Building cladding question

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mdf

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Reply # 1643140 30-Sep-2016 09:57

Older houses (pre 1950s according to BRANZ) often used native hardwoods which are naturally resistant to decay. Same as a kwila or vitex deck today isn't treated due to their natural preservative properties.

Though resistant isn't the same as impervious and it is still important to thoroughly check for any signs of decay or insect infestations.

PolicyGuy

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Reply # 1643146 30-Sep-2016 10:01

Fred99:

... because of crappy workmanship and lack of supervision, you could find things such as that they only bothered to put a few tiebacks in visible places for the inspector to see, but "forgot" about the rest when nobody was looking. Slab on grade foundations that were supposed to have steel reinforcing in them but didn't as they carted it away in the middle of the night and sold it to the next mug, then carted it away and sold it again, all kinds of appalling deliberate "cheats" that they got away with - not just stupid mistakes.

And the same set of Pink Batts(R)(TM) moved from one house after inspection to the next.
Or the insulation being only one Batt(R)(TM) wide around the manhole.
Or the shared garage walls (supposedly fire-resistant) being lined with one layer of 9mm plaster board on each side instead of the two layers of 12.5mm plaster board like is says on the plans.

Ah the nineties, they were the good ole days - for cowboy builders, anyway.

Geese

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Reply # 1643181 30-Sep-2016 10:42

mdf:
Older houses (pre 1950s according to BRANZ) often used native hardwoods which are naturally resistant to decay. Same as a kwila or vitex deck today isn't treated due to their natural preservative properties.

If a house is 1949, and floor boards are rimu, is probability extremely high all timber used in the house will be rimu, or do they use perhaps lower quality wood in unseen areas like under the house and roof?

wellygary

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Reply # 1643197 30-Sep-2016 11:00

Geese:
mdf:

Older houses (pre 1950s according to BRANZ) often used native hardwoods which are naturally resistant to decay. Same as a kwila or vitex deck today isn't treated due to their natural preservative properties.

If a house is 1949, and floor boards are rimu, is probability extremely high all timber used in the house will be rimu, or do they use perhaps lower quality wood in unseen areas like under the house and roof?

Matai was also used, But there were many different grades and dressing of Rimu, so it is possible the whole house was Rimu ( it was common for framing)

MikeAqua

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Reply # 1643198 30-Sep-2016 11:00

Rimu framing timber is not at all resistant to decay if it gets wet.

Mike

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Reply # 1643289 30-Sep-2016 13:05

wellygary:

joker97: There are houses that have walls made of what looks like corrugated long run iron roof things ... What are those like?

There are plenty of 1900s villas in Wellington that have actual corrugated iron long run as walls, its all hardwood timber framing underneath, and have plenty of air "gaps" so water retention is not really a concern....

These are houses built post 2000 ... I presume they don't last very long? Say comp[ared to bricks?

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

dafman

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Reply # 1643303 30-Sep-2016 13:37

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My advice to anyone looking to buy a property, steer clear of anything built in the 90's/early 2000's that has monolithic cladding. Period.

It just ain't worth the risk.

MikeAqua

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Reply # 1643304 30-Sep-2016 13:38

"Colour steel" etc has a reasonably long service life provided water doesn't pool on it.

Not as long as bricks, but not as expensive either.

One thing I'm dubious about is installation with corrugate running horizontally. To me that is just asking for condensation to accumulate on the inside surface and cause corrosion.

Mike

mattwnz

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Reply # 1643311 30-Sep-2016 13:47

MikeAqua:
"Colour steel" etc has a reasonably long service life provided water doesn't pool on it.

Not as long as bricks, but not as expensive either.

One thing I'm dubious about is installation with corrugate running horizontally. To me that is just asking for condensation to accumulate on the inside surface and cause corrosion.

This is why I installed mine with a cavity even though it didn't need it. Although mine is installed vertically

Fred99

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Reply # 1643351 30-Sep-2016 15:32

MikeAqua:

Not as long as bricks, but not as expensive either.

Bricks are probably the cheapest conventional cladding. Proved to be not very permanent either - around where I live.

There was no way I was re-cladding in brick.

neb

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Reply # 1643450 30-Sep-2016 18:46

Fred99:
Slab on grade foundations that were supposed to have steel reinforcing in them but didn't as they carted it away in the middle of the night and sold it to the next mug, then carted it away and sold it again, all kinds of appalling deliberate "cheats" that they got away with - not just stupid mistakes.

I've heard endless variants of this story from all over the place, with the most recent version involving mysterious Chinamen instead of dodgy locals, and it's always something passed on by someone else, never a direct witness. Has anyone ever witnessed this directly, or seen hard evidence (e.g. photos) of it happening? This sounds too much like an urban legend...

neb

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Reply # 1643451 30-Sep-2016 18:53

MikeAqua:
"Colour steel" etc has a reasonably long service life provided water doesn't pool on it.

One thing I'm dubious about is installation with corrugate running horizontally. To me that is just asking for condensation to accumulate on the inside surface and cause corrosion.

One of the groups of cowboys who owned my place before me put horizontal long-run steel roofing underneath the deck, since the area was theoretically used as a carport. It's almost completely vanished, with mounds of rusted gunk in piled up in the carport area below.

I say "theoretically" because the steep, narrow, slippery driveway leading under the deck is essentially impassable even when it's dry, let alone after any amount of rain. You can stand halfway down it in gumboots when it's wet and slide almost to the bottom, until the collapsed retaining wall stops you.

Fred99

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Reply # 1643549 30-Sep-2016 22:41

neb:
Fred99:

Slab on grade foundations that were supposed to have steel reinforcing in them but didn't as they carted it away in the middle of the night and sold it to the next mug, then carted it away and sold it again, all kinds of appalling deliberate "cheats" that they got away with - not just stupid mistakes.

I've heard endless variants of this story from all over the place, with the most recent version involving mysterious Chinamen instead of dodgy locals, and it's always something passed on by someone else, never a direct witness. Has anyone ever witnessed this directly, or seen hard evidence (e.g. photos) of it happening? This sounds too much like an urban legend...

The story was believable enough for councils throughout NZ to change pre-pour foundation building inspection timing, so that the steelwork is inspected in place the same day as the concrete pour.

Very naive to suggest it couldn't have happened - "cheats" are very commonplace. If they weren't, then hell - no point having proper independent inspections, consents etc. In fact - why not just let the industry "self regulate"? Whoops - that's what they did - and look how that turned out.

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