You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter wolf Camp from News Talks it by helping you get those DIY projects done right. The Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp Call eight hundred eighteen eighty Youth Talk said.
Bizz, even when it's dark, even in the grass is overgrown in the yard, even when it doug is too old to bar, and when we're sitting at the table trying not to starve.
Sissor even when we are ben even when you're therell.
Well, very very good morning, and welcome along to the show. My name is Pete wolf Camp. This is the Resident Builder on and we are here to talk about all things building construction, the rules, the regulations, the practical, the know how, the tips and tricks let's say, generated in part from you as the listener, because people do learn from you when you're talking about the dilemmas that you have.
I had a couple of conversations during the course of the week and people are going, actually I enjoy the show because I learned something. When if you've got an issue with waterproofing, you've got an issue with straightening the boundary fence, if whatever, people will learn from that. So thank you. For your contribution, and I look forward to hearing from you today on the show, we can talk
all things building, construction, renovating, home maintenance. You know, we've had another bout of heavy weather, and certainly not a lot is going to prepare you if you know the
stream nearby floods and inundates the house. But there are also and inevitably when you go and look at houses perhaps that have had and talking to someone today again or the other day, had that heavy range during the course of the week, discovered a leak, You go and investigate a little bit and find that actually the flashing wasn't securely fastened down, or perhaps the catchpit hadn't been
cleaned out for a period of time. So as soon as that more than a little bit of rain arrives, the catch pit overwhelms, sends the water down the driveway, that pushes it underneath the house, and suddenly the back door jams because the piles got wet. You know, these things are all connected. So we're joining the dots on the show in a sense today, taking your calls, your questions, your queries, and I wouldn't mind putting out there just a bit of a public service announcement, but also something
that we've talked about. If I think about our theme of the show over the last four or five years, the Healthy Home Standards has been part of it. I mean the legislation was announced. Gosh, it would have to be like two ty seventeen twenty eighteen initially that this was going to come in. When I say Healthy Home Standards, we're talking about the rules and regulations. I was about to say new, but they're raally not that new, given
how long we've been talking about them. That ensure that rental properties for people who are renters are of a suitable standard that they keep you warm. So you need to fixed form of heating that they if you heat it, the heat stays in. So where possible, insulation needed to be installed in the underfloor and in the roof space. If you've got some heat and you've got some insulation, then you want to make sure that the drafts don't diminish the performance of that. So draft proofing, we've got
rules around weather tightness and science. There's a whole bunch of legislation there to ensure that rental properties are of a reasonable standard. Funny thing is, of course that many new homes wouldn't actually comply with the Healthy Home standards. So we've talked about it for a long time. We've
had various experts on the show. We've discussed it all with a view that one day it'll be law and there will be no exceptions, there will be no extensions, there will be no more time to get properties up to scratch. And as it happens, that day is Tuesday. So on Tuesday, the first of July, all New Zealand rental properties will need to comply with the Healthy Homes legislation.
So in the past and the last couple of years, if it didn't comply, as a landlord, you had ninety days from the beginning of a new tenancy, so if you had a long term sitting tenant, you were kind of off the hook for a little while. Well, all of those exceptions, as to the best of my knowledge,
have all gone, So Tuesday is the day. A little later on, I want to just share with you a bit of a story and a it sounds a bit extravagant, but an investigation, I guess or a piece of research, no, not even research, an investigation that I've been part of which has raised some real issues around the tool that we might use to determine the heating standards. The online tool. It's available through the Tendency website. When it comes to apartments. Anyway,
we'll go into that a little bit later on. Right now, i'd like to hear from you if you've got a question, if you've got a ponderance, a musing an inquiry about anything to do with your place, whether you own it, whether you rent it, whether you've been there for a long time, or perhaps you've just moved in and discovered that, oh, actually it's not performing quite as well as I thought it was going to. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty
is the number to call. You can text as well, that's nine two nine two or zbzb from your mobile phone, and of course you can email me. It's Pete at Newstooksib dot co dot nz so Pete p E t E at newstook Sib dot Co dot e so. As we approach craiky the middle of the year, first of
July is also halfway through the year. If you're like me, you're probably thinking, I thought I would have got a lot more done this year in terms of those projects that I wanted to get done around the house where it's not helping at the moment for those exterior jobs. Other stuff kind of gets in the way. But if you're working away on some projects, you want to talk about them, you want to ask some questions, you want
to check that you're heading in the right direction. We can talk about all these things and we'll probably end up talking about something that I wouldn't have expected on the show today. So if you've got a tricky question, a dilemma that's been rumbling around the back of the head going I don't know how I'm going to fix that, give me a call. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty call now. Inevitably we get busy later on in the show, so now it's a great time to call. The lines
are free. I'm still fresh and enthusiastic when out last night to a great play musical on at the ALTAA Center, which was awesome. So feeling good, looking forward to your calls. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty Call me out meat.
Twice God was but maybe called Pete first. D you Walcab, the resident builder. News Talk said be.
Yeah, News Talk, sa'd be coming up. It is actually sixteen minutes after six, so the lines are open. The number to call eight hundred eighty ten eighty quick text before we go to Richie, what's your opinion? Says due of using ground screws to build a new deck on a flat site instead of the traditional method for foundations will be a lot cheaper. And I'm not sure if that's a question or a statement on your parts due
opinion of using ground scows. I actually think it's a really really useful suggestion and a and a really useful sort of solution to what has been the conventional manner, which is, you know, you go out to build a deck, you figure out where your piles need to do need to be. You then dig down minimum sort of four hundred, four hundred and fifty square down until you hit well into the clay. So you want to be a minimum
of four hundred and fifty in the ground. You've got to then take that spoil which doubles in size when you dig it out. You've got to get rid of that somewhere. Then you're going to get the posts. You
can stand the post up. You're going to either if you've got a big enough job, you might phone up and get some Readymax otherwise you're going to buy some bags, or you're going to buy some builders mix some BM twenty and some cement and mix that either in a mixer or in a wheelbarrow, et cetera, et cetera, versus someone coming and putting those piles, those screw piles in place for you, setting them up neatly to the right height that you can simply bolt the bearer straight to
the top of it, and then you're building. So you've got nothing to take away, nothing to bring in, just the screw piles. So yeah, I would seriously consider it. I've been watching a renovation that a made of mine's doing around the corner. He's the chippy acting for the owners and an existing sort of nineteen fifties house with a lot of work happening on the nineteen fifties part of the building, but a new extension at the back of probably about i don't know, five by five, so
not massive two story, all on screw piles. The benefit there was probably would have been quite difficult to get a digger in, quite difficult to get equipment in, quite difficult to get spoil out, and then getting concrete pump. I mean you can pump to almost anywhere that's that's doable, but again tricky driveway. So yeah, depending on the site, I'd certainly consider it absolutely. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Let me grab the
mouse and Richie, what's going on? How can I help? How you going, kay, Richie?
I'm well, yeah, great.
We recently moved into a sort of renovated bungalow at christ Church and where there was an extension room put on years ago. There was a leak in through the roof, like quite a flat roof surface and in behind one of the walls. Now we pretty confident we've got to the bottom of it. We've had a few people expert in to sort it. There was a wee bit of damage, you know, just from the moisture and mold and things like that, which I feel cleaned probably eighty nine looking great.
It's just how long before we put the jib wall back on. I'm a bit nervous to cover it up. Obviously right, perfectly dry, but how dry is dry? And how long would you suggest we wait to be sure we've got on top of the leak.
Well, I suppose until the next big storm. So you know if you were, well, if you're top of the South Island in Auckland, that sort of thing. Actually, most of the country got lashed over the last few days, chances are if it didn't leak now, And in fact, I was out yesterday having coffee and the person I was with went, you know, you know that flat roof at my place, Well, it started leaking during the week.
So I think if you had a decent amount of rain over the last week or so and leak, then I think you can be reasonably assured that it'll be okay in terms of moisture content. So if you're doing a new build or any work with a building content, the councilor will come and inspect the moisture content of the framing prior to lining, and typically they're looking for about eighteen percent. Now, not many people have moisture testers.
They're actually quite cheap. Funnily enough, years ago, I tell you I bought one off trade me right, and I think it cost me the grand total of about nineteen dollars fifty for this moisture tester. You know, two prongs
on it. You just poke it into the timber, press the button and it tells you what the moisture content is, and I thought, just as an indicative tool, that could be quite useful, right, so ahead, because typically the building inspector comes out, they've got very you know, high quality equipment that they need to get calibrated, I believe every three to six months to keep up to date. And those tools cost about twelve hundred bucks, right, so I'm thinking, actually,
this will be interesting. So I get my nineteen dollars fifty trade me moisture tester, go round and test record the readings and then followed the inspector around afterwards. And I was within zero point five of a percent. So anyway, if you had one of those and you tested the timber and the timber was somewhere around the eighteen percent moisture content, then you're happy. I'd be happy with that. And the idea is that that below that it's unlikely
to have the conditions to generate mold growth. Right, so you need a certain amount of dampness in the timber. Once you encapsulate that it's less likely to dry out. So we want the timber to be really dry when we're lining. So if you've got a mate who's got one test it if it's about eighteen percent. You're fine, all right. In that area that was exposed and that that got wet, did you notice some mold growth? Yes, okay, and you've treated that with something.
