Solarcrest Reviews

Name: Solarcrest
Rating: 4.86

4.9 Rating 187 Reviews

98 %

of reviewers recommend Solarcrest

Company Reviews

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Phone:

01625 423020

Email:

sales@solarcrest.co.uk

Location:

38-42 Brunswick Hill, Macclesfield
SK10 1ET

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“This company seemed to have all their ducks in a row. The sales pitch is very convincing. My worries about spray foam insulation eased because I was assured they did it correctly and were certified and weren't some cowboy installer that give the industry a bad name. I believed them. They have a bunch of accreditations on their website and email footers. I really thought I had found a company that would do a great job and would met industry requirements and in turn would mean not having problems with insurance or mortgaging. They bigged themselves up to be national and they had different 'staff' and technical people signing off emails as if they were Solarcrest when actually they were all outsourced. Firstly you get bamboozled with reams of information - lots and lots of technical stuff that may or may not be relevant to an individual homeowner doing a renovation - in any case it was too much and did not highlight in any particular order what was important. I thought I had the salient points but both me and my builder (who had only worked with conventional insulation) missed certain things that then caused changes and last minute panics to accommodate and created a lot of friction between my builder (whom I had to try and keep sweet and on board) and Solarcrest. Fast forward to post installation of the MVHR and spray foam insulation, and we were happy at first, but then it got cold and neighbours started lighting fires and our home was filling with smoke. Long story short, the intake was placed between two chimneys and the soil stack, hemmed in on 3 sides with a few meters spacing from both chimneys and barely a metre from the soil stack, but Solarcrest decided to put all the blame on the neighbours cowl, despite us ruling that out as the main problem and were quite happy to sign off on this and refused to make good on the issue with the intake. They didn't even do a site survey before commencing, or they would have seen these problems. Instead they sent in a third party installer who followed their plans, obviously without question. Then we had the issue of the spray foam insulation. Although the work was probably done properly and all the 'technical gumph' in their many documents makes it all seem totally sound and proper, Solarcrest are NOT ACTUALLY ACCREDITED!! Their insulation has not been accepted by my bank. Again, this was installed by a third party installer and between them they don't meet the requirements. They are not Trustmark registered for Foam despite this logo being on their paperwork. (Their Trustmark accreditation was actually for Aircon which was the closest segment to MVHR installation but they don't actually install aircon!). They don't meet the PAS2030 standard and thus don't meet lender guidance. I questioned the mortgaging issues with their sales guy before I signed up and he said it would be installed properly and this was only a problem with cowboy installers - I believed him - but Solarcrest were actually aware of this issue as became evident in a document they sent to us after installation when we started having trouble re-mortgaging, they knew that any spray foam installation, and thus their installation could be turned down and were going on about the industry lobbying the lenders, etc. But that doesn't help us now.. I want to prevent anyone else from making the same mistake with this review. Do not use these guys, they don't have the right accreditation and are quite happy to sign off and issue certification for building control on works that are well below par, perhaps even dangerous (MVHR Installation and mis-placement of intake). Find an installer who has the PAS 2030 Trustmark accreditation for spray foam insulation. I thought I'd done my research but it goes to show, all the logos in the world evidently don't mean anything.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

Dear Coleen, we're sorry to hear you are struggling to refinance your property with Barclays because of their (new) 'no spray foam' policy. It's frustrating given there is no actual problem with your insulation. We've shown through modelling there are no interstitial condensation risks, we've used NVQ qualified, manufacturer approved installers, BBA/Kiwa certified products, and we've issued product and workmanship guarantees. You imply the reason you can't re-finance is because we don't have PAS2030 accreditation (yet), however this is an optional accreditation for those seeking government funding, it's not a legal requirement so there's no valid reason your lender should withhold funding. We've offered to speak to their surveyor directly to address their concerns, but if you'd rather we didn't we can only suggest you try a more reasonable lender. Nationwide for instance. Regarding your smoke ingress comment, rather than blaming the ventilation system we know is working perfectly well and in compliance with the regulations, I recommend you keep pressure on your neighbour to have their defective flue fixed. As we have said already, they are currently burning solid fuel in an open flue that has a gas vent instead of a chimney pot, and probably no proper flue liner either. Besides being a fire hazard connected to your property, this restriction is seriously affecting the draw from the flue, and that is causing smoke to roll down the roof instead of being lifted up and away. It's preventing their chimney from being professionally swept too, so it's likely there is a heavy build up of soot which adds to the risk. We have offered to reassess the situation when this dangerous flue has been repaired. Until then, we will endeavour to train our surveyors to recognise the difference between an artificial chimney pot and a real chimney pot. Good luck with the finance, it should be a temporary issue as fresh guidance is about to be issued to surveyors and lenders.

Posted 2 years ago

Solarcrest is rated 4.9 based on 187 reviews