Repairs & Maintenance
195 sources in the library on repairs & maintenance. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 5 of 5.
- strong RN-XYYYMW
BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 1 March 2005. BS 8301:1985 was published 30 April 1985 and was the code of practice for building drainage, covering sewers, drain pipes, manholes, pipe laying, foul and surface water drainage, hydraulic testing and maintenance. It was superseded by the BS EN 752 series, Drain and sewer systems outside buildings, with BS EN 12056 covering gravity drainage inside buildings and BS 8000-14 the workmanship for below ground drainage; Approved Document H is the regulatory route in England. A note citing BS 8301 for gradients, manhole spacing or soakaway design is quoting a standard withdrawn over twenty years ago. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope but does not name the replacement.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
The standard a guttering note should name when explaining why a gutter overflows, rather than asserting a size from memory. BS EN 12056-3:2000 was published on 15 September 2000 and is current. It describes a method of calculating the hydraulic adequacy of non-siphonic roof drainage systems and gives performance requirements for siphonic roof drainage systems. Its scope covers the layout and installation of roof drainage insofar as they affect flow capacity, applies to roof drainage systems whose outlets are sized to avoid limiting flow, and is material-neutral. It is part 3 of the BS EN 12056 series on gravity drainage systems inside buildings operating under gravity. Use the catalogue page for the title and scope; the calculation tables themselves are behind the paywall, so a note should refer to it rather than reproduce it.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 15 December 2021. BS EN 12320:2012 was published 31 October 2012 and specified performance and other requirements for the strength, security, durability and corrosion resistance of mechanical padlocks and padlock fittings for buildings and general use. Its classification is the part a note actually needs: one category of use, two durability categories, six corrosion resistance categories and six security grades, the grades set by performance tests simulating attack, with a limited amount of manual attack testing included because machine testing alone cannot replicate every known attack method. Because it is withdrawn, a note recommending a CEN grade 4 or grade 6 padlock to BS EN 12320:2012 for a shed or bike store is quoting a withdrawn edition and should cite the current one. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope but does not name the replacement.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT, and it is a Designated Standard. BS EN 12380:2002 was published 17 December 2002, identical to EN 12380:2002, ISBN 0 580 40973 2, committee B/505, ICS 23.060.99 and 91.140.80. It specifies the requirements, test methods and evaluation of conformity for air admittance valves in drainage systems, the one way valves (often called by the trade name Durgo valve) that admit air to relieve negative pressure in a soil stack without letting foul air out, so a stack can be terminated internally rather than taken up through the roof. It is the standard to cite when a note explains that an AAV is acceptable for a new en suite or a relocated WC subject to Approved Document H, and that at least one stack on a drainage system must still be open to atmosphere. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, ISBN, committee and scope; the tests are paywalled.
- strong RN-PFR673
BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 12588:2006 was published 31 January 2007, is identical to EN 12588:2006, and supersedes BS EN 12588:1999, which is withdrawn. It specifies the designation, chemical composition requirements, surface condition and dimensional tolerances for rolled lead sheet produced by roll deformation, for roofing, flashings, weatherings, cladding, pre formed panels, damp proof courses and similar building uses, and it includes the colour codes for thickness that give the familiar Code 3 to Code 8 lead sheet designations. Two changes from the 1999 edition are worth citing: the maximum tin content was raised from 0.005 per cent to 0.05 per cent to improve corrosion resistance, and manual handling guidance was added because of the weight of the product, along with recycling recommendations noting a documented recycling rate above 90 per cent. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, supersession, scope and those changes.