC guarantees against
poor quality building. I don't think it covers damage due to plants
BIMBW
--
hugh

"RG" wrote in message
newsp.v3s20vy4gkcl5l@home1...
Usual over-the-top Daily Mail reporting, but the pictures
are interesting...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-knotweed.html

Here's another site or two:

http://www.wisebread.com/free-food-i...d-edible-weeds
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Pla.../Knotweed.html

Japanese knotweed is apparently quite edible and if people
wanted to eat it I'm sure it would go extinct in about 100
years (as everything does, when people want to eat it.)
Googling Japanese knotweed turns up a load of sites about
how to use this vegetable.

someone

On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:54:53 +0100, BAC wrote:

One of the comments is telling. How does this plant get through
the
4" concrete slab and polythene damp proof membrane to appear
inside
the house behind skirtings etc. Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?

Owner-builder exemption is available.

Perhaps the house needs to be demolished 'cause it ain't built
properly...

Havent they got buildings insurance, I wonder?

If owner built and not to the required building regulation standards
would any building insurance pay out?

Possibly not. I would expect it to be a condition of any mortgage
there is on the property though.

Obviously they can't have employed a surveyor, or his/her neck would be
on the block, not the lawyer's.

Most people probably don't know the difference between "valuation
survey" "home buyers report" and "structural survey".

The first is just to verify to the mortgage company that the property
is worth what they are lending.

The second is hardly worth the paper it is written on, as anything
remotely specialised will just be glossed over with "specialist
advice should be sort". A Home Buyers Report should pick up on gross
problems with a property. But the surveyor won't shift furniture,
lift carpets or venture into any lofts, they'll stick there head up
and access but that's about all.

The third is very expensive...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:38:26 +0100, hugh wrote:

Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?

It's along long time since I looked at it but NHBRC guarantees against
poor quality building. I don't think it covers damage due to plants
BIMBW

Well I'm wondering why there isn't an NHBC guarantee that I thought
has been mandatory on all new builds for the last 20 odd years, if
not longer. The property looks very new.

So I'm thinking that knotweed has got inside because the construction
is dodgey, hence no NHBC, but a good few £k knocked off the price...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:24:10 +0100, Janet Tweedy wrote:

One of the comments is telling. How does this plant get through
the
4" concrete slab and polythene damp proof membrane to appear
inside
the house behind skirtings etc.

Well i know that a Campsis climber was found behind a sofa growing out
of the skirting of a 1930's house in Amersham!

A 1930's house is not likely to have a solid concrete floor and
polythene damp proof membrane over the entire ground floor area.
Walls built onto a concrete foundation or possibly brick built
foundations a few feet into the ground. Ground floor floor
constructed from suspended timber over bare earth.

--
Cheers
Dave.

In message o.uk, Dave
Liquorice writes
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:38:26 +0100, hugh wrote:

Why isn't there a NHBC guarantee?

It's along long time since I looked at it but NHBRC guarantees against
poor quality building. I don't think it covers damage due to plants
BIMBW

Well I'm wondering why there isn't an NHBC guarantee that I thought
has been mandatory on all new builds for the last 20 odd years, if
not longer. The property looks very new.

So I'm thinking that knotweed has got inside because the construction
is dodgey, hence no NHBC, but a good few £k knocked off the price...

--
Cheers
Dave.



Only mandatory if the builder is registered with the National House
Builders Council AIUI.
--
hugh

"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:32:18 +0100, Janet wrote:

In article , kay.91a3116
says...



The suggested measure are interesting - " Immediately create a
21ft exclusion zone around the suspect plant" - that requires that the
shortest dimension of your garden should be 42ft - a lot of town
dwellers don't have that luxury!

Or "Wash feet and clean shoes when leaving the contaminated area".
I'd like to see that imposed on the local postman.

"unless the detached house is demolished...it will be impossible to
sell" ???

"Demolished house for sale" should certainly attract viewers.

I rather liked the phrase "The problem is there is no guarantee the
pesticides will work", but I suppose in the broader meaning of 'pest',
JK might be described as such.

--

Chris

Gardening in West Cornwall overlooking the sea.
Mild, but very exposed to salt gales

I can't believe all the nonsense you read about JK it responds well to
various eradication measures, you just need to be persistent, the pictures
show a very minor infestation and the suggestion in the article that the
house would have to be demolished is laughable.


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk

Charlie Pridham wrote:

I can't believe all the nonsense you read about JK it responds well to
various eradication measures, you just need to be persistent, the pictures
show a very minor infestation and the suggestion in the article that the
house would have to be demolished is laughable.

Perhaps they were hoping to get Sarah Beeny to feature them in
her next series of the over-dramatised "Help! My House is Falling
Down".

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.