The Resident Builder podcast: November 24, 2024 - podcast episode cover

The Resident Builder podcast: November 24, 2024

Nov 23, 20241 hr 34 min
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Episode description

This week on the show, ZB's Resident Builder Pete Wolfkamp discusses the latest issues impacting the world of construction - and answers questions!

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Transcript

Speaker 1

You're listening to the Resident build Up podcast with Peter Wolfcamp from News Talks at Bay.

Speaker 2

The house is a hole, even when it's dark, even when the grass is overglown in.

Speaker 3

The yard, and even when the dog.

Speaker 2

Is too old to bar, and when you're sitting at the table trying not to stop scissor home, even when we leave a band gone, even when you're there alone. A house is a hole, even when those goes, even when.

Speaker 4

You got around from the world you love, your most.

Speaker 2

Screaming pains being in fund.

Speaker 4

Locals Lisa, when they're gone.

Speaker 2

Leaving the house, even when weilbra bene, even when you're in there, loone.

Speaker 3

Well, a very good morning, and welcome along to the Resident Builder on Sunday. You're with Pete wolf Camp. That's me, the Resident Builder, and well, to be blunt, we're here to talk about your place. So if there's a squeaky door, which there is at my place, there's a crack in the window sill, which there is at my place, whether there's maybe some spouting that I need to address, all of these things. If it's happening at my place, chances

are it's happening at your place as well. And we can talk about it, but more importantly, perhaps I can give you a bit of guidance as to how to tackle the project, the scope of the project, or maybe even what happens if you don't do the project. So the lines are open. The number to call is oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can text as well, so you're off the blocks very quickly. Text coming in

before the show starts, which is awesome. Nine to two nine two is the text number, and if you'd like to email me, it's Pete at newstalksb dot co dot m Z. So we're fast approaching crikey at the end of November already December, lou Well. Next Sunday will be the first of December. Already, Christmas is not that far away, and typically you know, in terms of what we do around the house, we're starting to either think about trying to get some jobs done before Christmas, so that classic

Christmas rush. If you talk to trades people, they pack up on this at different times in the year. You know, if things are good, if things are buoyant, let's say, people tradinges will often talk about the Christmas rush starting and sort of September October. If it's not so buoyant, then maybe the Christmas rush in November. And if it's really grim out there, well the Christmas rush just doesn't come at all, and there's not that pressure to get

things done. But if you've got a project that you'd like to get sorted out prior to Christmas, might be some tidying up of a deck or adding a deck, might be a couple of projects inside the house, whatever it is that's going on at your place. From a building construction legislative point of view, we can talk all things building and construction. Just briefly. I had the privilege actually of an m seeing in a dinner last night. The dinner was to celebrate forty years of clear Water Construction,

reasonably large firm in the Auckland area. They're active and actually they're active around the country as well, and so you know, forty years of any business in New Zealand is worth celebrating. Forty years in the construction sect sets them aside from a number of companies that come and go. So it was a tremendous quite sincerely trimming this honor on my part to be invited to MC and to be part of the festivities and part of the celebration,

and it was a tremendous night. So I really appreciated that it did go on a little bit longer. As an MC, I wasn't particularly good at keeping things on time, which is not that great from my point of view. But there was a lot to talk about, and there was a lot of people that wanted to catch up, and in this instance being able to invite back the very first apprentice of clear Water Construction from forty years ago and some of the first employees and people have

been with the firm for thirty years. That says a lot about the company as well. So it was a great night out. It just mean I got a home a little bit later, and after a reasonably busy day. I sound a little bit tired today. There's a reason for that. Not to worry. I'm looking forward to it. I do every Sunday to share some insights, to share some of my passion basically for building and construction. So

we'll talk all things building in construction. We are out of here a little bit early this morning, as it was last week before the All Blacks played France. Today the All Blacks take on Italy and that match will kick off just after nine o'clock, so we will hand over to our commentary team for live coverage of that match from around eight forty five this morning, which means

we will bring Rid in a little bit earlier. We don't have any guests or interviews lined up for today, so it's basically your chance to have stretch our legs and have a decent conversation about anything that might be a focus for you. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Looking forward to your calls, your conversations here at Newstalk stb let me. I'll tell you what Sue. I'll come to your text in a moment. But let's get funny. This was something we would talking

about yesterday, you know. I mean, you go to a building company's fortieth anniversary and typically you end up talking about building and this issue came up yesterday as well. John, A very good morning to you.

Speaker 5

Yeah, good morning, Peter, John.

Speaker 6

John.

Speaker 7

Yeah.

Speaker 4

The problem is a calling on behalf of my.

Speaker 8

Kid's sister, who's had an art studio built thirty squares meters. There was some bad weather during construction, I believe, and mold has now appeared along the frame work on the inside. It was just retracting a little bit.

Speaker 9

It was shut up for two weeks for some reason, and that came back and there are these mold streaks down where the framing is against the ply fly lining. They've now ripped the line out, taken the bats out. Her concern is that she gets rid of it and it doesn't grow again.

Speaker 3

Right, Yeah, Now, can I ask a sort of tangential question to this that I'm a bit curious about. So if it's you, we're very specific about calling it a studio and thirty square meter, So can I presume it was a building perhaps that was built without necessarily requiring a building consent?

Speaker 5

Correct?

Speaker 3

Okay?

Speaker 8

Right?

Speaker 3

Bubbling away behind the scenes of these sorts of conversations are a lot of conversations and discussions about what's going to happen when we remove the requirement for a building consent from you know, a larger number of buildings, and how do we ensure quality?

Speaker 8

Right?

Speaker 3

So I suspect in this instance, and I don't want to be disparaging perhaps if the people that did the building, but you know, if you don't have the checks and balances for from by having a building consent and having inspections. How do you then all of the responsibility for quality control falls on the builder. Now, most builders will still be you know, professional and diligent and build the building in accordance with the building Code and with the Building

Act and so on. I just wonder whether in this instance here, you know, for example, once they actually once they removed the lining, on the inside there was insulation and on the outside of the timber framing there was a vapor barrier, a wrap, a building rap, and before you got to the cladding. So it's not like the cladding was direct fixed with no building paper. Okay, so this building paper.

Speaker 5

There, building paper and outside clearing of ply yep, then bats and then an inside.

Speaker 9

Layer of ply.

Speaker 3

Yeah okay, So look, the chances are it'll be a combination of things. One is, you know, potentially during the construction the framing got wet, which is not uncommon. So again, one of the things that happens before we have a pre lining or a pre lining inspection includes testing the moisture content of the timber framing. Now, a piece of timber that sat outside in a packet then gets cut into studs and knogs nailed together, closed in for a brief period of time and will have a certain amount

of moisture. So in order to get a pre line inspection done, you need to have that moisture content down to at least below twenty percent, ideally about eighteen percent, and you test that and if you don't achieve that, then you fail your pre line inspection. You can't line.

Now if there's no inspector and the contractor might not have their own moisture, they'll frame it up, they'll throw some insulation into there, and then they will line it and potentially that plywood, if they haven't stored that or sourced that correctly, that might also have absorbed some moisture. So if the building is already saturated, then yes, and then it gets closed up for a period of time so there's an adequate ventilation, you will get mold growth.

And I wonder whether that's the case. So in terms of solving the problem, what I would suggest is, now if all of the lining has been removed, and that seems like a real shame, doesn't it. I mean, you've you know, plywood's expensive, and then you've you've put it on and then you've ripped it off just because you couldn't be patient around getting the frame out of right, Well, it wasn't ripped off, Okay, so its screw fixed.

Speaker 5

Yeah, so we'll go back on again. So it's not sitting in the building at the moment sort of drying out.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Look, the best thing to do would be to get your hands on a moisture meter right now. The ones that the council inspectors use cost about twelve to fifteen hundred bucks and they're carefully calibrated. Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I bought one on trade b for twenty dollars and when I've tagged along behind the building inspectors, my

readings have been within one percentage point of theirs. Right, So if they're getting a twenty three percent reading and I use my twenty dollars trade me special, I might get almost the same results. So ideally you would say to the contractor, I want to install a dehumidifier. I want to dry out the fabric.

Speaker 10

Of the.

