Full Show Podcast: 09 November 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from Uth talks it by helping you get those DIY
projects done right. The Resident Builder with Peter wolf Camp
call eight hundred eighty ten eighty youth talks It.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Be a house sizzle even when it's dark, even when
the grass is overgrown in the yard, even when a
dog is.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Too old to bar, and when you're sitting at the
table trying not to starve, sissor home even when wavna,
even when you're there loone.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Houses a home, even when there's ghost even when you
got around from the what you love your most.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Scream doors, broken plaints, feel in.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Front of the wood, locals whisper when they're gonna leave
in the neighbor.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
The house is a home even when wheelber.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Band go, even when.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
You're there Lone, it's a home.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well and very very good morning and welcome along to
the Resident Builder. On Sunday, it is twenty one minutes
after six. I didn't sleep in. No, that was far
too exciting a morning to sleep in. So if you've
tuned in and you're wondering where we went starting, why
kickoff for us wasn't at six o'clock. Well, of course
it was the All Blacks live from Murrayfield celebrate one

(02:29):
hundred years of Scottish rugby by beating them with just
a couple of players on the field. Anyway, fantastic victory
this morning for the All Blacks. There will be a
match again next Sunday as well. So right now we're
going to start talking all things building and construction. A
very good morning. Welcome along to the Resident Builder on
Sunday with me Peter wolf Camp, the Resident Builder, and
this is your opportunity to talk all things building and construction.

(02:52):
We can talk the rules, the regulations, the frustrations perhaps
that sometimes come along with those things. As well, we
can talk about trying to just get stuff done. What
you need, who you need to talk to, what rules
you need to abide, which rules you can well not ignore.
But you know there's some stuff you have to do
and some stuff there's a little bit of flexibility, so

(03:14):
we can talk about that as well. We will talk
all things building, housing, fixing stuff, getting the right contractors,
whatever's on your mind this morning. And one of the
great delights, I mean this quite genuinely of the show
is I don't know what we're going to be talking
about this morning. That is completely and utterly up to you.
So if you've got a question, call me nout oh

(03:34):
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. If you would like
to text, you're more than welcome to do that as well.
That's nine two nine two of ZBZB from your mobile
phone and if you'd like to send me an email
absolutely Pete at newstalkzb dot co dot nzid So Pete
at newstalksb dot co dot en said, I trust you've
had a good week. I was just talking with Lockmo

(03:56):
producer going love the weather forecasts on that, but the
sort of you know, danger thunderstorm thing that was out
there yesterday. So I'm in the garden and I'm thinking, right,
I'm prepping doing some maintenance and repairs, and I'm sanding
some paint work that's got a little bit flaky and
so on. I'm thinking, okay, I can do that now

(04:16):
because it's not raining. Shall I put some primer on? Yep,
doesn't look like it's going to rain. I'll put some
primer on, and then two hours later, because it's razine
quick dry, right, should I do a coat? It's two
o'clock in the afternoon. It's enough time for it to dry.
Da da da da da. But there's thunderstorms coming. I
don't want to see it all wash off, so I'll
leave it anyway. I didn't have any thunderstorms, did We

(04:37):
not complaining about the weather forecast. It's just it does
sound sometimes rather alarming, and you're thinking. So I went
and did some water blasting instead, because I figured I
could do that even if it did rain. And it didn't.
But I still got the water blasting done, which was awesome. Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty, give us a call. We
got plenty to talk about. Yes, we're a little bit
late out of the starting blocks this morning, but we'll

(04:59):
catch up. So eight hundred eighty ten eighty call.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Us now, God was but maybe call Pete first, the feeder, Walfcab,
the resident builder.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
News talks'd be news talks. There'd be twenty eight minutes
after six. I was just thinking about the water blasting thing,
just for a moment, because and before anyone sort of
text will calls and goes hypocrite, because I'm often critical
of well, no a cautionary tale applying vast amounts of

(05:29):
water at high pressure, i e. Water blasting onto timber
surfaces often just ruins the timber surface. So people well intentioned,
and this is true also for sometimes excessive amounts of
pressure when you're trying to clean a house down, for example,
there's a thing that can happen where you sort of

(05:49):
direct so much water at the painted surface that it
rumbles the paint that it actually helps dislodge maybe the
layer underneath the paint and can cause basically an accelerated
decline and performance. Let's say, basically it just stuff's the paintwork.
And the same with timber. He hit timber really hard

(06:11):
with a water blaster and it will fur up, and
so yes, you might have got rid of whatever it
was that was sitting on there, but you end up
sort of ruining the surface of the timber. What I
have been doing is doing some concrete and bits and pieces.
Again there are different ways of doing that, but in
terms of getting the bulk of it off. But the
other thing that I kind of at the end of
the day is thinking, actually where I feel quite not virtuous,

(06:33):
but I'm quite pleased that I haven't used any mains water.
So I just plug my water blaster into the little
water tank. I've got one of those Bailey slim gym
tanks that sits in behind the garden shed. It's got
about two thousand litters in it after winter and I
can plug the water blaster straight into the rain water
tank and just use that, which is great. So I'm

(06:54):
using town supply, which is awesome. Oh eight hundred and
eighty ten eighty is the number to call twenty nine minutes.
I'll get to this text in just a moment, because
it's a good one about someone who's looking to purchase
and about you know, what sort of money should I
spend on a pre purchase inspection. That's a really good question.
I will come to that in the moment. But first
up Mike talking about decking.

Speaker 5 (07:16):
Go for it?

Speaker 6 (07:17):
Yeah, good ay, And not four or five years ago
we had a deck done. The hardwood g up. Yes,
and almost straight away there was some black showing and
it was tan. And talked to the people about it
and they say, yeah, that's going to bleed out. Yes,
four or five years later, it's sort of like pretty

(07:41):
Dick's very scott black and spots. It's all gray. It's
looking dirty. It has been for some time when we
try and scrub it. When we usually use something like
mild soapy water and a hard scrubbing bush like you
were talking about earlier. We warn notts a water blass. Absolutely,

(08:05):
there's there's lots of product actually out there, but when
I look at the reviews that you know people, it
doesn't seem to so basically what happened when we scrub it.
Sometimes it makes it does make it better, but there's
there's things where we can't get to. And the black
spots then have turned into quite a lot of little

(08:26):
spots like little birds been flying over and letting goes right,
and there they were dark brown, hoggedy color, which is
like probably the black spots that we haven't been able
to quite get off. I'm just wondering what you're that
the deck is perfectly it's in the sun, that it's

(08:49):
not a stamp thing. I'm just wondering what your recommendations
might be. Because we got it because we thought, oh it
would silver up and look good, you know, five years later.
But it looks just huckery.

Speaker 4 (09:05):
It's a very scriptive term. It looks just a bit hackery.
I haven't used it, and I will probably have an
opportunity to do. So I've got a couple of projects
on over the summer, one of which is a Vitext
deck that I actually put down myself about five years

(09:28):
ago and sort of at the insistence of the client.
They wanted to leave it to silver off and it's
done that, but it's also got a little bit of
mold growth on it right, which is often what happens
when you don't seal timbers. So my general stance is
that if you're doing timber decking, irrespective of whether it's
a pine or a softwood or a hardwood, I would

(09:51):
always recommend that once it's flashed off, Let's say, so
if it's a tenalized deck, you let the treatment sort
of emerge a little bit, let it flash off, give
it a thorough clean, and then put some sort of
sealer on it penetrating oil stain or something like that.
And I've probably pretty much got the same attitude to
hardwood decking as well, I think, because we are in

(10:13):
a not completely unique environment, but we do have issues
around moisture. Obviously in New Zealand we do around UV
and so on, so it's it's a it's not a
terribly benign environment for timbers and that sort of thing.
So I tend to go, let's let it flash off,
give it a thorough clean, and then put a ceiler
on it. I suppose the challenge for you is that

(10:35):
some of that material, it might be a little bit
of mold, it might be a little bit of moss
and so on, has actually you know, absorbed in and
it's how to get that out in the suite of
things that you may or may not have tried. Have
you looked at I know we didn't forget to like
a deck reviver, like a bubble wash type product.

