Homeowners whose properties are damaged by the defective concrete blocks crisis have accused the Government of withholding vital research showing house foundations were also affected by pyrrhotite — a mineral causing homes to crumble.
It was previously believed house foundations were not affected by the problem.People who availed of the State’s redress scheme to repair homes were expected to leave their house foundations in situ when rebuilding.
The Mica Action Group (MAG), representing many of these homeowners, said the new research now brought this practice into question.
MAG claimed the Department of Housing and the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) should have acted sooner after receiving the findings last November.
A memo from Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) revealed there were a number of key findings “it deemed of sufficient importance” to bring to the NSAI’s attention before the conclusion of work by its research partners RSK, Petrolab and an Ulster University-led consortium.
While it was previously believed mica was causing concrete to fail, researchers now believe pyrrhotite is behind the issue
Each research partner had found an “internal sulphate attack (ISA) as a result of excessive pyrrhotite is the primary cause of the most serious damage seen within the affected properties across Donegal”, the GSI said.
Reposted From independent.ie