Speaker 3

Timber, and then let's do the lining only when it reaches at a very minimum twenty degrees. The insulation is that does it feel saturated?

Speaker 1

No?

Speaker 5

I don't think so. Okare in mind, this is heresaying on my path.

Speaker 3

Yeah sure, Okay, Well, let's assume that the insulation has been able to dry out and feels dry and is dry, so that could be reinstalled. The plywood could be put back on. I would test the ply as well. Again, if the plywood is saturated, then yeah, that's not going to be any good. And then going forward, there's an issue for something like a studio, how do you build it in such a way that you can maintain some ventilation in it even if it's got sort of intermittent occupancy.

Let's say so in some cases you might want to install a ventilation system, just a passive or a passive ventilation system, as in having cross ventilation windows on either side that you can leave partially open but still secure to allow airflow. Or you might have a small fan that just runs constantly to allow for airflow. They they pose a few challenges those sorts of buildings that have,

like I say, intermittent occupancy. Right, but it'll ninety percent sure, it'll be excessive moisture in the framing and that's then saturated through the lining, and that's where your mold growth comes from.

Speaker 11

Right, So once it's dry and it all put back together. Is the mold's being cleaned off with whatever? Is that mold likely to grow again or is it the problem?

Speaker 3

It would be worth trying to deal to the spores of the mold which will be still in the fiber of the timber. So basically an ammonia type based mold killer you would go through, maybe let it dry out as much as you possibly can, treat all of the surfaces, just with a spray bottle or something like that, just to knock that back. I presume the timber is treated timber, yeah, I mean it's really hard to buy untreated framing timber these days. Is there any concern of any decay starting

in the timbers? It's relatively new, isn't it.

Speaker 12

Okay, Yeah, yep, definitely.

Speaker 3

The main thing is to be absolutely confident that the moisture content is below twenty percent, ideally about eighteen percent, between seventeen and eighteen percent, and then go ahead and do the lining and the same for the plywood.

Speaker 6

Right, Okay, That to me seems.

Speaker 5

Ceremonia base.

Speaker 3

Yeah, just just a mold killer of some description. You could just buy exit mold or something like that and just spray that around the timber framing beforehand, and then let that dry out again and then go ahead and do the lining. But then long term, ideally, you know, for a building like that, you need to make provision for some sort of ventilation or some sort of heating that means that it doesn't cool down to a point

where mold growth is encouraged. A small one that I built a couple of years ago, which I wanted to be, you know, to a certain standard, right, I ended up it actually had a concrete slab. I did under tile heating, and I've set that at a very very low temperature fifteen degrees for example, and the undertile heating will will come on and just raise keep the temperature inside the room at a point where it doesn't encourage mold growth, so it doesn't get too cold in there. And I've

also got ventilation in that space. Okay, yeah, all right, all right, sorry to hear that. It's an interesting situation, and you know, just asn't aside the reason I was quite curious as to who built it and under what

regulatory regime is. You know, there are lots of voices within the building sector saying, look, if we're going to put all of the responsibility essentially for quality control on contractors without having counsel, are we going to be confident as consumers that we will get the quality that we want?

And I think unfortunately your sister's example is one where a contractor hasn't then taken the same level of care as they might do if they were getting a building inspection, and this is the result.

Speaker 5

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from.

Speaker 3

Yeah, Yeah, And I'm saying that as one that actually sees some benefit to removing some of the regulatory input into building what should And one of the words they use often is low risk. Right, So a building like that is relatively low risk, but the impact of it being moldy or damp is still fairly significant for whoever PI is that building?

Speaker 8

Right?

Speaker 3

Definitely, is there actually low risk?

Speaker 6

Maybe?

Speaker 3

Not nice of you to call John Hope. That helps my pleasure. All the very best, Skapo. Then, ah, man, I've got one guy that I know listens to the show who will be ringing me on Monday to go. I told you so, I'll wait you call. It is six twenty four here at News Talk CP. We'll talk to Jason in a moment and we'll get to Sue's texts straight after the break as well. Radio. Let's take a quick look at this text from Sue morning, Pete. Appreciate that you've covered this, but please can you clarify

for me? For a friend who has a normal timber fence between a neighbor and him, and then the neighbor has planted a tree fence or a hedge on his property around the entire property for privacy. Unfortunately, this has now grown to a height where my friend needs to have the light on in his kitchen and laundry and

may now be forced into install a skylight. The neighbor did agree to trim, but did basically didn't trim it enough, said that it would ruin the esthetics to have just a few meters of tree fence cut back to a timber fence line. Have looked at the Fencing Act, can't find anything in it. What can a friend do? We had Ben Johnson, who's a lawyer, a property lawyer specializing this sort of thing on the program a couple of

weeks ago. Actually it's my intention to get him back because he was very good and there's a lot more to cover. Where you should be looking is in terms of the Property Act, which sets out rights and responsibilities around tree heights and that sort of thing, and you can use the Property Act to enforce you know, if there was an agreement to say, yep, I'm going to plant, but I'm going to maintain it to such and such a height, then you can enforce that. But it does

become a legal thing. So it's really about rights and responsibilities under the Property Act rather than the Fence Act, because ultimately it's not a fence. So that hopefully will give you some guidance. And like I say, I'll I'll reach out to Ben this week, so if he's got some time again before Christmas, we talked a lot about fencing. Maybe we've talked about about the Property Act sometime before Christmas. Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number

to call. Hello, Jason, how are you.

Speaker 4

I'm great?

Speaker 11

Good?

Speaker 4

Thanks? Yeah, longtime listener, first time caller. Sure, Yeah. What happened last week? As I had because our work night shift, I accidentally fell over in the shower and I've put my foot through I don't know what it is. It's in the in the shower. I've put my foot through the bottom of the structure.

Speaker 3

Inside the shower, outside the shower.

Speaker 4

Inside the shower, So it's what a proof the structure. I put my foot through the bottom of it. I've landed on my side. I'm fine now because there's the step up where you Yeah, there's a step, so I fall it on my side. But it's the hole in.

Speaker 13

The what do you call it?

Speaker 4

The shower? Waterproof? Can I fix it myself? I've all do you inform the landlord about this? And he was more worried about me. But there's that I can't. I can't have a shower because a little hole in the bottom of the shower.

Speaker 3

To be fair, I've I mean, I know sometimes shower bases can crack and and that sort of thing, but to actually put your foot through one is a little bit extraordinary. Saying that.

Speaker 4

What happened was, you know, because I work night shift, I decided, because I'm having a few drinks, I'm going to have a shower. I have a shower, and then bang.

Speaker 3

It happens. Right when when you let the landlord know again, I've done plenty of work looking after rental properties, right, and so I would have thought the landlord would take responsibility for the repair for two reasons. One, you know, it doesn't sound like it was malicious damage, so it wasn't intentional. And the other thing is that, in terms of ensuring that the work is done to a standard that the landlord would be happy with, it would be

better if the landlord took responsibility for the repair. The other thing is, so is it like a PVC or a fiberglass lining, have a glass or okay, so you know to do the repair on that, essentially you're going to have to take the doors off, take the wall lining off, replace the tray, and then reinstall all of that. You know, there's there's quite a bit of work involved in repairing them, and you know, whether you've got the equipment or to be blunt, the knowledge to do it.

I would have thought that it would be in the interests of the landlord to coordinate the repair. They might even be able to make an insurance claim on it, but then at least they are confident that the work could be done to a suitable standard and perhaps by a professional. So I would have thought the landlord would just go, look, really sorry to hear that. I'll send some people this week. What was the landlord's response.

Speaker 4

He was more concerned because I landed on my side on that lip. Yeah, to step into the shower, I landed on my side at the same time I put my foot through the show.

Speaker 3

Yeah, but it still doesn't I mean, I get that, and I understand it's great that the landlord's concerned about your well being, as they should be. But at the same time, you've now got a non functioning shower and you've got to repair that. If it's not done properly, could potentially mean that the shower will leak and cause

further damage long term. So look, I I it was if I was in your landlord situation, then I would be very very much thinking I'd rather send my own people in to repair it, because in the end, I'm responsible for it and it's my asset and I want to make sure that it's done well. So I would say, if you know now that you're over the shock of it, I'd be in touch with the landlord and go, okay, let's talk about when your tradespeople are coming to fix it.