Yeah, clean, that treated it. Yeah, yes, it's almost all gone. You like, it's to a point where, yeah, you can see you can sort of see signs of it, but it's it's clean and dry in my mind.
Yeah, okay. I mean, if you want to take a real belt embracest approach, the other thing to do, because is that timber the old original timber so nineteen thirties for bungalow, or is it more modern timber.
It's no, most of the timber there's new. I can redone, and it's more mold on the back of lining of a wall behind the shore. It was sort of like the backside of some waterproof cub Yeah.
Yeah. So again, if you were able to test it, you wouldn't test the face that you're lining. You try and get the tester in at the back and see whether that moisture content where the timber is touching the old lining has actually dropped out.
Yes, yeah, all right, good.
Luck with that.
Hopefully it's sorted all the best. Take care Richie by oh eight one hundred eighty ten eighty the number to call. Hello, Susie, Well, good morning, How are you very well?
Thank you and you good great early early Sunday morning.
Sure as how can I help?
We had a we had a fence, a pung of fence that over when we when we had the very heavy rain a couple of days ago. It's fallen over onto outside of the property. We've had quite a few issues with the fence and the fence line with the neighbors, and we're just wondering whether this is a fence falling overnight that is something that we would be covered by insurance or not.
Look, I have to say, I mean when you say a pung of fence is this it brings back memories. We had one at home. It was like, I don't know where we even got the pun of logs from, but the idea was that you kind of just dug a trench, stood them upright, and packed the soil around it, and hey, presto. These fence incredibly sustainable, you know, in
the sense that you're harvesting something from the forest. There's no concrete there, but that by the by, yeah, but in terms of you know, is that a fence that would let's say, be part of the Fencing Act. No, it's not. And would they be particularly long lasting? Probably not either. I would have thought so if the yours has fallen over, maybe that's the end of its life span.
And I wonder whether if you went to the insurance and explained what type of fence you had, the insurer might say, well, actually, you know what, it probably is at the end of its life and just got a helping hand by the recent rain.
Probably.
Well.
The other thing is my husband is sort of wondering if the fence is on the boundary or is within the neighbors who's responsible for it. It's like, if it's on the boundary, we're both responsible. If it's actually within the neighbors section, is it their responsibility.
That's how I would see it. You know, typically, if we're doing a fence, we determine the boundary first, and in some instances that's not that easy, right, if there's no boundary markets then how do you know without getting a survey? And then you know, conventional sort of wisdom would be, if we take the stringline, we make that the center of the post and then we build the
fence there and then effectively it's shared. So if you do happen to know where the boundary is and you can determine that, and then if it's solely on your property, then I would say that that's solely your responsibility. If it's solely on the neighbors, then I think it becomes their responsibility. And hopefully that you would go to their insurer or they would go to their insuran in order to have it repaired.
And that information will be held with counsel.
No, no, sorry to be so blunt. No, council unlikely to have any information at all about the fence. They will have information about the market section size. So in some cases and it as all of those files around surveying and so on get transferred across to a more digital format, the information held is much more precise. But you might find, for example, that at one end of
your section you've actually got a boundary marker. You can go to the property file, find what the the distance of your property is from the file and then measure from there across and that will give you a good idea of where it is. But in the end, unless you've actually got a boundary marker or a survey peg. No one's ever completely sure like to the millimeter where the boundary actually is. The only way to get that done if it's not there is to get a surveyor.
And what do the boundary markets actually look like?
Typically there's two sorts of well two or three that I'm familiar with. One is a bit of three B two, so seventy five x fifty. It's white with a very sharp point in it. It'll be driven into the ground, and then on top of it it'll have a nail. That's what you're often looking for, and they're the ones that you see quite a bit. There is now, I think a PVC boundary marker, which can be put in
as well. Not as common. The other thing is sometimes I like, you know, if you want to build a fence on the boundary and there's a boundary marker there, a surveyor might come remove that marker. You put the fence posts in the right place, and then they come back and put like a little aluminum disc that's about thirty millimeters in diameter, and they'll fix that to the ground, or they'll fix it to the top of a fence post or something. Like that to indicate where the boundary is.
So that's what you're looking for, all.
Right, great, okay, love, thank you, all right.
Take care, Thank you very much. We might take a short break and we'll come back to Danny in a moment. I want to deal with this one after the break as well. Text that's come through Part one, Morning Pete, our house has an issue with heat. In summer it can be well over forty degrees and in winter we struggle to get it to twenty. It's a new build relocated to site in twenty nineteen. Part two. One side of the house is nearly all ranch sliders or big
sliding windows. This side is we're facing short of moving the house. Is there any other solution to managing the heating and calling good news? Is there is? Stand by, folks. We'll be back after the.
Break doing other house sorting the garden. Asked Pete for a hand. The resident builder with peta wolfcap call oh eight news dogs'd.
Be indeed, newsbalks'd be. We're talking all things building construction. We will come to that tech shortly. But Danny, good morning to you.
Yeah, morning peatoday, send a veluminium joinery, some external doors from a bedroom in sidelight, and we're just getting a teeny bit of water coming in onto the concrete pad on the inside down one corner. It was causing carpa to rot. Yes, I had a couple of alumnion people come up and they're sort of squirt a bit of oooken there, and yeah, doesn't do anything. Don't really want to have to pull the whole sort of shebang out
because it's a concrete plastered house. That's a bit of a major Is there any other alternatives?
No, I think if you've done you know, it's not it's not the wrong approach. Let's say to turn up with some silicon, you know, and try And sometimes what can happen with aluminium jowinery, particularly sort of slightly older aluminium jowinery, is there'll be some movement ten years old. Yeah, there'll be some movement in the frame right, and potentially, let's say the screws that often hold those sections together, those extrusions together, may move a little bit twenty odd
years ago. We probably with the greatest respect, we're not that diligent around trying to seal those corners, and so sometimes they'll move and water will track in through there, in which case, applying some sealant to seal that is not necessarily the wrong thing to do. What you don't want to do necessarily is go putting lots of sealant around and then blocking up drainage paths which are required. And I've seen that sometimes every now and then. What is it a ranch slider, is it a bifold door?
Is it a standard opening door?
Standard opening doors? So we've poured a truckload of water through the drains on the bottom of it, and that's fine to put the hose on the outside, yeah, of the glass that it slowly starts seeping on on the inside.
So when you're testing it, you're just putting the water onto the glass. You're not spraying the wall and the joinery at the same time.
Well, the glass and near leminum jowinery, Donny step it back and isolate one from the other.
Yeah, that will because essentially, if like if you direct some water just purely at the glass and the aluminum jewnery without going onto the cladding at all, and it leaks, then you know that you've probably got an issue with the joinery. If for example, because obviously it's an interaction
between the joinery and the wall cladding. And I know you're reluctant for obvious reasons to have to deal with the cladding, but in some cases you might find actually the leak is around that junction between the cladding and the joinery and waters getting in there. Again, twenty odd years ago, we didn't often do a great job with ceiling around the perimeter of the jowinery. So in that gap between the jam and the timber framing, in.
Some timber framing, it's concrete.
Oh, it's and it's solid masonry, yeah, block with a rebate for the joinery, yes, okay, and then the joinery.
I don't think it's the I don't think it's the concrete because we've also actually recently painted the house. Yes, if there's any leaks around there, sure, yeah. And you when you're squirreed in the you know about a foot up from the bottom, so it's nothing coming in from.
Above, Okay, yep. Then look, most likely it's going to be somewhere in the aluminum extrusions. If they've done the seilant. What's the condition of the rubber seals around the glazing.
Yeah, it seems okay, okay, But I thought even if that that the seals were leaking, I.
Should run out of the rain drain. Yeah, what's at the bottom, Like, is there a pathway outside or a deck?
There's a deck, so it's well above the ground height.
Yes.
Is there a twelve millimeter gap between the deck and the joinery?
Twelve?
Oh?
Yeah, at least Okay, all right, because you know, again that's one of the things that's the requirement of the code now that if you do have like a level entry deck or something like that, that you want to make sure that there's a gap there and that twelve millimeters allows for drainage, and it also it allows for ventilation, right, so water doesn't get stuck there and then potentially get
capillary back up and up and underneath the flashing. Do you know if when you probably don't, if the window was installed, did they seal the rebait at the bottom?
No idea. We only bought the house about a year ago, we knowing the leak was there. It's now just trying to remedy us there.
Yeah.
Sure is the thought of pulling if it's hot. Is it a hot block specifically type.
