Forum Archive Index - December 2003

["Duncan MacGregor" <d-m_macgregor@xtra.co.nz>]

The front page in sats heralds picture of a house that Is in dispute Is typical of what home owners with plaster exterior houses can expect when they try to sell.    The house In question I would defy any builder could build It without It leaking using the materials I see In the picture.       Who can you blame If It happens to you?.        The master builders give out house of the year to similar houses of this type, the designers continue to design them, and the gullible public still buy them.   There Is a complete Ignorance of the technical aspect of building, from designers, building Inspectors, the master builders association.     I really think that a person designing a jet plane would know the laws of aerodynamics, likewise the person designing a house will understand the laws off capillary action, electrolyses, and the laws dealing with air pressure In roofs and walls and untreated wood being able to breathe.
The very sad fact Is Ignorance Is bliss they still don't have a clue and I have argued the point for at least the last twenty years until
I am sick of It.     The builders build to the plan the inspectors Inspect there work and pass It.            Before all that happens the owner gets someone to draw It all up the probability being not one of them Is suitably qualified, the checkpoints are non existent.
When It all turns to custard who do we blame when every person Involved says Its not my fault.   
The lawyers will make more than what It costs to repair some of them.     I think the master builders are most at fault for there complete Ignorance for so long on the problem,        Why do we bother having them?.       An airtight wall creates a vacuum that only requires a pin hole that will suck water uphill like water through a straw.   This might only happen when the wind Is In a certain position,so perhaps will go unnoticed for a long period of time.   The danger spots are corners flat decks as roofs, balconies and anything screwed into or bolted to the structure.        The lovely home In the herald built In concrete would have been leakproof for the next thousand years Instead of ending up with poor innocent people fighting each other In court.   The lesson to be learned Is find a old time builder, and ask before buying, the same way that I ask a mechanic to look over a car before I buy It.
If I wanted to build a rolls royce I wouldnt use Lada parts houses are the same.
                                          cheers macdunk
ps I always refused to build plaster exteriors on a timber frame It cost me or did It?