Ted's Dream a Nightmare
Ted Gatzea's Dream is crumbling around him.
"This was supposed to be our final home." he said.
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The entire
structure is beginning to tilt... |
At first, the 57 year old father of four only noticed a few cracks, but now the walls are shifting, the windows tilting, and the brickwork is 75 percent sand." he said.
"When the rain falls, you can see it just slowly washing away. They didn't even use proper mortar."
One wall of the Epping home has shifted 1.2 cm. If it collapses, Mr Gatezia's lounge room will probably come down with it.
I have a couple of beams in the garage which I hope will prop up the ceiling but I'm not even sure if that will work."
Tiles have lifted because of the roof, and rain is leaking into the corner of the garage. Birds are nesting inside.
"There are a lot of mice around." Mr Gatezia' said.
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...it would cost $40,000 to fix the defects...
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At the base of most of the walls, the bricks have separated."They are richochetting like elastic. The same problem is going on all around the house. The walls are loose." he said.
The front of the house has tilted and the entire struture is beginning to tilt, placing the pressure on the windows.
"They are about to pop out of the walls" Mr Gatezia said. "We are devastated."
Mr Gatezia checked the house before purchase but could not find fault with it.
"The sort of problems I am having, you don't look for in a newly built house." he said.
My Gatezia estimated it would cost $40,000 to fix the defects, money he did not have and would probably never see.
Avonwood Homes, the company that built the house collapsed two years ago.
When Hill, Avonwoods Insurer also went under Mr Gatzia was left with no one to hold accountable.
"I don't have a leg to stand on ." he said.
Author: Patrick O'Neil - Sunday Herald Sun 2002
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