Yeah, the block with the polystine in the middle.
Yeah, okay, the hot block, okay, and it's a rebait, and then the windows are inserted into there is there a head flashing.
No, there is, but that's a negative detail. So so there's a drip line, right, Okay, water comes through when I'm just spraying the bottom part of the window, so i've sort of ice ladder. It's not from the.
Top, Okay, all right, it'll it'll be a leak somewhere in the joinery, in the frame or the seals.
I'm trying to find some old bugger that there has been doing the animinium drawing for years. It'll know exactly what it is.
I know exactly the right person, but he's he's a little bit out of action at the moment. Look, I'll tell you what. If you can find on the frame somewhere it does it have the name of the original manufacturer. I don't need to know who that is, but if it's if it's a reasonably well known brand, I'd go to them and go, hey, look, can you send out
your old fellow. You know, with the greatest respect to old fellows like myself, a little bit of gray here is not a bad thing in this instance, and they may well be able to identify it, so I would that would be my next step. Actually, see if you can find out who the yourig general joinery manufacturer is. Get in touch with them, see if they can send someone out and have a look.
Very good.
The other company that's that's pretty experienced in this fields exceed window maintenance unless you they've been out in that look all right, try the original joiners.
Bro.
We'll do that, all right, you get good luck with that?
Good on you take care.
Yes, the chappie that I know, who I've called on many, many many times is just is laid up after some surgery at the moment, but bloody good to catch up with you on Friday. To mate, I eight hundred eight. If he's listening to the show, I eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Let me see six thirty eight Scott Greetings.
Hello, how are you going?
Signing?
Yeah, very well, thank you.
That's a sorry. I've got a question about We've got a pool that's been in the ground for about forty years and it's it's it's sunken below the surrounding ground by one point two one point seven meters and then it's got a one of the good pall fences, you know, the steel ones, and that goes around and it goes out to a ha ha a ha ha. You know, like you know, your lawn goes and then it drops off into the paddock.
Never heard it described as a ha ha?
Oh yeah, So is this.
No, no, a country thing?
Yeah?
Probably, yeah. So you have your lawn and then you look straight out to your pads and then there's a drop off and into the lawn down to the to the paddock and it's and in this case.
That you call it a ha ha. Is that because you laugh and you're doing roly polies down the hill with a name?
No, no, it's not a hill. It's like it's like an need. It's got a no no, It just goes the lawn and then it stops and then there's a drop. Yes, you know, the vertical dropped down to the to the diferent area. Yeah, yep. So it's like one point two one point four meters or with.
The retaining wall or is it just battered the.
Retaining and it's been in there for forty years and it's got a hedge on a hedge on top of that, which is very fucking goes across there, and then on the other side it's got a railing fence, like a one point two one point three meters railing things for the electric trust to the honor, and then side that there's like a three foot heats that's been there for forty years and that, and then it's got the proper gates with.
The proper you know, the proper Yeah, the lectures self closing and lecture.
And height all right, height, and then you've got the botoms and stuff like that. So the huge of one called us a little bit weak. Now we've had we've had an expection recently and they suggested if and then it couldn't get in there if you know what I mean, little owner child at the moment. But the suggesting that we have to put meeting up on the railing fence on the outside of the edge and stuff like that so that you can't get a purchase there to climb.
To ensure that it's not climbable.
Yeah, which it isn't because it's got electricity over and it's got and then there's a three foot heage to climb through which it can't, which is impenetrable.
Hedges are not considered suitable for pool fencing.
No, No, that's right, we're getting that, we're getting to that point. So they suggested, and the report was used meeting on the edge of the fence, which will which will make it child proof or child proof in their eyes? And what the question was is do you need if you if you if you don't upgrade your fence, do you need a constin.
Not?
Typically No, the fellows that we're trying to councils got as adamant that if you'd start doing this and that you need to constinct a building consent for a fend.
You'd have to ask them to which piece of legislation would it require a building consent? Yes, so I would. I would probably go back and say, look, my understanding is that under Schedule one of the act, I don't require a building consent. Can you tell me exactly which part of this construction triggers a requirement for a building consent, Even the fact that it's a pool fence and you know it's therefore safety, I don't know that that would
necessarily require a building consent. Needs to comply with the pool fencing requirements in terms of its performance. And I'm a little bit curious about this idea of sort of wrapping some mesh around the outside of it, because that in many ways the mesh will just make it more climbable because it's its finger and toe holts, right, not the.
Mess the proper square mesh, it's the rest.
Oh yeah, okay.
I've seen it years before and some division around. You know, when they have those the water flows to certain areas and then they've got like a bonding system, then then it flows into pipe and disappears.
Now I'm with you.
Yeah, okay, they've got they've.
Got a writing things up and then check that stuff to the outside of it.
I think in terms of so the the assessment or the inspection is obviously done by a council officer.
Yeah, and they've done like it's been like that for forty years.
Yeah, And okay, so look, maybe laws have changed or maybe they've kind of turned a blind eye to it and let it go and now they're not prepared to so you know, but I think with these sorts of things, they need to be very clear around this is where your fence fails in terms of compliance with the Poor Fencing Act. And I'm a little bit surprised that they offer up solutions. Sometimes they're not. They don't want to do that because they don't want to be held responsible
for it. But if they have offered up a solution, that's fine. But then to say that it requires a building consent, you just gently go back and say, hey, look on what grounds that's right?
I'd think the existing sense putting the netting up was fine, and the haha was putting up the netting so that there was no toe holds. And then what I suggested were putting in some new posts and then put the net that this special mess stuff to the one point two meters because everyone is high. And then there was when he got panicis there we need a building consider put some posts them?
I don't.
I don't think so.
But yeah, then under the what is what do you say? That was under the first Act?
So work that work that can be done, building work that can be done without necessarily requiring a building consent is summarized and schedule one of the acts. So if you want to do a quick on online search, she just sets for building acts, should your one, and it'll bring up all of the exemptions, typical exemptions. And I would have thought that fencing generally is an exemption.
Yeah yeah, oh no, that's great.
All the best. You're Scott. It goes well. Take care o. There a couple of texts on the now. Maybe it's not a ha ha, maybe it's a hard gar. A hager was a device in landscaping invented by Capability Brown in the UK to give the impression of fields appearing to go right up to a grand house. The fence was placed at the bottom of the ditch, unseen from the grand house windows. John from Omaru, thank you very
much a hager. So the I I suppose the idea is you'd have your lawn extending out from your grand palace in the countryside in the UK, and then the bank slopes down and you put the fence to keep out the peasants at the bottom so you can't see the poor and impoverished pleading at the gates when you're sitting having a cup of tea in a cucumber sandwich in the afternoon. It kind of works. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Just a
quick one on the joinery that's leaking. The fixed glazing panel maters are open. Take out the glass to fix it. That's a very good point, thank you, Peter. So for Danny who's got the leaking joinery. If what they've done is come along and sort of opened the door and filled that area with silicon, it might be if there's a fixed panel that you need to unclip the glazing beads, lift the unit out, whether it's single or double glazed out, and then seal the miters there and then reinstall the glass.
If they didn't do that when they arrived with a tube of silicon, then that might be a next step. Thank you very much Peter for your suggestion. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Will come back and talk to Roger in just a moment.
Whether you're peaty with ceiling fixing with or wondering how to fix that hole in the wall, give Peter wolf Cap call on eighty the resident builder on Youth dogs'b.
Just before we go to Roger, I just want to go back to that text from earlier, on part one of the text Morning, Peter, our house is an issue with heat. In summer it can well of forty degrees and in winter we struggle to get it to twenty degrees new build relocated to site in twenty nineteen. So was it built in twenty nineteen or was it built earlier? I kind of need to know. So one side of
the house is nearly all ranch sliders the house. That side is west facing, so short of moving the house, is there any other solution to managing heating and calling? Thanks Rachel Looks. It's both a really simple question and a really really complex one. I think that probably the most sensible solution for that western side of the house is to add some shade. And if you design the shade well, i e. A purglar or pagoda that extends out over there, what you'll find is that with the
change in the position of the sun in the sky. No, the sun doesn't change, we change, right, So it would appear that the sun is either higher in the sky in winter and lower in summer. So in summer, sorry in winter, So in winter you want to have some shading that extends out that allows the sun to come in. You want that passive soul again over the winter period,
but in summer you want it to be shaded. So it's there are designers who will help you with that to determine exactly where you need to put that shade, how far out, how high it is, and so on, and that will give you shading, protect you from that soul again over the summer month, and it will allow that warmth that you want in winter to come in in my own house completely and utterly. Coincidentally, when we renovated many many years ago, we added a veranda to
the back of the house. It's north facing. We added some French doors, some bifolds, etc. And we also added a verandah with a covered roof on it in a typical sort of villa fashion. As it happens in the middle of so the longest day was what ten days ago, The sun lower in the sky will come underneath that veranda roof and extend four meters let's say, into the room, so the floor is lit up. In summertime, that sun
stops at the doors. Now I'm going to give credit to my architect, Lloyd, who designed it like that, or I'm just going to go it was just an absolute fluke, but either way it works. So shading is going to be a big part of that solution. Roger greetings, Hey.