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT (marked Under Review). BS EN 1304:2013 was published 30 June 2013 and is the harmonised product standard for clay roofing tiles and fittings used in pitched roof coverings and in vertical wall cladding and lining, superseding BS EN 1304:2005. It specifies structural characteristics, geometric properties, physical and mechanical characteristics, and gives the marking and evaluation of conformity requirements, so it is the standard a clay tile is CE or UKCA marked against. It sits alongside BS EN 490 for concrete tiles, BS EN 492 for fibre cement slates and BS EN 12326 for natural slate, with the test methods for clay tiles in the BS EN 539 series and installation in BS 5534. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the requirement tables are paywalled.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 13126-1:2022 was published 31 March 2022 and supersedes BS EN 13126-1:2011, which is withdrawn, so a note citing the 2011 part is citing a withdrawn edition. It gives the requirements and test methods common to all types of hardware for windows and door height windows, covering strength, durability, corrosion resistance and safety, and it applies whatever the window frame material. It excludes fusible links, pneumatic and hydraulic operating mechanisms, single axis hinges (BS EN 1935), sliding door hardware (BS EN 1527) and door and window bolts (BS EN 12051). It is part one of a large series whose other parts cover specific hardware: -5 opening restrictors, -6 stay hinges, -8 tilt and turn handles, -13 sash balances, -16 lift and slide, -17 tilt and slide. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, supersession and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 13126-5:2011+A1:2014 (base edition published 31 December 2011) specifies the requirements and test methods for the durability, strength, security and function of devices that restrict the opening of windows and door height windows, applying to restrictors on tilt and turn, pivot, casement and top hung windows. The classification is the useful part for a note: it separates SAFETY limiting restrictors from CHILD SAFETY limiting restrictors, with distinct requirements aimed at reducing the risk of accidental falls, which is what a note should cite when it says a window above ground floor level needs a child resistant restrictor rather than any restrictor. It applies only where the restriction falls within the specification in Annex A, E or G of EN 1191:2012 for the manufacturer's intended use. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status, the two restrictor categories and scope.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
The product standard for the brackets that hold a gutter up, which is the component that actually fails when a gutter sags and overflows onto a wall. BS EN 1462:2004 is Current, was published 2 September 2005 under committee PRI/88, ISBN 0 580 46240 4, and covers requirements and testing for eaves gutter brackets. Cite it in a guttering or damp note to support the point that bracket spacing and load performance are specified, so a sagging gutter is usually a bracket spacing or corrosion failure rather than a gutter fault, and that replacement brackets should be to the standard rather than whatever fits. Pair it with BS EN 12056-3 for the sizing of the gutter and outlet itself.
- strong RN-ASG0MX
BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT (marked Under Review). BS EN 14967:2006 was published 30 June 2009 and specifies the characteristics of flexible bitumen sheets intended for use as damp proof courses in buildings, setting out product types, characteristics and test methods with evaluation of conformity, marking, labelling and packaging. Its scope explicitly EXCLUDES preformed cavity trays, copings and flashings, which is a distinction a note should keep when describing a retrofitted cavity tray above an extension abutment. It is the modern European counterpart to the old British bitumen DPC standard BS 6398:1983 and sits beside BS 6515:1984 for polyethylene DPCs, with design and installation in BS 8215:1991. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the characteristic tables are paywalled.
- strong RN-41S8GR
BSI (British Standards Institution)
The standard behind the use class numbers printed on treated timber, which is what a decking, fencing or timber decay note should cite when it says the timber must be right for its exposure. BS EN 335:2013 is the UK implementation of EN 335:2013, published 30 April 2013 under committee B/515 Wood preservation, ISBN 978 0 580 75630 6, ICS 71.100.50 and 79.040, and it superseded and withdrew BS EN 335-1:2006, BS EN 335-2:2006 and BS EN 335-3:1996. Clause 4 defines the use classes and their application: Use Class 1, then Use Class 2, then Use Class 3 with sub-classes 3.1 and 3.2, and higher classes for ground and water contact. In practice a deck board or fence rail above ground is a UC3 item and a fence post or deck joist in soil contact is UC4, so a note that specifies treated timber without naming the use class has not specified anything. The standard is currently Under Review.