That's the approach that I would probably take. Jason. I hope that you're not too badly injured after that as well. All the best with that oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Maverick.

Speaker 14

Good morning to you, Good morning Pete very well.

Speaker 7

Oh it's good to hear.

Speaker 5

Well, it's a.

Speaker 7

Sunday and if we're not well.

Speaker 3

On Sunday, absolutely, how can I help.

Speaker 7

I've got a good mate. He's a pharmacist and he's poured his life savings into a basically a sixty foot phar is cement yacht, right, twenty two tons, and.

Speaker 4

It's in good neck.

Speaker 7

It leads a bit of towel see. But he got it for sixty grand. It was a real steal, you know. If you had to build it today would be a million dollars plus. It's built for cook straight conditions, so it's it's a heavy boat, twenty two tons. He hadn't washed months ago, and and behold most of the ny felly came off.

Speaker 3

Yeah. No, Surprisingly he's got no money, you know, because he's spent it all on a sixty thousand dollars yacht.

Speaker 7

Yep, yeah yeah, And so he's borrowed a heap of money. He paying twenty two per blah blah blah. Oh yeah, I know, I know. Dream Yeah, and yourself employed he's a pharmacist selling mw zeualman made sunscreen. And of course no one's got any money to protect themselves anymore.

Speaker 13

So yeah, so he's.

Speaker 7

He's he's a pharmacist. He's got no practical experience. I've got a little bit, but not enough on a concrete hole. So what I was thinking, and this is what I wanted to bounce off you or in recent is ree coming in today?

Speaker 15

No?

Speaker 3

No, you mean now, Raisin, guys, Jay and Bryce, Yeah, no not today.

Speaker 7

Yeah, because of the game you go the all blacks. So what I was thinking, Pete was diluting the primer for the first coat and then putting a full primer on and sending it and then put two coats of any fell on top of that.

Speaker 3

I think your methodology is correct in the sense that you know, once you've cleaned it, you need to apply a primer which is going to be your key coat that's going to bond your surface coats to it. But look, I think you would be better served, given that this is actually really important for the performance of the boat and those sorts of things, is to go, you know, go along to maybe just get on the phone to Razine,

for example, to their technical team. I'm thinking we did a little giveaway for Razine Construction a little while ago because Razine Paints themselves are involved in the coating systems for the America's cupboats. Right, so I would go off and get some expert advice for your mate from Razine.

Speaker 4

You know.

Speaker 3

The hard thing is these paints and these systems are well, they're quite expensive, right, And if he was to go you know, oh, look, I'm just going to use some regular old primer and a bit of you know, paving paint or something like that, he's not going to get a great result. So it's it's going to be very specific paints applied in a very specific way in order to get you know, the performance out of the system that you need. So and I mean, look, I know it's got nothing to do with with me or or

even with you. In a sense. It's his money and he can do with it what he wants. But borrowing money on a boat and then at incredibly high rates, and it's just got disaster and all over it. There was a guy around the corner had a boat sitting on his front lawn for about two years before you could see he just kind of gave up with it and shipped it off, you know, pardon the pun.

Speaker 4

I had.

Speaker 7

And it was on the rocks for six months, and then the council finally got adam patient with me because I had no money, I was sick ass and I'm the superent. So they chopped it up old hundred years old, carry right and dump all the wood.

Speaker 4

Dump it.

Speaker 7

Yeah, it could have would have made beautiful recycled furniture.

Speaker 3

Plenty of recycled well, yeah, there's a reasonable amount of recycled would out there. Look, it's you know, I wish you make well and good on you for helping out. But I think I would I would go off and get very specific technical advice around the coating systems that you need to apply.

Speaker 7

Yeah, but no idea will to do that. But you're looking at two grand plus for it boat, just for paint little later.

Speaker 3

Yeah, that's right, but that's the cost of buying a boat. That's why I have a boat.

Speaker 7

You got plenty.

Speaker 3

Suh been out for ages. Hey, good luck with it all, eh, all the best you take care other than are you and your stalk se bek that's a bit of a writer passage. And you buy something, Oh, look, I plenty had plenty of old motorbikes and all the rest of it over the year, so I can't judge, oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty, but the cool text comes through, be cheaper to put the boat back on the market

and take the hit. You're probably not wrong. A couple of questions about body corporates and one request here are you able to get a spray expert on to discuss different makes and applications. I presume you're talking about the discussion we had around you spraying to treat mold, for example. So that was our first caller talking about the studio which was brand new, recently built and then had mold

appearing on the surface. I think it's to do with the timber framing being saturated because nobody checked the timber, the moisture contients of the timber. So once you've got it dry, can you treat some of that. I mean, there's lots of proprietary, you know, on the shelf products in terms of exit mold and a whole bunch of others. There's bleaches. There's actually sort of more eco friendly options in terms of vinegar and baking soda and those sorts

of things that will also take care of mold. So find it the appropriate treatment, treat it, let it dry out. Carry on from there would be the answer. We'll come back and talk Body Corporate in a moment for this text message, but we have time for your calls right now as well. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. I was just listening to the interview that Kerry did with Assistant Commissioner Paul Basham. And in a small, small world, I went to school with Paul.

I can still remember actually chatting over the woodwork table form two woodwork.

Speaker 12

There you go.

Speaker 3

Back in the day. What was that nineteen seventy nine And as a kid, actually he knew what he knew absolutely what he wanted to do. He's a lovely guy. We caught up for a drink last year sometime. He happened to be in Auckland, so yeah, nice to hear his voice on the radio ridioh fourteen minutes fifteen Yeah, fifteen minutes away from seven O. Eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. I've got a very long and involved text about leaky buildings and neighboring property

and so on. I'll try and get to that, but I think my short answer is going to be this is going to become a legal matter that you're going to have to deal with. But i'll come back to that in just a moment. Rose A very good morning to you.

Speaker 16

Oh yes, thank you for taking my call. I have purchased a batch by the sea, and a lot of the nails are coming through on not good renovations that have been done in the past, and they're coming through all rusty, and a few of them. I got a stainless steel brush and brushed the top of them and got the rust off. But it's coming through the paint, and I wondered if there's any easy way to fix it, or if they can be facts. There's quite a few around the outside of the building nails that have rusted.

Speaker 3

And you're saying that this is from a recent renovation.

Speaker 16

I don't know how recent. I have just purchased the property, but I think over time, haven't you stained the steel nails for their renovations.

Speaker 3

What's the type of cladding? Oh, I don't know what type with the boards or a version of weather.

Speaker 16

Boards, a version of where the boards and some words.

Speaker 5

Right, Okay, and then we're the boards.

Speaker 3

Yeah, and the surface, the outside surface of the building is painted. It's all painted. It's not stained or anything like that.

Speaker 16

It's all painted. And the raft is coming through the paint and dribble them down.

Speaker 3

Yes, I mean, you know, one concern might be that they've used brads when they're fixing some of those weather boards on or some of that cladding. And if you just well even if you use galvanized brads that don't last particularly well in a in a sea environment with sea salt. To be fair, I've seen believe it or not, rusting out of stainless steel brads. I don't know how

that happens, but I've seen it. I think what you've got to kind of do is go along punch, so I presume all of the nails were fastened and then punched and then filled and then painted over that stright, okay, coming through literally it's a really time consuming process where you go through, use a nail punch to drive the nail in a little bit further, then use a very small brush with some rust kill paint on it, so a specific rust kill paint, and then dab that or

dab that into the aperture right into the where you've punched the nail. Essentially try and fill that almost with paint and then apply some filler, send that back and then repaint the exterior. And there's no guarantee that after a pair of of time it won't come back, because it most likely will. But that's the most basic treatment for it.

Speaker 16

Well, it hasn't happened to all of them, and some of some of the nails are not ones that I can punch in the big the big.

Speaker 3

Knobs on the end, okay, yep, yeah, And so with.

Speaker 16

Those I sanded. I did too, and I sanded all those right down and got it off. But that was very, very time consuming, and I can't push those in because I've got the big knobs.

