Are these issues covered under the home warranty in NSW?

I recently bought a property which is 1.5 years old. It is still under the home warranty. Few issues have come with the property such as:

1. 2nd storey timber/laminate floor makes creaking noises when walked on. It did not creak as much when I inspected the property in Dec 2019, but lately the creaking has increased.
   
   
2. Few horizontal cracks on the internal walls have developed. A small area around the crack is soft to touch. Image: Wall Crack
   
   
3. I have got a balcony upstairs with 2 columns. These columns support the balcony and the balcony roof. One of the top most bricks where the roof rests have come loose. Image: Balcony Column Brick . This is an overview of the columns: Balcony Columns. The left column indicated is where the loose brick is.
   
   
4. A door frame that is supporting a blind has developed cracks due to how heavy and big the blind is. Image: Blind
   
   
5. Shower leaks outside the shower door as it was not sealed properly. So when you take a shower, water flows outside on the tiles.
   
   
6. Some of the bricks have developed cracks in the cement between them. Is this something to be concerned about? Image: Crack between bricks
   
   
7. Loose shower fittings

The increase in floorboard creaking and internal wall cracks has happened around the same time. Could it be due to ground movement effecting the building?

Most of these issues were not present at the time when the building was inspected by an inspector.

Are these issues covered by the home warranty? If so, should I contact the original builder to rectify? I did not buy the house from the builder directly. It was previously owned by someone else.

The builder may have a biased opinion on these issues. Is it a good idea to get a second opinion on these issues from another builder or building inspector before approaching the original builder?

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

NSW Fair Trading has some limited guidance. You may need someone with construction skills to assess your issues as to whether they are construction defects. The standards document is a good point of reference. What you say a crack is and what a defect crack is may differ.

Resolving building disputes

 

On a quick look:
2) After realising that the wall is grey and I didn't need to wait for it to load. It looks like bad plastering and setting of the joints
3) Loose bricks should be relaid by the bricky
4) Door frames don't support blinds, blinds are often installed after handover so it may not be the builder's issue
6) One crack in isolation is negligible if every joint is cracked, it requires investigation.

 

With number 4, by the looks they never drilled a pilot hole prior to setting those screws ,so blame that one on the person who installed it in the first place..

When you line the levels up from the base--plumb-- ,that's excellent brick-work..imho.

Pilot hole - Wikipedia

 

If door frames don't support blinds, were should they be installed? I don't know who installed the blinds as I did not buy the house form the builder directly. It had a previous owner.

Not every joint is cracked. But there are other bricks around the house which has the same issue. Who would I employ to investigate this?

Sorry, but what are you referring to?

 

The blind unit appears to have been screwed into the surround. The blind unit housing has cracked. This is a installation issue not a building defect issue. Likely due to lack of a pilot hole and using a self tapper. Your purchase acquisition issue and not a warranty matter

 

Just looking at the Vertical line of the brick-work from the base too the roof line as there would only be a few mill difference as those face brick's are near perfect ..Only a trained BRICK-LAYER can do quality work like that as it's takes years of experience..BTW this is only my opinion and i'm no Brick Layer..imho..

 

If the blinds see that heavy, they should be fixed to the timber behind the frame but sad mentioned by @willair, the installers should have predrilled the holes to prevent cracking. It can be filled and painted.

These photos show cracks, yours would appear to be minor imperfections (unless the rest of the wall looks like any of the photos). Your building inspection report would have picked these up if it were a concern.







A bit more reading material about cracks.
Anything less than 2 mm is insignificant unless it's like the photos above.

 

Have a read of
HOME BUILDING ACT 1989
esp HOME BUILDING ACT 1989 - SECT 18B Warranties as to residential building work

 

Of course the standards and BCA all apply to set the accepted standards for the Act. And licensing enforcement. The Act itself does not prescribe what is a defect

https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/...80/NSW_Guide_to_Standards_and_Tolerances_.pdf