Speaker 6 (10:55):
When I spoke to them about that, they said it
was They said it was sort.

Speaker 7 (10:59):
Of like a.

Speaker 6 (11:02):
It worked the same way. No, member, this is just
one bloke in a shop.

Speaker 4 (11:05):
Yeah, sure that.

Speaker 6 (11:08):
It works the same way. So like as a mold remover.
It's not going to do anything about tannin.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
And no, that's fair enough. That's a comment, you.

Speaker 6 (11:18):
Know, I was thinking of, because we have used it
in the other parts of the deck and it's been fine. Yeah,
but it's still not getting the you know those laughs.
Those The problem is that if it was just one
or two little drops, it wouldn't make so bad. But
it's like this if someone's just thrown, you know, with

(11:40):
a brush of through the thrown little spots all over
the deck.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Given given that timber, right, obviously, have you actually tried
sanding the surface?

Speaker 6 (11:52):
No, I didn't want to damage the wood fibers.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
But sand, I mean, you know in the end.

Speaker 6 (11:59):
How how for what extent? I mean I did, to
be honest, I gave it a bit of a shot
at one whether the missus wasn't looking, Yeah, I believe me.
It's not that flash. So I do these things on
the slide.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
And to get myself into trouble, but I know exactly.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
It's just yeah, I don't really know how far down
I could go to because I was doing it and
got some off. But it's not just a surface livel right,
So you know how deep can I go?

Speaker 7 (12:34):
You know?

Speaker 6 (12:34):
How much can I see it safely?

Speaker 8 (12:36):
You know?

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Yeah? How big is the deck? Roughly square meters?

Speaker 6 (12:47):
Significantly big? It's oh they see it's like it's a
little sort of an L shape. So you've got just
about ten one side is about ten meters by about
four meters, and the sides about probably probably about.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
The No, that's decent size, right, and the so it's
grapper that you've put down, and it's a four inch
board or six inch board, wide or narrow.

Speaker 6 (13:17):
I think it's wide.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
White, okay, have you because typically if I've done like
a standard deck clean, that's been enough. It's taken the
surface or not taken the surface off, but it's removed
all of that sort of organic material that bonds to
it over time, and then I've been able to apply
a sealer to it. I'm just wondering. I think where

(13:42):
I'd probably get to is actually to go if you
can try and go back through the supplier and find
the manufacturer, you know, like the chance starts come from
a handful of timber suppliers. They might as the experts
have no recommendations, no, because the hard thing is if

(14:03):
somebody recommends something and it stuffs it, you know, and
I feel great. I wonder about the sanding. I wonder
about just a light random orbital sander to get rid
of the bulk of it and then apply. And you'll
have to test out because there's you know, there's form
filling film forming stains or ceilers, and then there's penetrating seilers.

(14:27):
It's almost like in a quiet little corner, possibly while
you're alone, give it a sand, apply a sealer to it,
see what it looks like, and you know, you might
have to accept that it's not going to look exactly
what you wanted it to be, but it will be
better than what you've got and sometimes there's a bit
of a compromise there. I've written a note to sort

(14:50):
of make a few phone calls and that sort of thing.
So maybe next week on the show, I'll see if
I've I've got a bit of an update for you
on that as well.

Speaker 6 (14:55):
A correct the seilers, because it's quite a walk area. Yes,
how do we get a good it's not techy.

Speaker 4 (15:08):
I would probably go for a penetrating oil sealer, so
something that will suck into the fiber of the timber
and you'll find it. Go ahead.

Speaker 6 (15:17):
Sometimes I say decks where people have sealed it and
then you can see where they walked because they you
know that the high walk areas sort of show right.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah, from what I understand in many of the cases,
like there's also once you I guess the thing with
not doing anything is that you can just leave it alone, right,
and that's arguably an advantage. I just find that I
don't know that you get the life out of the
timber that you would get if you sealed it. I
think you get more longevity. But by sealing it, you

(15:50):
also commit yourself to a maintenance schedule. So typically every
year or so you need to go through and maybe
every two years give it a thorough clean. The other
one actually because I was using some of their house
wash product, which so I've been doing some work trying
to tidy up the outside of a house, and the

(16:12):
paint work, which is about five years old, had started
to get a little bit of that, you know, that
black mold that grows on it and that sort of thing,
and so I grabbed some of the Razine house wash
and prep product, diluted it down, rubbed that on. Amazing
how much it got off of that material. And that's

(16:32):
the sort of cleaner that you would use prior to painting.
But quarter so a quarter so's it's still fairly strong.
And you know, as per the instructions, and surprise, surprise,
I actually read the instructions. You know, I wore some gloves,
made sure that I had some glasses on that sort
of thing, rinsed the area down thoroughly afterwards. Now, They

(16:54):
also make a deck wash prep or yeah, as well,
so I would check that out because certainly the house
wash stuff works really really well. Awesome, all right, nice
lovely chatting, take care and a delightful call. Thank you
very much for that, all of Usuddy take care. I

(17:15):
completely and utterly get where he's coming from. Where every
now and then you just have to be left alone
to test something out. You know, you don't have to
tell everyone what you're doing, just quietly test something out.
That's that's how we innovate. I eight hundred eighty ten
eighty is the number to call. It is six forty.
If you'd like to give us a call, I'd love
to hear from you. We're we're sort of twenty minutes

(17:36):
into the show as we listen to the live commentary
of the All Blacks v Scotland remarkable match. When I
sort of got up, it was just on halftime seventeen nil.
I thought, oh, well, this is only going one way,
isn't it. By the time I'd got to the studio here,
it was seventeen all and we were down to playing
with fourteen men. So a fantastic game. I eight hundred

(17:57):
eighty ten eighty is the number to call talk to
you in a.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Minute doing of the house sorting the guard and asked
Pete for a hand the resident builder with Peta Wolfcare.
It's all.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
Your news, dogs'd be and we're talking all things building
and construction. You know that it's summer because we're all
talking about decks as well. Ron Good morning to you
mining people.

Speaker 9 (18:19):
I put a Garpa deck down at home home here
about probably eight or ten years ago and used Dryden's
deck oil on it and which rosen Felt recommended, and
it looked like a spotted leopard, I believe, I know.
I was very disappointed with it. And it's slowly come right.

(18:45):
And I put a the use of tinder in it,
not not just the I think it was open. I
wasn't because I'll forget what it was now there. But
you can get a tinder to go in it. Well,
it's looking really, really good. It's a hell of hardwood
with a lot of wax in it and very very heavy.
It's a beautiful timber and it's it's really it looks wonderful.

Speaker 4 (19:09):
So do you have a thought on so you've laid
it right? So and this is the thing packet a
timber arrives, you cut it all up, you dress the
ends off, you screw it down. Looks fabulous. And then
and then did these spots emerge? Then did you do
the sealer pretty much straight away?

Speaker 9 (19:25):
I did it straight away, and I did it underneath
as well.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
Yeah, great idea.

Speaker 9 (19:30):
I didn't let it where they're off. But it's as
waxy or anything. Yes, that you ever used.

Speaker 4 (19:36):
It, I don't know that. I probably have, but not recently.

Speaker 9 (19:40):
Oh, beautiful beautiful timber. It was. There's not a knot
in it, and the offcuts of it. I restore boats
in it as a hobby and right I thought, oh,
with the wax and it, this might be pretty good
to steam for ribs.

Speaker 4 (19:54):
Oh, very cool.

Speaker 9 (19:56):
It is, and in the steam box because the you know,
the wax heats it up and it bends.

Speaker 10 (20:04):
Well.

Speaker 9 (20:04):
It's as hard as hell and very heavy, yes, but
beautiful timber. And I think it's the best of the
lot of it. It doesn't bleed. And I'm looking at
it right now and for ten years it's looking fantastic.
I think they've changed the formula. It's hellising deer and
you have to put it on very very thinly and

(20:25):
spread it right, Yes, but I think it's the best
timber you could use for decking. It's fantastic. Also, as
I say, I complained to Dryden's about it. I was
very disappointed. It looked like a spotted leopard. It was terrible.
And there's a clear sort of.