- strong RN-CG3QHH
BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT (marked Under Review). BS EN 459-1:2015 was published 30 April 2015 and supersedes BS EN 459-1:2010, which superseded BS EN 459-1:2001. It defines the types of building lime and their classification and sets the chemical and physical requirements and conformity criteria for each. Building lime falls into two families: air lime (which sets by carbonation) and lime with hydraulic properties (which sets by hydration and is classified by mechanical compressive strength), the latter covering natural hydraulic lime, formulated lime and hydraulic lime with the assessment and verification of constancy of performance rules for each. It applies to lime for mortar, for calcium silicate bricks, autoclaved aerated concrete and concrete, and for civil engineering. This is the standard behind the NHL 2, NHL 3.5 and NHL 5 designations quoted in lime mortar and lime plaster notes; terms of delivery and contract conditions are outside its scope. Parts 2 (test methods, 2021) and 3 (conformity evaluation, 2015) complete the series. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the class tables are paywalled.
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BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: WITHDRAWN on 31 January 2012. BS EN 490:2004+A1:2006 was published 19 January 2005, identical to EN 490:2004, and specified the requirements for concrete roofing tiles and fittings for pitched roof coverings and for wall cladding and lining. It was replaced by BS EN 490:2011, so a note citing the 2004 or 2006 edition is quoting a withdrawn one; an undated citation of BS EN 490 remains safe. The companion test method standard is BS EN 491, and the equivalents for other coverings are BS EN 1304 for clay tiles, BS EN 492 for fibre cement slates and BS EN 12326 for natural slate, with fixing and wind uplift design in BS 5534. Catalogue page confirms number, title, publication date, withdrawal date and scope but does not name the replacement.
- strong RN-AS511G
BSI (British Standards Institution)
STATUS: CURRENT. BS EN 539-2:2013 was published 31 May 2013 and supersedes BS EN 539-2:2006. It specifies the test method for determining the frost resistance of clay roofing tiles and fittings, and it is explicit that the method is common across CEN member states while each state sets its own required performance level, which is why UK frost resistance expectations for clay tiles are set nationally rather than by the test standard. Part 1 of the series covers the impermeability test. It is the test standard that supports the product requirements in BS EN 1304:2013, and it is the reference behind a note explaining why an unsuitable clay tile spalls and delaminates after a hard winter. Catalogue page confirms number, title, date, status and scope; the procedure is paywalled.
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BSI Group
What the Kitemark actually certifies, which matters because it is often confused with CE or UKCA marking and with BSI standards themselves. States that Kitemark certification confirms a product or service's claim has been independently and repeatedly tested by experts, so it is third-party certification of continued conformity rather than a manufacturer's own declaration. Records that the mark was originally known as the British Standard Mark and was first registered as a trademark in June 1903, giving it more than 120 years of use. Cites BSI's own consumer research that the Kitemark is recognised by 67 per cent of UK consumers, and that 70 per cent are more confident in products carrying it than in products that do not. Certification spans products, services and processes, including building information modelling and inclusive service certification, and BSI publishes a searchable Kitemark directory and a Verify a Certificate service for checking a specific certificate.
- strong RN-GFUBDV
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
The main built-environment alternative dispute resolution provider a homeowner is likely to meet, useful because statutory adjudication under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 does not apply to contracts with a residential occupier, so a homeowner needs a contractual or voluntary route instead. RICS DRS supplies impartial ADR across the property, construction and land sectors as an alternative to litigation, states it has over 40 years of experience and has handled cases worth billions globally, and selects and assesses each panel member for expertise, impartiality and professionalism. Publishes downloadable application forms per service, a searchable panel, and a Conflict Avoidance Process which produces a report with reasoned but non-binding recommendations, intended to head off a dispute before it becomes one. Also runs ADR education through diplomas and distance and face to face programmes.
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United Kingdom Accreditation Service
Establishes that UKAS is the sole National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom, appointed under the UK Accreditation Regulations 2009 for the purposes of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 as it has effect in Great Britain. Explains that accreditation assesses the competence, impartiality and performance capability of conformity assessment bodies that provide certification, testing, inspection, calibration and verification, summarised as UKAS checking the checkers. It is Government policy to recommend UKAS accredited conformity assessment services wherever that is an option, and UK conformity assessment bodies seeking accreditation must obtain it from UKAS. UKAS is independent of Government, a non-profit-distributing company limited by guarantee, operating under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, which licenses its use of the national accreditation symbols.
