Full Show Podcast: 01 March 2026

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter wolf
Camp from News Talks ed by Measure twice Call once
on eight hundred eighty ten eighty The Resident Builder with
Peter wolf Camp and Independent Building supplies the future of
Kiwi Building Today News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
A b.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
The house sizzle even when it's dark, even when the
grass is overgrown in the yard, and even when a dog.

Speaker 4 (00:43):
Is too old to bar, and when're sitting at the
table trying not to stop.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
Sisor even when we bend, even.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
When you're the house is a home, even.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
When there's ghost, even when you got around from the
ones you love your most, scream does broken paints peel
in front of the world, locals whisper when they're gone,
and leaving the neighbor.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
House even when wilber Ben, even when you're in there.

Speaker 5 (01:38):
Looney, very very good morning, and welcome along to the
Resident Builder.

Speaker 6 (01:57):
On Sunday us me pit Off Camp the Resident Builder,
and this is your opportunity to talk about all things
building and construction. Can When I say all things, I
really do mean all things. I've had the pleasure of
being in de Need actually for a couple of days
this week, so I found there on Friday and yesterday Saturday,

(02:18):
chatting with people, and you know, people come up and
they go, you know, what do you do to prepare
for the show?

Speaker 7 (02:25):
Well?

Speaker 6 (02:25):
I do a lot to prepare for the show. But
do I know what's going to happen on the show?

Speaker 8 (02:29):
No?

Speaker 9 (02:29):
I don't.

Speaker 6 (02:31):
That is completely and utterly up to you. So if
you've got an issue that's maybe a practical one in
terms of something that should work a particular way and
doesn't anymore, or something that's making an odd noise, or
it doesn't open properly, or it squeaks when you stand
on it, these sorts of things we can talk about
that the practical stuff we can talk about innovation, I guess,

(02:52):
and that comes out of a couple of conversations I
had with people at the Otago Home and Garden Show
where I was yesterday, and we did an opportunity where
basically you could essentially book a bit of time with me.
Didn't cost anything. You book a bit of time with
me and sit down and chat. And so some people
came along to talk about renovations, a couple of other
people talked about different things, and some people came along

(03:13):
with their brand new house plans going, look, we're about
to build this, but I'm a little bit unsure about
what this part of the build is or what this
part of the plan actually says. And then you know,
do you have some ideas? You know, And I'm not
a designer, but I've been around for long enough that
I've got some things that I guess I think are

(03:36):
really I know, are really important about how to put
a house together. And so it's interesting going through plans
going oh, look, hey this, did you realize that your designer,
and therefore you'll build it, will be doing these things,
and these are really good things. This is you know,
small details, attention to details that will make your house

(03:57):
a better performing house. It will help it stay warm,
it will help it ventilate, and so on and so forth.
And then we talked about things like orientation towards the sun,
making sure that the house doesn't overheat. Yes, that's you know,
one couple, all of their living faced north, massive big
windows looking north, which is awesome because they had a

(04:17):
fantastic view over the harbor. And then okay, well what
happens in summer? What are you doing to prevent overheating? Well,
the designer thankfully had added an awning that is designed
to be to give shade during the summer and to
allow sunlight into the building to get that passive solar
heating over the winter month. So but what was really

(04:38):
interesting with that is that often you know, there's there's
bits and pieces on the plan that people kind of
had no idea about. So if you're in that technical
space and you want to talk about some new ideas
and some innovation, we can discuss that on the show
this morning as well. Basically, it's up to you. If
you've got a question, hopefully I've got an answer for you.

(05:01):
The lines are open. The number to call is eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can tell through. That's
nine two nine two was ZEDBZB from your mobile phone
and I've got the email up and running. That's Pete
at Newstalk SDB dot co dot nz. So Pete Pte
at Newstalk SDB dot co dot Nz. A little bit
of rain here and all. Absolutely spectacular day in Derneed

(05:25):
in the last couple of days, just absolutely stunning clear
blue skies. Took an opportunity to drive out to Port
Charmers in the morning, have a bit of a mooch
around there, stopped at a local cafe, wandered up and
had to look at some of the historic buildings. Absolutely delightful.
I've got an increasing soft spot for the Dean, particularly,

(05:46):
I guess on a really good day like it was
the last couple of days. So again, lovely to be
down there with the Home and Garden show, which was buzzing,
lots of people interested in all of the various items
and wears. Had a bit of a chance to chat with,
you know, people running some of the stands there, all
sorts of different groups and bodies and different building products

(06:08):
and so on. So yeah, fantastic, Thank you, Toned. It
was absolutely stunning. Oh wait, one hundred and eighty ten eighty.
The lines are open this morning on the show. As always,
it's your show basically, so if you've got a question,
we can talk about all things building and construction. Something
that I keep writing a note and then neglecting to do.
I wanted to mark the passing of pitt Cheshire. It

(06:30):
was a couple of weeks ago now that his passing,
his death was announced. I know his funeral was sometime
was last week or the week before, and we interviewed
pitt Cheshire. Actually on the show. He was part of
a judging panel for a design competition that was being
run to look at basically better practice for I think

(06:54):
it was apartments at the time, and he was part
of that. Never got an opportunity to work on one
of his houses, always had a tremendous amount of time
for for his very considered approach to architecture, and certainly
if you looked at architectural awards, he was always there.

(07:14):
So an absolutely stunning, delightful man and sorely missed, I
would think so. And funnily enough, last week I had
an opportunity to go and look at a house that's
under construction, which is one of his designs as well,
So that will be work that will endure after his
passing as well. So I just want to mention that

(07:36):
it is thirteen minutes after six. If you've got a
question of a building nature, call us right now. Oh
eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Begting what they forgot to mention on that YouTube video
The Resident Builder with Peter Wilfcamp and Independent Building Supplies
the Future of Kiwi Building Today, Call oh eight hundred
eighty ten eighty News Dog ZB.

Speaker 6 (07:59):
Sorry, I've I've just tuned in, and well I've just
tuned in. I'm listening all the time. But the little
promo that they're run there, it's very clever one. I'm
not sure who wrote that about fixing the bits that
they've got to tell you on the YouTube video look
like all of us. I guess you see things online
and how the algorithms work. Once you watch something, you

(08:20):
get more of the same thing, and every now and
then I end up with little video clips coming through
on social media, and I have to say some of
it is absolutely terrifying in the sense of, you know, people,
some bunch of American builders running around and bare feet
and so on, thinking that that's really cool and hip
to be working on a building site and bare feet

(08:41):
and showing you how to jam the blade the guard
on the blade back so that you don't have to
worry about pulling it back when you're using the circular saw,
which is exactly well that can go wrong. And I
know it can go wrong because I know a guy
lost his leg because the guard on a circular sword
didn't retract and when he put the saw on the

(09:02):
ground and the blade was still running. It then jumped
up and cut through the back of the leak to
be blunt and to be really honest. So yeah, YouTube's great,
but be careful what you watched to be fair. Oh
eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
Good morning, Wayne, Oh, yes, good morning, very well yourself?

Speaker 9 (09:22):
Good?

Speaker 10 (09:23):
Thanks, good. I've got a question about making the inside
of our house. It's bot in two thousand and eight.
It's a brick house in so i'd indulate more air tights.

Speaker 9 (09:34):
Who you would.

Speaker 11 (09:35):
Recommend what sort of company you would recommend to to
do that?

Speaker 9 (09:39):
Wow?

Speaker 6 (09:40):
Okay, can we go back a step and go what
is it about ear tightness that attracts you.

Speaker 11 (09:50):
We want to put in a heat sort of a
ventilation system basically, so we will toate that as efficient
as possible. Yes, when we put it in, So would
you recommend that you put the I guess the ventilation
repeat recovery system in first before you do your toolitness.

Speaker 6 (10:15):
Just tell me a little bit about the house. So
it's a nineteen eighties house, No, no, no, and eight
two thousand and eight. Okay, sorry, so two thousand and
eight and it's brick exterior, yeah, brick, exteria aluminium joinery.

Speaker 11 (10:32):
Yes, yes, double double glazed, double.

Speaker 6 (10:35):
Glazed elementum jowinery, brick, completely, single story yes, yep. And
what about the sealing. Is it a trust roof? It's
a single story home with roof trusses, yes, yes, okay,

(10:56):
and inside that roof trust space. I'm guessing if you're
if you're looking up at your ceiling, you see plasterboard.
You'll have down lights, yes, yes, and they're conventional down lights.
Beyond the down lights will be ceiling perlins, the trusses,
some insulation over there, and then over the top of

(11:17):
the trusses will be some roofing underlay. And is it
concrete tile, roof, corrigo dime roof, concrete tile? Is there
building paper underneath the concrete tiles?

Speaker 11 (11:33):
There's a very good question, I expect.

Speaker 6 (11:37):
Yeah, okay, And you know it's not a question. It's like,
unless it's a certain pitchure roof, it's not required and
so on. Look, if I'm really, really honest, I think
trying to make your house air tight as it is
right now is going to be an incredibly difficult and

(12:00):
nothing's impossible, but you would you would need to go
some way towards deconstructing your house and to make it
air tight, because and I'm basing that on having observed
a project last year where a house that was it
was an older it was actually a nineteen fifties house

(12:21):
of let's say, about one hundred and ten hundred and
twenty square meters with a small addition being added, and
the owners had committed themselves to high performance, and so
they wanted to make the house air tight. In order
to do that, they removed all of the joinery, They
removed the roof, they removed all of the exterior cladding,
They made extensive use of sort of plywood and sheathing

(12:43):
and tapes and so on. They pulled all the ceilings
down and added pro climber wraps to the inside of that,
et cetera, et cetera. So in order to make it
genuinely air tight, they pretty much deconstructed the house. And
for you to try and make your house air tight
in a meaningful way, you know, the biggest challenge, for example,

(13:06):
would be the ceiling, because effectively, what you've got is
like what most houses have. You've got plasterboard, You've got
down lights. Those down lights will leak air. And then
above that you've got no unconditioned roof space that's probably
got you know, a thousand gaps that will allow air
to circulate out. Now, that's just telling you that in

(13:27):
order to genuinely achieve air tightness in a way that
you would be able to measure it, that might be
really hard. That doesn't mean that adding a heat recovery
system and better ventilation isn't going to be worthwhile. It
will be. But if your intention is to make it

(13:47):
air tight I think that's going to be incredibly difficult
in this situation.

