Leaky buildings. Thinking of buying a post '95 home? Own one?

[dangerous]

LOL, aprantly a mates boss brought him a great wall double cab... it rolled of the ship with rust on it...


easy fix for the stainless and nails rusting... is ban fucking timber treatment.

[Ocean1]

Another issue looms on the construction horizon.

The quality of steel is in doubt.
Not just rebar steel but also the quality of nails. These can be of imported chinese steel which is not reliably quality tested. There are reputedly over 2700 steel mills in china and the standard falsification of documentation applies to the quality controls involved.

Another issue is stainless steel.
Instances of corrosion being seen after hardware was exposed to the elements for only one week!

Is the "steel" really steel?

Try cutting various nails with pincers and see the difference between manufacturers.
Buy NZ made.

Don't think I've seen Chinese stainless here. And there's a bunch of factors that might make stainless corrode, nothing new there.

Where I've seen problems is with structural sections, RSJ, RHS, UBS etc, nowdays you often find flaws in the material, bad ones. When cutting a big piece of channel a couple of months ago I found a layer of hard, brittle stuff running right through the length of it. I've found an increasing number of similar faults over the last 10 years or so. I had to bend some 75x12 flat bar about the same time, simple 90deg bend, it cracked and broke, every bend. It shouldn't be possible to break mild steel like that.

In theory you can ask for manufacturing standards compliance records when you order it, in practice the only way to trace such records is to sick someone like SGS onto the source, and you can really only do that for complete shipments. Not sure there's much individual consumers can do about it, I suppose IPENZ could start blacklisting manufacturers of dodgy material, but I suspect the supply line for some of it get's strangely untraceable once you get anywhere near the Chinese border. For now simply insist that the stuff's not Chinese.

[AllanB]

Ah - that's the steel they will be using to rebuild CHCH ..........

[Erelyes]

what you want in a house is a wide soffit, no parapets especially parapets with no cap flashings, the Mediterranean look might be fine in spain where ist 35 degrees all the time and if it rains it pisses down for a hour and is dry in 10 minutes plus most of those houses will be concrete not timber framed with a 20mm coating on them

Yeah we looked at buying a place before we knew anything about leaky homes

Double story, no eaves, roughcast cladding fixed directly to timber (no gap), top flashing only around windows (no side flashing), not recoated in 13 years, complex design... needless to say it was fucked

And needless to say we bought the opposite of all those things

[dangerous]

Where I've seen problems is with structural sections, RSJ, RHS, UBS etc, nowdays you often find flaws in the material, bad ones. When cutting a big piece of channel a couple of months ago I found a layer of hard, brittle stuff running right through the length of it. I've found an increasing number of similar faults over the last 10 years or so. I had to bend some 75x12 flat bar about the same time, simple 90deg bend, it cracked and broke, every bend. It shouldn't be possible to break mild steel like that.

These steels, imported or local?
Like bolts any engineer wort his salt will specifie a grade which must be stamped on the steel/bolt, it shouldnt pass inspecion with out the correct markings... but alas people still use sub standard to save money.

[Ocean1]

These steels, imported or local?
Like bolts any engineer wort his salt will specifie a grade which must be stamped on the steel/bolt, it shouldnt pass inspecion with out the correct markings... but alas people still use sub standard to save money.

Almost all large structural sections are imported. Local or imported; all such steel is required to meet certain minimum standards, and that was never covered by the "BHP", (for EG) formed on rolled sections. I think what you're talking about is traceability to manufacturing standards, heat numbers etc. And yes, while such data isn't usually stamped on the steel you can get the cert's delivered with it. What we're finding, not to put too fine a point on it, is that for anything out of China whatever certification ios available is often not traceable. That means you can't track the quality back to a particular batch and it's ingredients and production process controls, and that's the whole point of the documentation.

So it's not quite as simple as checking that your bolts have 8.8 stamped on the head, that tracking excercise isn't cheap and in recent years it's been left to the local importers to verify certification for anything they sell. However, like I said insisting that Steel & Tube, (to pick a vendor at random) don't supply you with product manufactured anywhere near China is a reasonable fix, for now. Interestingly, sometimes there's no immediate alternative.

[sofree]

I understand this is an old thread, I am looking to purchase a home - cladding is linea, it's 3 years old, any advice welcome or PM me. Have there been improvements since this thread was initially started in 2011.

[Laava]

Get a builders inspection. And a decent conveyancing lawyer.

[AllanB]

Should read 'get a decent builders inspection' I've seen houses that have had 'builders inspections' and have serious issues.

If the builder is fat are they likely to inspect the sub-floor or roof space ..............



3 year old house - who built it originally? What's their reputation like in you area?

[Berries]

I understand this is an old thread, I am looking to purchase a home - cladding is linea, it's 3 years old, any advice welcome or PM me. Have there been improvements since this thread was initially started in 2011.

As long as you are nowhere near the Hawkes Bay you'll be sweet.

[Winston001]

Well let's be realistic. The leaky homes tragedy started in Vancouver in about 1996 (a Kiwi mate and biker got caught) and the contagion caught on in Auckland (mostly). There are leaky homes in Christchurch too but not many other places.

Napier has a dry warm climate which can probably sustain Mediterranean style building. For clarity, houses around the Med have flat roofs and no roof overhang because rain is sudden and gone. Dry climates.

I'd be really surprised if a 3 yr build did not have cavity walls and roof overhangs. In other words you should be fine. Get a local builder to check it out just for peace of mind.

[dangerous]

I understand this is an old thread, I am looking to purchase a home - cladding is linea, it's 3 years old, any advice welcome or PM me. Have there been improvements since this thread was initially started in 2011.

It will be fine... I just dont like the shit personal opion only. at 3yrs it will not be direct fixed, check by feeling for a cavity closer.

Im not sure what or how involved other posters are, but I am a builder of 30yrs, now in managment and have spesilised in leaky home rebuilds.

[SPman]

Should be generally OK. As others have said, if in doubt, get an inspection by a reputable builder or firm. (Builder for 25 yrs, Auckland Building Inspector for 2 yrs, in the middle of the whole debacle, Quantity Surveyor for 15 yrs)

[BMWST?]

It is still possible to build a direct fix w bd house,As long as the design is traditional and wind speed not too much direct fix claddings are still ok

[dangerous]

It is still possible to build a direct fix w bd house,As long as the design is traditional and wind speed not too much direct fix claddings are still ok

yes... its about "the risk matrix"