There shovels about some of the thty years old wether all God I think has terror or handle some of them and the splinter, and every time I use them you get a wee splinter. Any plastic spray that you can spray over.
It, okay, that's just try. I think I've probably got some shovels well wooden handles on them that would be of around that vintage. Yes, I don't know that i'd go. I mean, yes, you could probably put some sort of plastic spray over them, but whether it would stay on there, and whether or not it's kind of nice to use.
I'm not sure. Those splinters that you get, are they wear a large sort of part of the fiber of the timber actually starts to peel away and you're getting a splinter, or are they like those small little splinters that you might get from time to time. Yes, there's smaller the little ones.
Yeah.
Yeah, I got a space in the hand. You can't get the things out.
What about something like giving it a good sand, right, so with some sandpaper, giving it a sand, knocking off as many of those little splinters as possible, and then just you using you know, you could use linseed oil, you could use some Danish oil something like that to oil and keep some moisture in the timber, which I think will help keep down the splinters. I think I'd rather go for like an oil onto the timber rather than a plastic coating which is most likely going to
peel off again. Oh, I see, so sand at Noilam would be my gown. I think so nice to talk to you all the best. A little while ago I was doing I came in and did a Sunday afternoon show, The Sunday at Six with Jack S. Donaldson. I was filling in for Frank Richie, and we got talking about things that we couldn't part with, and then we got talking about shovels, and then we both sort of start to obsess about shovels. To be fair, there is nothing better. Well,
there are lots of things better. But one of life's great pleasures, if you're involved in sort of the manual trades, or you like being out in the garden and that sort of thing, is the quality, the sheer pleasure you get from a really good shovel and how attached you get to them, and how intolerant you become of using shovels that are not particularly good or spades any digging implement. So yeah, having one with a nice wooden handle it gives you splinters would be a source of some concern,
I would imagine. Kate, hold on, we will talk to you after new Sport and where the top of the are at seven o'clock. Text Pete how effective is underfloor insulation in our old house and is it beneficial to also do the walls as well? There is insulation in the roof. Cheers from Alistair. Alistair. Probably the single best thing you can do for your house is to add insulation in the correct Insulation in the correct place will make a massive difference to how your house performs. So yes,
underfloor insulation is tremendously effective. It will help keep the heat in if it's well installed. It will also help prevent those drafts that will make your house. If it's a conventional strip flooring, it'll help with there. If you can do the walls, Yes, you need to do a bit of research as to which is the best system for your house, but yeah, adding insulation never a bad thing. By the way, insallation doesn't cause overheating. We'll talk about
that after the break as well. Back after the Newsszon Squeaky door or squeaky floor.
Get the right advice from Peter wolf Care, the resident builder on news Talk said, b well girls.
By really those styles be aware and the sun girls with the we time they knocked me out when I'm down there westin Well, make your Newstalk's CB Pete wolf Camp with you. We're talking all things building in construction here at Newstalks CB on a Sunday morning. This is the resident builder on Sunday, So if you'd like to join me if you've got a question, eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty is the number to call now. Before the break, Denny was one of our earlier callers talking about a persistent leak in some twenty year old aluminium jowinery which is set into a solid, semi solid masonry wall. So what they call a hot block system, which was blocks I don't even think you can buy them anymore, concrete blocks that had a polystyrene skin inserted in them
to help with their thermal efficiency. So you could build in this nice solid masonry construction joinery fits into a rebate leak at the bottom of the joinery that's then visible on the floor inside the dwelling. A couple of attempts to fix it, a couple of suggestions that maybe the leak might be in the fixed panel. Now Ron has taxed through, and I have a feeling I know Ron is but and not surprised by the accuracy of his comments.
Pete.
Hinged door systems typically have a sump sill. If the underside has been inadequately sealed, it's difficult to address. One way is very careful and accurate invasion through the top side platform, which will have drainage holes in it. The accuracy of the seilent application is important. Could be done by could be done or aided by micro chemict needs to be done by a person who understands the product design.
Thanks very much for that, Ron, I agree with you, and I wonder whether in this instance going back to the original manufacturer. Often if you open a sash, you'll see a logo or a label on the inside of the sash or in the inside of the jam that will tell you who the original manufacturer is. You go back there, you talk to them because they understand how all of those various components go together and how they should perform. So if there's a drainage hole, it's not working.
And it's pushing water back inside the building. They could sort that out. Or if it is as Ron describes a sump sill, then there may be ways of checking that, or look, it might just be the case of having to take the joinery out, address the issue, reinstate the joinery, which is obviously a bit of a bigger job. RIGHTO. Nine minutes after seven here at news Talk, se'd be remember after act thirty this morning, we will be into the garden with Red Clone past as always. Actually remind
me I must talk to him about ruru. Apparently it's coming up to nesting season. So if you've ever thought about making an owl box a Ruru box, you should do that. I've built two of them to two different designs. Turns out neither of them is particularly suitable for barn how's but they will be okay for ruru anyway. I've
given them away. So now I've heard that in the area that I live in there are increasing reports of ruru being seen around or heard maybe, So now I'm thinking, right next to them in the workhop, We're going to make another al box. We're going to make another rural box, and I'm going to use the plans from Wingspan, very specific plans from Wingspan. I have a crack at that knowledge.
You know how I get on? Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call, right, Oh, Kate, Hello, thanks for waiting.
Okay, the motion is so overwhelming that my little grievance will probably make.
You laugh not at all to go for it because of.
The weather, and like, I'm an epsum and the weather's being really, really poor. I've got a fireplace and I've boarded it up. I've put bricks on you with a big piece of wood or a sheet of whatever wood. Yes, and I've put bricks at the bottom. But every time the weather gets extremely windy or bad, the wood falls out right and the air and the drug comes straight.
Yeah.
And I don't know who I thought about putting some POxy around the stade of the frame and sticking it. What do you think?
Yeah, it's not a particularly attractive solution, though, is it, Because in the end, you know, it's it's in the middle of the house. And I kind of understand where you're coming from. So we have an old fireplace in the front lounge at our place. It's an old house as well. And you know, we use different types of heating now, so I don't often use the open fire, but of course the chimney still doing what the chimney does.
It sucks hot air out. So when I'm heating the house and I've got an unused fireplace with a chimney, it's just sucking the heat out, which is what it's doing at your place. So for a long time I used to just hold a little board up there as well over the winter, and it probably did very little, but it felt like I was doing the right thing. What I ended up buying is a chimney balloon, right, and I found it online. I think I ended up ordering it from the UK, so it got sent out
and it's a kind of a durable almost like it. Sorry, I had to ship it in. I don't know if there's anyone tell you what it'd be a here's a free tip for someone who wants to be a bit entrepreneurial. Get into the businesses of importing these chimney balloons. So what it is when you unpack it, it's like a pillow slip, right, if you imagine the size of a pillow slip, and it's got a nozzle on it with
a valve that you can turn on and off. So what you do is you I partially inflated it, put it inside the chimney, so in through the fireplace opening just above. There's always a bit of a lip at the back of it that helps the fire draw, so you just push it slightly above there, and then I actually used the little portable inflator and I pumped it up until I felt that it was real reasonably firm, and it seals all of the gaps around the chimney right.
So now from the outside it doesn't look any different, so it still looks like an open fire, but it's effectively sealed. I guess the only thing you have to remember is if you ever wanted to have a fire, you've got to remember to take the fire the chimney balloon out, So that might be an option for you. The other more longer term fix would be possibly to get a roof to come and actually make you a cap for the top of the chimney and actually seal
the chimney off at the top. But yeah, they are a bit of an issue because lots of houses still have chimneys and in wintertime, all they're doing is robbing you of the heat that you've spent money to create.
And it's just one other thing.
I have.
A satellite on my roof and it's broken, so I don't even need satellite, you know, at all. But would I get someone to take that down?
I mean, if it's not like causing a problem, you don't have to take it down, But typically they just take screwed through the roofing material, hopefully into a perlin. Oh yeah, absolutely no, get someone to take it down. But then, of course you've got a hole in your roof. So whoever takes it down needs well because the bracket is screwed through into the peerlins, right, so screwed through
the islands of the peerlin. So when you take those out, either put the screw back in the hole because it should have a little neoprene washer in it so that'll seal itself. Or that's probably actually the best solution, take the bracket off, put the screw back and make sure it's got a washer around it. Or if you don't want to see the screw there, you can take it out and apply some sealent. But I actually think the better option is just leave the screw in place. But just take the bracket away.
Yeah, that's really nice advice.