Speaker 3

Yeah, okay. So if it's a flat head or a rosehead nail, it's designed to sit proud on the surface, right, So in that instance there a wire brush is probably a bit easier to use than a bit of sandpaper wirebrush to expose the surface and remove as much rust as possible, apply some rust kill paint to the to

the surface, and then paint over again. Might be with if you're talking with someone at the paint shop about applying a rust converter which will neutralize the rust, and then applying an anti corrosive primer or paint over the top of that, and then applying your top coat over that.

Whether or not the rust converter in conjunction with a primer makes any big difference in terms of how quickly the rust will come back, but I'd say just and be very generous when you're doing you know, knock the top back, get rid of the rust, and then apply lots of paint. The thicker the paint coating that you can put on there, the better it's going to be.

And then obviously you've got to be a bit careful when you apply more paint over the top that when you're doing your sanding in between coats, you don't stand off what you've just applied. So look, it's a terribly labor intensive process. That's the reason we've got radios is that you know, while you're doing this work, you can be listening to the radio and distract yourself from the task ahead.

Speaker 16

Yes, I did too, and it did take a long time.

Speaker 3

Yeah, yeah, Ok, that's pretty much the way to go. Yeah, you know, the other possibility maybe with some of those flathead or rose head nails. Is you might be able to get them out with the pliers and so on, get underneath the head and pull them out and replace them. But sometimes in those cases you end up damaging the boards, and then you've got an even bigger repair job. So I wonder whether just treating it and trying to stay on.

Speaker 14

Top of it.

Speaker 3

Yeah, good luck with that. Thank you very all right, you take care of all the very best to you. Bye by then, Hey Craig, good morning to you. Game bad thanks yourself.

Speaker 12

I could complain, but then you're told off the complaining.

Speaker 3

That's right, And what's the classic like no one I would complain, but no one listens. Yeah right, How can I help.

Speaker 12

You lose friends? I'll go to friend of mine who's in an apartment building four apartments in Hamilton. It's four, sorry, five double story apartments side by side and like a little complex with security gates and all that, and behind his number, he's around the middle. Behind him his unit, he's got like a little out, like a little closet on the outside of the building and it has all the alarms in that for the entire site, for all the other apartments in there, but the door's never locked

and it hasn't been lyned. You gets a lot of conversation there, so he call doesn't have a look at

that because they're problems with his alarm. I pointed out to him that you need to talk bad about But then that twur issues we had too, is where I turned the power of his breaker in the garage because he had a couple of mstis he kept flicking all the time, so I turned the power off and replaced them and found out that when we did that, it dropped the power to the main security game in the complex along with all the alarms, and I had to inform them that I'm sorry, but your apartments seems to

be powering the security gate and ever runs alarms and all the other houses. Yeah, there's no board, a, no body, paris just all in one. But before we found the fuse, I mean found that out, I brought our company. Here's a ground ped entarning radar of little trolley things I brought into try and find where the duck we're out to the gator, so maybe try and narrow down from and try and make it a little bit easier for having to go back to the people you water from.

And we found that from the foot path to about two meters and from the footpath in the driveway there's no reinforcing, right, Yeah, because I was I was following the pipe down the drive and you could see the reinforcing on the screen like water pipe all that and

then like hang on with the reinforcing go. So I was wondering what has comeback for that is because I would have thought you would have had to have reinforce it bully to the end of the driveway, but it's like about two meters from the end, it's just nothing, all the pipes and everything. But yeah, it's like they put it in there and gone inspect and pulled it out again.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 12

Yeah, it's like yeah they yeah, I look.

Speaker 3

That sort of thing happens. Or you know, if they doing a poor and the trucks drive down the driveway to pour from the furthest end, you know, sometimes you take the mesh out and maybe in that instance they didn't put it back in. Look, I mean, you know, trying to get some redress now would just be a torturous project. I'd put that in the too hard basket.

The other thing, to be fair though, is in some instances it applies more to crossings, So council often don't want you to put mesh into a crossing when you pour in concrete there. They just want it to be thicker so that if they even need to cut it up, it's a lot easier to do if there's no mesh in it. So maybe there was a requirement not to

have mesh there. I take it from the way that you're talking about your mate's place that you've got some electrical experience and are able to offer up an advice.

Speaker 12

Yeah. Yeah, that brings up to another whole thing. And you were talking about that granifrat before, and yeah, the studio and all that. We see that industry too, Like I'm electrically qualified, but I've also data caban and security. Yes, and we find all the time that we got all qualifications, but Sparky's can do data caban and security without any your real qualifications. And we get caught in quite a lot of times because Sparker do a whole on data

caving for our building. We'll walk in there and go really and it's just been done poorly, not understanding, but unfortunately there's no comeback. So it's kind of like in some ways with LOSNS builders and people building these new grenefits. I suppose really you get all the people who are qualified, and then you get people that are already qualified doing and then it sort of starts giving everything that's a bad name, which is quite sadly, but yeah, it's happens here all the time.

Speaker 3

I'm not going to disagree with you on that, you know, and I think this tremendous opportunity. I was talking to young guys thinking about doing electrical apprenticeship and I said, you know, nowadays there is also it's much broader in the sense that you've got all this opportunity to do you know, data and security and those sorts of things. So if you continue to upskill, you know, this tremendous amount of work in that area going forward.

Speaker 12

So yeah, it's never a dull day. And then working side quite a lot of its raining. Plus I mean I started out electrical when into data security and then moved into process controlled and all automation on the factories, and that's that's fun. And you've got to sit down there and work out how to program of controls to do what you want to do. So it's yeah, a lot of hit scretches sometimes to you.

Speaker 3

But that's great.

Speaker 12

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 3

Just in regards to the electrical you're earlier. We've only got a minute or so, but your earlier comment was that in that particular unit, all of the power, the costs for the power is shared. Is that correct.

Speaker 12

Well, we turned this break, sorry, I turned this break. We're off, and then the security gates stopped working. People got stuck outside, so we had to manually open the gate to get them. And then I was doing some tracing around and found that he's got a PowerPoint in the middle of his a lounge for the TV on one wall, and I pulled the PowerPoint off and there's but a two point five go straight through the wall.

And the other side of the wall was that cupboard on the outside of the building and it's got another PowerPoint in there which everything runs off. And so there's some tracing around and found out that one of us, I think the fourth breaker on his board as she runs the box out the little like lean to out the side there.

Speaker 3

So he's and he pays his own power.

Speaker 13

Yeah.

Speaker 12

Yeah, So it's all because it's all depending the owned. They all own their apartment, so for everyone else's alarm, everyone else's routers, and everyone else ends the security.

Speaker 3

Hey, I'm going to have to run for the news, but the fascinating situation to be and we're back straight after New Sporting Weather, your news talks. He'd be welcome back to the show. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call if you've got a building question that could be sort of a practical question. I had to question myself yesterday when I suddenly discovered that I had managed to adhere to my face some

gorilla grip adhesive. Now, I use gorilla grip adhesive because I know it sticks like the proverbial to a blanket, which is fine. When I was trying to glue bendy ply to a elliptical frame that I had constructed, and it worked incredibly well, the old gorilla grip. In that instance, I used the one hour cure one. I did one on Friday night, one half of this ellipse elliptical shape

on Friday night. I did the other on Saturday. And then when I was delivering the mystery object, I'll tell you about that a little bit later on, I discovered I sort of touched on my face and thought, oh, I wonder what that is. It's like this reasonably solid old lump. Anyway, it was the gorilla grip that's quite hard to get off your skin. I have to say. Anyway, work to treat. So we can talk about building products, what sticks and what doesn't. Eight hundred and eighty ten

eighty is the number to call. We can talk about a little bit about legislation. I'm really intrigued by our first call, if you missed it, just after six o'clock. John was talking about calling essentially on behalf of his consistent which is lovely going. Look a thirty square meter studio that's been recently conduct constructed and it has mold on the inside whires. It got mold, and so we

went through the possible scenarios and some remediation. But it does raise that issue, and I'm increasingly conflicted about it in the sense that the very strong push from the government at the moment to go, let's, you know, make

things easier to build. Let's remove regulation. And along with removing regulation, we end up removing the input, let's say, from council and from council inspectors, and we put the emphasis on the quality control onto the contractors doing the work, and you know, let's have a little bit of confidence and the ability of our licensed building practitioners in order to build to the building code and to appropriate standards without having someone looking over your shoulder. It's essentially what

they're saying. And so that phone call to me is kind of that slight alarm bell that goes, yeah, but can we actually be really confident? And I'm almost reluctant to say it. Can we be confident in the quality control of contractors LBPS builders doing this work without necessarily having a building consent and without having a building inspector check their work to actually deliver quality buildings. Here's a classic example of no. And I kind of am despondent

that this has become a topic. You know, ideally LBPS should be competent to undertake work like this that doesn't require a building consent but still deliver quality. But here's a classic example where that hasn't happened. You may here a comic, oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty the number to call just very quickly this, you know, in all seriousness, it's a fairly extensive text and it's got a lot of issues in it around body corporates and adjoining properties

and liability and so on. So five apartments cracking leaking. Look, ultimately this is going to be a legal issue. So the challenges to find a lawyer that has experienced in this area who can offer up some decent advice around leaking remediations, who might be liable and so on again. At the event that I was at last night, that was a subject of some considerable conversation as well around liability.