Speaker 4 (20:47):
Can I just ask you, so you put the grapper
down the grapper arrived, you basically sealed it all with
the seala prior to it being installed. If you painted
the underside of it, then once it was laid, did
you apply another coat of the seala to it?

Speaker 9 (21:03):
Well, I actually sealed the bottom of it, put it down,
and then when I just left it for a little while,
and then I went over it with a thin coate. Okay,
but it's got to be very very thin because it's
extremely hard and it won't soaken into the wood.

Speaker 8 (21:18):
It takes.

Speaker 4 (21:20):
And so that that spotting effect that had emerge, but
then it's dissipated. Yes, wow, how interesting.

Speaker 9 (21:27):
But there's a clear, clear sort of stuff comes out
of the odd board's got it and like it does
on pine where it'll bleed, sort of a clear reason
coming out of the wood. There's the odd bit. There's
like that. But these were, Oh, it's settled down to
me as long and not a knot of blemish and
a beautiful, beautiful wood.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
Lovely, And I'd love to ask you questions about restoring
boats and bending timber and that sort of thing, but
you and I could chat for an hour on that.
Give me a call another day. I'd love to talk
about that as well. Right, we're a little bit under
the pump this morning because we were late to to start,
which is okay because of course we were tuned into

(22:09):
the rugby, but it is six forty eight and I
need to take a break. I'll be back with John
in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Whether you're painting with ceiling, fixing with fans, or wondering
how to fix that hole in the wall. Do you
have Peter wolf Caper call on the resident builder on
Youth Dogs.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
B saf to say, I'm sort of quietly intrigued as
to ron and is restoring of old boats and bending
if this is something that you've never heard of. With
growth to respect, there is some fascinating obviously YouTube videos
and that sort of thing of people steaming timber and
then bending it common in boat building, obviously obviously in

(22:47):
furniture making and so on. I've had to go doing it.
I don't have a steamer. I used a slightly less
professional method but did achieve some success, almost kind of
trying to bend a piece of trim to go around
the edge of a bespoke sort of breakfast bar kitchen

(23:09):
top thing that I was making. Yeah, I wish I
had the right year to be fair, John, Good morning
to you.

Speaker 11 (23:17):
Good morning Pete. I have a house with see the
weather boards on it. It's approximately forty five years old,
and we're the boards, but at the corners they're starting
to separate. Now, I understand I could use copper soakers,
but I would need a lot of them and it
would be pretty expensive. So I was wondering if you

(23:39):
had any ideas for whether boards are starting to spread
apart what I could do at a much lower cost.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I mean, when you said forty five years, I'm going
you should count your lucky stars, right. It's my first
response to that that you know that, I suppose what
I was expecting to hear is you know it's twenty
years old or fifteen years old or something like that,
and you're starting to get that movement. So thankfully, either

(24:11):
yourself or previous owners have locked after it, because certainly
it's not uncommon, particularly if you haven't followed the maintenance schedule,
to have a lot more movement than that. I would
still suggest to you that copper soakers are going to
be your most effective solution and your most effective and

(24:33):
probably cost effective, like once, especially cedar. But many timbers,
when they start to move, trying to get them to
flatten out, let's say, is incredibly difficult. So I probably
wouldn't even suggest anything other than applying a soca. I

(24:53):
guess the only counters to that would be And in fact,
I used them yesterday in a situation where I had
a box corner. Okay, so you've got you know, ninety
degree junction between two pieces of timber. It had been
painted dark, and over the last four or five years
it had started to open up, and I had simply
used I think galvanized jolts to fasten that box corner

(25:17):
together myself when I built it five years ago, and
they had started to open up. And what I used
is what we call a jolt screw. So this is
kind of new technology. Screws in various lengths, they are
pretty much the same gauge as a standard screw, the
head is smaller and they have a counter thread just

(25:39):
underneath the head. So once you've gone through the material
that you're fastening too and into the timber behind it
and it binds, it'll draw those two surfaces together and
it'll still leave you. The ones that I was using
yesterday probably be like a three milimeter head on them.
So you could grab a couple of those and see

(26:00):
whether by fastening those through you can draw the two
surfaces together. But I think I would probably just go
And what's the profile of the seedar Is it a
rusticated board or is it a standard Befel back board?

Speaker 11 (26:18):
I think it's a rusticated board.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
Right, So it's got a scollop at the top and
then a flat face and then it returns about ten
millet on the underside must be the other the okay,
So the face of the border is flat. Okay, So
is it you know standard where the boards they tuck
up one underneath the other and rusticated one's got like
a little scollop and then the face of the board

(26:42):
is flat and vertical as opposed to slight down.

Speaker 8 (26:45):
No, No, these are at an angle.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Of about so it's a flat.

Speaker 11 (26:50):
Sort tucking up underneath each other.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Perfect. That's really that's much easier to get a flashing
for those or a soaker for those than it is
the scollopped ones, because you have to literally make all
of those by hand. So I think I actually it
might be combination. Use the jolt screw to fasten the
board back'll that'll help pin it back, But then I

(27:14):
would apply a soaka over the top. I think that's
going to be a really good belt embraces approach to
that particular issue. Good luck with that one, John, Right,
We've got a whole bunch of text like is palisade
planning any good? How do I set out finding someone
for house inspections? Can I paint hardy plank black? And
also what are the new rules regarding these standalone dwellings? Well,

(27:37):
I'll hit all of those straight after the new sport
and weather top of the air at seven.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
Squeaky door or squeaky floor. Get the right advice from
Peter Wolfcaf, the resident builder on News Talks MB.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
Well, welcome back to the show. Eight hundred eighty ten
eighty is that number to call if you'd like to
talk about all things building construction, and it's a pretty
it's a broad palette. I say that our house has
been full of painting over the last couple of months.
Our son's year thirteen. He's putting his well, he's done

(28:21):
it now is art portfolio. So every time I come
home this kind of he's taken over the kitchen table
and there's there's paint palettes. Yeah, a broad variety of
colors all over the place. That's where I got that
reference from. Anyway, stretching the allegory, we can talk all
things building and construction, A broad palette of things that
we can discuss today on the show. Oh, eight hundred

(28:43):
eighty ten eighty is that number to call?

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Now?

Speaker 4 (28:45):
A couple of some great techs coming through. I'll try
and get through a few this morning, but you should
call as well again, eight hundred eighty ten eighty. First
one that came in good morning. My daughter lives in Auckland.
She's looking to buy her first ever home. She has
a limit of five hundred thousand dollars and is encountering
a lot of apartments with potentially tricky cladding. We're trying

(29:06):
to guide her through the process, but we're not in Auckland,
can you tell us who she can contact to get
a builder's report. She doesn't have a lot of excess
cash from Susan. I have to say, as an Aucklander,
I'm trying to think of what you might buy for
five hundred thousand dollars to be really fair, I'm not

(29:29):
aware of I mean, I am aware of some apartments
that are for sale at around that price, and typically
they've got issues right, whether that's potentially some cladding issues
which are either knowing or likely, or I suppose the

(29:51):
other price point for that tends to be around places
that are on lease hold land, and then there's a
genuine uncertainty about what's going to happen to those leases
in time, and do you get to control the amount
of increase let's say that might be ahead with a
lease so and builders reports and this has been a

(30:17):
kind of We've talked about this a few times, and
certainly among other building professionals, there's been a lot of
discussion around it in terms of while there is an
actual New Zealand standard for building reports, I would suggest
that because nobody has to prove any qualification in order
to undertake a building report, the variability of them is vast.

(30:45):
I've seen some which basically you do wonder whether the
person actually ever went to the house. And I've seen others,
and I was forwarded one from someone the other day
who it had been done for a previous purchaser, and anyway,
it was an exceptionally good report. The person was thorough.