Thank you very much, No trouble at all. All the very best to you. Take care see O Cake. By then, I'm just looking online. I don't know if there's another solution. Maybe there is, but chimney balloon dot co dot uk is I'm pretty sure that's where I got mine. And I to be really embarrassingly true, I think I bought it like a year ago, but I only installed it a couple of months ago when the weather got cold, and it took a couple of minutes to do. And it's in there and it seems to be working. So
chimney balloon. If you've got an old chimney that you're not using, an open flyer that you're not using, and you are heating your house, then you're just losing all of that heat through the chimney. So block it off by putting in a chimney balloon. If there's a local source, please let me know. But hey, it worked, and I quite like solutions that work. It is coming up sixteen
minutes after seven. I do want to make a comment in a moment which is a fairly technical and a little bit long, winded, but I think quite important about the online calculator for the Healthy homes heating requirements, particularly when it comes to applying that to apartments. We'll do that shortly, but first up, Jared, Greetings.
Good morning, Mike. How are you, Pete?
And I'm very well, thank you.
That's good.
Got the name wrong, that's quite right.
I've got color steel spouting on a twelve thirteen year old house, and it's corroding and places on the inside of the spouting where I presume I've used cut off saws to cut the roofing to link and the firelings have been left there and cause some areas of the internal spouting to us just we spots and bubbles. And I was wondering if you had anything in this solution of mind would be the best.
Has the corrosion gone all the way through so obviously from the underside you can see it, or is it just visible inside the spouting?
Just visible?
Okay? All right, it's reasonably okay to get up there, like you can be up there for half an hour trying to fix it. Or is it a bit precarious?
Okay, get up on a ladder whatever, all.
Right, and it's extensive or just in some spots.
It's really the extensive. Actually it's more so on some spots than other. I suppose it would extend for about two meters I suppose in some areas.
Ah okay, right, yeah, Well, I guess the first thing to do is to treat the rust, which you know, if you can get in there with the wirebrush, remove most of it, and then probably use like a rust converter that will then neutralize the rust. And then you've got a couple of options. One would be to apply some rust kill primers, and there's a bunch of those around there, and then just paint the inside of it.
The other option would be actually, it's a product we're going to be talking about shortly that I used on a little flat roof, which is a waterproof coating. It's a silicon membrane flexible membrane that you can apply called juris in juris so E N d U r I S, which you could apply to the inside and it will you know, it'll cover any small holes and it will just give you it'll extend the life considerably, I would
imagine if that's spouting. So treat the rust primate and then coat with either with a paint if you wanted to, or with something like the silicon coating.
This indurious, okay, that it could be worth a try.
As I say, nothing has comes through underneath that.
You can just see these nige you're sitting on top of the internal.
Right through the paint what it called pre painted color steel.
Yeah, yep, so on that sort of that primer coat that's on the inside, you'll see the rust starting to sit there. Frustrating though, isn't it when you think you know, it doesn't like it's a real I I'd be really disappointed in the original contractor if they used hot cutting on any type of pre coated steel, because that's a no no.
Right.
Doing that is a is a no no. And it's amazing how far those sparks effectively go if you're using a grinder to cut metal outside. I've made and I know this from my own harsh experience, I've made some stupid mistakes over the years where I've thought I'll just get the old cutoff blade in the grinder and hack that off, and then I've you know, a couple of weeks later, suddenly there's rought spots all over the place. And I'm like, oh, that was me, your muppet. So
hopefully I've learned my lesson. Had years ago we did a job where we had to cut a handrail down and the boys used a grinder with a cutoff blade to cut through the handrail, but the sparks ended up going against the glass of a big sliding door and embedding. The hot sparks ended up embedding on the surface of the glass and when I found I saw it the next day and I'm like, oh you. Thankfully we're actually able to get those nervous guys who do the windscreen repairs.
They came and ground the surface of the glass back and got rid of the sparks, but it was still terribly embarrassing. I have to say, there you go. It's all out in the open now. Yeah, it does happen.
There was just one other the silicon they used on the joints. Yes, I think what has happened that the previous owners had never cleaned the spouting out and there's been an accumulation of silk and it seems to have lifted the silk and on the joint and about the leaking on the corners right, because the silicon has absolutely had, and I just wondered what would be the best way of going about fixing that or replacing that silicon somehow?
Look to be fair if if like, if you're going to use that Injurius coating, you could apply that through the corner and it's sort out the corner as well, right over the top of over the top of the existing silicon. It wouldn't matter, right, Yeah, So check it out online. All the best, Thank you, take care. I think the work to do, and look, it's that thing of being up on the ladder. I've got one job to do this week, which is sort of trying to address an issue with some windows on the second floor,
and I need to get a letter. I tell you, he's can I ask your advice if anyone knows where I can get those safety steps not safety step, they're like a mat that you put on the ground to stop your extension ladder slipping away at the bottom. If there's somewhere that you know where you can get them at a reasonable price, let me know, because I want to buy one of those. I'm just thinking about being
up there on the top of the extension ladder. I'll probably be about three meters in the air, leaning against the house. And it happened to me once climbing onto a roof where I had set up the extension ladder, was climbing up. It was sitting on the deck. The deck was wet and the bottom of the ladder slipped out and I went straight down. I'm just I don't want that to happen again. So if you know where
I can get one of those, let me know please. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. It is twenty two minutes after seven, so it's two way conversation. You can help me out as well. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. If you've got a building question, call us right now.
Helping you get those DIY projects done right. The resident Filder with Peter WOLFCAF call oh eight hundred and eighty talk ZV.
You and you talk CB. Someone's just text and rust. Spots in the gutter likely aren't from the cutting. Yeah, I think it's unlikely too. They'll be from the screws that the installation. The screw has drilled like tip that makes its own hole, which leaves the cutting behind the swarf. General procedure is to use a blower at the end of the day to get it off the roof. Is one night of jew is enough to cause those rust spots. Unfortunately,
contracts of contractors often leave it there. It's not uncommon, especially as more builders hang the gutters before the roofing. That's often the case now the sort of external facure and the spouting goes up and then the roofing goes on. So if there's any swarf on the roof from drilling through your fixings, that tends to end up in the gutter.
And then while they might blow it down from the roof, maybe not that many roofs then go through and make sure that they've cleaned out the spouting to ensure that that swarf doesn't sit there causing rust. Thanks very much for that, Chris, much appreciate it.
I do want to make.
Sure I talk about this Healthy homes Heating Assessment tool online in my recent experience with it. I'll try and do that shortly. Christine, Hello there, Hello, Hi Peter, I haven't called you before. Well, I'm delighted you have, thank you and welcome.
Thank you.
I'm just wondering your thoughts on putting in dvs.
Into your home.
Yep, well, I guess it versus the other one?
What is it?
H is the other common brand that you're probably thinking of? Can Can I sort of widen the discussion a little bit, right, So rather than speak specifically about either of those two brands, there's a growing awareness of that one of the one of the areas where our houses fail is that we don't do adequate ventilation. And I know sometimes that discussion often becomes will just open a window, but for a lot of different reasons, people may not want to do that.
Or you know, if it's cold and windy, then you don't want to open a window because you're going to let all of that inside. Right, So let's get rid of the excuses for not doing ventilation and look at the fact that ventilation, proper mechanical ventilation, well designed and well installed, is a benefit to almost every house.
Right.
Doesn't mean that you don't open the doors and windows when you can, but it allows for ventilation to happen
when those things can't happen. So I think you've got to look at what's really effective about ventilation, Drawing air from outside and ideally passing it over a heat exchanger and then pushing it into the dry areas of the house and having a system that also extracts from what we might call the moist areas or the wet areas of the house kitchens, laundries, bathrooms is probably the best system.
So I think if you're going to engage with a contractor about that, you want to make sure that you're getting independent advice, and you want to make sure that they've got a really good knowledge of where where the ventilation system will be most how it's going to be installed to give you the greatest benefit. And I think you probably are thinking, well, if I put one of these systems in, it'll make it warmer. I've never really thought that they are tremendously effective in terms of actually
creating warmth. But where they are effective is because they help reduce the moisture content inside the house. The house is able. You know, warming dry air is easier than warming moist air. So if you've got air that's heavy with moisture inside your house, that's going to be harder to heat. And the way that you can move that around and extract that is by having a really effective
ventilation system. So and like there's a lot of discussion at the moment about installing continuous flow extraction, let's say
in bathrooms and so on. So rather than having an extraction fan that you turn on and it runs for a period of time and then typically we turn it off, they are systems that will monitor the amount of moisture detected the humidity in the room, for example, and then they will ramp up when that you know, when you hop into the shower and you're generating lots of moist air and then but they will continue to run at a lower level all through the day, and that helps
create a situation where if you know, imagine if you've got a little extractor in the bathroom that is running constantly, what it's doing is drawing air from the rest of the house and expelling it all through the day, and that that increases ventilation and inevitably you'll have air sort of filtering into the house through gaps and cracks. Ideally we want to control that. But even if we're not controlling it, but we're extracting it continuously, that's a benefit.
