Archive for 2008

Choosing Joinery For Home Renovations & New Homes

Friday, October 17th, 2008

Joinery is a major issue in the leaky house syndrome, so I thought I would start with this material investigation first. There are several areas to consider:

  1. The building standard for my local region
  2. The type of finish used
  3. The design components that ensure weather tightness
  4. The expertise required for installation without damaging the product
  5. The thermal and noise protection properties of the glass.

Failure in Joinery in Leaky Homes

The main areas of failure include:

  1. Inadequate head flashing
  2. Inadequate side flashing
  3. Too much reliance on sealants for weathertightness to the building envelope – these sealants fail within 4-5 years
  4. No recessing of windows – the flush window design in many modern homes offers little, if no protection from driving wind and capillary action
  5. Poor joinery ventilation and water egress – the design of joinery should ensure that any moisture build up or water access is able to escape outside of the building envelope

I am investigating the various anodised and powder coated aluminium joinery products available, and how to tell good quality joinery from cheaper, inferior options without relying on price alone. Check out the new updates in the joinery section of the Remodeling Renovations Website:

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Posted in Exterior, Joinery, Leaky House Repair | No Comments »

Global Decisions In Fixing A Leaky House

Monday, October 13th, 2008

When fixing a house suffering from leaky house syndrome, there are some high level considerations that must be made. On my rebuild project this includes:

  • Rebuild or Repair
  • Joinery Options
  • Cladding Options
  • Roof Design and Materials

Rebuild or Repair

Is it worth repairing the house or should I rebuild a completely new home? With such stigma attached to repaired leaky houses, it is worth investigating with local real estate agents the financial impact of the stigma attached to leaky homes.

A rough calculation to rebuild the house from scratch is around $320,000. This does not include demolition of the existing house, or factor in any parts that are reusable. Reusable items include the floor, any unaffected structural elements, joinery, bathroom fittings etc. Even should I replace all joinery, it may be more cost effective to reuse the glass in the existing joinery, if it meets thermal requirements.

If the design of the house is not really to your liking, rebuilding is a great option. Unfortunately, my house is a great design for the site, so there will be virtually no design changes in rebuilding to take advantage of. However, even a few minor changes in kitchens and bathrooms, and changing the size and location of windows can make a big impact to the living enjoyment of the home.

Estimates to rebuild are in the range of $180,000 – $250,000 so one has to consider if the additional investment is worth while. With such a wide range, this is a tough decision. At $180,000 I would repair, at $250,000 I will rebuild. So this is a decision that really can only be made once the final costs are confirmed – and that may not be until they start demolition. Hence, my current view is that since the building of a new home will be almost identical in design to a repaired home, and any differences can be incorporated into a repaired home with minimal extra cost, I will design for a total rebuild and then start cutting the cost back once we ascertain what parts are reusable.

Building Acts and Trade Licensing

The Building Act in NZ was updated in 2004. This new Act includes provisions specifically to improve weather tightness and also incorporates energy efficiency items such as insulation specifications for wall, roofs and windows.

With the climatic changes in NZ over the past 5 years, we are experiencing more extreme conditions. The summers are hotter in the northern regions and the winters colder in the southern regions.

Another consideration is with trade licensing. This will provide some form of checking option for consumers that their tradesmen are qualified. From November 2007, design and building practitioners will be able to start applying to be licensed under the government’s licensed building practitioner scheme. A public register will be able online.

In addition, consumers will be able to make complaints to the Building Practitioners Board about licensed building practitioners if they carry out substandard work. Not every builder will have to have a license but at least you have the option of knowing who has and who has not.

In my case, building will hopefully start around the time this comes into effect, so I will not be able to take advantage of pre-checking, but it does give me more options if I have a problem with the builder and subs.

Next: Checking Joinery Options

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Posted in Leaky House Repair | 1 Comment »

The Leaky House Repair Project is Back On!

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

I am about to start winding up my leaky house repair project again. I have been out of action with this remedy for several years now due to:

  • The funds I received to repair my leaky house were grossly under estimated by Prendos, hence after paying off the lawyer there was only around a 15-20% of the estimated true cost to fix the house
  • The new standards around weather tightness were not robust enough for me to be sure that they would be permanent and my house would comply for at least 25 years
  • There was so much competition in the builder market that it was near impossible to get a builder, and if you did, you would pay high prices
  • There is a current investigation into why builders are charging so much to fix leaky homes. This might expose those who have been taking too much advantage of the situation.
  • The collapse of around 20 finance companies in NZ, including one which had $55,000 of the funds I had saved towards fixing my leaking house
  • After taking off some time to heal mentally from the 8.5 years of hell going through court cases, I injured my arm, preventing me from going back to work for nearly 2 years – hence my savings are somewhat depleted

BUT!!! I am a determined person who will succeed in spite of this – and so it is time to start revamping my plans to rebuild this house and get this monster monkey off my back.