(31:05):
The report had lots and lots of information, like a
phenomenal amount of information, it was, and you could tell
that the person who had done it, and you understood
what buildings are about and understands how they perform and
what impact various defects might have and why certain defects occurred.
And then of course we've talked a lot on the

(31:26):
show about building surveys, so people who are part of
the New Zealand it's due to building surveys and similar bodies,
you know, for that level of professionalism as well. And
then there's a cost associated with that. So I wonder
whether Susan for your daughter who's looking to buy, I mean,

(31:48):
buying something that's got some possible issues in terms of
planning is genuinely quite risky, so you'd have to be
super cautious about that. You know, again, this may not
happen here, but there's if you've looked at this story
about the apartments that are essentially being more than reclad

(32:09):
in Saint Luke's at the moment, you know, the remedial
bill has got up to three four hundred thousand dollars
per apartment for apartments that basically are selling for half
that at the moment. It doesn't take long to do
a Google search to find someone whose entire financial life
has been ruined by purchasing a building that ends up

(32:31):
having massive remedial work. And in some circumstances, I'm caging
all of this because things change a lot depending on circumstance.
But you know, in some cases people are being forced
by their body corporate to pay tens hundreds of thousands
of dollars for remedial work that they are then responsible

(32:53):
for because they're part of a body corporate. So there's
a few challenges there. I would suggest that maybe some
of the real estate agents that she might be using
to search for a property might be able to give
her some guy it's there. Someone's asked, what's palside cladding
like shivers? I think the last time that I might

(33:13):
have installed someone was twenty five years ago, so to
be fair, I'm a little bit out of date on
that in terms of first hand knowledge. Obviously it's still available,
it's compliant with the building code. There are some, you know,
real benefits in terms of durability and less maintenance than
other surfaces. But you'd probably want to try and find

(33:34):
someone who's installed it recently to ask them about that.
Can you paint James Hardy Plank cladding black so Hardi
Plank basically cladding, Does it make it hot inside the house?
Now that's a really interesting question. I mean, obviously, one
of the issues with painting some types of cladding dark

(33:54):
colors is the cladding itself is not designed to take it.
So if you read carefully instructions for most timber claddings,
they'll talk about a light reflectance value, and so if
you paint it too dark, you basically avoid the warranty
on the timber because it's not designed to be painted
that color. Because of the amount of heat that is

(34:16):
absorbed by dark colors and transferred through into the timber,
fiber cement sheet in general, and Hardy Plank as well,
because it's a fiber cement sheet, it doesn't perform the
same way as timber, because it's not timber. Therefore, you
can paint it dark color. So typically you can paint
those surfaces or those materials whatever color you like. Will

(34:37):
it make the house hotter inside? I suppose that depends
a little bit on the quality of the insulation beyond there.
So if instead of reflecting heat by having a light
color on the exterior of the building, you're absorbing the heat,
then what stops it transferring through to the inside of

(35:00):
the house will be the insulation. So if you've got potentially,
let's say hardy plank on the outside, you paint it black,
you've got an older house that has maybe no insulation
or not much insulation, then yes, potentially some of that
heat will transfer through to the inside of the house.
But at the same time, I mean, what would it
be a degree? Possibly maybe less? Be interesting to know. Oh,

(35:26):
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to
four and the last one that's in my queue at
the moment. Hey, Pete, apologize if this has been asked recently.
Can you update me on the new regulations regarding additional
standalone dwelling structures on property. Let's say in the Auckland
Regent number one. When consent is required, what size building
of slightly over thirty square meters doesn't trigger our consent?

(35:49):
So at the moment where the legislation has been passed
but it hasn't become law yet. And this is around
the granny flats for one of a better term, up
to seventy square meters may be able to be built
without requiring a building consent if they then comply with
a number of other rules in terms of distance away

(36:09):
from the boundary, distance away from another building, lightweight construction.
It still needs to be engineered, It still needs to
be designed, still needs to be built by licensed building practitioner.
You still need to use licensed subcontractors for plumbing and electrical,
and you still need to tell counsel what you're going
to do. It's basically the rules there that's coming to

(36:31):
information about connecting to sewer? Is it possible or not?
Can you do? I guess it's no without a consent. Well,
that's the other interesting thing that's coming is that typically
drainage work and adding a new sanitary fitting, whether that's
in this case inside the house or in an adjacent building,
triggered a requirement for building consent. That is also, to

(36:53):
the best of my knowledge, going to change, because the
whole point of not requiring a building consent for up
to seventy square meters means that all of those associated
sub trades, particularly the plumbers drain layers, won't need to
get a consent, won't need to have council inspections for
their work. Work still needs to comply with the relevant codes.
So the only well, there's probably a whole bunch of

(37:16):
fishocks there, but one of them might be counsel might
have determined that there's insufficient capacity in the public services
for additional connections. So when you go to council with
your plan and you submit a PIM to say I
want to do this work, they may say, sorry, that

(37:37):
there's lots of maize and maybes and all of this.
But they might say, no, we have insufficient capacity. We
can't allow you to make an additional connection. That might
happen we'll see at the stage two. Really really important
to emphasize the fact that this is not operable at
the moment. Right and I got an email from builders Hub,
the other building Hub, saying hey, look, you know clients

(38:01):
are ringing their builders saying, can you start building the
seventy square meter minor dwelling in my backyard please? Because
I don't need a consent? No, basically because it's not
the law right now, so you can't start building these
things right now. Short answer eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
The number to call will take your calls now, I've

(38:23):
done the text. I've kind of caught up to date.
M Oh, here's a classic looking at by and get home.
What do you think of them? They look legit, Van,
That's you're probably right. I think you've got to do
your research. Obviously, companies that have been around for a while,
that provide back up, provide advice and so on, that

(38:44):
have a track record, yep. If you've never heard about
them before and you don't know if they're going to
be around, and it all seems a bit shady, stay
away from it. I would suggest seventeen minutes after seven
you with news talk z'd be will take your calls now,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Helping you get those DIY projects done right. The resident
builder with Peta Wolfcare call oh eight hundre a talk ZV.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
To the caller that that phone through a couple of
minutes ago, had a long chat with Locke, my producer
off air obviously, and made a very kind, generous offer
for the to pass on to me his treasured possession
being a five meter long steamer. I don't actually think

(39:32):
it would fit in my garage, No, it would, but
thank you, like genuinely, thank you very much for making
that offer. But I don't do enough steaming of timber
to justify having my own five meter long steamer. That
would would severely limit other operations within my rather restrained

(39:55):
confines of my workshop, which I have to say, I
don't know what it's like for you if you've got
a workshop that you kind of you know, you work
out of in the sense of projects come in and
out and that sort of thing. There's always that clutter
that builds up during a project. Stuff gets dumped on
the bench and then it's I'll sort that out. But then,

(40:17):
of course when you want to go in there and
work on the next part of the project, it's harder
to do so because there's stuff in the way, and
I've got a couple of chairs that I'm restoring, I've
got some other things that I need to fix. Then
I've got to make something today, which requires me to
get those out of the way first. So it's there's
a log jam, there's a log jab in the workshop
at the moment I need to get into there. I

(40:38):
was kind of waiting for it to rain, to be fair.
I was thinking, if it rains, i'll go and we're
even yesterday it was like, if it rains, i'll go home,
work in the workshop. But it didn't, so I had
to stay out on site. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty. Well,
we'll take your calls. Love in the text, but love
the calls to be fair. Love the calls more so
call us oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty. With regard

(41:00):
to the comments about I suppose for people who have
been impacted by making a purchase and then finding out
that there's defects in the building, and particularly ones where
in an apartment or with buildings that have body corporates,
you kind of can't opt out, right. So if you
bill or if you buy a standalone building and find

(41:23):
that there's defects, well yes you're probably going to have
to fix it, but you're the one who gets to
decide that. As opposed to this text, from Robert High Pete.
In our terraced townhouse complex of only ten units, three
owners were bankrupted by the body Corp when they could
not afford to reclad. This is back in two thousand
and nine. The other seven had to get second mortgages