So it is like, I know people that this is their life's work, right talking about ventilation, extraction, air quality. So let's let's not try and make it a simple solution when it is both simple and very very complex at the same time. So I'd encourage you to do lots and lots of reading and research before you make a decision.
All right, I.
Have. I have done some reading, and I am perplexed about the whole thing. Sure, sorry, but I'm a free you know. I love the windows open when I can. I've had double closed the whole place as well, and just about to put some more insulation. So I guess going down that pathway might be best while I'm reading about the other one.
I tell you what you know, because one of these things with doing some research and some reading is you've got to make sure you're reading the right stuff, right. So I've just done a quick search just out of curiosity, because you know, if you want some really good information, go to reputable sources. So I would suggest that you have a look at the brand's website. That's b r A n Z so, the Building Research Authority of New Zealand. They have got a whole lot of information about ventilation
on their website and it's really really good information. Okay, have a look there and good luck.
But do you go ahead with it.
Don't don't let me put you off by trying to make it sound complicated. Get some really good ventilation and it would be great. But yeah, you've got to talk to the right person and they've got to know what they're talking about, not just selling you a system for the hell of it. All right, ye, lovely to talk to you. Thank you very much for calling you all the very best, take care loving those conversations. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
Matter twice God was but maybe called Pete first for your walk care. The resident builder news Talk said, be your.
News talks hed b and let me see six thirty seven thirty six pardon me here at Newstalks the b Allen good morning.
Good morning, how are you?
Goodness?
What's up, Nasal. I've got a wheelchair ram now to say something about that DHD later on. I've got a wheelchair ram. And when you walk up and down, if you're not in the wheelchair, it's gets slippery. Yep, because
it's under one roof on my back carboard. It is on the roof is on a possibly a sixth degree angle, and the house roof there's a bathroom, there's there's possibly about thirty thirty degrees, which leaves a gap getting from nothing down to quite a bit of fot say, but there again the rain comes in where you walk down the side out the back of a bathroom too. What can I do with it?
What's the REMP made out of.
Timber?
Timber and so timber framing with timber decking on top of.
It four to one tip. Yeah, there's fourber ones and there's little slots in between. There's a gap between each board.
Two yes.
And so they've used what they call a grip treade decking, and they've done the grooved side up, which is kind of all of the right thing to do.
But it's just ordinary form rough storm four one.
Yeah, tantalized danalized, Yeah, rough sor yeah, it's just rough. But as great as you walking onland all the time, it's getting smooth.
I was going to say, did did you have this built for you or did someone come and build it for you? Or was it there when you moved in?
I had to come in, but I helped helped him.
To be fair, I wouldn't be very happy with him, you know, I mean doing using some rough storm. Timber is decking on an accessibility ramp is pretty poor. Did did they get any funding like through acc or anything like that for the work that they did?
I think them hospital why come to something some arrangement.
Yeah, that's a bit of a waste of money. Okay, Look, the most straightforward solution is going to be something along the lines of plastic mesh that you'll staple down over the top, right you see it. Lots of sort of boardwalks and our you know, public forests and public spaces sometimes will have that on it. And essentially it's just a way of creating a slip resistant surface to an existing timber surface. So you know, stainless steel, horseshoe nails,
stainless steel staples to fix it down. Mesh, the right type of mesh, the right durability and so on, so it can't be too lightweight, and just fix that down over the top would be the most straightforward fixed. But I have to say that's it. You know, it sounds like it's disappointing bit of work to be blunted.
All right, Can I make a suggestion?
Go for it?
I was thinking of.
Putting another beam down underneath the beam that's there and putting some fly we're on it, and as you're on that beam, your hang down in media, make a stud in mid air off the top.
Beam and the run you put in and extended one hundred miles down and put a put a four we two at right angles.
So that's that's more about trying to stop the ramp from getting wet by closing the gap between the two roofs, right and look, that would help, but it doesn't. In the event that the deck gets wet, the deck is still going to be slippery, right, So yes, you could do what you're thinking about doing, and if that works, that's.
Great flashing over the bathroom, but it's yeah.
Look that would probably you know, if the deck stays dry, then the deck is going to be less slippery. But inevitably these things get wet, and so I would kind of focus on dealing with the issue, which is that it's the type of timber that's been used I don't think is suitable. And yes, it is going to get slippery, and you could do it with a mesh. There are more sort of you know, detailed solutions. I was looking at some non slip mats the other day that you
could fix down. They're like a fiberglass mesh type thing or a non slip mat that you could fix down over the top that would give you a permanent surface, So that would be another option as well. So there are solutions for it. It'll either be a mesh or it'll be a mat of some description. But again, not
wanting to go on about it. It's kind of disappointing if somebody, especially if somebody's got basically taxpayer money to go and do a job like that for you, and then they've done a basically rubbish job, it's a bit annoying. Good luck with all of that. Alan, Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Can I just take I'm hoping that this is only going to take a minute. But it's been a quite interesting little investigation that I've been part of over the last
six weeks or so. It's particularly pertinent because the deadline for all of the Healthy Homes compliance starts on Tuesday, the first of July. So if you were a landlord and you had a property and you needed to ensure that it was up to Healthy Home standards, there had always been sort of some exemptions right, if it was a sitting tendency all the rest of it, you could delay it. There are no more delays from the of July, which is Tuesday. All residential residential rental properties need to
comply with the Healthy Home standards. A key part of that is the heating requirement. And if you've worked through this yourself as a landlord or maybe you're doing these assessments, typically you'll use the heating calculator which is on the Tenancy Services website, So do a quick online search. You'll find it and then it steps you through a process
so you will measure the space. So the requirement is that you need to achieve it's either eighteen or twenty degrees on the coldest day and your climatic zone in the living space, just the living space of the house, and you have to achieve a heating requirement. It'll the calculation will allow you to get a number kill a what hours, and that's the amount of heating that you need to have in that space. If you're a landlord,
you should have done this. If you're a tenant, you should have been given Healthy Home certificate when you started your residential tendency. It's part of your tenancy agreement. So literally every single property in the country residential tendancy should have heating calculation done on it and the tool. I've used the tool a number of times in conventional residential properties, you know, either a standalone building or semi detached block of flats, that sort of thing, and I think the
tool works reasonably well. I was asked by some people that own an apartment to have a look at their heating assessment because they had done a heating assessment it had told them that in the apartment, which had a living space of about forty eight square meters, that they
required four point four killer watts of heating. As it happens, what they went and did was by two high quality electric wall heaters that were fixed to the wall so they couldn't be moved around, and that each of those was two point four kilowatts, So that gave them four point eight kilowatts of heating for that space, and they
thought that they then complied with the regulation. Turns out that there is part of the regulation that says that if you need a heating requirement of more than two point four kilowatts of heating, that can only be a
heat pump, so they're electric heating. While it provided them with the heating, didn't comply with all of the legislation because it wasn't a heat pump, which meant that after spending the money on the electric heaters, they now had to literally take those away or not use them and install a heat pump in order to comply with the looming deadline. This is an apartment, right, So it's an apartment like there are tens of thousands of them around the country and more of them to come. There is
a habitable space below, there is a habitable space. Above there is a habitable a space on many of the adjoining walls end tenancy wall. So I went did a measure up, calculated the floor space, measured the outside wall, measured the size of the window, which was a standard sliding door with some single glazing aluminium conventional aluminium, went away and used the heating tool. But to be fair and to be really honest, I faked the numbers right.
So I looked at it and said, well, actually, the floor is not like a floor of a conventional building where the outside space is unconditioned. It can get really cold because below this apartment is another apartment, and even it was uninhabited, it's unlikely to get below I don't know, fifteen sixteen degrees, maybe ten twelve degrees at the very coldest, if it was uninhabited for a period of time. But again, in reality, most of the time someone's living there, they're
warming their place. Your place benefits and the heat that you create benefits the person above. So there's a unit above, there's a unit below, there's units on two sides of this particular building. So I kind of use the tool, but I faked the numbers. I'll be really honest, I or fudge the numbers to reflect what I thought was a real world performance. And so by using the online tool, I got to a number of one point two killer watts of heating. It's considerably less than four point four
and less again than three point two. But of course I can't use those numbers to provide that evidence for a healthy homes assessment because obviously I had manipulated the numbers for a real world experience. So we went off to a basically a consultant who specializes an energy modeling of residential properties, gave them all the details. They created a very complex and detailed energy model for that dwelling, and their findings came back the other day. The interesting
thing is the requirement that they determine. This is highly scientific using very good data. So bearing in mind the requirement initially was found to be four point four then the other review said three point six. I did my dodgy science and got it down to about one point two killo watts of heating required. The actual scientific requirement for the heating of that particular apartment ended up being
zero point five seven killer watts of heating. So that's easily achieved by the electric heaters that they've got and as a real willed analysis of the requirements of that space. And I sat there and I looked at the email the other day, and I looked at the report. I know the people who did it. I've been to the apartment,
and it makes sense to me. The concern now is that if you are a landlord of an apartment, or you're the property manager of an apartment, or you do healthy homes assessments and you use the online calculator that it's available through tendency services, you're going to get a number that doesn't actually I don't know how to put this, but doesn't really make sense in terms of what's actually required. So the tool doesn't have the nuance to allow for apartments.