- strong RN-UQLSFV
Water Regulations Approval Scheme
The searchable directory of approved fittings and materials, organised by four-digit section number, which lets a reader check a specific product before buying. Sections include 0009 to 0046 backflow prevention devices, with the Schedule 2 Section 6.2 device types named in full: Type AB air gap with weir overflow, Type DC pipe interrupter with permanent atmosphere vent, Type BA verifiable reduced pressure zone valve, Type CA non-verifiable disconnector, Type EA verifiable single check valve giving Fluid Category 2 protection, Type EB non-verifiable single check valve for Fluid Category 2, and Types EC and ED double check valve assemblies giving Fluid Category 3 protection. Section 0120 cisterns storing water for domestic purposes references Schedule 2 paragraph 16(4) of the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 for the essential items a cistern must include.
- good RN-OFDBVS
AECB (Association for Environment Conscious Building)
The AECB retrofit standard page, and a useful source of real certified-project performance figures rather than manufacturer claims. The standard requires all-round insulation, minimised summer overheating, moisture risk addressed at junctions, and a low carbon heating system, with certifiers trained specifically in moisture and other risks and junctions assessed for moisture. The page lists certified projects with their measured or designed outcomes: Ward Grove, a 1983 to 1992 private house completed 2023, external insulation, triple glazed, MVHR heat recovery ventilation, space heating 37 kWh/m2 per year; Foxlow, a 1900 to 1918 private house completed 2023, wood fibre internal wall insulation, triple glazed, MVHR, space heating 32 kWh/m2 per year and airtightness 1.9 m3/m2.hr; and a Wrexham retrofit of a 1960s house, external insulation, triple glazed, MVHR, space heating 30 kWh/m2 per year. These are the numbers to quote when a note needs a realistic UK deep-retrofit space heating figure. The page also confirms the step-by-step route exists for households retrofitting in phases.
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Association of British Insurers
The insurer trade body's statement of what a buildings and contents policy does and does not pay for, which is what an emergency repair note needs before it tells a reader to claim. Insured perils listed are fire, storm, flood, subsidence, burst pipes and water damage, theft or attempted theft and malicious damage, plus some personal legal liability such as a visitor injuring themselves. The exclusions are the important part for repairs: general wear and tear such as carpets wearing thin; damage due to lack of maintenance, with the explicit example of roof tiles not being replaced so the roof leaks in a storm; mechanical or electrical breakdown such as a fridge reaching the end of its life; restricted cover when a home is empty for a long period, often 30 or 60 days as specified in the policy, or is let to tenants; and anything above the policy limits. On claiming it advises contacting the insurer as soon as possible, using the 24 hour emergency helpline, arranging temporary repairs to stop damage worsening and keeping the receipts, and not throwing damaged items away because the insurer may want to inspect them.
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Association of British Insurers
The insurer side's own description of what subsidence is and how it is told apart from ordinary cracking, which is the distinction a cracks note most often gets wrong. ABI defines subsidence as the ground beneath a building sinking and pulling the foundations down with it, usually when the ground loses moisture and shrinks in prolonged dry spells or because trees and shrubs draw water out. It names four causes: clay soils that shrink, crack and shift in hot dry weather; trees and shrubs near foundations on clay; old mines, quarry and pit sites where fill collapses; and leaking drains and waterways washing away or softening soil, with sandy and gravelly soils most vulnerable. On diagnosis it states subsidence cracks usually appear suddenly, especially after long dry periods, and tend to be diagonal, wider at the top than the bottom, thicker than a 10 pence coin, and found around doors and windows, with sticking doors and windows and rippling wallpaper as secondary signs. It is equally clear that most cracks are not subsidence: thermal and humidity movement, settlement of new homes and recent extensions, and drying plaster all produce cracks that are uniform in width and hairline to 3mm, and that are a redecoration job.