(41:46):
after the Auckland City Council were forced to come to
the party. The final cost for the seven was some
seventy thousand. I presume that seventy thousand each. This was
on units that only cost about two hundred and ten
thousand dollars in two thousand. That's from Robert. And look,
I'm sure that there's a whole bunch of people have

(42:06):
got exactly the same story as that. Pete loved the
show re substandard builds. I have friends family severely financially
impacted due to buying poorly built houses and apartments. Will
we ever see an end to this continuing mess? And
then they go on to say that maybe I should
run for council. Thank you, that's very kind. Probably not

(42:29):
at the stage I would suggest will we see an
end to it? Yes, Tentatively i'd say that we're building better.
But as it happened last weekend, when I finished here,
I shot out to look at a new build for
a good friend of ours and came away slightly disheartened

(42:54):
as well. That wandering into a brand new build and
being able to identify a whole host of faults and
defects that you know, if I can walk in in
forty five minutes and wander around and go, hang on,
why is that screw popping? Well? I mean I took

(43:16):
a photograph of the silicon job in one part of
the house, and it was the classic. It was a vanity.
When you walked in, you could see one side of
the vanity, but you had to go past it and
look backwards to see the other side. So on the
side that you could see when you walked in, the
silicon job just selling it to the tiles, right, simple
job was halfway decent. On the other side, it looked

(43:39):
like lava, and I'm like, where's the attention to detail?
Just a little bit of pride in your work? Anyway,
it was broadly speaking, it was okay. It's just lack
of attention to detail in those sorts of areas, and
it speaks to a lack of care, which is a

(44:00):
bit disheartening. I think as constructors we should care about
what we do and we should have pride in it
and you shouldn't leave it like Thatch Opinion seven five.
Good morning to you, Brian.

Speaker 5 (44:10):
Good morning Pete.

Speaker 8 (44:11):
How are you very well? Thank you? How come I help?

Speaker 5 (44:13):
Yeah? Good good. So I have rung you before, I
think some years ago in regards to some internal gathering
we have, well, the whole house has got internal gathering,
which we know is a problematic or can be.

Speaker 4 (44:25):
Now, let's clear. When you say internal gathering, are you
talking about the concealed spouting exposed facier type system. So
you've got a metal facier that runs around the perimeter
of the building and tucked inside there's some spouting.

Speaker 5 (44:39):
Yeah, ok, yep, yep, I know. Yeah, that's your standard. Now,
I don't know about how it's actually constructed, but it
almost appears like it's got it's like a you inside
of you, so that there's that actually is actually a
space between the where the water sits and and the
bottom of the of the of the metal frame or

(45:03):
facial or what if you call it, if you know
what I mean. So it's like it's you inside of you. Now,
we hit a couple of well, we had a guy
came open because after Gabriel the water was so it
was so intense that we got flooded inside. It went
went up inside and inside the house. Now it did
that where the starting door was, because there wasn't you know,

(45:23):
like on a standard eve our. He's actually quite wide.
They're about four hundred wide, which is great, quite substantial,
but where the slight sliding door is, it's like one inch.
So the internal the internal gathering actually sits almost inside
the perimeter of the house. When Gabriel came, it just

(45:44):
overflowed there and came in on the inside of the
starting door. So we had a guy came and put
a put an overflow velven that overflow valve. I had
a plumber coming. Are we supposed to give me a
quote and never did, but he was supposed to give
me a quote on putting another valven, And he seemed
to think that if you're not careful putting an overflow

(46:05):
valve connection, the restrict the amount of water that is released, basically,
because what it's doing is actually it's finding your point
in their gathering that says hey, I'm going to go there,
and it's actually putting it away in some respects from
the actual downpipes on either side, which was an interesting concept.

Speaker 10 (46:24):
No.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
One of the things I what I specifically wanted to
talk about was I was actually thinking of because those
overflow valves are fairly i know, the elongated, so if
you sort of squeeze their elongation up into a round circle,
it'd probably be be reasoned of reasonable size. But I
was actually thinking of getting a whole sord drilling right
through the top and bottom level of that internal gathering.

(46:49):
So I had a whole game right through and then
putting a piece of pipe and it's looking I mean
like like doing a proper job. Yeah, and and having
that you know, sit inch and a half capital of
pictures up and I mean it would only happen periodically,
but I'm just I just don't want to get to
that situation water coming in the house again. So I'm

(47:10):
sort of on the verge of going a bit extreme,
if you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
And I get where you're coming from, and I think
it's probably a workable solution, except it doesn't solve the
big problem. And the big problem is those things are problematic, right,
The entire system and set up is problematic, And without
wanting to be a Doom's sayer. Eventually is it a
it's a metal internal spouting.

Speaker 8 (47:35):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
Okay, If not now, sometime in the future, it'll rust. Yeah,
it'll fail every week.

Speaker 5 (47:42):
Okay. So it was built of earth, it was built
of ninety five class And I get up on the
roof about once every year and have a lock and
there is no sign of anything that would that would
consume me.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Okay, yep.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:59):
Look in that sense, I think if you're diligence diligent
with your maintenance, the problem with them is a little
bit about capacity. They are very difficult to repair if
you leave them in situe. But if yours is not
starting to rust, but it's a capacity issue, then yes,
providing for some overflow that in heavy rain, which we're

(48:19):
getting a lot more of these intense downpours, that rather
than the water building up and overtopping, flooding over your
feet and into the building envelope, it finds another and
even if it just floods onto the ground in your situation,
not a not a bad response. So I think go
ahead with what you're proposing.

Speaker 5 (48:38):
It's a.

Speaker 4 (48:40):
Three inch part, yeah, just let it just give the
water somewhere to go, right, just accepting the fact that
it's it's insufficient capacity and it's going to overtop, and
you just want to direct it away. Typically, when when
I'm having this conversation, if it was in let's say,
if it was an average condition or poor condition, I'd say.
The great thing about a problem that's fairly common is

(49:03):
that people will find a solution to it. And there's
a couple that I know. There's a new one that
I went to see the other day, a company that's
called RIGS, so r i GS. I know the guy
from years ago. He's been doing roofing and spouting for
donkeys years. He's come up with a system himself. So

(49:24):
it's basically a substitute system for these whether it's Taylor
or Diamond or Trimline or whoever made the original ones,
where they pull that off. They've got clips everything ready,
they'll do a new facire, they'll do an external spouting
onto your existing house. So if you're interested in that,

(49:44):
if you're thinking long term, I want a solution, just
do a Google search for RIGS. So, yeah, revamp internal
gutter systems. There's a couple of other ones out there.
They're also very good, but this is worth looking at,
so Riggs r I g S have a look at
that as well. But otherwise I think you're on the
right track. Nice to talk to, right, I much appreciated.

(50:07):
Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number
to call, and that's a text for Rudo. Come to
that a little bit later on. Rudd will be joining us.
I'm really interested in getting him to give me a
genuine opinion about these hornets that have arrived in Auckland
and whether or not the sort of citizen science thing.
Because the Internet seemingly is flooded with solutions for making traps.

(50:31):
Will that make a difference, That's what I want to know,
because if it is, and if it's a sensible thing
for us to do, that's on my job list today.
To be fair, I actually went and bought some beer
just in case I have to make one of these
traps this week. That's the only reason I bought it.
Heather greetings, Yes, good morning, Pete.

Speaker 12 (50:50):
My daughter was supposed to ring you, but I don't know.
I think she's still asleep.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
Fair enough to How can I help who?

Speaker 12 (51:00):
And how how have you been looking to buy a house?

Speaker 8 (51:03):
Yes?

Speaker 12 (51:04):
And apparently the the garage that was attached to the
house has been converted into another living space, yep. And
they were they asked about a code of compliance, yes,
and it would appear that they haven't got one because

(51:26):
they said, well, if you will want that, you're going
to have to go through the lawyer n request. So
is that correct?

Speaker 4 (51:34):
Or okay, let's go back a couple of steps. Roughly
how old is the house I.

Speaker 12 (51:42):
Don't know, but the conversion was done early two thousands apparently.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
Okay, all right, So the conversions was done at the
time when the current Building Act was in place. So
the reason I ask about I suppose on the council
file there will be a record possibly of the original
either building permit or building consent, and it will show
on there that it's a let's say it's a three

(52:07):
bedroom house with an attached garage, right, And then in
some time between when that original building permit or consent
was issued and today, the garage has gone from being
a garage into a essentially habitable space. They turned it
into a living room I presume, or a lounge ything.

(52:30):
In doing that, have they for example, removed the garage
door and put in a window or a ranch slider.

Speaker 12 (52:37):
I don't know, Okay, so obviously she's there's been something
there for her to ask, yes compliance, maybe they put
in a ranch slider or double doors or I don't know.

Speaker 4 (52:57):
Yeah, And it was interesting because I actually did some
reading on this the other day because one of the
phrases we would often I would often use, and I've
heard use quite a bit is change of use, right,
and the change of use from a not a habitable
space into a habitable space requires a building consent. It's
not actually about change of use. And the Orgland Council

(53:18):
document that I was reading specifically states there is no
requirement for a change of use, but when you change
our garage into a habitable space in order for the
garage to comply with the building code. So often garages
are not insulated, right, so that we tend to even
if they're attached to the house. Most developers builders won't

(53:41):
insulate them. They'll just insulate the petition and across. So
if all you do to that garage is line it
and so on and it doesn't have insulation, that means
it doesn't comply with the building code in terms of
a habitable space.

Speaker 12 (53:55):
Yea, this is I think this is where question comes in.
The Other thing is if the people.

Speaker 4 (54:03):
Who are selling the house, if they did the work well,
they have inherited it right, they own it. So if
they never applied for a building consent, they certainly won't
have a code compliance. You can't get a building a
code of compliance if you don't have a building consent.

Speaker 12 (54:25):
The council.

Speaker 4 (54:26):
If they go to the council and they request the limb,
as I would expect they would do, or their lawyer
would would do on their behalf, go through that. Look
for which what building consents and building permits are registered,
and then any building consent that is registered against the
property if it doesn't have and you read across and

(54:47):
it'll say CCC issued or no cc CCC issued. If
it says that. If there's a building consent that says
building consent to replace joinery, add insulation line, garage and
CCC is issued, great, If it says building consent and
no CCC issued, that's a bit of a challenge because

(55:11):
I used to have an opinion where I'd go, look,
you know what, you could always buy the property at
a price that you're happy with, and then you go
and sort out the CCC. Later, I've stopped advising that
because it can be a terribly tortuous process to get
expensive and expensive and you just don't know whether you're

(55:33):
going to get one. So in those instances, my general
advice is, yes, you can choose to do that, but
do so knowingly, right and fully informed. Or if there's
a building consent that didn't get a CCC, you put
the pressure back on the vendor to get it before
you settle, and you make it a condition of the settlement,

(55:56):
because they can be difficult.

Speaker 12 (55:59):
I thinkin this is why it hasn't sold, because people
have been interested that yep, nobody you know speaking.

Speaker 4 (56:06):
That's why banks are increasingly reluctant to let you know.
They tend to ask a lot more questions. If something
like this is on the limb, insurers might ask a
few questions. It's just a little bit trickier now than
it used to be. The other thing, too, is that
let's say there's no record on the council file of

(56:31):
the garage not being a garage but being a living
space now, then the only way to sort of make
it compliant or to formalize that is to request a
code Certificate of acceptance a CoA. Again, council's attitude to
this has shifted dramatically, and so the burden of proof,

(56:54):
let's say, is almost the equivalent as if you were
getting a building consent for it. So back in the day,
council inspector would come out, they'd do a safe and
sanitary right, is it going to fall down if I
flush the toilet the poos go downhill? It used to
be as simple as that. It's not anymore. So most

(57:16):
councilors now will say, okay, you need to prove to
me that the building is compliant. Now that's beyond most
people's ability to do. So you tend to end up
going to a building surveyor who comes out. They might say, well,
look I can't tell. So I'm going to ask you
to remove some lining. I'm going to ask you to
expose that beam. I'm going to want to see how
the flashings are done, et cetera, et cetera. Then they

(57:38):
will write a statement on your behalf. But you know
it's time and money and possibly quite a bit of both,
So doesn't mean they can't buy it. Just buy it
with your eyes wide open. Yeah, okay, good on you

(57:59):
for calling on bath of your daughter. I hope she
has a good sleeper. All right, you take care of
all of us by then. Ah classic oh, eight hundred
eighty is the number to call if you've got a
question of a building nature, give us a call. Love
to chat with you this morning. It is seven forty
there you got just ticked over bang on seven forty
measure twice.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
God was but maybe call Pete first, feed your wolfcaf
the resident builder News Talk said b.

Speaker 4 (58:24):
This morning, I'm joined by Dwayne Cameron from frank House,
a company that is redefining how houses are built in
New Zealand through precision made, prefabricated panels. Key product in
their system is Jayframe High Performance LVL framing that's helping
builders work faster, smarter, and with a lot less waste.

(58:44):
Frank House approach is all about efficiency and innovation. The
panels built using Jayframe and advanced German machinery arrive ready
to install, cutting down build time, reducing site mess, and
helping keep costs under control. It's a smarter way to
build and it's really gaining momentum in the industry. Dwaine,
thanks very much for your time this morning.

Speaker 8 (59:05):
Nice last aspect to you.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Yeah, great to talk to you too.

Speaker 8 (59:08):
Hey.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Now, builders are always looking for ways to same time
and reduce hassle on site. So how does jframe help
you making these panels streamline the construction process.

Speaker 8 (59:19):
Well, it's a lot straighter than the standard timber, and
dimensionally it's very correct, so there's a lot less straightening
and buzzing on site or in our sort of case,
off site. It's also with being an ALVL timber or
laminated a timber, we can spand further, which means we
can put lest timber in our walls or in our
root cassets and flour cassettes, which is obviously a saving

(59:41):
and also better for themal performance.

Speaker 4 (59:44):
Now, are there particular types of builds or projects where
the jayframe has really shined or is it? There's tile
enough for pretty much every residential and commercial job.

Speaker 8 (59:53):
It's first of all enough for any residential commercial job
for sure, but in the off site sort of file
of things that really does hold its own because it
is so dimensionally correct. Yeah, and that's really important for
us because I obviously using press tables and if we're
three or four nights, I got a timbers three or
four meals out it frowze our whole panel.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
And that's a tolerance that you know, if you're on
site you kind of accept that, right, But in a
prefabrication situation where you're integrating the timber with the machinery,
the precision is everything.

Speaker 8 (01:00:25):
Yeah, we're sort of working within two to three meals
over nine meters, so we're pretty accurate and we need
to be otherwise when we put these panels on site,
they don't fit so well.

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
Now, what's the feedback that you're hearing from builders and
other construction companies who have swapped across the jframe.

Speaker 8 (01:00:43):
From the feedback we've had that love it. I mean again,
it's saving them time on site, which is what we're
all about. They're not buzzing, they're not spending hours going
around and knocking back nogs and doing things that are
pretty much very hard to price. You're not actually making money,
not losing money, which is a positive thing for our industry.

Speaker 10 (01:01:01):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
I was chatting with Liam, your duke and account manager,
the other day and he was telling me that you
work with Flexi House and I know those guys and
Andre and the team. How does what's that connection there?

Speaker 8 (01:01:12):
Well, Flexi House, we probably supply their panel, and they
have basically come up with an engineered system that gets
us sort of weather tight and lockable in days rather
than weeks. They can span up to sort of six
meters wide, not for fourteen meters long. Wow, fully in

(01:01:32):
the panels come fully insulated with windows in and set
as cavities. That's a high performance panel. Yes, So not
only is it sort of saving time and money, it's
also producing a product that's of a very high performance,
which is great to live in, cheap to run, cheap
to heat, cheap to call. And also by using LVL

(01:01:54):
with the Flexi.

Speaker 13 (01:01:55):
System or jframe with a Flexi system, we're able to
eliminate a lot of additional timber that we would normally
put in four So again that's great for thermal bridging
and also great for.

Speaker 8 (01:02:07):
Costs because there's less tumber in the wall. Just one
win win, it sure is. What's just and what it
does allow for builders is that rather than feacing their
labor costs about to do more, they can keep their
labor at the same and still do do more because
they're not spending so many hours on site.

Speaker 5 (01:02:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:02:23):
So yeah, it's a win for everybody. I think in
the next little while we're really sort of see it
take off.

Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
I would imagine, yeah, oh look it's moving in it.
You know. By contrast when I started almost forty years
ago to what we're able to do today, it's radically different.
People will want to know more about Frank House. How
do they find you?

Speaker 8 (01:02:43):
The best thing is to give me a call on
two one four four seven, five six eight or suck
us an email at Dwayne at frank House dot co
dot z.

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
That's awesome. Really appreciate your time this morning, Dwayne, Thank you,
thank you. And now, if you're building or renovating, you
want a quality finish, you need to start with a
quality start. So check out Jframe Jane l co dot
nz viewing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
Of the house storting the garden asked Pete for a
hand the resident builder with Peter Wolfcap call eighty eight news.
Dogs'd be all righty Oh what's.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
On your mind? Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty
is the number, Jenny, Good.

Speaker 10 (01:03:20):
Morning, Good morning, Pete. I don't have a house. It's
very basic, built in the late sixties. Yes, the previous
owners in the seventies of some sage. Not a part
of the hall, part of a hallway out and put
it into the lounge. Now when I come to sell that,
am I going to have a problem because they wouldn't

(01:03:42):
have needed a building content back then.

Speaker 4 (01:03:48):
I mean, I think most and I know I'm sounding
particularly cautious around us. It's I think most of the
concern is around projects that people know in the last
let's say thirty years should have had a building consent
but didn't or did get a building concent but never
got the CCC attached to it. So something like this,

(01:04:10):
where it's much older, you'd look at that and go, Okay,
what's the real impact on that building? You know, to
be fair, if they took out a wall and it
meant that the building was unsafe forty years ago, if
it was going to be a problem, you would have
noticed by now, right. So I look at it and go,
how does it perform? Well, Chances are people knew what

(01:04:30):
they were doing back then. They might have taken a
wall out, they put a beam in. It hasn't fallen down.
It's not likely to go and fall down now. So
you know, if I was looking at it with a
potential buyer, I'd just go, you know, it hasn't failed
I don't think you need to be worried, and I
don't think counsel are overly concerned about that type of
thing either.

Speaker 10 (01:04:48):
Okay, that's fine.

Speaker 4 (01:04:49):
Thanks true broadly speaking, thank you, Okay, all the best
of you, Good luck. Sorry. I don't mean to get
everyone freaking out about things that are sort of non
compliant in their houses or that sort of situation. It's
not even about non compliance. I mean, that's what happened
years ago. People would take out a wall and you know,
if you did it in the house didn't fall down

(01:05:09):
forty years later, chances are it's okay, George, good morning morning.

Speaker 7 (01:05:15):
Last week, last week you had a whole other session
on Branni Flett. Yes there or not there was going
to be rapable.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
Yep, they are going to be ratable.

Speaker 7 (01:05:27):
I rung up the local borough of City council to
define what I was talking to. Yes, and I asked
them the same question and they gave me two answers.
One was, are you going to connect to the toilet
sewage system of the property that goes to the council system. Yep,
if you do it, it's ratable. Are you if it's

(01:05:49):
going to go into a sixty tank and not to
the council system like on a farm, it won't be rapable.
Is the water supply to the unit being connected, which
is being supplied by the council. That means it becomes ratable.
The sop the soft your pink on the house not

(01:06:10):
being provided by the council, it's not rapable.

Speaker 5 (01:06:14):
So that's okay.

Speaker 4 (01:06:15):
That and there's there's a real straightforward logic to that,
which is great.

Speaker 7 (01:06:20):
Yes, well, the councils providing services to the unit. Therefore
it becomes a rapable unit part of the property and
part of the rapes.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
The other thing, and thank you for doing that research
because you know that's yeah, that's a really good and
straightforward insight into it. The other thing that's part of
this process of engaging with counsel because one of the
concerns that I've had, and certainly that that people like
the New Zealand's Due of Building surveyors and sign have had,

(01:06:50):
is that much of the way in which this information
has been presented tends to imply that there's no rules,
right because you need it, you don't may not need
a building consent, therefore there's no rules. That's not the case, right,
it's a million miles from that. There is still going
to be requirement. Obviously, you need to build it in
according to the building code. You're still going to have
to get it designed. You're going to have to get

(01:07:10):
it the engineered. Da da da da da da da.
The other thing is that what I would be interested
to know is whether or not when you put together
your perm and go to the council and say I'm
going to build this building. Let's say you put your
rain water into a tank and you put your wastewater
into a septic tank so it doesn't become ratable, it

(01:07:32):
may still trigger a development reserve or reserve development fee, right,
so councilor might still take a bite.

Speaker 7 (01:07:42):
Yes, so I know people are going to go two ways.
One is that going to go, oh dear, how is
this going to affect me? I will go to the
council and find out that's the number one rule. Yes,
Second one, I'll build it anyway and let them find
out later.

Speaker 4 (01:08:00):
Yeah, but you know when they're going to find out
when people go and sell.

Speaker 7 (01:08:03):
Them, Yes, and there that would be the interesting thing.
And would they backright you for not having complied initially
to the fact that you are connected.

Speaker 4 (01:08:14):
Yes, yes, and I'll tell you what. There's actually a
couple of other issues that are starting to emerge around
this as well. I won't go into it right now,
but we will pack this up straight after eight o'clock
as well. Great to have you company this morning. You
with Pete wolf Camp here at News Talk CP. We've
got news at eight o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:08:50):
Whether you're painting the ceiling, fixing the fence, or wondering
how to fix that hole in the wall. Give Peter
wolf Camper call on eighty the resident builder on News
Talks B Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:09:06):
Exciting times ahead, Oh, eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
We've talked about the formula one actually myself in lock
during the break, but lots of exciting things happening and
building as well, so we can talk about that, and
then lots and lots and lots of talk about the
whole building compliance, which will continue to talk about probably
for quite a long time on the show. But also

(01:09:27):
around the proposed changes, so the granny flat or simple
standalone dwelling. The legislation's passed, but it's not active right
so you can't start building them now. And also number
of conversations I've had in the last couple of weeks
where people have said, you know, it seems like the

(01:09:48):
way in which it's been presented as there will be
no rules, and that's just not the case.

Speaker 5 (01:09:53):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:09:53):
There's still a whole lot of requirements around who you
have to tell, where you can build it, how you
have to build it, et cetera, et cetera. So it
really shouldn't be seen as a carte blanche to go
and whack up seventy square meters in your back yard,
because that's definitely not the case. Well, we see some
of it. Yeah, probably before the news we were talking about,

(01:10:13):
you know, the risk perhaps of either purchasing a property
where you have been made aware that there are some
defects in the sense of work that was done that
maybe did get a building consent but didn't get signed off,
didn't get the CCC, work that should have had a
building consent but didn't get one, and then what do
you do about that? And this text has come through

(01:10:34):
Pete Sadley, the insurers and the banks don't see non
compliance in the same way as you. I mentioned about
a wall coming out. I had a non load bearing
NIB wall and the removal of a fireplace on the
external wall that was replaced by French doors nineteen eight
ninety ninety one, respectively. And yet we lost three to
four buyers because of this greatest respect to the text,

(01:10:57):
I mean taking out a chimney and replacing it with
a set of doors, so there was no opening there
before that work would have required a building consent, And
whoever did work, even in nineteen ninety one probably would
have known that, you know, I mean, there's yeah like
that sort of thing. Wouldn't surprise me that someone would

(01:11:18):
pick that up and go, well, hang on. The original
plan showed a chimney. Now the chimney's gone. There's a
set of French doors there. Did they get a consent
for that? No, they didn't. What I was talking about
is you know a section of wall or internal petition
that can be determined to be non load bearing removed
without a consent? Is that low risk?

