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Froglotion
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  #2540454 13-Aug-2020 19:25
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Rondo which is very similar to the stack in the last photo is super common for suspended ceilings in housing / commercial. Even direct fixed to trusses as it's cheaper, from memory, than using timber for ceiling battens. My place is timber frame with rondo ceiling, nice and straight and won't shrink or bow.




Fred99
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  #2540455 13-Aug-2020 19:35
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neb:
Froglotion:

 

Yeah maybe 40cm around the edge, but won't be the whole slab.

 

Sure, but why raise it up that high? You're still pouring a ton more concrete than the usual 100mm slab even if a lot of the middle portion is hardfill. Ah, I know! Its that thick because they're interring the bodies of all the people killed by 5G in the centre portions. Devilishly clever. On a more serious note, I don't think it's concerns about flooding since surrounding houses are built at more normal levels.

 

It's probably "rib raft".  Big rectangles of polystyrene block on the ground, with deeper ribs of beams with rebar formed around the edges and between the poly blocks, 100mm cover (with mesh) over the polystyrene, 300mm or so on the beams.  It's good.  Lots of simple slab on grade homes were "total loss" in the Chch quakes due to badly cracked labs, or un-level slabs.  The deeper beams mean the slab is much stronger, and if un-level after a quake, may be able to be re-levelled without the slab falling apart.  It's a very expensive exercise to detach framing from a slab, lift the house, demolish then replace a conventional slab on grade home foundation.

 

Of course another reason for the high-ish foundation may be simply flood zones specifying minimum height based on estimates for sea level rise / global heating impact on weather.


chevrolux
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  #2540459 13-Aug-2020 19:42
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Whats the point of this? Are we deciding if this is going to rust?

No...

Just like the second post says, this is basically the standard for commercial builds. Yea sure there are heavy i-beams holding it up. But all your roof and wall perlins is light-ish galv steel. It works well and has been done for years.



neb

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  #2540504 13-Aug-2020 19:56
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Froglotion:

Could be a rib-raft slab,

 

 

Ah, of course! I assumed it had some thermal purpose, but didn't think about it much more than that.

  #2540533 13-Aug-2020 20:44
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Dingbatt:

 

The biggest benefit of steel framing is its stability and ‘trueness’.

 

No warping, twisting, shrinkage, nail pops, etc. Elements are machined off-site to the correct length.

 

 

LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber), essentially very thick plywood, also has similar advantages. Cost is apparently not much more than plain timber and the builders I know who've worked with it say it's awesome.


  #2540537 13-Aug-2020 20:49
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How much more does steel expand due to temperature fluctuations than timber? say over a 30deg temperature window

 

a quick look suggests it expands about twice as much as timer does. how does that affect things like gib and plaster joins? does it creak when it expands and contracts?


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  #2540541 13-Aug-2020 20:59
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SomeoneSomewhere:

LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber), essentially very thick plywood, also has similar advantages. Cost is apparently not much more than plain timber and the builders I know who've worked with it say it's awesome.

 

 

Definitely. We're using LVL beams (hySPAN) in the Casa de Cowboy rebuild, it's great stuff.

 
 
 

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1101
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  #2540761 14-Aug-2020 10:06
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tchart:
The 50 year "warranty" covers coastal areas too BTW.

 

 

The warranty will be worthless is theres an issue with too many homes that company made this way
We've allready seen companies promise the earth then fail to deliver after issues found , plenty of times. Duck for cover & refuse expensive warranty claims, point the finger at someone else for the issues

 

My homes steel roof is still OK after 50+ years . :-)


nickb800
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  #2540868 14-Aug-2020 11:06
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neb: On an unrelated note, this is what they're building these on:  The photo doesn't show it that well but from another side I'd estimate about 40cm of concrete thickness. This is for residential buildings, that's an insane amount of concrete for a house.

 

https://cdn.ymaws.com/concretenz.org.nz/resource/resmgr/docs/conf/2012/s3_p2_-_ashby.pdf

 

Waffle slabs are typically about 17 times as strong as a conventional reinforced concrete
slab and foundations while using a similar amount of concrete plus nominal additional steel.
This extra strength is due to the depth of the ribs.

 

 

As mentioned, it's likely to be a waffle slab (or Rib Raft, which is a proprietary type of waffle slab). Not only are they way stronger for a similar amount of material, they are also provide construction efficiencies as the slab can be formed in a single pour (conventional concrete slabs often involve one pour for the footings, and another for the slab).


trig42
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  #2540872 14-Aug-2020 11:13
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Those steel framed homes must be hell on wireless signals.

 

 

 

Having said that, the occupants are probably safe from 5G. So long as they put a tin roof on.


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  #2541202 14-Aug-2020 17:11
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trig42:

Those steel framed homes must be hell on wireless signals.

 

 

Won't have any effect, but as you point out it'd be fun to sell them at premium prices to 5G nutters.

mattwnz
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  #2541206 14-Aug-2020 17:31
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Froglotion:

 

Rondo which is very similar to the stack in the last photo is super common for suspended ceilings in housing / commercial. Even direct fixed to trusses as it's cheaper, from memory, than using timber for ceiling battens. My place is timber frame with rondo ceiling, nice and straight and won't shrink or bow.

 

 

Do you find metal ceiling battens can sometimes make noises from expansion during the day and night?


Handle9
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  #2541303 14-Aug-2020 19:27
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Jase2985:

How much more does steel expand due to temperature fluctuations than timber? say over a 30deg temperature window


a quick look suggests it expands about twice as much as timer does. how does that affect things like gib and plaster joins? does it creak when it expands and contracts?



Any expansion or contraction is much better than timber as it expands and contracts consistently without warping

Froglotion
208 posts

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  #2541385 14-Aug-2020 23:02
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mattwnz:

 

Do you find metal ceiling battens can sometimes make noises from expansion during the day and night?

 

 

Not that i've noticed nope. I don't recall the last house I saw in CHCH with timber ceiling battens. I can only comment on the sites I work on though. Could be builder specific, but I work for quite a few and they all use rondo.


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