And you know, I took to one gentleman who has brought into an apartment where he's looking just to get some money for it, and he's just going to ditch it. It's so poorly constructed, with so many problems that there seems to be no end in sight. He's in a position where he could walk away and not ruin him, to be blunt. But of course for other occupy to this apartment block, if they were to walk away, they would face financial ruin. And that's the end result of

Paul building practice. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty let's talk all things building and construction here at news took se b Just a reminder too, the all blacks are playing Italy, last match of the Northern Tour that starts just after nine o'clock. So we are going to hand over to our live commentary team at around eight forty five this morning. Redclimb Passed will join us a little bit earlier, so at around eight fifteen thereabouts we'll

have Rudon. We'll talk all things gardening from eight to fifteen through to eight forty five, and then ladies and gentlemen, the All Blacks will be live from Italy at around just after nine o'clock. Jeremy, A very good morning to you.

Speaker 12

Good morning, Peter, morning Jeremy.

Speaker 13

Yeah, I just got a question. So if the water leaks and then it casts the wood to rotten, and then if I managed to stop the leaking, whether rotten will still continue to rot?

Speaker 3

Oh, that is a good question. Yeah, there is a potential for once decay sets in and so on, it could remain active. So typically, you know, and I'm now going to what is common practice in terms of weather tightness remediation. Right, So, if you've had a leaky building where water has got into the timber framing, the typical remediation is to identify any timber that shows sign of

decay and remove that timber completely. Then sometimes the remediation people will say, look, you need to take another meter of timber out. So let's say there's a bottom plate that's rotten in one corner, and there's a meter and a half that's rotten, but they want you to go two and a half meters from the point of rot to remove all of that. And then also we're talking about treating any other timber in the vicinity with a timber preservative to ensure that that any decay doesn't continue

there as well. But cutting out the rot is really really important, and cutting it out well beyond that, you know, you go, oh, well it stops here, but you're always better off cutting a bit more out.

Speaker 13

Yeah, but the problem is the wood. I mean to cut out the wood because the wood is between the my unit and the unit below, and the neighbor is not not very cooperative to want to do anything about it.

Speaker 3

So the timber that you're talking about that is rotten is in fact the floor joist between the two units. Yeah, correct, yes, right, Is any of this been like, is the repair something that you're undertaking because you know that there's a problem. Is there any building consultant, building serve council involved in this because you know, repair to a mid floor, joist between inter tendency, because there'll be fire rating issues and

all those sorts of things. Really that work should have a building consent and then there should be some supervision of the work, particularly around the fire rating.

Speaker 13

Fire reading.

Speaker 4

Yeah.

Speaker 3

Well, if you've got a unit below you, right and you're above, there should be fire rating between the two units, right to protect from the spread of fire. And what you don't want to do is do some work which then impacts on the fire rating of that which you know in terms of if there was a fire, it could cause fatal results. Right, So fire rating and fire

protection passive fire protection is really really important. So I think that it's sounding like the scale and the scope of this job is one where I think you should have professional advice and and have a scope of works created by someone who's experienced in this area, and then ideally they would supervise this work as well. And in fact I suspect you'll need a building consent for it.

Speaker 13

Yeah. Yeah, I did have some building LBP to come and have a log and then come up with the train and mad it and mitigated. But yeah, yeah, but yeah, but it's it's like, of course we do not have the detailed design of the building. It's very old building, and and we do know how how far it would go and and what's what's involved.

Speaker 5

Yeah, and.

Speaker 3

You know, from a practical point of view, so you know, I can imagine if you lift the floor out and some of those floor joists are actually rotten. It's it's it's going to be very challenging, if not almost impossible to replace those correctly without impacting on the neighbor below you. So, and I can understand the frustration from the neighbor below. You know, I didn't cause the leak. It's not my leak.

But suddenly you're saying to me that I've got to move out of the apartment while you pull the ceiling down for example, you know, And I guess it's it's when these problems emerge that you can understand why there are such strict controls around internal moisture, making sure that we get good waterproofing systems and potentially overflows to ensure that in these vertical buildings where you know, there are owners stacked on top of each other, that a leak

from one property doesn't affect those properties below it.

Speaker 13

So actually batter cause of beause I didn't I didn't have I mean I didn't constantly when I buy the property is already like that, so I only discover it and then try to try to do something about it then. But but in terms of course, who should better?

Speaker 3

I mean, I mean, oh sure, yeah, I guess. Can I ask, did you get a building inspection, a pre purchase inspection before you bought the apartment?

Speaker 11

Yeah?

Speaker 12

I did.

Speaker 13

Yeah, so the inspector did mention that the the deck my because I'm on the upper level. Yeah, so the what what the waterproofing wasn't done?

Speaker 4

Probably right? So yeah.

Speaker 13

So so so I get there some building uh people to to give me a quote or how much to do to do the repair. So so after that, uh, I negotiate with the seller and then get a lower advice to buy the property.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Speaker 13

So once I own a property, I tried to get the builder too to try and remediate the thing. But the builder just keep on delaying until until almost about one year, and then I get another one to come and see, and then he made he and he opened up part of the the below, uh, the deck below the cabin mm hmmm, below the deck, and then he found that the wood was what was wrotter.

Speaker 4

And the joys.

Speaker 3

Yeah, so after that, yeah, see if if if for example, well, I mean, if you didn't get a pre purchase inspection, uh, you know, you could say I didn't know about it to your insurer and and potentially ask your insurer to cover it. But in this instance, you did know that there was some defective or there was some leaking which was then causing decay, and then took a risk to go, I'm going to purchase the property because I've been able to discount the property in order to cover the cost

of the expenses. But now the cost of the expenses is probably far greater than the discount that you got from it. So I don't know that you're going to be able to get any support from anyone outside because essentially you were reasonably well informed that there was going to be a problem. Now there is a problem, it's you're going to have to fix it. And I can't see that you could go to your insurer now and go, oh, look, can I make a claim for this. It's going to

be My feeling is it's going to be your responsibility. Again, I hasten to add, you know, you should probably get some proper legal advice on this, but unfortunately I can't see this ending particularly well mm hmmm, yeah, unfortunately. I'd be intrigued to know where you end up with this, Jeremy.

Speaker 13

But you know, so it is in no case, what would you do? I mean, how you would you conceed?

Speaker 3

Is there a body corporate? No, nobody cop nobody corp right? I mean the I was going to say the hard thing, it's not the hard thing. That the only right thing to do is to have a professional, like a registered building surveyor or a building consultant, come, describe the scope of the problem, identify you know why there is a problem, provide you with a specification for the mediation of that, have a licensed building practitioner undertake the work, have that

work supervised by a professional. I think it's probably going to require a building consent. The concern with that is that as soon as you go to counsel for a building consent, the job is going to get much bigger and much more expensive, and all of that is going to be your is going to be at your cost, is my feeling. So you know, it's got to be

done right because it impacts on the lives of other people. Right, If you don't fix the leak and it impacts on your neighbor, that's not fair on your neighbor.

