My daughter's dining room has developed an enormous crack in the ceiling plaster, which we thought had been caused by having taken out part of a wall. Moondog went back today to do some additional strengthening of that wall, and decided to have a look in the ceiling. He discovered that the guys who installed her ducted heating had cut through and removed some of the roof structural members and two struts so that they could install the heating unit. They also removed all the blocking that the struts sit on. One of the beams had simply been dropped so that it sat between two ceiling joists, and the heating ductwork sat on that. The vibration of the fan unit is what has caused the nails in the plaster to wriggle away from the ceiling joist, causing the crack.

We had a builder friend do a pre-purchase inspection of the house before she bought it (just under a year agao), and it was fine. My daughter has no knowledge of building, and I am furious that these installers have done this damage. She plans to get our builder friend to do a written report, and will then demand that the heating company make good the damage.

I am incensed that there are shonky installers out there, although I am sure they are everywhere. It's a reputable company though, and hopefully they will look after her.


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