Speaker 8 (13:53):
I mean that there are I've read that there are
companies that can that have some sort of spray yes mechanism,
you know, when you're house is empty, they can do
that to make it more air tight. I'm just thinking
that just to make the mechanical heat recovery ventilation system

(14:22):
more efficient, that's all.

Speaker 9 (14:23):
Ye.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
Look, I really admire where you're heading in terms of
what it is that you're trying to achieve. But I
guess this part of me that's the pragmatist that goes
having seen what it takes to get to air tightness
in a genuine, measurable way and I'm looking at how
your house is constructed. It's going to be pretty challenging.

(14:45):
And I do know the arrow guys that do the
spray for that sort of thing. I'd be very surprised
if they felt that your house would be the right
sort of house to do that in, because what they're
looking for is those tiny microscopic like if, for example,
if you were doing air tightness, you know, when your

(15:08):
house is constructed, you'd be using specific types of building
wraps around the exterior. You'd be taping all of the joints.
You'd be making sure that all of the penetrations are sealed.
You deally, you'd be doing an interior lining again with
someone like the Procliner wraps and that sort of thing.

(15:28):
When you install the joinery, you'd be doing a full
air seal around the perimeter of the joinery. Two thousand
and eight. You know, when the people installed your windows,
chances are they folded the building paper into the opening,
pop the window in. They should have been doing an
air seal at that time, but you know they might
have had an approach which is, look, I've just got

(15:50):
to do this. I don't know about the perf rod.
I'll squirt some foam around it and see what happens,
in which case that's also an air leak.

Speaker 9 (15:57):
Right.

Speaker 6 (15:59):
So again I'm struggling with myself in terms of telling
you this, because I think you're on the right track
in terms of wanting air tightness, and air tightness is
a good thing, right, But in terms of retrofitting a
house of that vintage and two thousand and eight isn't
that long ago as we know, there's some real challenges there.

(16:20):
It would be really interesting. It'll be an interesting discussion
I might have with someone on Friday because I'm going
to the Building Science Seminar. It's a road show that's
on at the moment. The people who are hosting it
are actually from pro Climber, who do many of these wraps.
There'll be a whole lot of people interested in air

(16:41):
tightness and ventilation systems and so on. Yeah, I'll have
further discussions about this on Friday and perhaps give you
a fuller understanding or an insight. Look, I think I'm
really intrigued by this because.

Speaker 9 (16:59):
In a.

Speaker 6 (17:02):
Well, also you've got the building blocks there, right, So
you've got a house that's relatively modern, it will have
a building rap around the exterior of it. Gosh, I'm
just thinking about you know, the detail for example, where
your windows are, but the brickwork, you know, there's there's
so many opportunities there for airflow because it's not you know,

(17:28):
we know that we keep a forty mil cavity roughly
from your framing to the back of the brick. The
joinery is probably just abutting that. Typically we don't seal
around that at all, so you're completely reliant on the
air seal around the window jam to stop airflow through there.
In fact, because you've got a brick cavity, you're actually

(17:50):
encouraging airflow in that gap between your wall framing and
the back of the brick, because that's how cavities work.
They allow for drainage and ventilation in there. So you've
got all this airflow there and then you know the
building rap if someone's I don't know, put a hose
pipe through for example, did they put a proper seal

(18:11):
around that penetration, or if they just cut a slot
in the building paper and poked a bit of brass
thread through there, in which case you know that's an
air gap. And okay, the plasterboard lining on the inside
will be doing something to slow down the air movement.
But then you've got powerpoints for example, and each of
those powerpoints. Again, if you're doing air tightness, you tend

(18:33):
to have a special seal that goes around the flushbox
that means that air doesn't leak through there. Once you
drill down into it and you think about how challenging
it is to stop drafts, basically, then you start to
realize how challenging it is to try and make an
existing home air tight. Not that you shouldn't be aiming

(18:55):
for it, but it's going to be challenging. Yeah, shivers Again,
Like I would say, go for the ventilation system because
it will make a difference and if you can retrofit
it into your existing house, particularly if you're looking at
systems which draw air from outside essentially push it into

(19:16):
dry areas of the house and then extract it from
wet areas of the house bathroom's, laundryes, kitchens, that sort
of thing. Are you looking at one that has a
heat exchange system?

Speaker 11 (19:27):
Yes, okay, so we're sort of looking at I don't
know whether Diekons would be any good, but it was
one of the brands we're looking at.

Speaker 6 (19:35):
So this is more around because I can do heat
pumps and so on, So this is a heating system
rather than a ventilation system. Or it's one of those
ones that does a little bit of both.

Speaker 11 (19:47):
Yeah, but to both make it as a mechanical ventilation
heating system.

Speaker 6 (19:51):
Okay, I must have a bit of a look at those,
because they're obviously I had a similar discussion with some
people into the yesterday. That's what they were installing in
their new build, you know. And I guess the advantage
that they might have is that if you're going to
install a good ventilation system at the time that you're building,
then you can also talk to your designer and builder

(20:12):
around Okay, now what are we doing in terms of
how we put the house together to encourage air tightness?

Speaker 9 (20:18):
Yep.

Speaker 11 (20:19):
I mean a lot of people look at the what
is it the zenda YEA.

Speaker 6 (20:23):
Yes, yep. It's a very well known system yep.

Speaker 11 (20:27):
But yeah, it's quite priory as well. But they're so
unknowcal that it does for.

Speaker 6 (20:38):
I think we've probably just opened up more questions than answers.
I tell you, what if, because you're obviously interested in
sort of the building science behind it as well, if
you're looking for some local information, go and have a
look for the super Home Movement. And the super Home
Movement released their Healthy Home Guide a little while ago.
They've also done one for renovations and retrofits, so that

(21:03):
that might provide you with some really good information as well.
I think, yeah, I'm going to note it down to
make sure that I pulled someone aside at the building Seminar,
the science Seminar on Friday and have a bit of
a gas about your place, and I'll mention it next
week on the show. Awesome love talking with you. Thank

(21:24):
you much, appreciate it. Take care. I kind of could
have taken bets on how long it would take for
a text like this to arrive. With the gravest respect.
Why would you want a house to be airtight in
the New Zealand climate. The house needs to breathe. I
one hundred percent agree with you. Houses need to breathe.
Making a house air tight doesn't mean that the house

(21:44):
doesn't breathe. Also doesn't mean that you can't open your
doors and windows. Because I think last week on the
show someone mentioned passive house and high performance design and
air tightness and so on, and someone said, well, does
that mean you can't open the doors and windows. No,
of course you can on a good day when it's
to your benefit by all means open doors and windows.
Of course you should. And certainly if you're doing air tightness,

(22:08):
you're doing it hand in hand with ventilation. What we're
talking about is being able to actually control your environment.
So if it's hot outside, exceedingly hot, then you can
closed doors and windows if you wanted to, and then
use ventilation to cool your house down. If you've done

(22:30):
it along with good design in terms of shading, ensuring
the house doesn't overheat because you've got the wrong type
of joinery facing in the wrong direction, etc. Then that's
going to help with the cooling as well. And then
of course in winter, if your house is cold, or
if it's cold outside and you want your house to
be warm, then having an air tight house that doesn't
leak hot air is going to be a massive advantage.

(22:52):
So the science is quite clear. The more air tighter
house is with better ventilation, the better the interior air
quality and the conditions inside the house are. So be
absolutely blunt. I have no time for people to go no, no, no,
you can't do air tightness. It's a bad thing. Of course,
it's a great thing and we should all be moving

(23:14):
towards it. It is six thirty two here at news
Talks EB. If you've got a question, give us a
call now, oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Turning those into She'll be right. The resident builder with
Peter Wolfcamp and Independent Building supplies the future of Kiwi
building today. Call oh, eight hundred eighty eight News talksb right.

Speaker 6 (23:35):
Oh we're into it. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
Our text replies. In Europe, this is the text that said,
why would you want a house to be air tight?
New Zealand climate the house needs to breathe agreed. In
Europe air tightness is critical due to the climate. New
Zeale climate is not not so much unless you're in
a very cold area, which only occurs in certain areas.

(23:56):
Tell it to the delightful couple from Gore that I
sat with for an hour yesterday looking at their plans.
Who have, you know, an existing home in Gore which
gets quite cold, and they have a young family and
they're looking at building new because they want something that's
going to be warm, dry, comfortable. So look, I do

(24:19):
tend to agree with the texture. I think in temperate
parts of New Zealand, the Upper North Island, Auckland to
some degree and so on, we've got more days when
we're concerned about cooling our houses than warming them, and
there's evidence for that. So in that sense, yeah, we
can be a little bit complacent, because complacent because we

(24:39):
are in a temperate climate. But there are still benefits.
But appreciate the text. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty
is the number. It sounds like you're not very confident
or knowledgeable about air tightness issues. Yeah, I'm pretty confident
about saying that air tightness is a good thing. But
I accept the fact that in a temperate climate. I

(25:02):
guess it's we can be complacent because our houses don't
have to work that hard to stay sort of comfortable.
But if you want better then just sort of then
you need to work towards bitter building science and air
tightness is part of that. Nathan, good morning to you. Yeah,
good morning, greetings. How can I help.

Speaker 12 (25:21):
We've bought a purchase house in ninety six, was building
ninety three and in twos they're never proper building, no
building or served. But the code of compliance. We applied
for one respector coming just just sire in two tails
and we got a tightment owner that we are on

(25:46):
a high wind dispose area. We need to put scripers
I don't know what they are on the windows and
those aluminum windows and those and five are light no
hardest planks.

Speaker 6 (25:59):
Yes, war.

Speaker 12 (26:01):
Some couple more houses got built since the take a
valley road. They don't have such think yes Olivia for
thirty years, never look wat or anything like that. Do
we have what we have to do? I just need
some advice.

Speaker 6 (26:19):
I think the most straightforward way for you is you're
probably going to need to employ a specialist in this area,
contract someone who will take over the correspondence and the
discussion with counsel. So, and you're right on the sort
of the cusp of that change right from when we

(26:42):
had building permits through to building consents. Building consents then
require a code of compliance certificate at the end. If
if it wasn't applied for back, then council will come
out as they've done now, they'll assess the house. They'll
they'll determine that any number of things are incorrect about
the house, and then they'll ask you to do some remediation,

(27:02):
but some of that can be pushed back it and
discuss and other solutions arrived at if you've got the
right consultant working for you. Typically what you're looking for
in this instance is someone who is a registered building
survey so they might be a member of the New

(27:22):
Zealand Institute of Building Surveys or another similar professional body,
but that's the one that I'm familiar with, who could come.
They'll assess the correspondence, they'll have a meeting with council.
You probably will have to do some work, but ideally
you'd want to keep that to a minimum in order
to then get that code of compliance. Or is the

(27:46):
reason that you've engaged with council again after so many
years because you're about to sell the property?

Speaker 12 (27:53):
Yes, we have to sell. The inspection coming again on
a fifth of.

Speaker 6 (27:59):
March, right, and the inspector is from the council, your
local council. Yeah, okay, I mean the the other thing
is that you might look at all of the work
that's required and just go, you know, I don't have
the time or the energy or the resources to do it,
in which case, you know, you can put the house

(28:19):
on the market. Without it, people tend to be a
bit cautious around it, and obviously it then becomes their
problem or challenge to get it resolved. But you can
sell a house without one. You just have to declare
the fact that you don't have one. People make their
own decisions and take the risk, and then you just
carry on selling the house.

Speaker 12 (28:43):
For a saty is where the sure blowing? Like help?

Speaker 6 (28:47):
Yeah, and no problem with the house.

Speaker 12 (28:49):
You never in any rooms or any part of the house.

Speaker 6 (28:54):
Yeah. And you know that sort of information is actually
useful because it's like part of the compliance of a
building after it's been built is around how does it perform? Right,
So if you've got a house and that even though
technically it doesn't comply, the reality is it hasn't leaked,
it hasn't decayed. You know, there is no risk in

(29:16):
terms of little risk in terms of weather tightness. Council
should also listen to that as well. So you know,
they like the thing with the scribers. So I'm guessing
that you've got some type of weather board, you've got
aluminium joinery, someone has filled the gap with seilent and
and that's sufficient. Now, that wouldn't be sufficient under today's

(29:37):
building code. But the reality is what they did worked.
But then again, adding subscribers to that is you know,
it might be two days work for a carpenter to
go around and make scribers for every single window in
the house.

Speaker 12 (29:50):
I had the builder he had to have a look,
but he never He did some look around, but he
never come to.

Speaker 9 (29:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (29:59):
I think sometimes oh yeah, sometimes builders just look at
work like that and go ah. I mean I'm surprised
because it's not like everyone's super busy at the moment, right,
So now would be the time to find someone to
come and deal with all of this. Do you have
someone that you think you could contact or through friends,

(30:20):
would you be able to find a building surveyor to
help you negotiate your way through council? Oh he's dropped off, ah, Nathan.
What I was going to say is if you go
to the New Zealand Institute of Building Survey's website search
for someone in your area, then you should be able

(30:46):
to find someone who kind of specializes in code of
compliance work and then there'll be a number of There'll
just be a number of people in your area that
will do that type of work. You can engage with
them and see if it's possible to get someone to
start advocating on your behalf, because I think in the
end it often requires that sort of specialist knowledge in

(31:07):
order to be able to deal with counsel. Good luck
with that, Nathan. If you've got a question, oh wait,
one hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
Getting quite a few texts on the whole, this is awesome.
I live in Timaru. I leave the windows open all

(31:29):
year around. I have a cold shower five times a week.
I only sha have a warm shower twice a week,
ice bath once a week, swim bike run five times
a week, and have not And I'll get to the
rest of the text message. And have not had any
illness or colds in thirty years. But the moment I
walk into a house with heat pumps and no ventilation,
I feel off. I also own a business that works

(31:49):
and weather tightness. Would you believe it? Cheers from Pete, Pete,
thank you very much for your text. Hey, look, you
know I know a bunch of people that go, oh,
you know, I just want to open the doors and windows,
and I kick the doors and windows all year round
and so on. I get all of that, but it's
all so really hard to argue with the science in
terms of saying, you know, in the event that you

(32:11):
want to be able to control your interior environment and
you want to be able to if you are going
to heat the interior of your house and make efficient
use of the heat that you're creating and the power
that you're using to do that, then having a house
that's closer to air tight and that could be a

(32:31):
you know, there's a spectrum there right in terms of
place like mine right, which is an old villa and
it's got no building paper around the outside, and it's
got gaps all the way around the windows and all
the rest of it. It is mine air tight. I'd
be almost too embarrassed to try and do a blower
door test, which is an objective test of how much

(32:51):
air leaks out of your house, and the way that
they measure it is you calculate the volume of air
inside a house and then you can then based on
the amount of gaps, you can say this volume of air,
so it's one hundred and fifty six square meter footprint
and it's a three point three stud So you do
the maths on that, you create a number and then
you go, how many times will that volume of air

(33:14):
move through the walls and windows and gaps and cracks
per hour? And I have a rough estimate that I'm
probably at about ten air exchanges per hour, which is
a long way from air tight. And I went to
a house the other day they were at ero point
five six air exchanges. That'll be an awesome place to

(33:38):
live in, Rightio, I need to take a break. We'll
be back with Will in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
Helping you finish that fibe it fixed. You started the
resident building with Peter Wolfcamp and Independent Building Supplies. The
future of Kiwi building today call oh eight hundred eighty
ten eighty News Talks.

Speaker 6 (33:55):
B News Talks B. It is coming up ten minutes
away from seven. Will. Good morning to you, Good morning,
great love the show, Thank you, nice to talk with you.

Speaker 13 (34:07):
I've got a I've got a new build. I'm looking
to a bit of a ground decking or low level
taking all around the house.

Speaker 9 (34:17):
Almost like a little pathway.

Speaker 6 (34:18):
Yes.

Speaker 13 (34:19):
Now, I've done this twice before and it was always
a soft sort source. So you did the typical piles
and concrete and bears and posts and stuff. Oh, this
house is on very hard play soil, which is going
to make the veggie patch quite into it. I was thinking,
I see there's a lot of options now where you

(34:41):
you don't do a full pile, but you do a
little bit of block or concrete and then they use
this I don't know, galvanized metal bracket that kind of
either pens into the concrete and then holds your bearers. Yes,
And I was just kind of engaging your thoughts on
and I know decking is kind of all over the place,

(35:01):
but it's it is low ground level thing, and I'm like,
if it's a hard play, well maybe that's a good option.

Speaker 7 (35:09):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (35:10):
So roughly, let's say, from this hard clay surrounding the
house to your finished floor level inside, have you got
sort of two hundred millimeters to play with? Three hundred milimeters?
Four hundred milimeters, what's the.

Speaker 9 (35:24):
I'm sitting between four point fifty and five point fifty.

Speaker 6 (35:27):
Okay, so there's a bit of space in there that
if you like, you need to elevate the decking a
little bit, like you know, every now and then you
end up with decks that basically your your pile is
you know, maybe fifty millimeters above ground level, and then
you're laying your joist straight onto that because you don't
have the room to build. So you've got a little
bit of room there, you need to elevate it a

(35:48):
little bit from the ground.

Speaker 13 (35:52):
See these plastic round things that they put on the pad.

Speaker 6 (35:55):
Yeah, new jack.

Speaker 13 (35:56):
Galvanized bracker thing and yeah, and there's this another thing
you can level up to your sort of it's ward yes,
level all across. And I just didn't have these options
a few years ago. I was just the thing is
that play is hard.

Speaker 6 (36:15):
The other option is to use screw piles, so you know,
depending well, it doesn't really depend on how big or small,
but you could get someone like there's a company that
I've seen around called Stop Digging, and they've got a
range of screw piles. So in this instance it won't

(36:38):
need to be particularly deep or particularly large diameter pile.
But literally, if you if you worked out your plan
in terms of where your bearers are and where your
choice might be, and then they would literally come along
and insert these galvanized steel screw piles in, top them
off at at exactly the right level that you want,

(36:59):
and then you just lay your bearers on top or
you do a double joist and then intersect, you know,
depending on how you need to construct the deck. That's
another option, and from my experience of having seen it done,
you know, they'd come in, they'd drill all the piles
and you could be building your deck by that afternoon
kind of thing. The other option is, obviously, if you've

(37:21):
got recently well compacted clay, you could just do a
small almost like a paving slab on there and then
one of those plastic either a neur a jack or
boos on jack or something like that, which is adjustable.
Means you don't have to fart around cutting off piles
and all the rest of it. So those work really well.

(37:44):
Or I guess you just go, actually, you know what,
I'm just going to go and get a postole borer
and I'll drill them my way in, put in a
little pile on each one. So there's kind of three
broad options for you.

Speaker 13 (37:57):
So the new options is workable options. There's not new
finicky stuff and stuff. You can actually a line that
they're going to be there for.

Speaker 9 (38:02):
Ten years or something.

Speaker 13 (38:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (38:04):
Yeah, And the like the boos on jacks, I haven't
I haven't used them for conventional decking. What I have
used them for is, let's say over a deck outside
an existing dwelling where the deck is waterproofed, and then
we've used the jacks to create a level platform and

(38:25):
then laid basically pavers down or thick tiles like a
six hundred by six hundred by twenty mil thick tile,
and then you can lay those down to have level entry.
That sort of thing. They work really well in that situation. Brilliance,
Thank you so much, No trouble at all, good luck,
enjoy all right, mate, all the very best, take care

(38:47):
your news talks be there. We've got a couple of
options for will and I've got to do a presentation
funnily enough actually for the Passive House Institute at their
conference coming up, I think at some time in June.
And one of the things that I suppose there's no

(39:07):
reason to talk about it now, I may as well.
One of the things that I've been thinking about in
terms of how we approach building in New Zealand is
that we're in a sense very binary. As an if
I've got an idea and I think it's a good idea,
then your idea must be a bad idea. It's kind

(39:30):
of how we approach things. So as soon as I go, look,
I think that I would do screw piles, someone else
will say, well, no, no, no, you can't do screw piles.
You have to do conventional piles. And then someone says, well,
I think conventional piles are no good because I think
you should use adjustable neurojacks or booson jacks or something

(39:51):
like that. In the end, all of those options will
provide you, hopefully done well, the same outcome, solid foundation
for your deck. But we seem to be incredibly focused
on this idea that as soon as I've decided on
an idea, every the idea is a bad idea. And
I've been thinking about this for a couple of years

(40:11):
now and I can't think of a single instance where
it's not somehow true. Anyway, That's what I'll be talking
about at the conference sometime there. You go right here,
here's news Talk SEDB. We've got new sport and weather
coming up top of the hour. We're gonna have a
chat with Mike Olds in the next hour as well.
Read clinb Pasted as always coming to us life from
Christ Church. He'll be with us after eight thirty but

(40:34):
right now, right through to late thirty, it's your opportunity
to talk all things building and construction here at News
Talk sed.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
B Jane, thank you such you will walk you down.
It used to be such a plead body now gentleman,

(41:06):
neighborhood me dollarngel that I'm gonna make that angel.

Speaker 14 (41:13):
Mind doub do b down down.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Dooba down down, Dooba Bae down down, Dooba.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Down with d I y gets unstuck Cole eight hundred
and eighteen. The resident Builder with Peter Wolfcam and Independent
Building supplies the future of Kiwi Building Today News Talks
it B.

Speaker 15 (41:50):
And I love you. Oh you treat me grool, you
hurt me? Can you make me cry? But if you
leave me?

Speaker 6 (42:06):
Picked up on the news the other day that yes,
say that Neil Sedaka had passed away. And to be fair,
while it not being my thing, you can't grow up
in the nineteen seventies basically or nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies
and not have had that song on the radio just
absolutely constantly. So that's again an end of an era.

(42:26):
Neil Sadharka passed away just the other day. Oh eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call
Graham A very good morning to you.

Speaker 16 (42:34):
Yeah, good morning, Pete. But cool, isn't that?

Speaker 6 (42:38):
I have to say. I was just looking out at
the fact that it started raining overnight, and which is,
if I'm completely and utterly selfish, perfect, because I've finished
all of the water that was in the I've got
a little one of those Bailey slim gym tanks tucked
in next to the shed that's completely empty. All of
the other water that I've been storing over the summer

(43:00):
is completely empty. So the fact that it's raining today
and my little slim gym tank is filling up, I'm
happy as Larry to be fair.

Speaker 9 (43:07):
Oh that's good.

Speaker 16 (43:08):
That's cool here in Nelson.

Speaker 9 (43:09):
But's fine.

Speaker 12 (43:10):
Hey.

Speaker 16 (43:11):
The question is we're about to paint weather board house
and it's got slight oxidation and I believe that that
Rasine house wash will take that oxidation off. Is that true?

Speaker 6 (43:26):
Yeah, it's I mean, I shouldn't be surprised, but I
was when I used it sometime last year and doing
exactly what you're doing. So some existing paint work that
I wanted to prep ready for top coat, and so
I use that house wash and kind of you know,
use it as per the instruction, So apply it, let

(43:47):
it sit there for a while, rinse it off, agitate
or agitate, and then rinse it off and it does.
It makes a really good job of preparing the paint
for new paint or your existing paint work for new paint.
So yeah, it works incredibly well.

Speaker 16 (44:04):
A bit easier than standing.

Speaker 9 (44:06):
Hey.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
Look, it's generally the process is, so you've got existing
exterior paint work, you want to do some either touch
ups or a recoat. I would start with a thorough
house wash. Then once you've done that, any loose areas,
any flaky paint and that sort of thing, you'll still
have to hit with a bit of sandpaper or a

(44:26):
tungsten scraper, do the spot prime, and then carry on
with your top coats from there. But I think one
of the things that I reckon if you look at
paint failures, and I know people like Jay and Bryce
who come on the show from Razine to talk about painting,
they often get called out where someone goes, look, I've
applied some paint and it's useless because it's peeling off, right,

(44:51):
And then you ask people about what was your preparation.
Oh well, I just came out and I just applied
the paint over the top of my existing paint.

Speaker 9 (44:58):
You know.

Speaker 6 (44:58):
Okay, so you didn't wash it, you didn't remove all
of that moss and mildew that builds up, and therefore
your paint is literally sticking to something. It's going to
peel off. So that's where the paint prep is really important.

Speaker 16 (45:10):
Yeah, I'm well aware of that.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
Yeah, so it'll it's a it's a great first step basically.
And then the other thing is and you know, there's
plenty of sort of evidence for this as well. If
you regularly wash your house, the paint will last longer
as well. So the same product you can use on
let's say a yearly basis to wash your house down

(45:34):
as well, because it will attack all of that moss
and mildew and grime that builds up on the exterior
of the house.

Speaker 16 (45:40):
So yes, know that once the paint is cured, it
won't affect it.

Speaker 6 (45:46):
No, no new paint, it's just purely cleaning the surface off.
So if you were to, you know, if you're doing
the painting, and look, i'd love to say that I
do it every year, and I don't, but I should.
The reality is if you wash your exterior paint work
down every year, it will last a lot longer. Simple
as it. Well, thanks very much next year, thanks mate,

(46:10):
nice check, take care and Donald a very good morning
to you.

Speaker 17 (46:17):
Oh good morning, Peter mate. No, yeah, Peter of identified
an aspect of the building code that desperately needs reviewing.
It is cumbersome, It is overly unnecessarily expensive. It does

(46:39):
nothing to reduce the housing affordability crisis that we've got,
nothing to reduce the cost of rent people pay, and
worst of all, people will die as a result of it.
And it needs changing.

Speaker 18 (46:55):
Go for it.

Speaker 13 (46:55):
What is it?

Speaker 17 (46:57):
Okay, I've got an eleven bedroom house studio units with
their own bathrooms and everything. And because of the number
of people living in this house, it requires a building
warrant of fitness.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
Understanding with that understandably.

Speaker 17 (47:18):
Yeah, understandable. Yeah, no problem with that. With that building
warrn of fitness were required to have a specified fire
rating system that has to be monitored every month. The
only problem is, Peter, this technology, it's fifty years old.

(47:39):
You know, it was designed before the invent of cell
phones and fax machines. They false alarm, you get the
alarm going off one o'clock in the morning. It's incredibly
frustrating and I want to put an integrated into connected
fire alarms, but I'm prevented from doing.

Speaker 9 (48:01):
So because of red tape.

Speaker 17 (48:07):
Right, Yes, yeah, so we need the building code I'd
like to put in, as I said, interconnected. Are you
familiar with stamped I.

Speaker 6 (48:16):
Am, But so, just just to be clear for people listening,
there is now a requirement in the building code that
smoke detectors that are installed in residential buildings are now interconnected.

Speaker 16 (48:32):
Absolute it is.

Speaker 6 (48:34):
It is a very very sensible idea, and we can
explain why a little bit later on. But in your situation,
I'm not sure that it would meet the level of like,
are you proposing that your solution for an eleven bedroom

(48:59):
property which is occupied by individual people who are let's say,
not family, that you were doing interconnected system there and
that would provide you with, I guess, a commercial level
of fire detection.

Speaker 17 (49:18):
I'm proposing putting in something far superior, far better than
what we've got already.

Speaker 6 (49:25):
Right, And where's the hold up? What have you encountered?

Speaker 17 (49:31):
I go to the council where they're building more and
the fitness is registered and they say, if you deviate
from the system that you've got now, you'll have to
go to a fire engineer. Made them two thousand dollars
to come out and inspect the property, a further eighteen
thousand dollars to review to design you up a new system,

(49:55):
and it could cost up to one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to implement.

Speaker 6 (50:01):
Right, I can certainly understand your frustration.

Speaker 17 (50:05):
With that, but absolutely this system that we've got for.

Speaker 6 (50:12):
So could you go to a fire engineer, you know
those that often do the design and the installation and
simply upgrade the existing system.

Speaker 17 (50:25):
You cannot upgrade this. You cannot go away from the
specified system without getting a fine fire engineers report, and
it costs two thousand dollars eighteen thousand dollars for a
new plan, could cost up to one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars to implement the issue I have. We've had
four false alarm activations in the past three months.

Speaker 6 (50:49):
And are each of those is your system of brigade systems,
so it goes straight to the fire No, it's not
a brigade, Okay.

Speaker 18 (50:56):
That's right.

Speaker 17 (50:56):
No, my property manager does have one such system and
that false alarms two Petter and yeah, the fire brigade
are automatically and the first one or two boss alarm
calling it's a free after that at seven hundred dollars

(51:17):
then and then you get charged up to one thousand
and three dollars for the technician to come out and
reset your alarm. Yeah, it's horrendously expensive. It's got to
be changed.

Speaker 16 (51:33):
Mate.

Speaker 17 (51:34):
Well, I've spent ten thousand dollars in the last twelve
months just complying with this code and only eleven tenants
made of fond To recover that money from just those
eleven tenants will be nine hundred dollars per year per tenants,
which is just insane.

Speaker 6 (51:55):
Okay. Can I just be really honest and partly Devil's advocate?
If this is a building that you've had for how
many years?

Speaker 17 (52:05):
It was built in two thousand and two, so it's
not that terribly old and we've owned it for we've
owned it for.

Speaker 6 (52:11):
Ten But hang on, you're talking about a system that's
that's twenty or thirty years old. But if it's two
thousand and two, it's not. It's it's only twenty four
years old. You're saying the system is much older.

Speaker 17 (52:26):
The technology that we've got. It's been around for fifty years.

Speaker 6 (52:35):
Yeah, but that might be true, but you're okay, that
doesn't still bring you. The place that you're talking about
is not that old right now.

Speaker 17 (52:45):
It's twenty twenty two to twenty three years old.

Speaker 6 (52:52):
Yeah, okay, So you've got to upgrade it to stop
the false alarms, which is good.

Speaker 17 (52:57):
Yeah, that could goss up to one hundred and seventy
thousand dollars and I can put a fully integrated system in.

Speaker 6 (53:05):
Yeah, but if the fully integrated system doesn't comply with
the requirements of the building code in terms of safety
and so on, either you've got to find another building
a fire consultant who might have a more pragmatic approach. Right,
So have you only engaged with one fire consultant.

Speaker 17 (53:27):
Only one fire consultant of engaged with the local council
that run the building. Building were on a fitness They
told me that, and that was been verified by a
fire I wonder.

Speaker 6 (53:40):
Whether if I was in your shoes, the first thing
I'd do is probably go out do a bit of
research in terms of fire consultants. And I'm not saying
find someone who's going to give you the answer that
you want. I'm just saying that this is a contested space, right,
so people will have different approaches and different ideas about

(54:02):
a solution for your particular problem. And maybe one of
those solutions doesn't involve one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
worth of new system, which I agree seems excessive given
that the system is only about twenty three years old,
or they're about twenty three twenty four years old. So
you know, we're not going to see a change to

(54:23):
the building code as a result of what you're talking about.
The fire requirements are strict for a reason because they
are all about protecting life, right, And so you as
a commercial property owner, you know you're doing this for profit,
and you have a responsibility to ensure that the building's compliant.

(54:46):
It's just a cost of doing business, right. So then
if you're in the business of earning money from rental properties,
which a number of us are, then you just need
to make it compliant. But if you've been advised that somehow,
or your advice is that it's a really expensive solution,
possibly you need another consultant who's a bit more pragmatic
and I you know, like the infrastructure that you have,

(55:09):
the wiring and all the rest of it. I would
imagine it's still okay, in which case you're talking about
changing the brains of it and so on, And I
can't see that being one hundred and fifty thousand dollars exercise.

Speaker 17 (55:23):
Well, that's what they're telling me.

Speaker 6 (55:24):
Yeah, I know, but then I'm I guess if I
was in your shoes, i'd be looking around for some
other Yeah, maybe slightly more.

Speaker 17 (55:33):
Yeah, I've got a maide in Canada and they have it.
Sounds like it's compulsory in Canada. Hardwire fire alarm systems. Yeah,
if there's a fault with it at chirps like like
the standard alarms, we know and you can, you know,
swap out the battery. These integrated ones they talk to

(55:56):
each other, Peter, I don't know whether how familiar were
they are they?

Speaker 6 (55:58):
Yeah, I'm really interested in I mean, there is there
is phenomenal technology in this. I've done one or two
buildings where we've had to install sort of commercial fire
systems in them. I realize that it's a very very
specialized area, but I think it is just looping it
back to a more residential situation. Having integrated fire alarms

(56:19):
into residential homes is going to be a really good thing.
Let us know how you get on. I'd be intrigued
to see where you end up with in this particular situation.
All the best of your Donald. We'll talk to Graham
straight after the news.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Measure twice call once on eight eighty the resident builder
with Peter Wolfcamp and Independent Building supplies the future of
Kiwi Building Today news talks there be.

Speaker 6 (56:46):
We're back and it's after the break, not after the news.
My apologies to someone who is most upset Graham, Greetings
and good morning.

Speaker 19 (56:54):
Yes, good morning Peter. I've finally finally gone around to
bring you so because I've heard you talk about this
product that you can put it on the inside of
the house that will seal the water out. I'll explain.
I've got a concrete floor, concrete block wall, and the

(57:19):
concrete block walls a retainer, and we had sealed it
on the outside when we built the house just over
twenty years ago. But now I'm getting a I've got
a concrete polished floor and now the coating is just

(57:42):
bubbling up and coming off, so I thought, well I
should clean it back and put some of that ceilant
on because the how could I put it? The back
fill on the retaining wall is about four or five
foot deep. Yeah, sure, I don't really want to dig

(58:05):
that out.

Speaker 6 (58:06):
No, although it may well be your best solution. So
the product that I've used reasonably successfully is called Sea
Mix crystal Proof, and it's like a sementitious material. It's
basically like a powder that you mix up into a
slurry and you apply it to the face of the

(58:28):
masonry of the blockwork, and then it's a crystalline solution.
So it penetrates the masonry looking for moisture, and essentially
when it encounters the moisture, the crystals expand and that
blocks the pathway. However, you then can't, for example, paint
over it and so on. So it's kind of a

(58:49):
solution that you can use if it's hidden or unless
you like just looking at that particular finish. So when
you're talking about your floor that might be bubbling because
there's moisture getting into the slab, this probably won't be
the solution for you because you couldn't have a polish
floor or over the top of this. There might be
some other similar systems which are injection systems, So resins

(59:14):
basically pumped into existing masonry under high pressure, and I
know someone who's doing that with great success. That might
be a solution for you. Yeah, So that that's so
the product that I've mentioned might not be the right
product in this application for you.

Speaker 19 (59:36):
So the trouble as the block wall on the inside
is covered with chip.

Speaker 6 (59:43):
Yeah, so you have to pull all of that off.

Speaker 19 (59:45):
Pull a whole lot off. They have a look.

Speaker 6 (59:47):
Yeah, yeah, essentially. And I mean, you know, regardless of
what system you were going to use, you'd need to
rip all that off anyway to start again. So I
wonder whether it's sort of an injected system, like a
waterproof resin under high pressure that's installed, might be a
better option for you. I'm if you stay with if

(01:00:12):
you stand the line, I'll hand you back. If you
leave your number with Graham, I'll forward some information onto you.

Speaker 9 (01:00:19):
There'd be love.

Speaker 6 (01:00:20):
I think you're trouble mate all the best. Some people
I'm happy to give their numbers out. Other people maybe not.
I eight hundred eighty ten eighty, not because they're not good.
It's just I'm not sure that they want me giving
out their telephone number live on air. Oh, eight hundred
eighty ten eighty is the number. Jeff, good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 20 (01:00:39):
Sounds to me like your sub drain and is giving
in grief. And I've done about twenty or thirty years
those we've.

Speaker 21 (01:00:45):
Just dug down.

Speaker 20 (01:00:46):
Yeah, got the drains, clear out, go below the pudding.

Speaker 16 (01:00:50):
Yep.

Speaker 20 (01:00:50):
And let's see you as the soen of the problem then, And.

Speaker 6 (01:00:54):
You're right about the sub soil drainage. I think that
so often when you get those failures, you look down
and you go either there isn't any or it's laid
in the wrong place, or it doesn't go anywhere. So
the water just builds up and forces.

Speaker 20 (01:01:10):
Through plant, tree, ground, people gardens and brings around their
buildings and to make the place look nice. But it
does look nice, but unfortunately the roots in the middle
of summer ago searching for searching for work and block
up the pins.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
You know, Yeah, what.

Speaker 6 (01:01:28):
About what was on your mind?

Speaker 20 (01:01:32):
What's the original hang up about fire testing and the
expensive people are made to go to to to comply
with the so called modern requirements that were the whole

(01:01:54):
main needs to be pulled apart. And I'd say, because
it's not for purpose and at the end of the day,
we are going to start a company, a construction company,
and we're going to employ old people who used to
work for the mow and who doesn't know who the

(01:02:15):
mow is. You know, they were really I don't say
a law on to themselves, but they were an authority
under themselves, want for themselves and everything, basically everything they
churned out is still standing, apart from the leaky buildings
they got involved in and the schools.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
You know.

Speaker 20 (01:02:32):
But you know, listening to these guys and I've been
involved in so many, so many outputs now that I've
had problems with building inspectors coming along. And at the
end of the day, as I'll say that most of
my clients, it's only the builders and inspectors opinion, and

(01:02:54):
if you don't like his opinion, get another one, and
if you don't like his one, get another one. Because
at the end of the day, half of these guys
are only in their fifties, some of them not even.

Speaker 6 (01:03:05):
Not even I was going to say that that would
make yeah, yeah, my hesitancy is around, you know, like
it's it's easy to fall into that trap where you go, look,
you know, everything that we used to do back in
the day that was awesome and everything today is rubbish, right,
And that's not true. We know that, right.

Speaker 20 (01:03:27):
That's not Pete, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying.
I'm saying right now, you've got these lollipop man. He
think they think that they need to be there.

Speaker 6 (01:03:40):
I'm not going to disagree with you, Jeff, because I
spent half an hour listening to a maid of mine
who is an You know how in the trades you
meet exceptional trades people, right, and Richie is the best
of the best at what he does.

Speaker 7 (01:03:55):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:03:56):
His work is just top notch. And he rang me
the other day and he said, I've just got a event.
He said, I'm struggling at the moment with some you know,
some recent building inspections where people are asking me to
do stuff that they really don't know anything about. They've
got nowhere near enough experience they're making, you know, they're
packing me up on pedantic things that make no difference

(01:04:20):
to the overall performance of the building. They're they're turning up,
they're asking for more information than they need, et cetera,
et cetera. And it's and he just literally needed to
vent for a bit. So I don't disagree with you,
and I would love it to be different, but I
think that out there at the moment where we are,
there are some genuine issues in terms of people coming

(01:04:43):
out doing inspections and just not knowing enough.

Speaker 20 (01:04:47):
I think we need to go for a home, I
think we need to go for one hundred year guarantee
on the building.

Speaker 6 (01:04:55):
Well, I mean, look, this whole space is changing, and
it's changing quite rapidly, so even the introduction to the warranty. Right,
so this has been some new proposed legislation from now on,
any new build and any renovation over I think it's
one hundred thousand dollars will require a mandatory ten year warranty.

(01:05:16):
And so contractors going forward will need to be able
to find a provider who is going to warranty that.
It's not you know, it's not us as individual contractors anymore.
We're going to have to convince somebody else, a private
company effectively, that we are good enough that they will

(01:05:38):
warranty our work for ten years. That's going to have
quite an impact, I think on the industry and a
lot of people talking about what that's going to look like.
How many people will actually be like, there'll be a
whole bunch of people who are doing new builds today
who potentially won't be able to prove to an insurer

(01:05:59):
that they are good enough for that insurer to ensure
their building, and they will be status might not be
a bet.

Speaker 22 (01:06:07):
That must come back to the builder having a billion
dollar or a million dollar or one hundred million dollars,
and that has to and that has to be that
has to happen.

Speaker 6 (01:06:18):
Yeah, I think so because people, you know, you talk
to people today and you go, do you realize the
person who's building your house may not have any insurance
at all? That's shy and people are shocked. Hey, Jeff,
I've got to move on. But I love chatting with you,
and you know, I to be fair like this, there's
plenty of exceptional building inspectors right around the country. But

(01:06:40):
I think I'd be naive to say that that I
know contractors good contractors who are genuinely struggling with either
the lack of experience, the lack of knowledge of of
some of the people, and the sort of just the

(01:07:00):
it's like a focus on the learning that they've done
because they did a course as oppost to the learning
that they've got because they've actually built something. It might
be slightly controversial, and I mean no offense. Seven thirty
five will be back. Let's talk to Brian. Actually, Brian,
you're involved in fire engineering.

Speaker 23 (01:07:20):
Well, I'm retired sure radio technician, but I've seen this
problem years ago, and when I hear how much would
cost to replace the system, it's ridiculous. A system that
worked well thirty years ago should be working well today.
And there's two reasons that things could have changed. One

(01:07:41):
is that there's a lot more use of radio telephone
equipment now and post proximity to the alarm set up
in false alarm that setting, and you can test that
often by taking a radio telephone handheld radio and bring
it up close to the sensor or that sensor and

(01:08:02):
see which sensor is picking up the ref interference. Now,
a simple fix to this is often one of two things.
A proper radio technician that knows about transistors and capacitors
and things, and you can change all the electrolytic capacitors
on a circuit board very cheaply, probably you know, half

(01:08:26):
an hour's labor to change them, and that can restore
the board back to the original condition. The second part
to that is that you can get these beads called
Farehite beads that can be slipped over each wire where
it enters the alarm panel, and that can stop the

(01:08:48):
ref getting into the electronics and false alarming it. In
the worst case scenario, you could rewire the building with
shielded cable, so there's a braid over the wires that
run off to it, and that would totally stop the

(01:09:09):
ri if interference getting in.

Speaker 14 (01:09:12):
And so that.

Speaker 6 (01:09:15):
Yeah, no, And I mean when you started by saying
you need to find a suitable experience radio technician, I'm
thinking that they might be thin on the ground these days.

Speaker 23 (01:09:25):
Well they are. I've been retired for a number of
years and I still get I still get specialist jobs
coming in simply because some people won't attempted. And back
on those days thirty years ago, the components were very
big and it was very easy to change a resistor
or change a capacitor, where today those components have shrinked

(01:09:49):
down inside robust and you've got to have a microscope
and their tools to remove the components under a microscope
camera and the boards become throwaway. So a thirty year
old system could be fully restored to new condition for

(01:10:12):
a very reasonable price.

Speaker 6 (01:10:14):
Appreciate your insight, and I think too, it's one of
those things too that sometimes you know what you're saying, Brian,
is you need to find the right person who can
fix something, as opposed to someone who turns up doesn't
know what the problem is and therefore their only responses
I'm going to replace it, and that's experience. Again. Eight
hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.

Speaker 1 (01:10:36):
It is seven thirty eight beging what they forgot to
mention on that YouTube video The Resident Builder with Peter
Wilfcamp and Independent Building Supplies the future of Kiwi Building
Today Call oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty News Talks thereb.

Speaker 6 (01:10:52):
I mentioned earlier in the show that I had the
opportunity to go and visit a house that's under construction
and the architectures Cheshire who's recently passed away obviously, and
as it happens, I went along with this rooster Michael's
very good morning, welcome back to the show. So thanks
for taking me along there and and also looking forward

(01:11:15):
to celebrating with you and the entire team from Zine Construction,
Rock Coat forty years.

Speaker 7 (01:11:22):
It's pretty pretty big anniversary year for us this year
Peak and it was, and it was and it was
good to take up to that project the other day
and just have a look at the caliber of projects
that by comparison forty years ago what we were dealing
with and working on to this stage now of multi

(01:11:45):
million dollar residences that have a have a level and
degree of finishing and skill and craft apply to them
as just absolutely phenomenal. And so I mean to look
back at forty years and think where we started with
the rock business, starting at christ Church all the way

(01:12:09):
through to today with literally over one hundred and fifty
registered contractors applying their craft with our products around around
around New Zealand is pretty special.

Speaker 6 (01:12:23):
And I think too, you like, you know, I like
to travel, and you go overseas and you look at
stuff there and you think, oh, why can't we do
that there? But we are now and you know what
we're seeing with the Razine construction and with the renders
and that this is this is sort of the best
that we see overseas available in New Zealand.

Speaker 9 (01:12:39):
Now, yeah, it absolutely is, and and we we very
much we look at what is going.

Speaker 7 (01:12:46):
Around on around the world. And to be fair, I
mean there was a project I think I've mentioned it
to here previously as an artisan interior plaster who did
a project in Auckland. Yes, and they loved what he
did so much and for a wonderful ki we coupled
is a beautiful home.

Speaker 9 (01:13:05):
It was all sort of post ho sort of construction.

Speaker 7 (01:13:07):
It took way longer than it shure and they bought
a residence in London and they they couldn't find the
right skill and craft and products in London to do
their interior for this project, so they literally they flew
the contractor up there for six weeks and his and

(01:13:27):
his team and we air rated all our artis and
interior plas to finishes up to this project. And see,
so we've got a bit of us in London, so
technically we're gon global.

Speaker 6 (01:13:39):
As well as well. So from christ forty years ago
to right throughout New Zealand and now international as well.

Speaker 7 (01:13:47):
Yeah, it's amazing and a big one not only for us.
I mean we're half the age of Razine this year
as well, so Razine Paints started eighty years ago here
in New Zealand as well, so it's it's a double
whammy this year for the razine business, so it's pretty special.

Speaker 6 (01:14:03):
It absolutely is. Look forward to selling braiding with you
guys later on in when is it end of April.
It'll be awesome. It'll be awesome. Hey. To find out
more folks about all of the products and the offerings
and the inspiration, check out Razineconstruction dot co, dot m Z.
Lots of information and lots of inspiration there, Mike, thanks
for your time this morning, Boat, Thank you, Pete all

(01:14:24):
this take care by way your news talk ZEDB. If
you've got a question of a building nature, Oh eight
hundred eighty ten eighty is that number to call? You
can text as well. We've got a bunch of those.
Oh wait, that's nine two nine two is ZBZB and
the emails up and running as well. Short break, we'll
talk to Greg about Granny Flats in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:14:43):
Turning ohs into She'll be right the resident builder with
Peter Wolfcam and Independent Building Supplies a future of Kiwi
building today. Call oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty News
Talk ZEDB.

Speaker 6 (01:14:57):
Just a quick text, Hey Pete, we're having a sale
of stuff in our shed. What do you we have
to do to make it good for people, well, good prices.
I'm just trying to think about. I wonder whether this
is partly in response to something that I'd been talking
about a great deal and enjoyed massively last Sunday, which

(01:15:21):
was the first ever Tool Bizarre, essentially a garage sale
for tools, plants, garden equipment, so on, held outside the
Clay Store, which is the Community Workshop in Devonport. So
I think it kind of started with the Community Workshop
going look, we've actually got more tools than we need,
maybe we should sell some of them, and then inviting

(01:15:42):
people to set up the stands. So both Lock, my producer,
and I kind of zipped over there straight after the
show finished last Sunday. It was absolutely awesome, I have
to say. And I understand that a couple of people
arrived to sell stuff and booked a stall after listening
to the show last week as well and thought, hey,
that might be a bit of me. I bumped into

(01:16:04):
a whole bunch of people that I know. Did I
come away? Yes, I came away. Do I need to
go and buy more tools?

Speaker 7 (01:16:14):
Well?

Speaker 6 (01:16:14):
Yeah, but I did end up they come away with.
I ended up buying oh an extension driver bit because
I've got some, but not that many and not that long,
so that was awesome. And I also ended up buying
a book printed in nineteen thirty two by Record who
make vices and clamps and that so on. So it's

(01:16:36):
the original brochure from nineteen thirty two, essentially their tool catalog,
and I bought that from someone who had a whole
collection of old books, so it was awesome. And if
you know you're involved in community workshops and that sort
of thing, and there's lots of them around the country,
can I suggest that that setting up a little garage
sale outside your place to attract interest and get people engaged.

(01:16:59):
It was absolutely fantastic and I so thoroughly hope they
do more of them as well. Nothing like a good
garrete and it's community based, it's even better, right HEO
seven fifty one Greg Greetings, Yeah, hi.

Speaker 21 (01:17:13):
Mate, I want to build a seventy square meter granny
flat and I'm spoken to an architect and he has
informed me that I may have to get a geochech
report yep for the councils.

Speaker 6 (01:17:29):
That it's quite likely. It kind of depends on what
council requirements are because with your granny flat. Although you
don't need a building consent, you will need permission from
council to do it, and one of their requirements might
be you need to tell us that the land is suitable,

(01:17:50):
the soil conditions are suitable, in which case you need
to get a geotech report. And if that's the case,
then you just have to do.

Speaker 21 (01:17:56):
It, okay, because it's a dead flat site. And I
was just going to put a ribrass flow down and
anchor it at each corner, and I mean, it can't
slip away. You will do anything like that. And I
was just trying to keep the cost down because I
know as soon as you go to an engineer they

(01:18:19):
come on site, they're going to I'm trying to keep
the fee down, you know.

Speaker 6 (01:18:23):
And I guess that's the intent of the legislation. But
in a nutshell, I suppose I think the way in
which this has been presented to some degree through the
media is that you can build without any sort of
rules at all. That's not the case, right, So in

(01:18:47):
order to do it, you still need to have plans drawn.
You need to then submit that to Council in the
form of a PIM Project Information memorandum. They then may require, hey, look,
just in order to ensure that the building's going to
be safe, you need to prove that the ground is safe,
and you can only get that by a geotech report.
The other really interesting thing is in the description of

(01:19:10):
what's permissible to build. It talks a lot about lightweight materials,
and I at this stage haven't been able to find
whether or not you can do a slab or whether
it actually has to be a timber floor. So I
don't know, and I haven't been able to find it,

(01:19:32):
and I should probably spend a bit more time looking
for that information, but it wouldn't surprise me. And the
other thing that popped up the other day is that
it talks about timber framing, right timber or metal lightweight framing,
which means it excludes things like zips panels. So that's
a little bit foolish, and thankfully that's been brought to

(01:19:53):
the Minister's attention and hopefully to the officials as well,
and so that's going to be another potential rewrite of
the legislation. So you know the fact that we are
excluding innovation like zips panels on this legislation, whereas they'd
be in many ways an ideal thing to build out
of is a little bit foolish as well. So it's

(01:20:17):
in Paris. But to answer your question, if you prepare
the drawings and you submit them to counsel, and if
council asked for a geotech, then you'll have to provide one.

Speaker 21 (01:20:27):
Yeah, that's sort of what I wanted to do. The
architect will draw them up, and he sort of has
mentioned to me and I said, well, you've seen the
sight and he's looked at it and drawn it. And
I said, because what they normally they include the geotech
report when they give the information to the council because

(01:20:49):
then they don't get the r refs from the council
and it speeds things up a bit. But that really
doesn't concern me because of the I'm not on a
time limit or anything for me, so I mean I
can bear with that. So would I be better to
get to submit without the geo tech to save us?

(01:21:09):
They might what they? Okay, I mean it's a good
I think what.

Speaker 6 (01:21:13):
You'd need to do is provide some evidence as to
why you didn't think that you needed a geotech in
the sense that you know, like I've looked at your
council records. There is no evidence of instability. It's not
on a flat site. It is a flat site. There
are no surrounding you know that there. It's not on
the landslip register or anything like that, et cetera, et cetera,

(01:21:38):
et cetera, because otherwise the default situation is going to be. Look,
if I'm worried about risk as a council officer, then
the easiest thing for me to do is go give
me a report, which is fine, except there's a point
where you go, you know, in all reality, the risk
is very small and I'm going to take that risk

(01:22:00):
on anyway. So it's not council liability. Right, So if
you if you go, like worst case scenario is, let's
say you built it and it's slumped in one corner, right,
there was some subsidence because you didn't have deep enough pules.
That's just your problem. No, it's not counsel's problem anymore.
So why should counsel? Yeah, isn't it?

Speaker 18 (01:22:19):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 6 (01:22:20):
That's kind of where we're are. It's a great issue
and we'll talk about that more. But hey, look, if
someone can answer that question, can you do a concrete
slab on the new minor dwellings. I'd love to know, Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty will talk after new Sport
and weather top of.

Speaker 1 (01:22:36):
The erradate, helping you finish that fibe. But it fixed
you started the resident builder with Peter Wolfcamp and Independent
Building Supplies the future of Kiwi building today. Call eight
hundred eighty ten eighty news talk there'd be.

Speaker 6 (01:22:58):
I will try and get through a bunch of texts
in a moment as well. But Anusia, thank you for waiting,
being very patient. How can I help?

Speaker 9 (01:23:08):
Hi?

Speaker 6 (01:23:08):
Nasia?

Speaker 24 (01:23:10):
I have a rented property building two dozen three with
a big en tailhouse. The water build can quite hay
and the plumber went death and said the leak is
coming from the kitchen area. Be kind the oven an
oven hob So he said, you have to break the
jipboard and possibly the whole kitchen. So I was just

(01:23:31):
wondering how we can okay, how they can sort out,
how they can verify where the leak is coming from.

Speaker 6 (01:23:41):
I suppose the first thing to do is to determine
whether or not it's a leak from the water pipes
inside the house, or whether it's a leak from outside.
So if you're unsure about where the water is coming from,
what I would do is if no one's in the
property or just say to people, don't use the water

(01:24:03):
for at least four hours. Then go out and do
you are reading of the meter at the water meter,
and then come back and if no one's been in
the house for four hours, read the meter again. And
obviously if the meter has ticked on, then you know
that the leak is related to your water supply. And

(01:24:23):
then if that's the case, then it becomes a question
of searching for that leak inside the house. There are
some specialist companies now who do leak detection, so you
could always contract those, or you know, if the leak
is significant, you should be able to see evidence of it,
whether that's mold, that's growing water on the floor. Obviously

(01:24:46):
sometimes you can even hear the leak, depending on where
it's coming from, and then yes to repair it. If
it's in the wall, in the pipes in the wall,
you'll need to remove that wall lining. If that happens
to be behind a kitchen unit, then you've got to
pull that kitchen unit out to find.

Speaker 24 (01:25:03):
That leaks quite high of four hundred and seventy five dollars. Wow,
and yeah, they thinks if we want to do it,
then you have to break the whole wall and possibly
the kitchen. Yes, of different bench.

Speaker 6 (01:25:18):
Yeah, and look if it's if it's that sort of leak,
you know, like you could potentially go to your insurer
and have the costs of the repair covered by the
insurer if it's a basically if it's a one off
incident caused by failure.

Speaker 24 (01:25:34):
If it's so, I went to my insurance company and
they said the leak, to repare the leap, that is
my problem. I have to fix the leak. But if
there is any damage then they will cover the damage.

Speaker 6 (01:25:46):
Yes, yeah, that's right, yep, that's how typically.

Speaker 24 (01:25:50):
Yeah, but very surprising. They did not do the leak test.
So tomorrow they're going to do aleak test and see
whether water after you're coming from.

Speaker 9 (01:25:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:25:59):
So yeah, the damage caused by the leak will be
covered by insurance, but not the leak repair. That's that's
up to you to cover that.

Speaker 24 (01:26:07):
So I contacted the lint detection team, the people would
do the leak, and they said they cannot do the
link test inside the house. They can do it if
it's our outside.

Speaker 6 (01:26:18):
Yeah, okay, I mean, like what alerted you to the
fact that you might have a leak?

Speaker 24 (01:26:28):
Just the water bill or is there the water bill
for the last two months. The water it was coming
about two hundred and thirty and the bill came about
twenty five. This property is given to Clusing, New Zealand,
and we cannot go directly at and when we want,
so we have to take an appointment. Takes long, yeah,
and attendance are saying that, and they have disconnected the

(01:26:52):
ourburn because of safety for water and said not go right.

Speaker 6 (01:26:57):
So it's it's almost because you know, it is quite
possible that someone's just left a tap on for example,
you know, and hasn't like an outdoor tap might have
been turned on and left on for a couple of
days and then they turn it off again and suddenly
you know, you think you've got a leak, but in
fact it's just a So that's where it gets tricky
trying to find these things. But look, in the end,

(01:27:18):
you're going to have to get in there. I would
suggest that you ask people to if no one's in
the house or if they can not use any of
the water, and see whether or not the meter runs,
then at least you'll know that it's definitely on the
water supply and then go from there. But I can
appreciate that it is slightly complicated. Very good luck to

(01:27:40):
you on that one. The other day, I was chatting
away to someone and I kind of figured that there's
kind of a couple of different ways that people interact
with the show. Some people that I've chatted with say, look,
I'm up in the morning and I'm on my way
to church and I'm listening to the show. Other people go,

(01:28:02):
I'm on my way to golf. So I figured that
she might be an opportunity to talk a little bit
of golf. So I'm joined this morning by David Downes,
who was involved with the New Au Girl Duke of
Edinburgh Cup of New Zealand. It's a qualifying tournament at
the Royal Wellington Golf Club. It's on Friday, the eighth
of May. Morning. David, now tell us a little bit
more about this tournament.

Speaker 18 (01:28:24):
Yeah, bit of a golf for yourself when you could
imagine not.

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
Since I don't know how long ago, but anyway, no, well, I.

Speaker 9 (01:28:31):
Hope you can make it wrong. But basically, the Jack
of Edinburgh Cup.

Speaker 18 (01:28:34):
So the Jack and Edinburgh we all know he's one
of the princes based in the UK and his father,
actually you.

Speaker 9 (01:28:41):
Know, the one that we are.

Speaker 18 (01:28:42):
The Prince Philip set up this golf tournament a few
years ago, since about two thousand and it's golf for
a Purpose. Essentially, they run these tournaments all around the
world in the Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has been in
the nominally and that we haven't had one run here before.
But the idea is that they're run a golf tournament
and it's for a charitable purpose, raising money for young people, children,

(01:29:02):
whatever in the country of that place. And so here
in New Zealand we're going to have the first miners
you said, the Long Wool, which is a bit of
a nominally given that it's been going for twenty five
or something years, but it's great that we finally got
it here and the Duke was really keen to get
New Zealand involved. And the charity of choice here in
New Zealand benefits young people. It's called Young Enterprise and
Programs Changing the Proces runs program through schools teaching business skills,

(01:29:26):
teaching life skills, mental resilience, leadership at sort of years
at ten eleven, twelve, at school in thirteen. So it's
a really great tournament's format and it's beautiful. That is
to say that we've got this yere Kedy Banks got
behind it, which is great. They've backed ambitious killy businesses
and obviously there's a real connection with young enterprise, helping young.

Speaker 9 (01:29:47):
People set up businesses at school and learning that.

Speaker 18 (01:29:49):
Sort of side of life and giving people a bit
of confidence strengthening the economy.

Speaker 9 (01:29:54):
So yeah, the Duke of venbrok up first time in
New Ya and looking forward to it.

Speaker 6 (01:29:58):
Now that's really good because well it's good to do
golf and it's good to have impact. Now how do
people play their part? They register at d.

Speaker 18 (01:30:07):
Cup that's right, Doe Edinburgh Cup n Z. That'll get
them onto the website and you'll see there's beautiful pictures
of the beautiful Royal Wellington Course where it is as
you said in May. And the great thing about it is, yes,
it's for a great cause, so all your registration sees
and everything like that will be helping young people in
business in life. But actually there's also it's a qualified

(01:30:30):
tournament as you mentioned, so just it's philanthropic, which is good.
But the top performers, the top two will head to
London in September to play at the World Finals and
that's a pretty epic prize because they get to play
on the Royal Course at Windsor Castle. They'll play quite
a few rounds of golf and there'll be a black

(01:30:50):
tie event with the Juke, you know, his Royal Highness.
And also there's a golfing ambassador justin Rose. Many golfers
will know just the So that's that's a pretty good
price too. People will get that and all included FAA's accommodation,
transport and golf everything. So yeah, so it's a good
a great tournam to be involved in any way. It
would be great fun but also supporting use, connecting golf

(01:31:14):
in New Zealand with golf all around the world and
the chance to get up to London.

Speaker 1 (01:31:18):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (01:31:19):
So okay. So it's open to anyone in New Zealand.
You enter, you compete. If you're in the top two,
you're off to London, playing at Windsor going to dinner
with the Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle and the
f IS accommodation everything.

Speaker 18 (01:31:32):
Is covered, all included, and it's great to say. You
also know that even if you don't wann the tournament,
you're doing great stuff helping young people in New Zealand
and this will be the first of many. So this
year is the inaugural. Right, we're out on the circuit,
which is wonderful. The Duke of Edinburgh is very keen
on New Zealand being part of it and it's just
like to be something.

Speaker 6 (01:31:50):
Passive, absolutely all right, So check it out. Do Oe
cup so do Oe cup dot m z. All of
the information will be there. Good on if for getting
on board with a David much appreciated, expect all the best,
buddy you and use talks z b is. That's if
you're on your way to golf this morning and you're
thinking you're up for it, doecup dot n z. Check

(01:32:12):
it out online fifteen minutes after.

Speaker 1 (01:32:14):
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builder with Peter Wolfcamp and Independent Building Supplies the future
of Kiwi Building Today News dogsb.

Speaker 6 (01:32:28):
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(01:33:34):
A couple of quick texts as well that have come in.
Things like someone we were talking about Titaness early on.
Someone texted and said, look, you know, tightness for me
is about the fact that I'm really impacted by pollen
and those sorts of things. So having the ability to
close the house up and then get filtered clean air

(01:33:55):
helps me with that part of my health concerns, which
I thought is really really interesting. A couple of other
quick texts too, Hey, a neighbor's development needs consent to
remove part of our fence under a water care but
final plans are not yet decided. They'll also backfill for
a retaining wall and then build behind us. What should
homeowners be aware of before giving any consents? I think

(01:34:16):
in that instance, I think it's quite reasonable to ask
for a bond. So yes, I give consent for you
to do the work on my property, but I want
you to deposit ten thousand dollars with my lawyer's trust account.
And when I'm satisfied that the remedial work is complete
and I'm not left with any damage and unfinished work

(01:34:39):
and all the rest of it, then the bond will
be released back to you. But it sits in the
trust account. So the text came in a little while ago,
but that's what I would do. I would ask for
a bond and have a quick legal arrangement drawn up.
It sits with a trust account, and then it puts
the pressure on the contractor to do the work, finish

(01:35:00):
the work, do it tidally and to your satisfaction, before
they get that bond back someone else's taxed through. Hey,
I wonder what the typical cause for a repeating sound
coming from above the ceiling in an old timber house
that can occur on sunny days, and what the possible
remedies there are. I suspect it's expansion and contraction in
your roof. Now it might be some of the actual

(01:35:21):
roof structure, or it may actually be the roofing iron
which we'll expand and contract, and sometimes as it expands
there is like a crack like a gunshot sound as
it basically releases the tension. The iron's not splitting or
anything like that. It's just expansion and contraction in the iron.

(01:35:42):
So that might be part of that. And I'll talk
about Marie's issue about some poor workmanship in just a moment.
But first up, Dean, A very good morning.

Speaker 14 (01:35:51):
Winding Pete. So we hear the house in Wellington that
originally the bottom floor was consented by the council way
back in the success to be converted into a stand
alone flat. Yes, since that time before we owned it,
the previous owners has sort of reverted it back to

(01:36:13):
a single dwelling. So my question is for us to
convert the bottom floor back to one bedroom flat as
per the nineteen sixty odd consent, do we need to
get another consent?

Speaker 6 (01:36:32):
It would be nice if I could make the argument say,
because it had and it wouldn't have been a building consent,
it would have been a building permit at the time,
that the conditions of that building permit should still apply today.
Except it won't because the building code has changed and
we've moved from building permits to building consents, et cetera,
et cetera. So I suspect that what will happen is

(01:36:54):
you'll go to council, ask them their opinion, and their
opinion will be No, it needs to comply with today's
building code, and therefore you need to provide evidence that
it will. And typically for if it's a genuine standalone
dwelling as a sublet to someone, well, actually, it's interesting,

(01:37:16):
is your intention to stay living in the house while
having someone let that property below? Yeah, okay, it would
pay to do some research on this. I had a
discussion with someone who's involved in sort of property and
property management and so on, because often when we talk
about these where we assume that it's a rental property

(01:37:39):
owned by an absent landlord i someone not living in
the house, and it's let to two separate parties, that
then typically triggers a requirement for a building consent for
a legal sublet. In the instance where you are living
in the house and you're letting the space below to

(01:38:00):
another party, that doesn't require a building consent.

Speaker 14 (01:38:06):
Des there.

Speaker 6 (01:38:08):
But it's sort of as bizarre. But it's sort of
not because it's quite a different circumstance, isn't it. If
you're the homeowner and you're living there and you've got
someone living below. Even if it's a commercial arrangement, they're
not family or friends or anything like that. The reality
is you're still there and in effect you're still monitoring
the property. Right, So in reality, the way in which

(01:38:32):
it operates would be different than if you owned a property,
you lived in your family home, you had a rental
property and you let it to two parties who may
or may not know each other. You know, then you
know you can see how the dynamics different. And I
think in that sense, the law reflects that. But this

(01:38:54):
is something and I have no reason to doubt the
information that I've just given to you. But I will
also be really honest and say I haven't gone through
and read the legislation for myself, but it's come to
me from some people who are property investors, and I
have no reason to doubt it. So what I would
do is have a bit of a search for that
and go okay. So if what you've got downstairs is

(01:39:17):
it's a small unit with a kitchen, shower, all those
sorts of things, and you're going to let it to
someone while you stay living in the house, you can
do so without it having to become sort of a
legal sublet.

Speaker 14 (01:39:30):
The thing is that it was a legal sub subdeest
exactly as consented in the nineteen sixties, right, And we're
not talking about doing anything other than removing some small
works that the people who owned the property before I
did to join into one house succession. They're just put
in the stairwell and made a bedroom smaller. Otherwise, say

(01:39:53):
that it is is so your intention.

Speaker 6 (01:39:56):
Is to remove the stairwell in the internal access andturn
the lower unit to one that has its own egress
and exit. Tree and exit from the exterior, but isn't
connected to the interior of the house.

Speaker 14 (01:40:12):
Not, no, not anymore. So just literally take out the stairwell.

Speaker 6 (01:40:18):
I wonder if that's considered structural work and would trigger
a requirement for a building consent there, because, in effect,
by taking the stairwell out, I presume you're going to
close off that area that the stairwell occupies a flour.

Speaker 14 (01:40:38):
No, no, no, just just literally take out the stairwell
and revert that bedroom back to the size that it
was before the stairwell.

Speaker 9 (01:40:45):
Put it. Let's put it.

Speaker 6 (01:40:47):
But what happens to the floor above the stairwell.

Speaker 9 (01:40:51):
That space?

Speaker 6 (01:40:52):
So if you're upstairs going down the hole.

Speaker 14 (01:40:55):
And it's about a meter half squared, it's in this
very tiny spirals.

Speaker 6 (01:41:00):
Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 9 (01:41:02):
Yep.

Speaker 14 (01:41:03):
They just reverting the floorback.

Speaker 6 (01:41:06):
Although, well, I guess it's not really structural in the
sense that you know, I think we're right on the
edge of a space where you go that work might
require a building consent, And if I was being cautious,
I'd say that work probably does require a building consent.

(01:41:28):
But if it's going back to what it was before, no,
it's not. It's it really is, because in the end,
the floor is structural in the sense that someone will
stand on it.

Speaker 9 (01:41:48):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:41:49):
So let's say you you didn't. I'm not saying you
won't do a good job. You will. But let's say
somebody built it and they used twelve mill ply and
they didn't put some joystangers on the and someone stood
on it and fell through it.

Speaker 9 (01:42:03):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:42:04):
So it's that sort of protection that the Building Act
is there to ensure. And when you look at that,
that's structural. And I think I'll tell you what you
can do is you can go to council and ask
for an exemption and that way you've got something in paper,

(01:42:24):
in which case you'd need to draw something up and go,
this is the work that I'm going to do. I'm
going to do it in accordance to the Building Code,
so you know, I'll use this type of timber with
this type of fastness. The work will be done by
an LBP. And then if council agree that that's limited
and there's very low risk and that you can have

(01:42:45):
an exemption from a building consent, then at least you've
got something on paper because inevitably people sell and then
at that time you can say, here's the work that
was done. I went to council, I got the exemption.
Here's a record of the work that was done, and
someone looking at it in the future would go, Okay,
I know that that's done. Well. That would probably be
my next approach.

Speaker 9 (01:43:06):
Excellent. Yeah, nice talking with you.

Speaker 6 (01:43:08):
Pleasure and you take care O will and in part
I'm going to have lovely day because it's a little
bit of rain and we needed a bit of rain.
And I know that that's a terrible thing to say
on a Sunday, but hey, this is what it is. Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty. If you would like to
talk to rit and I know you do, so the
lines are open. Ridt will join us in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:43:29):
Measure twice call once on eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
The Resident Builder with Peter wolf Camp and Independent Building
supplies the future of ki We Building Today News Talks EDB.
For more from the Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp. Listen
live to News Talks dB on Sunday mornings from six,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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