Speaker 13

Fix a leak easily, but the rottenwood is the thing that is difficult to fix.

Speaker 3

Well, that almost becomes a moral issue, then, doesn't it that you could ignore it? But that doesn't feel like that's the right thing to do, in which case you then have to repair that. But again it will need specific design. You know, I wouldn't consider it to be a like for like repair, for example. It's the way in which it's got to be fixed and remediated. And to ensure that it's up to the building code is really really important.

Speaker 13

Yeah, but we do not have the design of that.

Speaker 3

No, well, there will be even if you don't have it. If the building, how old is the building?

Speaker 13

Sixty nineteen sixties?

Speaker 3

Okay, all right, so there probably won't be plans, in which case you then have to go to a designer, and it'll probably be a combination of an architectural designer, an architect or an engineer working collaboratively to come up with a scope of works. Here's the design, this is what's going to work. This is the type of timber you need to use, this is the type of fixings, this is how we brace it, et cetera, et cetera.

And then again I think that because you're essentially repairing the structural fabric of the building, it's going to require a building consent. In my opinion, once you've got the building consent, you undertake the work as per the consent and have the work signed off. But again, all of that cost, I think is going to be yours unfortunately.

Speaker 13

I mean, the neighbor doesn't need to share the cost.

Speaker 3

It's not really their problem. And again, because if there's no body corporate, then you know, you own the building and your or you own your part of the building

and you're responsible for it. I would have thought, you know, sometimes in these situations where we really hope that there's an easy way, or we really hope that there's not that much work involved, I think this is a classic case where it is a big problem and it's a big solution, and big solutions unfortunately end up being expensive ones. And I can't sugar coat that for you.

Speaker 13

How much would it I mean estimate costs for that.

Speaker 3

Without seeing it and without having a scope of works and so on, I'd be loath to. You know, look, if if you can't you know from what you're describing, if it's an issue, let's go with a balcony and a cantilever and those sorts of things. If you came to me and said I've spent you know, one hundred

thousand dollars, I wouldn't be surprised. But again, you know, I mean, I'm picking a figure out of the year in some ways, So I think I think the response as the as the owner knowing that you bought the property knowing that there were some issues that you're going to have to fix. Now you're the owner, you're going to have to fix them.

Speaker 13

But even you both say, even if I got a consent to go ahead, but the neighbor doesn't want to do anything, what can I do?

Speaker 3

I think then you probably have to take some legal action to say, you know, in the end it is in your neighbour's interest to allow you to fix it. Right, So there might have to be a negotiation, There might have to be a settlement of some sort. There might even have to be legal action to force it, but ultimately they're going to have to accept some disruption while

you repair it. And again that's part of the risk of buying into a building where there are multiple occupancies, right you know, So in that sense you'd hope that your neighbor would be reasonable. But again that's not to say that people aren't reasonable. Jeremy, I've got to move on. I'd be really interested to know where you land with this, so do feel free to call again. Certainly it'll be one of those things that I'll think about again in a couple of months time. I wish you all the

very very best with that. It is twenty six minutes after seven take short break back in a month. Right now, you can save sixteen percent when you buy a Gold plus solar bundle from light Force Soul. That's a saving four and a half thousand dollars. With this offer, you can get a package that's enough to fully power a

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Speaker 4

Of the way.

Speaker 3

And also you can get on with slashing your electricity bills from day one like Force Solar, proudly New Zealand owned and operated, has you covered with a ten year workmanship warranty, twenty five year panel warranty and a ten year battery warranty. Head to Lifeforcesolar dot co dot n Z to find out more c supply Z me yeah, news said, be quick. Text Pete, what adhesive now you're talking about adhesive given that I glued it to my

face this week? What adhesive do you use to glue a brass wood screw into a door frame lock catch that keeps coming out due to the vibration of the door opening and closing. Thanks Michael, I'll tell you what I would just get a match stick, take the screw out, get a matchstick, jam that in there, tap it and cut the top of the match off and put the screw back in. Job done. Oh eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty. The number to call damon good morning,

to you. Why is that not mate? My fingers have dried up. It didn't work. There we go, gotcha, Damon? How are you good?

Speaker 5

Thank you?

Speaker 4

How are you good?

Speaker 7

Thank you?

Speaker 5

Yeah?

Speaker 14

I just I heard you talking about mold this morning, and I just bringing I me and my family just been through a mold issue over the last over winter and it was extremely peculiar and we we found mold and eventually found mold in our house, but it was not what we thought it would be. So I thought, I'm just going to share.

Speaker 12

That with you.

Speaker 3

But in terms of the like you you're obviously in the house over the winter, so it's not like it's been locked up and you've been away or something like that.

Speaker 14

No, it was really my wife complained about the smell in our bedroom and it was really odd the year before last. And I'm actually a builder and I've been in an industry for thirty four years, so I was like, yeah, but it was a really weird smell and we couldn't we couldn't actually track it down where it was coming from. In the end, I thought maybe the old jewanery was rotting, so I pulled the window out and replaced it with

a were a double glaze one yep. And because the house was it was an older house, but I'd completely gutted it and renovated it, so it was all all new insulation, all new and everything on the inside and twenty and then so going through that, and then that went, and then this went to just being The smell came back really early and it was quite pungent. It was a very weird smell. We couldn't find anything, couldn't All the walls were dry. Moisture tested everything and got a

moisture meat went through everything. Everything was dry, dry, dry. It was really odd. But in the end my brother said, look, maybe just get a proper test done. So I got some experts in and they did an ear filter test. Right, I was kind of not to say, poopooing it, but I just didn't think they would find anything because the house was dry on the inside. But lo and behold. He came back and says, mate, you want to get out of your bedroom. It's extremely high and mold spores

in your bedroom. And I was like, gosh, how's that even possible? So I went home that night and I just sort of tore the bedroom apart a bit, and when I removed the beard away from the wall. This real strong smell of damp came imiating into the bedroom and it was very strong. It was even stinging my eyes.

So three so we got out of there and removed ourselves from the room, and then found that the actual back of the beard is one hundred million inside where the mattress was the back of the bed, and the wall was spiking to about thirty on the moisturemeter, so

it's pretty high. And so I tore the side of the house, thinking for a leak from the en suite, but nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing anywhere, And all it was was down to what we can We obviously threw out the mattress and everything, but what it seemed to go down to is that we had just bad habits with our on suite door open while howing yep, yeah, and then having a we we'd just had a baby boy and he was sharing our room for the first year and a half and there was three of us in

there and obviously not getting enough ventilation, so things something just caught and we found it must have been living in our mattress, the mold, and it was causing us all sorts of problems.

Speaker 3

Ailments, and certainly I think one of the things we're starting to appreciate, you know, especially you know, old houses like the one that I'm in. You know, they're pretty drafty, right, and the drafts kind of mitigate the fact that as we get more and more air type, ventilation becomes more

and more of an issue. So if you've done a really good job of sort of your retro fitting the house by adding better joinery, adding insulation, closing up all of those gaps and cracks that kind of give ventilation via infiltration, which is not a great form of ventilation but is ventilation in a sense, then yeah, you can

you can end up with that. And then if you've got an on suite and you shower with the door open, three people in a room for a fairly long period of time, all of the sources of moisture would combine to create the environment. So it is one of the keys to it, you know, ventilation, like better ventilation out of the bathroom, maybe making sure you close the door when you're having a shower on the en suite, and being much more like what have you done to fix it?

Are you much more active in terms of going, hey, look as soon as the temperature is right, I'm going to open the windows. I'm going to get some ventilation during the day, maybe adding some more extraction to the house. What have you done?

Speaker 14

So immediately we went and got a dejamidifire and we started running that in the evenings after it right yep in the bedroom. But yes, be more proactive about opening windows through the day and also like that, shut that door to the on swite when we showering. And we're also looking into so I went down the road looking

into a HIV system for the house. And what I've found out through that process is that even the modern homes, in fact, more so the modern homes that are smaller having the bigger issues because there's less air in the house move around with our bigger volume houses with more space,

they don't seem to create that issue so much. And having a system that can remove that dailer out and put fresh air in is because my brother's also a builder, and I've been talking to him at length and he believes that the those codes that shut and made everything air tight is actually causing us more issues and we should have really put our money and our time into putting some codes around a better ventilation for houses that are smaller or anyhow.