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CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association)
The reference for what happens when an excavation goes below the water table, which is the hidden cost driver in basement digs and deep foundations on wet ground. CIRIA C750, Groundwater control: design and practice, second edition, published April 2016, 205 pages, ISBN 978-0-86017-755-5, authors Preene, Roberts and Powrie. Paywalled at GBP 110 excluding VAT (GBP 55 for members) with a minimum order of five copies, so only the catalogue page and a PDF excerpt are public. The page states the core proposition plainly: whenever an excavation is made below the water table there is a risk that it will become unstable or flood unless measures are taken to control groundwater in the surrounding soil. Scope covers the potential effect of groundwater on construction works, groundwater control and dewatering techniques as temporary works, safety management and contractual matters, legal and environmental issues, site investigation requirements, and design methods for groundwater control schemes.
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CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association)
The reference work behind every soakaway, permeable driveway and garden drainage decision in the UK, and the document local authority drainage officers work from. CIRIA C753, The SuDS Manual, published December 2015, 964 pages in PDF, ISBN 978-0-86017-759-3, authors Woods Ballard, Wilson, Udale-Clarke, Illman, Scott, Ashley and Kellagher. It is free to CIRIA members and GBP 25 excluding VAT to non-members, so the full text is behind a login but the catalogue page confirms scope and status. It replaced the 2007 SuDS Manual (C697), and the page states expressly that in delivering SuDS there is a requirement to meet the framework set out by the government non-statutory technical standards, which C753 complements while going further to support cost-effective delivery of multiple benefits. It covers planning, design, construction, management and maintenance of SuDS. Cite it as the technical authority when a note explains why a permeable or drained-to-a-soakaway driveway avoids the planning consequence of an impermeable one.
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CIRIA (Construction Industry Research and Information Association)
The UK code of practice for making an existing home resistant to and recoverable from flooding, and free to download after sign-in, which makes it unusually accessible for a CIRIA title. The C790 project produced four outputs a note can name separately: C790A, the Code of practice for property flood resilience, Edition 2, which sets six standards specifying what should be achieved; C790B, Guidance on the code of practice, explaining how each of the six standards should be met across the stages of a property flood resilience delivery process; C790C, Making your property more flood resilient, written for households and businesses; and C790D, Guidance for local authority planners. The code draws the distinction a renovation note should use: resistance measures reduce the amount of water entering a building, and recoverability measures limit the damage caused once water is inside, with the aim of reducing damage and speeding up recovery and reoccupation.
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Lead Sheet Training Academy
The body behind competent leadwork, worth citing in a roof leak or flashing note because flashing failure is usually workmanship rather than material failure. The Academy operates from a purpose-built facility in East Peckham, Kent, and is a CITB Approved Training Organisation, with most courses qualifying for CITB grant funding for registered construction businesses. It publishes Rolled Lead Sheet: The Complete Manual, which is the reference document for lead codes, sizes and detailing that a specification should cite. Its City and Guilds accredited programme runs Traditional Basic Leadwork Craft as two three-day courses, Traditional Intermediate Leadwork Craft over 35 days in four modules and Traditional Advanced Leadwork Craft over 15 days, with equivalent hard metal craft courses, Specialist Applied-Skills Programmes at Levels 2 and 3 lasting up to 18 months including 30 days on site, and NVQ Level 2 and 3 on-site assessment. The length of that training is itself the argument against a DIY lead flashing repair.
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National Federation of Roofing Contractors
The roofing trade association's technical library, and the place a roof repair note should point to for the industry document behind a detail. NFRC describes itself as the leading trade association for the roofing and cladding industry and states that its technical publications are freely available to NFRC members while non-member companies, specifiers and members of the public can buy copies. The library holds 143 items filtered by information type: 55 guidance notes, 36 health and safety guidance documents, 22 technical bulletins, 6 NFRC guides, 6 safety alerts, 5 external guidance items, 5 Safe2Torch documents, 4 toolbox talks, 3 technical statements and 1 publication. By topic it holds 75 flat roofing items, 55 on health, safety and environment, 55 on sheeting and cladding, 40 on pitched roofing, 23 on heritage roofing, 17 on green roofing, 13 on traditional metal roofing, 8 on solar and 6 on rainscreen facade. The Safe2Torch set is the one to cite where a flat roof note mentions torch-on felt near combustible detailing.
