A CORSHAM family has suffered more than a year’s torment and face Christmas away from home after a lightning bolt damaged their house and repair works due to take eight weeks have taken more than 13 months.

The ordeal for the Hunt family, of West Park Road, began when land around their home was struck by lightning on September 18 last year, causing the ground under the floors to settle and drop by up to 30mm.

They had to wait five months for loss adjusters to find builders to do work needed on the house and were only moved into alternative housing on June 1, almost seven months after the incident.

The lightning strike meant that the floors cracked, interior walls dropped and the ceilings and floor boards warped.

Building work is still ongoing and the family has been told they will be unable to move back into their home until December 29.

Darren Hunt, 44, said: “This has been immensely stressful. We have two young children, who have had to leave their home.

“The quality of the work is shocking. They painted while the house was dirty so there is dirt in the paint. Our neighbour, who is a builder, said it was appalling.

“We have been living out of boxes for six months, as we were originally told it would be finished in eight weeks and decided not to properly unpack.”

Mr Hunt and his wife Kirsty have lived in their home for 17 years, raising Ethan, 11, and Olivier, eight, but will spend Christmas in rented housing in Sumsions Drive, Corsham.

Mr Hunt said: “I did not sleep well for a while. We still have things to do. We need to redecorate. You are talking eight weekends' worth of work."

Loss adjusters Crawford and Company appointed Longcroft Building Services to do the work. A spokesman for the builders declined to comment, referring enquiries to the loss adjusters.

A spokesman for Crawford and Co said: “Naturally we take all complaints seriously, but are unable to comment on specific cases due to client confidentiality.”