Speaker 3

And look, I wouldn't discrew you on that. What I hope doesn't happen though, And I've started to see this in sort of the public discourse as people going, oh, look, the problem with our houses is that they're too well insulated, and that's you know, just wrong. Yeah, it is rubbish, right, but it's a very popular idea at the moment that you know, houses are overheating and so on because we've gone too far with the insulation. We need to wind

that back. We don't. Our insulation standards are not still not particularly high. But what we do need to do is take a holistic approach in terms of understanding building science and understanding how buildings perform and going Okay, what's really important then is that we do actually need to ventilate, and we need to actively ventilate properties if we're not getting this sort of accidental ventilation via infiltration right drafty houses, so if we can control it, we need to be

much more active in that. And like you, I've you know, mold is a persistent issue. I'm dealing with it in another property and one of the things I've done is I'm swapping out the extractor fan that's there for an updated one that has a humidity sensor included in the fan.

Speaker 14

Right.

Speaker 3

So Cynics have just introduced these to the market. I'm going to swap out the old extractor put this one in. And what that will do is it will measure the humidity in the room and boost the performance of the fan depending on what's actually happening in the room. And when even when there's no activity, let's say in the room, it will still continue to run just to allow for that constant exchange of air, right, and then have essentially

a boost on it. So you know, maybe something like that is something that you could look at for your place as well. I've got to move on, but I really appreciate the insight and so on, and particularly for someone who's gone through it. And you know, the remarkable thing is that even like good houses can still get mold. That's that's what the message is there. Really appreciate damon, and good on you, and thanks for calling. Really appreciate it.

Oh eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty the number to call. Take short break back in a moment you and new Stalks. It'd been at seven forty three and minshew, good morning to you.

Speaker 15

Good morning Peter, how are you very well? Enjoy your show?

Speaker 12

Thank you.

Speaker 15

Hey, I've got a tricky question for you.

Speaker 5

I like relation.

Speaker 15

Yeah, underfloor insulation. Yes, now we have we have a few different material type such as whorl, polyst glass, woll in part it thin, something like the export stuff. So my question is which type of material as more resistant to borrow attack.

Speaker 3

I would imagine none of those products are particularly tractive to bora.

Speaker 12

Yeah.

Speaker 3

I mean if it's a glassful one, if it's a pure wool, if it's one hundred percent pure polyester, if it's polystyrene, I can't see bora being attracted to any of that because there's actually no organic material.

Speaker 15

They're all equal.

Speaker 3

Yes, I specifically in terms of bora. I can't see any anything that's attractive in any of those products for bora.

Speaker 15

Okay, Well, the reason I markets is my border brought an old house one hundred years old in the central

Auckland area. Yes, and well it's due to inspection indicated there's some borer attack, so she got the insect control guiding and but they requires the rip of the existing insulation, which is the expo type of stuff, you know, they they put it then, so we asked, We asked the guy, as you say, well this this material more attractive to to bora or or you know, any other types that they're not one hundred percent sure, but they said, well, these these exposed stuff the easier for the bora to

penetrate through. So for their recommendation is for us to replace them with a different material. So that's why I'm asking.

Speaker 3

Okay, look, the good news is that in about half an hour Rudklin Passed, who is far more qualified than I am to talk about bora, is going to be on the show. So why don't I put that question to Rud and we'll get his opinion given that he's an entomologist.

Speaker 15

Excellent, Yeah, I thought, Is he still going to be on quarter past the rugby game?

Speaker 3

I know, but we're going to start early because I know you don't want to miss out on time with Rud, So that will be my first question. Stay listening, excellent, No trouble, Take care. Then eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call back after the break. And just to reminder, Ridd will be joining us a little bit earlier. In the next hour of the program, we're going to hand over to the commentary team for the last match of the All Blacks Northern Tour, so All

Blacks v Italy. That'll kick off just after nine o'clock at about eight forty five. We'll hand over to the commentary team ahead of that live coverage of the match. So Ridd'll be joining us about quarter past eight this morning, which means not a lot of time for you to get your building questions. And eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call.

Speaker 8

Hello Faye, Hello Pete.

Speaker 3

How are you very well? Thank you?

Speaker 10

I'm just ringing. My son wants to convert the garage into a full speed Yes, the house is twenty years old.

Speaker 14

Yep.

Speaker 10

I just said it'd probably be cheaper to do one out the back.

Speaker 16

It's got a fair.

Speaker 10

Bitter end, right because you had to have a permit and can you do that convert the garage you can, but.

Speaker 3

It is it's a change of use, right, So garages are designed to be garages, not to be bedrooms, and in terms of compliance, you need to ensure that it's a safe habitable space, right. So one of the things council will look at is ventilation, They'll look at insulation, They'll potentially look at is there a vapor barrier underneath the concrete slab if it's concrete slab, And then obviously you'll want to take the garage door out and replace

it with joinery. So there might be issues around insulation, double glazing, those sorts of things. But it most definitely requires a building consent. But it sounds like you already know that.

Speaker 14

Yeah, I do.

Speaker 10

Yes, So I've double grazes a home anys before, before the double grazing wasmentatory. So yes, yeah, so I said it would probably be better to build a sleep out, a big one as high as you can go without the purpents net. But once just put the toilet share in this and you've got to have a permit.

Speaker 3

You need a consent for that as well. Now that potentially is up for some discussion at the moment. Certainly the you know, it's it's not law now, but it is something that this current government is looking at. Is that, you know, can we build well as much as sixty square meters in some cases without necessarily requiring a consent. But right now, yes, doing any plumbing you can build up to thirty up to thirty square meters within certain guidelines.

But as soon as you put in any sanitary fitting, so as soon as you add shower and toilet and those sorts of things, it requires triggers the requirement for building consent.

Speaker 10

Yeah, rather it be done properly.

Speaker 3

Yeah, absolutely, Yes, too. Properly is really important.

Speaker 10

That would be, you know, doing the garage, and you've got to build another garage of.

Speaker 14

Which to go the other way.

Speaker 3

Yeah, you might be right good on you. Yeah, okay, and you have a great day to take care. Then, all the very best to you. We've got time for your calls. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty the number to call. Good morning, says the Texter. I'd appreciate your thoughts on next steps. For some friends of mine who are in the nineteen seventies Lockwood in one of the bedrooms. Above the window, there are gaps that are appearing between the wall and the roof that you can

see light through. It only seems to be in one room. Given that Lockwood's still around in business and probably will be for many many years to come, I would be inclined to get in touch with them. And just get one of their experts maybe to come out and have a look at it, not necessarily holding them responsible for it if it's a nineteen seventies bill, but they might be able to offer up some opinion. It might be that there's some subsidence and the wall is dropping and

the roof is staying in the same place. It might be that there's some uplift for some reason that's occurred. There might just be shrinkage. So my suggestion would be that you actually go and get in touch with Lockwood in the first instance, and invite them to come out and have a we look a couple of things. One of the things that I've has occupied I do know last day and a half of my life has been making I don't even know how I get into these

sorts of things. But our son is involved with the National Youth Theater who are putting on a performance starting on Thursday at the Arta Center in Auckland of Alice Wonderland Journey. So it's kind of a reimagining of the classic Alice in Wonderland story with all of the same characters, and there is that scene. I don't know the story

particularly well. I think I'll get to know it a little bit more over the next week as I go and see the show a couple of times where Alice obviously goes into Wonderland and everything is large, and so the Mad Hatter, the character there, has a large top hat that then has to be large enough from which

a rabbit needs to appear. And so that job ended up on my desk or in my workshop, to be fair, and I spent a happy couple of day in a bit making a large elliptical top hat with brim on casters that can be wheeled out onto the stage as part of that. I have to say I've been to any number of the National Youth Theaters shows over the years.

They're a hell of a lot of fun. It's just so fantastic to see all of these young kids, and we're talking you know, five, six, seven up to about age twenty twenty one involved in these enormous productions, incredibly professional. It's on at the the Artas Center from I think the first public show is public shows are Saturday and Sunday. They do a whole lot of shows for schools. They invite schools to come along, which is fabulous as well.