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Property Care Association
The PCA's homeowner page on dry rot, and the citation for the single fact that governs treatment: dry rot can only grow and survive because the wood that sustains it is wet, so the moisture source is the repair and the fungicide is not. It notes that dry rot favours humid, still conditions and so is typically found below wooden floors, behind wall linings and behind window or door linings, and that it spreads rapidly, destroying timbers to sustain itself and regenerating by producing large numbers of spores. Left untreated with favourable conditions it causes the disintegration of large structural timbers as well as skirting boards and window linings, and can lead to total collapse of building structures. It applies to buildings of all ages, from a modest basement flat to a listed country house, and the PCA's position is that where decay is discovered it should be identified and remedial action taken without delay.
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Property Care Association
The Property Care Association's homeowner hub and searchable directory of PCA member specialists. Lists the service categories the PCA covers and vets against: damp control, invasive weed control, residential ventilation, structural repair, structural waterproofing, timber preservation, ground gas protection, flood protection and recovery, sump and pump maintenance, and sprayed foam evaluation. Specialists can be searched by type as a surveying and contracting company, an independent or freelance surveyor, a spray foam assessor or a ground gas verifier. The PCA describes itself as the trade body for the industry, whose members have the skills to diagnose, report on and repair buildings affected by various sources of dampness, and offers homeowner guidance pages on damp control, timber rot and woodworm, structural repairs and structural waterproofing. Use this to establish which body accredits damp and timber specialists rather than relying on a contractor's own claims.
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Water UK, with the 10 wastewater companies in England and Wales
The industry guide that explains the build-over consent most garden building and extension notes forget to mention. It was produced by Water UK with the 10 water companies in England and Wales responsible for collecting wastewater, and covers work built over or within 3 metres of a sewer pipe. It distinguishes three pipe types: a private drain, the system within your boundary serving only your property; a public lateral drain, the section connecting your property to the public sewer network located outside the boundary, for example in a neighbour's garden or the highway; and a public sewer, a wastewater pipe joining more than one property. There are just under 450,000km of sewer pipes in England and Wales. The key point for a note is that planning permission, building regulations approval and permitted development rights give no automatic consent to build over or close to a sewer, and conservatories, car ports and porches that escape building regulations still need it. Where a project meets the water companies' agreed standard conditions it will be approved; a company may refuse on site-specific knowledge only if it tells you within 14 days of receiving the application. A project that does not meet the conditions normally needs a formal build-over agreement with the wastewater company. Building over or near a clean water main is generally strictly forbidden. Sewer locations can be traced via an inspection or manhole cover, the property's legal documentation, the water company (which may charge) or www.digdatconnect.com.
- fair RN-NMZL58
British Geological Survey
The national dataset a surveyor or insurer actually consults on ground movement risk, and a better citation than a generic statement that clay shrinks. BGS GeoSure covers Great Britain at 1:50,000 as GIS polygon data and gives potential ground movement or subsidence information across six themes: shrink-swell, landslides including a debris flow model, soluble rocks, collapsible deposits, compressible ground and running sands. It is premium data with published unit prices, all six themes at £0.91 per square kilometre, shrink-swell at £0.35, landslides including the debris flow model at £0.35, soluble rocks at £0.18, collapsible deposits at £0.06, compressible ground at £0.23 and running sands at £0.23, each subject to number of users, a licence fee and a data preparation fee. It also underpins the BGS Natural Ground Stability GeoReport, which is the report form a homeowner or conveyancer would receive. A companion GeoSure 5 km hex grid gives a generalised overview, and a shrink-swell subsurface layer identifies hazard hidden beneath another solid formation.
- fair RN-Y3THH4
Financial Ombudsman Service
The ombudsman's own account of what it sees and how it decides, last updated 24 July 2023, which is a stronger citation than an insurer's marketing page. Confirms that buildings insurance typically responds to accidental damage, weather such as storms, flooding, ground movement such as subsidence, and underground pipes made from pitch fibre. Lists the recurring complaint types: repairs done but the problem not fixed; the insurer insisting on repair where the consumer wants replacement; the insurer deciding the sum insured on buildings or contents is not enough to cover the claim, which it names as underinsurance; the insurer saying the customer carelessly or deliberately failed to give the true rebuild cost of the home or replacement cost of contents and cancelling the policy on that basis; a replacement offered that is not the same as what was lost; and a cash settlement too small to have the repairs done. Links its separate approaches to accidental damage, building warranties, damage to underground pipes, flood damage, gradual damage, home emergency insurance and multiple-occupancy buildings insurance.
- fair RN-BSNXU2
Financial Ombudsman Service
Sets out what happens when an insurer says a homeowner gave wrong information, which is the mechanism behind most declined renovation-related claims, last updated 10 July 2026. Defines misrepresentation as information given carelessly, deliberately or recklessly that was incomplete or misleading, and non-disclosure as leaving out relevant information that was asked about. Lists the insurer's possible remedies: charge more for the policy, retrospectively apply a restriction so an ongoing or future claim is declined, settle a claim proportionately, or avoid the policy so the claim is declined outright. States the legal test the ombudsman applies is the insurer's obligations under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, asking whether the questions were clear and specific, whether the consumer took reasonable care to answer correctly, whether the answer was incorrect or incomplete, and whether the insurer would have acted differently with the correct information. Confirms the complaint route: complain to the firm first, and if it does not send a final response letter within eight weeks, or the response is unsatisfactory, bring the complaint to the ombudsman, whose service is free.
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Financial Ombudsman Service
The ombudsman's published approach to ground movement complaints, last updated 24 July 2023, and the source for the definitions that decide whether a claim is paid. It separates four terms: heave is upward movement of the ground beneath a building as the soil expands; landslip is downward movement of sloping ground; settlement, also called consolidation or compaction, is downward movement from soil being compressed by the weight of a building within 10 years of construction; and subsidence is the ground sinking and pulling the foundations down, usually from moisture loss in prolonged dry spells or from trees and shrubs. That 10 year settlement definition is decisive, because settlement is normally uninsured while subsidence is insured, and the commonest complaint the service sees is exactly that: an insurer rejecting a crack claim as settlement rather than subsidence. Policies referring to the site normally mean the prepared ground, including made-up ground, on which the building was erected after foundation trenches were dug. Other recurring complaints are delay and poor communication.
- fair RN-2RGEMP
NHS
The clinical authority for what carbon monoxide does and how many alarms a home needs. Lists symptoms as headache, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, weakness, tiredness and confusion, chest and muscle pain, shortness of breath, flushing and loss of vision, and notes the tell-tale pattern that symptoms worsen in an affected room and improve on leaving the building. Names the appliances that can produce carbon monoxide when badly installed, faulty or poorly maintained: gas boilers, gas cookers and clay ovens, gas or paraffin heaters, wood, gas and coal fires and portable generators, plus barbecues or camping stoves used indoors and engines run in a garage. The prevention advice is specific: get a carbon monoxide alarm for each room of the home containing an appliance that burns gas, oil, coal or wood, have appliances properly installed and serviced regularly by a qualified and registered engineer, and keep chimneys and flues clear. Directs readers to call NHS 111 for suspected poisoning and 999 for breathing difficulty, sudden confusion or loss of consciousness.
- fair RN-9T2LVP
Scottish Water
SCOTLAND. Plumbing and water fittings in Scotland are governed by the Water Byelaws enforced by Scottish Water, not by the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999 that apply in England and Wales, so an England-based note on notifiable plumbing work, backflow protection or fittings approval names the wrong instrument for a Scottish job. The page is Scottish Water's entry point for the Water Byelaws that protect water quality and for the separate trade effluent consent system covering waste water discharged to the public sewer by a business.