Redrow houses in Scotland with frozen water pipes

[Scottie]

Hi folks,

We live in a 3 year old Redrow house in Scotland which for the second winter has suffered from frozen hot and cold water pipes. The problem is widespread in the estate and varies according to house type. Typically the "Parrett" style has frozen pipes to the utility room and downstairs toilet. This is with a well heated house (programmer on continuous) and outside temperatures down to -5degC. I can find no specific requirements that allow me to get round Redrow's "ah well, it's exceptional conditions" excuse. A neighbour has tackled NHBC on this issue and got laughable responses.

Is this a local problem, or has Redrow got a wider problems?

Are there speciifc requirements that we might find they have breached - Scotland has requirements fdifferent from England?

Thanks.

[believe]

I'm not aware of any more widespread issues, but if you can get evidence that the problem is particular to the house NOT the particular place that you live, then you might be in with a chance.

[Robin Ferrier]

Got to say that as a Scottish landlord I have never had so many winges about frozen pipes. Going to be a heck of a winter - going to get a plumbing qulaification too!!

Robin

[MW234]

Have you looked into extra insulation for the affected pipes?

[brian]

Originally Posted by Scottie

Hi folks,

We live in a 3 year old Redrow house in Scotland which for the second winter has suffered from frozen hot and cold water pipes. The problem is widespread in the estate and varies according to house type. Typically the "Parrett" style has frozen pipes to the utility room and downstairs toilet. This is with a well heated house (programmer on continuous) and outside temperatures down to -5degC. I can find no specific requirements that allow me to get round Redrow's "ah well, it's exceptional conditions" excuse. A neighbour has tackled NHBC on this issue and got laughable responses.

Is this a local problem, or has Redrow got a wider problems?

Are there speciifc requirements that we might find they have breached - Scotland has requirements fdifferent from England?

Thanks.

It was an exceptionally frozen spell in December - in case you hadn't noticed, there were huge problems with frozen pipes across Northern Ireland and Scotland.

[Danny@Vision]

If you are on about external waste pipes then try upgrading to a larger diameter, i.e. 22mm to 32mm or even 42mm. Or try using closed cell foam lagging, its a bit dearer but pay dividends in the end.

We get a lot of calls in the winter to calls where they boiler has shut of and making 'knocking' sounds. Normally is the condenser waste pipe freezing due to poor (but legal) fitting.

[New Homes Expert]

You should write to Redrow and get them to do something about this.
You may also write to the NHBC under the Builmark Warranty.

You could also make a post on new homes forums too letting new home buyers know how unhelpful Redrow are when you have a problem.

Some NHBC and some building regulations are different in Scotland. needless to say that a coldish winter is not an exuse for poor quality and low specifications!