House wall questions

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tweake

2391 posts

Uber Geek

#3150529 20-Oct-2023 16:14

cunningdavid:

I guess my question then is what better way is there for a non-builder type like me to tell who is a good building inspector?

i can only suggest you learn the basics. take note of what gear they use, do they actually crawl under the house or in the ceiling. of course this means being on site with them. also understanding what the report says. at least you might notice if its a fake inspector or not.

this also means that you can do a pre inspection and see any faults without spending money on inspection. that helps when you looking at many houses at once.

also asking the RE for details on if there is any faults. they are legally required to tell you, but most home owners won't tell them the faults.

nickb800

2719 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3150537 20-Oct-2023 16:38

tweake:

nickb800:

Cavity construction (rainscreen) is a fairly new thing in New Zealand, coming about post-2004 (putting aside brick veneer cavities). This means that most houses won't have a cladding cavity.

Direct fix is absolutely fine if used appropriately i.e. with eaves, building paper/wrap, well detailed and maintained junctions. The building code recognizes this and allows for direct fix in low risk situations.

afaik modern direct fixed is single story(?) and vertical cladding. typically that gives drainage but not always. i realy dislike some of the profiles some use. it was also done since 70's with vertical pattern fibrelite.

horizontal direct fix is poor because there is no drainage. however that wasn't a problem until the 80's when we started putting insulation into walls and removed the drying space.

the simple problem is cladding doesn't keep all water out and it depends a lot on the house/situation if the drying can overcome the wetting.

Horizontal or vertical doesn't come into it in modern code. It's the E2 risk matrix, which considers wind zone, number of storeys, roof/wall intersection design, eaves width, envelope complexity (e.g. number of corners) and deck design. Which is to say, horizontal weatherboards (or fibre cement sheet) are allowed on a traditional style single story house width decent width eaves. This reflects that water generally only gets in behind the cladding at the top of windows/doors, at the top of the wall (if there's no eaves) or at wall corners. For a plain wall with sheet or lapping cladding, which are well protected by paint, you wouldn't expect water to get in at all in the middle.

tweake

2391 posts

Uber Geek

#3150540 20-Oct-2023 16:56

nickb800:

Horizontal or vertical doesn't come into it in modern code. It's the E2 risk matrix, which considers wind zone, number of storeys, roof/wall intersection design, eaves width, envelope complexity (e.g. number of corners) and deck design. Which is to say, horizontal weatherboards (or fibre cement sheet) are allowed on a traditional style single story house width decent width eaves. This reflects that water generally only gets in behind the cladding at the top of windows/doors, at the top of the wall (if there's no eaves) or at wall corners. For a plain wall with sheet or lapping cladding, which are well protected by paint, you wouldn't expect water to get in at all in the middle.

eaves or not afaik, horizontal is only with rain screen these days. i havn't seen any that are direct fixed (tho i'm not out on houses these days). almost every wall got a window therefore a leak point, so it should be a rain screen.

" This reflects that water generally only gets in behind...... " yeah generally, not never.

this is why i dislike some of the rules, making ways to get around rules so people can build things worse (and disappear when it fails). so much easier and better to stick to one requirement. eg the rules still allow internal guttering even tho branz says its crap and you shouldn't use it.

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