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Duncan,
respectfully I have listened to your rantings about leaking buildings and cannot
ignore them any longer. I am one of those eggshell cladding
contractors and have been for the last 18 years. Working mainly with polystyrene
systems my company has completed hundreds of jobs over the years with very few
problems. A relatively recent job was the Auckland Master Builders supreme award
winning home in 2000. The systems used to clad buildings are warrantied and
applied with 100% confidence. The odd time something fails is usually attributed
to human error or building movement. My staff are well trained and instructed
not to cut any corners and the results are excellent. I am aware of endless
numbers of poor builders or other trades it does not mean that everyone is of
the same quality. The lightweight cladding systems are meeting a market need,
they also have abilities to absorb structural movements and are held in high
regard by those informed and quality builders that I deal with, whose opinions
are experience based. I live in an older area of Auckland, old
weather board houses and brick houses also leak, I see it all the time. I feel
as you quite correctly say that the key points are quality and practical design
backed up with experienced and quality builders and tradesmen. Given that the
client is willing to pay for it, finding the right people will allow clients to
build with confidence, even eggshell houses.
Regards , Gordon
Brodie.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2003 11:13
AM
Subject: [sharechat] reply to
snoopy
I
will try and answer all your questions snoopy. First up
they didn't In the old days have treated wood to use and the houses
didn't rot out and leak. The reason being the design suited the
materials used, and on top of that the people that built them understood
what wouldn't work. today we have every tom dick and harry design
houses, and they don't have a clue about anything, all they are good at
Is drawing nice pictures. We are supposed to use materials
with a life expectancy of twelve years, to hold the weather out of a
building that Is supposed to have a life expectancy of more than fifty
years. If you used treated wood on the exterior walls of a
stucco house It would still leak, but the house would survive, It would
only be wall linings, and the flooring at risk. That would allow
time to have It fixed until the next time. The only countries In
the world that use treated wood In buildings are AUS and NZ.
The greens will have there way, and It will be banned here before long.
The people that are Inclined to be sued In all this are the
exterior cladders, and manufacturers of the cladding
systems. Carter holt don't fall Into that category. we
use finger jointed finishing lines In the trade which are great,
{uniform length knot free good product}. One of the carter holt people
told me they Intend to finger joint framing timber In the future making
pruning unnecessary. Finger jointing timber only means the timber will
be knot free and therefore straighter with virtually very little waste.
The problem today Is people want a rollsroyce job and the builder Is
expected to do It with lada parts. Carter holt Introduced kiln dried
untreated wood In 1996 I think, could be wrong but there about. good
product but unsuitable In exterior walls that cant breathe or areas
Inclined to be damp or wet. Exterior walls that cant breathe will
all ways leak, sooner more than later. To a novice house buyer, stick to
brick or weather boards or after that find a good old time builder and
ask what not to do first. To all the people In those stucco houses sell
up before It all hits the fan because It Is going to In a big way and
your pride and joy will be worth very little. The building guarantees
are not worth the paper they are written on. The
builder only has to wind the company up, and start all over again under
a new name. I know of one builder that has been bankrupt twice,
and became quite rich from doing so, he Is now building bigger and
better. What to do about all this Is to go back to where It
started to go wrong, and start from there, only this time lets do It the
right way. I would suggest 1980 as the starting point, with all products
and systems after that date to be proved before allowing them on the
market. People that design houses should have to have practical
experience, and all builders registered, and not hiding behind a company
name. More responsibility on the owners, and less on the councils, who
are running like scared rabbits afraid to make decisions, costing owners
heaps In engineers reports on stupid little common sense matters.
Building Inspectors should need to pass exams, before being allowed
operate, {being a failed builder should not be a pass mark}. Would you
believe that I know a master builder that cant hammer a nail In and
never has?, so fix the lot Is the answer,It requires total clean out.
cheers macdunk
wet days are great |
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