And I know that this has been discussed sort of in building circles for a couple of years now that the tool is designed for typical residential buildings, and I have some sympathy for the government in terms of trying to figure out, let's give them a tool that will work for most situations, but it doesn't work for apartments. So I can't put that any other way. It just
doesn't work for apartments. So the only way for a landlord potentially or an apartment owner who is renting that apartment out to get an accurate thing is to go off and get an independent heating assessment done, which most won't. So potentially we're getting assessments done, creating higher numbers than we need and putting in potentially putting in some heat pumps and places we don't need them, or providing far more heating than's actually realistically required. You may care to comic.
I found the whole process absolutely fascinating. Right, we're going to take a short break. That's my rent over It is coming up nine minutes away. From eight that I'd love to take your calls on that particular issue. If you want to take some exception to what I'm saying, by all means, give me a call. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number.
Doing of the house sorting the garden, asked Pete for ahead the resident builder with Peter Wolfcap call eight News Dog ZV A couple of minutes away.
From News top of the hour. Yes, great song, but a little bit early. I think maybe maybe we'll grab another call. Hey Stanley, good morning to you.
Oh yes, look, good morning Pete. Now I have a suggestion for people with open fireplaces and you're talking about, you know, the air escaping up the chimney. Ye get a set of louvers, detachable louvers that fit over it, nice attractive ones, and then keep them shut most of the time. But in the summer when.
You want the cooling, Yes, open them up.
Yeah.
Not a bad idea. I like my chimney balloon more. But I hear what you're saying, because.
Because you can get you know, the nice attractive ones made yea to match the decore of the room, you know, the.
Look you know. I think the main thing is that what we're doing as people are aware that you know, and lots and lots of so many older New Zealand houses, villas, bungalows, et cetera. Many have fireplaces right and and not that
many of us use the fireplace anymore. So you can either do the retrofit and install more energy efficient heating system into them and then seal the roof with a flashing at the top with the new ducting running out through there, or if you just leave them and don't do anything, then they just end up sucking out heat. So I'm kind of pleased that we've we've dealt with that issue hopefully. Last week on the show, we ended
up talking a lot about cleaning toilets. I did get a Texas Morning from someone who used a bag of salt this was one of the discussion points from last week on the show, and said it worked to treat. I actually went out and bought a bag of salt, but didn't actually get round of to do it. So it's a reminder. Someone's my comment. Someone's just texted and said, hey, look I used the tool a couple of weeks ago. One of the first sections asked, it's an apartment. I
agree with you. It does ask if it's an apartment, but it still doesn't give you a real world result is my comic. So yeah, I'm aware that it does, and it factors it in. I just don't think it weights it enough. And now I've got proof, right he Oh, we're back after new Sport and weather top of the rat eight.
Whether you're painting with stealing, fixing with fens, or wondering how to fix that hole in the wall, give Peter wolf Gabbi call on eighty the resident builder on Youth Talks B.
Your news Talk said, be welcome back to the show.
It is.
Let me say six minutes almost seven minutes after eight wheel talk all things building constructions through at eight thirty. At eight thirty, the Red Climb Pass will be with us and will jump into the garden. So any of your gardening or entomological questions you can address them to Red from eight thirty this morning. But right now we'll
continue you talking building construction. And I've got a flood of texts which is awesome about my comments about the heating requirements for healthy homes as applied to apartments in particular, and if you use the Online Tool, which is the tool that we're all encouraged to use by Tendency Services. Basically, I don't think it's nuanced enough to give you a
realistic view. And I've had a number of people text in saying, you know that they've used it and they've ended up with similar results where they're getting really high requirements, you know, three four killer watts of heating for an apartment.
Where do you go, Well, you can do what my clients ended up doing, partly on my recommendation and finding basically a building survey or a building scientist who can undertake a proper basically energy modeling of the space to determine what heating requirement you need to achieve the objective, and the objective is to make sure that the building can be twenty degrees on the coldest day of the year. So how you achieve that you have to be able to prove it. Typically we go to the tool online
tool to prove it. I think the online tool, even though you can select apartments, is still not nuanced enough to give you a real figure that's a realistic figure. So this is going to be a bit of a challenge. George, A very good morning to you.
Yeah, George, we've got a reasonably modern house with a corrugated iron roof which is pitched, and we have a range hood which leaks water down through the center of it, which is going over the motor. It drips onto the stovetop, and we've had a plumberh instored it out and he thought it might have been to do with a flashing, and he with that, but no nothing there. So I suggested to him, because it was about or maybe a foot above the roof, that maybe rain was splashing up
into the mushroom dome and coming down. So he raised it up probably another half meter, pretty high up the roof. But we've still got water coming down through the chimney part. So yesterday I went up into the ceiling and just to see whether in fact it could have been the flashing. But there's no water at all around the outside of that chimney part. So could it be Capello reaction pets that's taking the water back up under the mushroom part and coming down.
No, I think that what you're getting is condensation, right, So it's not a leak, it's condensation.
Really, there's quite a bit of water comes down.
Well, if you know. So essentially what you're getting is the water is inside the ducting, right, and you're seeing it at the range hood.
Correct there, stripping onto the those top.
Yeah.
So when you go up into the roof space and you look around the exterior of the ducting and the flashing and you don't see any moisture, then you go, Okay, the water is getting in into the ducting somewhere. So you go onto the roof. The plumber has extended that ducting up and then they've they've got a mushroom on top of it. And you know, water, water can do interesting things. But and yes, I've seen it drive upwards, but it typically has to have something that it's on
in order for it to be driven up. So I know what those mushrooms look like. I think it'd be really unlikely that that wind driven rain is going to go nip underneath the mushroom up over the lip and inside, and potentially by extending the length of that uninsulated ducting through the roof, you're actually creating more condensation.
Really, that's quite interesting. Yes, it doesn't need to have any wind. In fact, it doesn't even have to rain hard. But in saying that, when it's cold. We're in central Target, and I mean in the winter it's cold, we can be really cold, but we don't get any condensation even when we've got cold fog. I would have.
Imagined anywhere else in the house.
I no, no, I've got a really dry house. But what I'm suggesting to you is if it was condensation, then when it's cold and foggy outside, why are we not getting condensation dripping out?
Then it really well, condensation occurs when you've got the right combination of features, right, So you've got moisture laid in the air that attaches to a cold surface. So when it's if it's cold outside, you've got an uninsulated metal tube, right, and then you've got moisture inside your house, which is your house always will have a certain amount of moisture that's then being effectively drawn to the rain
hood because it's open, right, so it's extracting. Even when it's turned off, it's still open, right, so air is still flowing there. I'm wondering whether it's the the air that's inside your house that's going up the ducting And because like most of us, for our range hoods, it'd be in a kitchen unit. It would go up and it would go straight through the wall, or would go up and it would go across in some flexible ducting through the back of the units and out through the wall.
But because yours goes through the roof, you've got this metal tube that extends up and of course at the top it's going to be cold on the outside with moisture on the inside. That air is going up, and that moisture is then hitting the side of the tube, turning into conensate and dripping back down again. That's what I think is is that's what I think is most likely to happen if there's no other leak and you have me able to find a leak.
No, Yeah, why would it not be a common problem in Pete?
To be fear not that many range hoods ducked through the roof. Most range shoulds tend to duck through the walls. I mean, I've got some ducting for a laundry that goes vertically, but it's a much shorter run and so I haven't to be fair, I haven't been into check whether there might be some condensation in there, but it would be interesting to you know, if there's someone like an eco advisor in your area kind it would be quite interesting to see if they would give you a
bit of advice on that. But I would investigate the condensation if there's no obvious leak.
Right, okay, thank you for that. My pleasure with trains for the heat traits, for the assistant that people have talked about it. We've got one in our house. As there is we knew how so, I said, and as by a wood burner in the ceiling which are an open sort of an event thing, and in our three bedrooms we have a.
An outlet and grew up to.
Stop the coming out. Well, when we first moved in here, it was the most useless thing you can imagine. Turned on the power and nothing happened. So I actually got up into the ceiling then and found that where the motor was and the conducting the tube had come off heat. It wasn't fast numbery well, it was really just taken on a couple of years later, we don't use it because we don't want the vedoms to be too hot.
But a couple of years later, when I was up yesterday having a look at this other range or thing, I had a look again and where the joint is where it goes to the three bedrooms, another plastic unit there. It just distributes it. It had come off, so it seems that, you know, if people do find it not re effected, it wouldn't be bad idea to have a look up in the ceilings are still attached to what that's.