But the public shows are on Saturday and Sunday. I'll be going along Saturday night, so if you see me there, say hello. And it's a great show. So allis on at the Altair Center from Saturday and Sunday. Tickets on ticket Master, all that sort of thing. And somewhere in there you might even get to see the hat that I made. Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call. I think we'll leave John too after the break because we're right on top of news time.

Lots of texts coming in around, you know, the mold issues. I guess it's been fascinating. Pete loved the show, really interested to hear about the bedroom mold. I wonder about like high padded headboards that are attached to the wall, no gap between the mattress the headboard, no airflow. Just a thought. Are you're absolutely right, Judy, ventilation in all spaces. You know, we've got use to this idea that we need extraction and wet areas, bathrooms, laundries, kitchens, et cetera.

But really we need ventilation right through the house, and it needs to be active and it needs to be controllable. I might talk a little bit more about that in the next hour. Remember rid Cline passed from eight fifteen this morning. Rhot's going to join us shortly because we've got the All Blacks the last match of the Northern Tour live commentary here at news Talks. He'd be from around well build up at around quarter to nine the match.

Just after nine o'clock. A couple of texts coming in about bronze beetles, so that's a heads up for it. We need to talk about that, and we need to answer the question posed by a caller earlier on around underfloor insulation and is a particular type of underfloor insulation a more inviting habitat for borer than other types of insulation. So we'll cover that off through it as well. But right now, John, are very good morning to you. How

are you doing? For some reason, it's not working. This is working, John, Greetings, John number one, apologies.

Speaker 4

Good morning, Pete. I love your work, Thank you.

Speaker 17

Bet Yeah. Hey, I've got a glimping tent that we've put up. It's been up for about three years now and it's done really well. But the canvas are starting to show some mold and I've tried a couple of things I've tried vinegar, which, as you can imagine, is probably pretty less effective being a check solution, and then I tried wit and forget, which is way more expensive. It seemed to have some effect, and maybe I need to have another go at it. But I wondered if you had some suggestions around.

Speaker 3

How to Oh, would you just try something like exit mold.

Speaker 4

Well, apparently some of those other products like.

Speaker 3

That can be a bit corrosively sort of thing.

Speaker 4

Yeah, and rot the canvas. I'm obviously worry about that.

Speaker 3

Yeah, if you want to agree with you put it on.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Speaker 3

No, I mean, I understand what you're saying you need. There's a certain amount of caution, isn't there around some of these more aggressive chemicals, let's say.

Speaker 17

But maybe I could like put some bleached chemical on and the water blasted off. I don't know whether that would effectively get out.

Speaker 3

I mean, is it also one of those things where these things have a lifespan? You know what I mean?

Speaker 17

And absolutely absolutely, but I'm expecting ten years. Yeah, yeah, and I want it to look good for as long as possible.

Speaker 3

Do you also redo the waterproofing on the canvas over time?

Speaker 17

I've heard something about that but I'm not really an expert.

Speaker 3

Yeah, look, John, I think for something like that, you know, you're better off talking to some old fashioned campers who have used canvas for a long time. I mean, I can't imagine this. Too many canvas tents out there now, with all of the flash, hairy sort of stuff that's that's available now, blow up tents and all the rest of it. But even someone like Canvas City, if they're still in business, would probably be able to offer up some decent advice there. Okay, I'd have a crack at

all the verys to you and John number two. I'm sure you've got a bit of surname than John number two, But here John number two showers goody John.

Speaker 4

Good noise.

Speaker 13

Peter.

Speaker 6

Now, we've got a problem with a juttering cold water tap in our bathroom. We've had it since we built the batch about six years ago. It doesn't happen all the time, it just occasional, but when it happens, it makes one hell of a noise and the water tends to spurt out in intermittently. Right, we're on rain water, so obviously the water is getting to the tap via from a pump, and it is the furthest tap we've got in the house, if that's any help.

Speaker 3

Have you heard of a thing called water hammer?

Speaker 6

Water hammer?

Speaker 3

Yeah, so I I think look in the end, it'll probably require a fix from a plumber. So I would suggest if you chat with a local plumber and describe that to them. It seems to have something to do with air getting into the line, right, and so what you get is a bit of water and then a bit of air, and that vibration between those two elements is what causes some water hammer, and that's what you

might find is happening. So and then I suppose it's slightly more complicated given that you've then got a water pump. So obviously there are times when there is pressure in the line, then there's not pressure in the line, you know, as opposed to being connected to the mains pressure, where as long as the valve is open, you've got pressure in your system all of the time. So I think it's water hammer and you'll need a plumber to fix it.

Speaker 6

Do you think it could be related to the fact that the toilets in the same bathroom when flushed, there is a loud noise from the roof Somewhere in the roof of the house. Further back between the toilets and the water.

Speaker 3

Tank might be a loose pipe. Okay, So you know, if you look at how plumbers if they're drilling down through the nogs and so on these days and then putting their pipework in, they'll often seal or they should seal around the gap between the edge of the pipe and the and the hole that they've drilled through the timber, my precious, precious timber that they like drilling through, and

so typically you do a bead of sealing around there. Now, if you leave that out and there's movement in the pipe, then the pipe bangs against the timber, so that that can happen as well. But that's if that's in the wall, that's a slightly more difficult problem to fix. If it's in the ceiling and there's not there's insufficient pipe clips and it's a pipe that's loose and banging, then that's a relatively straightforward fix.

Speaker 6

Well, that sounds very possible.

Speaker 3

All the very best to you. I hope it works out well. Take care, John, take care. Oh here we go now. Walking beast foot through some fresh green grass is one of life's great pleasures, but when the soft spring of fresh lawn gets replaced with scratchy, rough weeds, it's time to sort it out. Yates Weed and Feed will deal with a large range of broad leaf weeds,

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Speaker 4

Zed be.

Speaker 3

Right, Oh, Rud climb Pass is going to join us in just a moment, So if you've got your gardening questions, you'll have to get in ahead of me. But I'm going to jump the queue to be fair and jump in with the first question at RUT. Are you with us? No, not yet, Okay, We're going to come back in just a moment if you've got questions for Rudd. Eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call. A couple of last Yeah, people have just on the canvas.

People have actually suggested that the wit and forget might work as well. There's a product this is again for the canvas. Tenth. There's a product benzo zyclamine chloride active ingredient avoid the likes of exit mold, which I have used in the bathroom because it's got sodium hyperchloride which will rot the canvas. So there are weed oh, there are mold sprays that will work with the canvas as opposed to others that are more designed perhaps for hard surfaces.

And we may mention two of nails rusting a little bit earlier on in the program, and I commented on the fact that in some cases some stainless steel brads that I'd been using had also seem to rust, and someone did point out, you know, there is a difference between marine grade stainless steel and regular They talked about their dads building boats and using marine grade three one

six stainless. Certainly something to be aware of, and I'm very conscious of the fact that the brads, I mean, stainless brad should last a little bit longer than that, but it's not common, but it did happen in a few areas. And then we've had a lot of discussion around actually a lot of talk about bathrooms, talk about bathrooms. I noticed the other day I was cruising home, and

obviously some neighbors are doing some renovations. There was a Chester's Bathroom store truck that had arrived to drop off some stuff, and it got me thinking that, I know, typically Chesters sort of have a sense that it's very much a trade focused store, but they are open for retail as well. Last night I went along and celebrated with the team from clear Water Construction forty years in business, and actually I was there after having been part of

their celebrations for DNH Steel fifty years. Interestingly, and Old Chester's fifty years in business as well, So that's Chess's plumbing fifty years. That says something about the quality of the company if they've been around that long. So good on you, Chestice. Right, you're with news Talks, he'd be, we're going to get rud lined up. I think yes we can do that. Let's let's get Rid on the line.

We'll talk all things gardening, but I'm going to jump in with the first question about underfloor insulation and whether or not borer finds it attractive to live there. So we're back in just a moment with Red Climb Past for.

Speaker 1

More from the resident builder with Peter Wolfcamp. Listen live to news Talks he'd be on Sunday Mornings from Sex, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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