Pyrite problem identified in Kentstown homes

When Shane Farrell, his wife Emer and son Daniel moved into their new €458,000 house at Veldon Place, Kentstown, early last year they felt that they had their dream home at last. A year later, the house stands empty and the family have had to move out to rented accommodation. Their dream home has all the appearance that it is falling apart. There are deep cracks in the facade of the house and the interior resembles something out of a war zone. Cracks are visible in the plasterwork in all of the rooms, and, in one place, deep splits in the blockwork are visible when the plaster is peeled back. It appears that an excess of pyrite has been used in the infill material used under the concrete floors of the house. The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide. The mineral"s metallic lustre and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue has earned it the nickname 'fool"s gold" due to its resemblance to gold. In a landmark case presently before the High Court, the Menolly Homes building company, and three associated companies, are claiming damages of more than €18 million against Irish Asphalt and the Lagan Grouop following the discovery of pyrite in the infill material used under concrete floors in three new housing estates in north Dublin. Menolly has served a statement of claim in the court arising out of damage to new homes which it says stems from the supply of infill material with 'excessively high pyrite concentrations'. The case is still at hearing. Meath Fine Gael TD Shane McEntee has called for an urgent meeting with Construction Industry Federation (CIF) CEO Tom Parlon in an effort to bring a solution to the problem which has now appeared in Kentstown. The Farrell family, now with a second child Charlotte, had formerly lived in Kells and decided to move to Kentstown when they saw a house for sale at Veldon Place, just off the Laganara Road. It is one of four houses built on a small site by Prolan Ltd, a building company whose directors are John Finnegan and Michael Dardis. Shortly after moving in, the Farrells noticed a series of cracks appearing in the house and they agreed with the builder and an engineer to a 'period of monitoring to see if the problem persisted'. Mr Farrell said: 'The problem was put down to settlement. However, when we came back from holidays in May last year, the cracks in the outside of the house had significantly increased. We contacted Homebond, which runs a warranty scheme for the builders, and between them, the builder"s engineer, and our own engineer, we had meetings. Tests were carried out by Homebond and they confirmed there was pyrite in the sub-floor,' he said. The Farrells" 2,000sq ft, five-bedroomed house now lies empty and they are paying €1,300 to rent a house, in addition to paying a mortgage on the Veldon Place house. 'The whole thing is a disaster. We feel we"ve aged in the matter of a few months,' he said. Their next door neighbours, Alison and Stuart Rintoul, also bought a house from the Prolan company. It, too, is starting to exhibit the same symptoms as the Farrell house, with cracks in the interior walls. Some of the floors are uncovered and are deeply cracked. The doors of two of the rooms will only open a few inches because the floor has given the appearance of rising up. Both Mr Farrell and Mrs Rintoul claim that an excess of pyrite in sub-floor material leads to a swelling process which, they also say, is causing the deep cracking in the platerwork and blockwork. Mrs Rintoul said: 'We haven"t had the heart to unpack most of our furniture. The problem here seems to be progressive and we are very worried about the situation.' Deputy McEntee said the problem in trying to have the matter resolved was that Homebond was only willing to come up with €40,000 per house for repairs. 'I have no doubt here that the builder can get €200,000 per house from Homebond because of this problem and that would go a long way towards demolishing and rebuilding these houses. Because that is what is required - demolition and complete rebuilding, amything less just won"t do. 'The builder has a moral responsibility towards the people who own these houses. I will be contacting Homebond but I am also trying to arrange an urgent meeting with Tom Parlon of the CIF to get a solution to this problem,' said Deputy McEntee. Attempts to contact Mr Finnegan of Prolan Ltd were unsuccessful yesterday (Tuesday).