Housearama

We fairly reluctantly agreed with the builder that the fixing of the problems with the frame could mostly be delayed up until the internal linings are installed. This essentially means that they could proceed with the attaching the Hebel and installing the roof. Some of the problems such as inconsistent nailing of the bracing will be harder to fix. Since the last update we have noticed that some of the problems have been fixed (some of the bolts reinstalled properly, tie downs nailed down, one of the studs which was cut has been reinforced). But there are still some important problems that need to be addressed such as all the bolts holding the frame down in the garage along one wall being installed too close the edge of the concrete (and so breaking the concrete edge and not really holding the frame down).

We had a meeting with the electrician last week to finalise the electrical plan. We ended up adding a few more data points, power points and adjusting the position of a few things like fans. Am rather excited about the home automation and monitoring we’ll be able to do.

Over the last week the hebel installers have been very busy. Although it explicitly states in our contract that the sarking for the walls will be installed shiny side our SS informed us that their contractors have refused to do so for OH&S reasons. Hopefully it will still work as decent radiant barrier. Most of the north facing part of the house is window which will be shaded by the pergola in summer so it may not matter too much. Am still a bit disappointed that the builder would promise (in writing) to install it shiny side out and then eventually refuse to do so.

The sarking and the hebel has gone up very quickly and is looking very nice – at least to our untrained eye. We’ve also had some painters in to paint the cedar frames with Integrain DWD so the outside has now had one coat and the inside two coats. The windows look beautiful!

We’ve had some rain the last couple of days but the weather is meant to be fine this week so we’re expecting the rendering of the walls to be finished by mid this week. Next will be the fascia for the gutters and then hopefully the roof before Christmas! Am really looking forward to walking around the house with the roof on as it should give us a much better idea of how much light we will have in the rooms.

Where to start…

As a result of our third party inspector, we have issued a list of problems with the frame to our site supervisor. After some interesting discussions, I have been basically asked if I wasn’t just nitpicking for the sake of it. The answer? Ummm, no… This is what our third party inspector came up with – you know, the one who knows all the building codes and standards, and has said “these things are problems”. I’m not doing this for my health.

This is the letter that I felt compelled to share with head office today:
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further to my fax, herewith the photos to display some of the problems. Please feel free to share these with ***construction manager***. Let me know if you need any of higher resolution and I will send them immediately

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bathroom_111109.jpg displays where a decomposable material has been used to shore up the stud framework in the wet areas. This is a big problem should any leakage occur in these wet areas as that will result in rotting through that entire section of frame (and any connected sections should it not be discovered in a timely manner). According to our inspector’s advice, the building standards followed in Australia would state that a non-decomposable material be used in these areas.

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cutstud_1111090.jpb shows the stud in the kitchen where the wood has been cut away to allow for the pipes. According to our inspector this also does not follow standards, and this wood cannot be cut into more than 20mm – this cut is a lot deeper than that. Our inspector suggests that a further stud be placed along side this one (preferably one on either side) that does not require to be cut away from the pipes. Our inspector says that this is a load bearing stud.

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ensuite_111109.jpg shows where the wood bordering the slab has been cut away completely to make room for the pipe work. We have been informed that standard procedure for this would be to supply a steel brace or the likes to complete the border and allow room for the pipe, but that it is unacceptable to leave the break here.

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sheetbrace_111109.jpg shows the distance between some of the nails in the steel sheet used to brace the walls. According to ***SS***, this material requires nail spacing of 150mm or less, and you can see from the A4 sheet in that picture that the nail spacing there is far greater than that. This is a problem on ALL of the sheeting throughout the build, although some of it has now been covered with sarking. This is important to have it remedied prior to external walls being fitted. Our inspector has also made mention of the corrosion on these sheets, although I have been in contact with bluescope (the manufacturer) who have said that they believe it is only the protective coating that has corroded, and therefore the structural integrity is still intact.

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tiedowns_111109.jpg shows where the tie downs have not been secured at all. I have a photo of one next to this set that clearly shows the tie down secures properly. ***SS*** assures me that these were not completed because the carpenters have yet to come back and fit the sliding cavity door.

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tiedowns2_111109.jpg shows an example of where the tie downs have been secured, but are quite loose. Our inspector assures us that this can result in lifting of the roof structure during high winds, which in turn can result in structural damage to the studwork and severe cracking to the internal linings (and possibly external linings)

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Our inspector also made note of the bolts holding the frame to the slab. In many cases these bolts are quite loose (you can sometimes physically fit a finger between the head of the bolt and the wood that it is supposed to be holding down, and frequently the washers spin freely where they should be tight), and in some cases where the bolts have been placed too close to the edge of the slab. ***SS*** mentioned that they need to be 40mm from the edge of the slab, whereas some of the bolts are so close to the egde that you can see the length of the bolt poking through the concrete, therefore no longer structural at all. This has also now been hidden by the introduction of sarking/damp course.

There are more issues in the report, although these are the ones which concern us the most. If we can be given valid reason why any of these are not to be worried over, we’d be more than happy to read about it.

I have to reiterate – I am NOT doing this to be painful. We are simply following the advice given by our third party inspector who knows better than we do. As mentioned in our phone conversation, I have built a house before. In that scenario I didn’t use an inspector and I had untold problems with the house upon completion. Severe cracking of the plaster above all windows. The shower drain was >2cm above the level of the tiles (so the showers pooled water – both of them). Extroadinarily poor workmanship in general. I fought tooth and nail for things to be fixed and even had to have my certificate of occupancy revoked to get the builders to address some of the issues. I don’t believe for a moment that your company is of such a poor calibre, but I need to protect my own interests. I beg your understanding.

Thanks,
Kelly

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btw – will post pics of the house + sarking tomorrow if I get the chance!

Today I went out to the site and found this:

This is our external walls!!! Large panels of aerated concrete – goes up extremely fast so we should expect to have the external walls in place within about 3 days of when they start installation. Having said that, we don’t expect installation to start *just* yet…

Part of our requirements with this build were as much insulation as we could possibly get. Part of that is formed with sarking. We have it written into our contract that the sarking is to be installed shiny side out to ensure maximum heat reflection in the summer. I called our fabulously wonderful site supervisor yesterday to say how thrilled we were that the external walling system had arrived, and we wanted to make sure that the sarking wasn’t installed until the problems with the frame had been remedied (there’s a few loose bolts, missing tension straps, a stud need replacing, etc – nothing that takes too long) (read, we don’t believe that you are planning on doing the sarking and wanted to give a gentle reminder without actually saying “did you forget the sarking?). The response? “Sarking isn’t used with power panel”. I told him to check the contract as it is absolutely in there and definitely required.

I note, with some amusement, that the hebel website has a bunch of specifications and such available for their products. The architectural specification for using powerpanel recommends using DuPont Tyvek HomeWrap (yes! Sarking!!) =)