Absolutely Hey, good on you for getting up there and being really thorough with looking after your house. It's a great idea, George, thank you very much. I might do a bit of reading, in a bit of research about it and see whether it is actually likely to be the condensation your news talk zeb remember root climb passed from Make thirty. It is eight fifteen news talk zebby Today I'm talking with Murray Knight, Managing directors thinking Holymer's International,
and we're talking about in Juris. Good morning, Murray, tell us what is in Juris?
Good morning, Peak Well in Juris is one hundred percent silicon roof coating designed to restore water tightness to a wide variety of existing roof types. It forms a monolithic and seamless membrane, stopping leaks and helps extend the life of a roof. It has been used extensively for fifty years and other markets, and we have been promoting the in Juris in the New Zealand markets for the past two years.
So Murray, tell us what the key benefits are.
Well, our view is why replacement you can restore and the Injurius has many benefits. So I'll just run a few through a few of the key one Conjuris you can apply as a single coat. It cures quickly to form a durable, seamless water type membrane that is breathable, waterproof, and permanently flexible. It is u be stable and maintained
its elasticity for decades following the correct surface preparation. Injuris will provide excellent adhesion to a wide variety of very substrates, including metal, single ply membranes such as beauty ol, concrete, disbestos, flame on, bitchul them, you name it. Really it's also really easy to apply. You can use either a long map, microfiber rolla or brush or if it's a large job
that's spread on. It's also really easy to use. You use it straight from the pail, no mixing required, and it's rain proof in thirty minutes it's great for climates that we have here in Auckland. If you have a flat roof, it's great for that as well because it's unaffected by standing water. And Jurius is a fast, efficient and economical solution. So if you're looking for a sustainable roofing solution that is environmentally responsible, it's a great option
to consider colors. The only cl two colors that's the mid gray and white, and the white can be used if you're looking for a call roof as it meets the reflective index rating required to be classified as core roofing.
That's some really helpful information. Now, if people want to buy Injurius, where do they go?
Well, you can visit our distributor, shellc Out New Zealand Limited. They are at seven Woodson Place, Wira Valley. We'll give them a call on eight hundred one two three nine hundred, or if you want more information, you can just visit the website siliconf Building dot com.
And Marie, thanks for dropping a bucket out to me. I've put it on. It's a small roof. I need to extend its life for a bit and so far no leaks really appreciate it. Thanks for your time, Murray, Squeaky door or squeaky floor.
Get the right advice from Peter Wolfcare, the resident builder on Newstalks.
NB your News TALKSB we're talking all things building construction. A couple of useful suggestions for our previous caller, George with the leak that might be coming from the ducting that extends from the range hood through the roof, which is you know, it's a it's not uncommon, but it's also not terribly common. So a couple of people have said, where are they about the seam orientation of the seam on the duck. The rivets aren't waterproof. Physics works the
same way, so there you go. It might look it might be an issue with the duck. Nine times out of ten, it's usually the seam of the flu that's not sealed from the range hood from JK and Dargavill And actually a number of calls have said it's about the seam of the ducting. So I have a look at that, George, next time you're on the roof safely Colin Greetings.
Good morning, Hey, hey, just to ask your advice on getting double blazing in. I've got a cup of quotes come through next week for retro fit on an order house which is at nineteen eighty six, and I'm just not sure what I'm doing the right thing. I'm very cold to you in the winter and very hot in the summer, and it's a native frame cout so it hasn't got anything that I can put that. Are they still the heating through? I have two heat pumps, but it's not working as well as I would like it too.
So I'm just wondering your ideas on retrofit double glazing.
Okay, Well, look, I could declare an interest. For the last ten years I've acted as a brand ambassador for Metro Performance Glass, who do the retro double glazing, and I do so because I know that double glazing is a really good thing. Right, So the numbers don't like single glazing units let out x amount of energy and double glozing units end up letting out a considerable amount less than that, so they do perform the sciences there,
So is double glazing good solution? Yes, And in a house like yours where perhaps you know, if it's an a frame, then you've got large.
Amounts of Yeah. And Neil built home many many many years ago, and the a frame that is the curse, to be honest.
But they're a challenging I know, but so yes, and look, ideally you want to look at other things as well. Can you add some insulation and have you got reasonable insulation in the walls and the ceilings and the under floor.
If you can put their phone about eight years ago. It seems to work sort of too, about a couple of great degrees.
But note of that.
So yes, you know all of the stuff that I've read over a number of years now double glazing works, So.
Thanks so much as well.
Yeah, no, good on, good on, you take care of calling all the best and Graham, Hello there, how are you?
Yeah?
Thanks Pete. Look what I'm sort of trying to get to the bottom of and hopefully you can help me here.
Oh oh, I think you're Siri or your AI has listened to your conversation and once he wants to get involved. Anyway, I'm not AI. I might not even be that intelligent, but hey, let's let's have a crackit. What's Christian?
Look, the problem is about eight years ago I had nanoclear put on around my blue denim alumen and framing for the windows indoors. Now, what's happened with this stuff? It's flaked and it's like it's sort of become very scaly. It's got sunburn given to it or something. I don't know, but with the way these the window frames are, it's looking to the stage of I don't know how to treat treat it, to try and get it, get the scaly stuff off, to repaint it. It's all very well,
sort of just throwing a bit of sandpaper over it. Look, it's just not going to work.
Graham. What I would suggest is I actually know the guys or some of the people involved, So go back to them, right, go directly back to them, ask them to come out and have a look. If it's a problem, they'll fix it and just go from there. So just go straight back in touch with then OA clear, All right, all this one, Take care, Bob then and Carl, greetings.
Good morning. Thanks for tipping me in there. Yeah, just about these healthy homes heating standards, I've done exactly the same as you have. I've set there for days, poking.
Numbers in for what type of building.
Residential mainly units twenty five twenty seven square meters, and it all comes out to a heat pump a regulation standard.
Is in more than two point four kilotts of heating requires.
You're going from a room that needed twenty four killer watts twenty four hundred watts to heat it keep it to that eighteen degrees standard. You go from that to a six kilo heat pump under the recommendations of their heating standard, which is absolutely crazy. And that's just for a standard to bedroom unit unit in town. And the main point you're missed is the the calculations that is all grigged up to have heat pumps in every room in the house and that's.
Not required because the healthy Home standards for heating is simply that you need it. But the requirement is that you can achieve is eighteen or twenty degrees twenty degrees in living space. Yeah, twenty degrees on the coldest on what they assume is the coldest day of the year, depending on your climatic zone.
Right, the gug glader's rigged out to.
Recommend a heat pump be put in.
I'm not going to leak to that conclusion. If you want to go there, you can. All I'm saying is that in this particular instance, right, So this very specific building that I've been involved with quite a bit over the last couple of months, I went, I visited it, I measured it, I used I looked at the Healthy Homes assessments that have been done by two other people, both of whom were not known to each other, So
two independent assessments producing two different results. Both of those results it was either like three point six and four point four heating requirement. And then I use the tool, but I fudged the numbers. I'll be quite honest about that, because if you're talking about a floor in an apartment, it's not like a floor in a standard building, where it might be an unconditioned space below right. It's even if it was uninhabited, it's still going to perform differently
to an open space. So I kind of fudge them, and I got a number of a heating requirement what I felt intuitively based on my own experience, and that it would probably be somewhere around one to one point two. And that's roughly the number that I got. That confirmed my suspicion that the tool is not nuanced enough to
deal with apartments. So we then sent it to an end and qualified heating assessment basically heating scientist right for one of a better term, who did energy modeling of the building and came back with a figure, and that figure was zero point five seven killer watts of heating required.
So what's going to be really interesting is that, I guess for the property owner they can take that report because you know, I mean, you'd have to have a similar level of qualification to the person who wrote the report in order to dispute the findings, right, And I don't think most people involved in healthy Homes assessments have that level of qualification, in which case there's some there's credentials qualification and a result that would indicate zero point
five seven killer watts of heating is sufficient, and then you attach that to the healthy Homes report and say this is the figure that I'm using, and I'm going to stand by that, and if you want to challenge it, go and get your own building scientists to do a modeling. So but you know, like I'm letting, it's the it's the professionals, right who are doing this now, and that's
the result. And I think that's really really interesting, and I think it's going to raise a lot of questions around how we do the heating calculations for apartments in particular, because again, and I hesitate to say this, I don't think the existing online tool is nuanced enough to give an accurate reading, is my opinion? Really appreciate you, Cal, I think we might talk about this again next week on the show, because right now I'm actually looking at
my ol box designs from Wingspan. So let's get into the garden. Redclinb past on the way.
Helping you get those DIY projects done right. The Resident Builder with Peter WOLFCAMF call oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty Youth Talks EDB. For more from The Resident Builder with Peter WOLFCAF. Listen live to News Talks EDB on Sunday Mornings from Sex, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio