How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

Ask them in a very aggressive tone of voice "would you have this in your fucking house?" And point at whatever you want fixing.

The bank statement would not be a flex rn as it’s all gone/going in their account anyway 😂

Extension in a Victorian terrace, which will include replacing the wood floor across the ground level of existing house to match... Currently it's a wibbly-wobbly wooden floor, not original. I'd like to put pine floorboards back in, just as the house would have had, even in the new part. But I'm being told that engineered wood would be a better choice. Thoughts?

Define "better"

• easy to install
  
• easily available
  
• no nail heads in it and doesn't need sanding (if you're thinking about reclaimed pine)
  
• maybe less draughty
  
• maybe warmer
  
  

VS

• looks less original
  
  

We of course spent a fortune on [the cheapest] exactly the right width and age reclaimed pine.

Define "better"

easy to install
easily available
no nail heads in it and doesn't need sanding (if you're thinking about reclaimed pine)
maybe less draughty
maybe warmer

VS

looks less original. unless you just get engineered wood that looks the same, minus the squeaking, warping and knotty bollocks.

Also put in insulation & UFH, after removing no doubt years of builders rubble, and clearing out any air bricks.

I'd definitely like to insulate under there, no matter what goes down. UFH would be nice but we'll see what the budget stretches to. I'd love a heat pump too, but same...

I'd definitely like to insulate under there, no matter what goes down.

Well, you gotta do that before you put engineered wood down. Because once it's down, getting up is destructive, I believe. If you just go with floorboards, they can be lifted in a mostly non-destructive way.

If you do go down the EW route, it seems that today's EW is not what it was ten years ago, and that the finished layer is now more like a veneer if you are not selective, and it's too slim to re-finish once it's had ten years of battering from use.

That would have blown our builder's mind.

In answer to @Tenderloin, you just need to be direct/fair/honest. Send photos over the phone or ask them to pop by to take a look. If it's genuine snagging (ie you're not being a picky cunt) and your builder is a good one (ie not a cunt), then it should be a painful process.

should be a painful process

painless, I'd hope

the finished layer is now more like a veneer if you are not selective

Can confirm that having mandated 5 or 6mm top layer, it is now really hard to actually get anything that isn't 3mm.

From the research I did it's less the ability to sand and refinish (because who's evert gonna do that) and more the risk of cutting through with a stone in shoe, dropped something or other, etc.

5-6mm is out there. It's just all the cheap stuff is 1.5-3mm.

Our order ended up all warped twice so we got an upgrade to a more expensive 5mm floor for no extra cost. Colour options werent quite as good mind but after 12 months of no floor, we wanted a floor.

because who's evert gonna do that

We have some old stuff and I'd consider it. Reckon it might come up OK for another ten years with a bit of love. I'd also like it less orangeish

My builder has had the roofer he sub-contracts come and replace a leaky rubber membrane on my flat roof. They have replaced it with GRP fibreglass .

They have done a shocking job. Terrible finish , debris under the paint, areas of fibreglass lifting up from the roof where it have not adhered properly.

They are currently onsite 'fixing' and re-finishing. This involves sanding back the paint and sanding off the fibreglass in the areas where it has not adhered to the wood underneath properly. they then plan to patch in small areas of new fibreglass and then repaint.

To me this feels like a horrendous bodge that will fail and leak . My gut tells me i need to go back to my builder and insist the roof is re-done properly. Before I do, can anyone offer any insight on the validity of the roofers approach- is it as bodgy and likely to fail as I think it is?

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They are sanding right back to the wood underneath in places . Can't see how this could possibly be a proper solution

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Surely they're sanding back to the wood in the areas where a bond hasn't been formed so that they can fibreglass to that?

Provide there is a strong bond to the wood and surrounding fibre glass logically it should be aok. The main issue that springs to mind is the aesthetics - if it's blended in properly over a wide enough area it should be OK. If its not then it'll look like it's got patches.

Also if they did a shit job first time are they qualified to do it? Our neighbours fibreglass roof looks really neat. Idk what it's like up close though I guess.

Yep-thats exactly why they are doing it.

And yes- I can't see how they are going to get an acceptable finish on it. It needs to look like the well finished new roof it should be

Given the surrounding fibreglass is covered in paint, I have my doubts on how they can achieve a strong bond between patch and existing Fibreglass. I'd have thought that where the new fibreglass resin patch meets paint will be a weak point. They are flying the gap with a thin layer of fibreglass resin. No sheeting like the rest of the roof

I also have concerns on the general sanding to the paint. there will be areas where they sand into the fibreglass, I'd imagine this will effect water tightness over time

Sounds like a bodge and not really the sort of place you want to be taking risks...

Indeed, I have a feeling I'll end up having to get a second professional opinion to go back to my builder with . I doubt he'll agree to replacing , likely at his cost rather than the roofers, without it

Sorry I thought they were stripping off all the paint.

Speaking as someone with absolutely zero experience, I'd expect that you'd

1. strip the paint back all the way on a large area surrounding the removed FG
   
2. Key hard into that bare FG
   
3. Clean thoroughly
   
4. Patch over the wood and bare FG
   
5. Paint once cured
   
   

A bit like this:

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Yep, that's definitely not what they have done . Nor have they given it any real time to cure. Banged the paint almost straight on the resin. Though I'm unsure of how much time it actually needs to cure .

My builder no longer works with the roofer, so they don't have any motivation to do a decent job. My builder finished the job for me, barring snagging, 16 months back, so has no motivation to replace the roof.

I can see this being particularly annoying to get sorted out

Yeah sounds like a high way to nowhere and a classic example of why you need to project manage a lot of trades.

I had a floor levelled and no one told the floor guy to create a temporary barrier at the doorway, so while the floor was level, it also had over spill on to floorboards which was areal pain.

They put a roof on, they didn't expect anyone to care what it looked like.

Success metric: Is it a roof.

Though I'm unsure of how much time it actually needs to cure .

Google says

Topcoat is better applied the same day and as soon as the laminate reaches the initial cure stage

So it's probably fine.

But I agree the overall situation is frustrating as when you lack confidence in the trade it's hard to feel comfortable with whatever they do.

Tbf it's the builder who needs to be project managing in this scenario . In scope of the contract that they manage sub contractors .

It annoys me how little pride a large percentage of tradespeople I've encountered have in their work

Roofers give very few fucks about aesthetics. They are there to stop water getting to where it’s not supposed to be.

I'm not convinced they have done will do that either