Having said on the last posting that everything was looking good, on closer inspection things were far from OK! The worst of the problems are illustrated on this page (the given reason is unbelievable despite being true – even if you don’t look at all the piccies, scroll down to the bottom to see Sandison's explanation!)
In many places the plastic components of the framework simply don’t meet – no attempt has been made to fill the gaps...
First we have the top roof section...
Now one of the corner bars in the roof (all four are pretty much the same)...
The roof vent has the same gaps and the black plastic is showing...
The trim between the windows here doesn’t even reach the sill...
The outside isn’t much better...
The top roof section (the one that we've seen above already) has a split in it!!!
One of the windows is missing part of the frame...
One of the sills is missing its trim...
And there’s no sealant between the conservatory and the brickwork...
Where gaps have been filled the quality is very poor – I could have done better myself. This is one of many examples...
The gutter is missing its end cap (and has poor sealant where it has been applied – where it was awkward to get to it was simply missed!)...
Maybe the reason though is that the gutter is still blanked – so if the end cap was fitted it would overflow!
There seems to be a large hole in one of the corners between the top of the frame and the gutter. It is big enough for a finger to fit through. Caused again by ill fitting framework. In the following pictures it is illustrated with a skewer...
Debris has been left in the gutter and pencil marks left on the framework (getting picky now but once you start to see problems...)
And the gutter leaks - you can see the wet plaster
This one beggars belief – there is a hole in the outside sill where it has been cut badly...
Why on earth would anyone continue building up knowing that such a bad mistake had been made? Did they perhaps think we wouldn’t spot it?
Apparently, the fitter’s mate, who usually does all the finishing, was off work as his wife was having a baby. So the fitter’s son helped out instead! It’s not even clear whether the son was an employee of Sandison – either way he wasn’t up to the job. (And yes, I know, we all have to learn somewhere, but it is clear that his work wasn’t even checked. This is inexcusable in a professional company.)
It took the original fitter less than 2 days to put the conservatory up. It took a long discussion with a manager and experienced fitter to go over the problems (I think they were as surprised and disappointed as we were) and a further two days to put things right.
DAH 01/06/2010