In the interim I have not been idle. I have been investigating options:

  1. Do I repair or completely rebuild? – there are cost and design issues to consider
  2. How can I integrate Green building techniques into my house without significantly increasing the cost ? – this may be a case of building in the option to change or add elements later
  3. Waiting for building costs to get off the high – the building industry is certainly slowing now so I will hopefully have better options

Learn from past rebuilds - many of the initial leaky house repairs are failing again. In fact – I have a deck and entrance area that was built AFTER the leaky house syndrome was publicised and it now has failed – so back to Court for a second time

New Methods - there are some great new technologies and building materials that have come onto the market in the past few years which are ideal for rebuilding. We will cover these in more detail later.

Coming Next: Investigating New Materials

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Keeping Your Building Project in Order

Wednesday, June 11th, 2008

Often it is the simple things that get left out of planning a new home renovation. Like, what is the normal order of activity when building a house. We all get the standard – foundations, floor, walls, roof, exterior, but what about those interim tasks.

The general order of things:

  1. Excavations
  2. Foundations
  3. Concrete floors poured
  4. Framing constructed
  5. Roof on
  6. Windows fitted
  7. Exterior cladding
  8. Plumbing
  9. Wiring
  10. Insulation installed
  11. Doors fitted
  12. Interior lining installed
  13. Cabinets installed in kitchen, bathroom, laundry
  14. Tiling
  15. Final electrical and plumbing work
  16. Painting and finishing
  17. Floor coverings

If you work to this order you should be fine. When discussing items with your builder, ask them to indicate where in the process the action will occur. Keeping track of progress is much easier once you have a general high level expectation of the order of work.

Posted in Planning, Project Management | No Comments »

Google Jumping Into Sustainable Energy

Monday, February 18th, 2008

Google is preparing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in finding cheaper, cleaner alternative energy sources. And they are walking the talk, with hhuge solar panels dominate its Californian headquarters, they are true supporters of sustainable energy.

The investment falls under the company’s philanthropic arm, Google.org. US$20 million ($25.4 million) has already been committed to invest in start-up firms that research and develop solar, thermal and wind power as well as geothermal systems.

These three technologies were chosen as having the most promise of both reducing the overall cost of energy, and being capable of massive scale.

To date, the company has pledged US$10 million to eSolar [Pasadena, California-] to support research and development of solar thermal power, which concentrates heat from the sun to create steam and spin turbines.

It has also invested US$10 million in Makani Power [Alameda, California], which is developing high-altitude wind technologies.

Its particular interest in Enhanced Geothermal Systems [EGS] stem from the fact one can find find heat virtually anywhere. EGS is the ability to create power by pumping water into hot rocks in the ground rather than harvesting hot water already there.

Google.org is also looking at energy transmission and storage, both in the US and world-wide.

All good news for homeowners!

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Little Things DO Count

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

I have just finished researching and creating a couple of new sections on RemodelingRenovations

Building Green
Sustainable Homes

I found it really interesting that there is a lot of talk about what each country is going to do, or is doing, and even some good incentive programs to help those install technology to improve insulation, energy management etc

The sad things is that there are so many small things that are being overlooked.

Housing infill – where trees are being indiscriminately felled, regardless of what impact they have on neighbors. Sure, there are often guidelines about big trees or protected species, but those less significant green belts have been filtering the air, providing shade and privacy, absorbing carbon, adding oxygen, maintaining the local ecology for years – and without warning the whole environment changes. I accept that trees and shrubs need to be felled to provide for the building – and each homeowner has the right to landscape as they wish – but I feel strongly that greenery within 2 meters of boundaries should be protected, at least until neighbors have been given the opportunity to comment.

Boom Boxes and Big Bases – noise control limits are not keeping up to date with technology. So often, we get our nights disturbed by party stereos where the level of the music is acceptable but the base just thumps through the whole house until 4am – so much so we cant even drown it out with the television

Big Pipes - sure the kids love their cars – but those noisy muffler systems that rage around the streets at 3am are hideous.

I may sound intolerant – but really I am not. I just don’t understand why so many people complain in conversations with each other yet do nothing about taking formal steps to get local council policies up to date with what is happening in the community

Small voices do count, and small things add up to big problems

So don’t just sit back, do something. Your neighbors will love you for it.

Posted in Remodeling | No Comments »