Speaker 8 (01:11:38):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (01:11:38):
It is taking out a chimney replacing with some doors
and windows exterior envelope da da da da da. Is
that a risk? Yes it is. Therefore it needs a consent.
Oh W eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty the
number to call Natalia. Good morning, Good morning, Pete.

Speaker 14 (01:11:53):
How are you very well?

Speaker 4 (01:11:54):
Thank you? How are you very good?

Speaker 14 (01:11:56):
Thank you. I've just got a couple of questions in
relation to a kitchen renovation. Sure, I have a very
small galley kitchen. The length is two point two meters
and the wood is two meters. The kitchen cabinet tree
would be probably nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies, yes, And the
benches are very narrow. On one side, the bench is

(01:12:19):
only forty four centimeters.

Speaker 4 (01:12:20):
Oh yeah, I know exactly what you mean, yep.

Speaker 14 (01:12:23):
And on the other side it's fifty one centimeters, which
means currently I have floor space that I can walk
in one hundred and twenty three centimeters. But if I
modernize the kitchen and get this current standard benches, which
I think are six hundred and six, yeah, six hundred,
it means that my floor space is going to be

(01:12:43):
reduced to eighty five centimeters. Is that an issue? What
I need to know is is there any minimum requirement
for walking space in a galley kitchen.

Speaker 4 (01:12:55):
That's a great question. I don't know that there's any
minimum requirement, but you would you would look at that
and go, you know, eighty five centimeters from bench top
to bench top. I mean that's like walking through a door, right,
you know, a reasonably whye door would be that equivalent,
and that to be fair, it doesn't feel like a

(01:13:15):
lot of space, does it.

Speaker 14 (01:13:19):
Well, it probably doesn't. And at the moment the kitchen
works well. But I've only got two appliances in the kitchen.
One's a stove and the other of fridge, and they
both protrude the benches, but they're at the end of
the benches, so they're not in the middle or anything.
But I would like to add a dishwasher.

Speaker 4 (01:13:39):
Yes, which you need.

Speaker 14 (01:13:41):
The six under in the middle of the benches. Yeah,
And I'm wondering if that's going to be an issue.

Speaker 4 (01:13:48):
Are you thinking about removing all of your existing cabinets
and having them replaced with modern cabinatry, and are you
going to let's say, a bespoke cabinet maker to have
them made, because probably a little bit challenging to buy
that to do those actually could do you do it?

Speaker 8 (01:14:11):
Now?

Speaker 14 (01:14:11):
I'll tell you what, just just just getting standard cabinetry
rather than having it made, because I just want to
keep costs down.

Speaker 4 (01:14:18):
Yeah, sure, sure, I'll tell you just because I'm kind
of intrigued by this. I did a not a similar
one a little while ago, but I had more space, right,
So it was the classic four fifty deep cabinetry on
both sides. We ripped that out or replaced the cabinetry,
but I had more space in between. I'm just wondering whether,
in your instance, if you kind of you've got an

(01:14:45):
open space, right once you take all the cabinets out,
you've got an open space. Could you have six hundred
wide cabinetry on one side and that's where you put
your appliances, so your dishwasher, you're under bench oven, that
sort of thing which needs that depth. And on the
other side, do you need two bench tops or two
bench surfaces to work on? Could you survive and kitchen

(01:15:06):
with just one?

Speaker 14 (01:15:09):
I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (01:15:10):
Okay, no, that's fair enough because the.

Speaker 14 (01:15:12):
Room isn't very long. It's only two point two meters
in a stove, et cetera.

Speaker 4 (01:15:18):
Yeah, you've got no prep space.

Speaker 14 (01:15:19):
Got less space.

Speaker 4 (01:15:20):
Yeah, and I get that. I suppose we're What I
was thinking is, would you do benches on one side
and storage cabinetry on the other, But you could make
that a bit thinner that would give you a bit
more space in between, but then you're left with not
much bench at all, and it's got to be a
galley kitchen because there's openings at both ends.

Speaker 8 (01:15:43):
Of the room.

Speaker 14 (01:15:43):
Correct.

Speaker 4 (01:15:48):
I suppose your other option is to take the six
hundred on one side, But maybe if you're going to
have it made for you, you could say, well, look my
bench on the other side. Instead of going to six hundred.
If I went to five hundred on one side and
six hundred on the other, that would gain you an
extra hundred millimeters. And I think the difference between eighty
six and ninety six, you know, it's a large It's

(01:16:11):
a lot of space given that you don't have much,
So I would I would play with that.

Speaker 14 (01:16:15):
Idea, be five hundred wide would need to be custom made,
where the six hundred would be standard.

Speaker 4 (01:16:21):
Yeah, But to be fair, you'll find that not many
things are actually completely standard these days, and the ability
of companies to manufacture non standard isn't actually that difficult
nowadays either, So I don't know that.

Speaker 14 (01:16:36):
I think if I go somewhere like Bumbings or place
Makers or somewhere like that for my kitchen, they don't
deviate from the standards.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
Yeah maybe, look at you do it.

Speaker 14 (01:16:50):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:16:54):
Yeah, that might be an option too.

Speaker 14 (01:16:58):
Okay, all right, you check that out. Okay, I've just
got a couple of other questions. If I want to
add a dishwashers, that's going to require council consent.

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
Oh, very good question. No, I'm going to say no,
because you've already got a sink, right, So what you're
doing is simply plumbing your dishwasher into the sink, because
you just change the fitting underneath the bowl to one

(01:17:28):
with a spigot on and you plug the dishwasher into there.
So I'm going to say no, you don't need a
consent for that.

Speaker 14 (01:17:34):
Okay, that's lovely, and currently because I want to keep
the kitchen as it currently is, because I don't want
to start moving things around and having extra cost. Currently
my stove is next to a wall. Is that issue
to put a new stove next to the wall.

Speaker 4 (01:17:51):
No, not at all. So all you need to do
is to comply with the building code is to ensure
that there is some sort of protection around the perimeter
of it. So a tiled splash back, glass splash back,
some stainless steel something like that. That's all.

Speaker 14 (01:18:07):
Okay, all right, that's got in one more question. There's
currently no range hod in the kitchen, and I'd like
to put one in. But recently I had the roof
replaced and the property has got a flat roof, and
the roofing people put a corrugated roof in, but on
one side of the house, which runs over the top

(01:18:27):
of the dining room and the kitchen, they put a
double layer of iron in because they said they wanted
to ensure proper runoff, so over the top of the
corrugated iron they put like a flat piece of roofing
iron the leaks of the property to ensure runoff, which
now means if I have a rainehot, it's going to
have to go up through two layers of corrugated iron.

(01:18:52):
The other issue is they could put it out through
the wall the range hod, but it's a double brick
plasted war I'm thinking what would be the best option,
and is it possible to do it through.

Speaker 4 (01:19:06):
The rope Both are possible. In order to go through
the brickwork, you'd need to get someone into concrete drill
that for you. And as long as it's not too
close to a window opening, there shouldn't be an issue
in terms of structural integrity. So going out through the
wall is an option depending on how close it is
to the window. Going up and through the roof is doable.

(01:19:31):
It's a little bit more complicated, but it's certainly not impossible.
I think typically for range hoods, I think they vent
better through the wall than through the roof because what
you'll imagine what's happening. You've got the pot bubbling away,
you've got the range hood going. It's got to push
that moisture laden air up and then up a bit

(01:19:52):
further and then allow it to come out the top.
And what will happen is quite a lot will stay
in that pipe, whereas if it's up and a bend
and out it'll be much more effective. So my preference, well,
my suggestion would be go for through the.

Speaker 14 (01:20:06):
Wall because it's less height.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
Less height, and they tend to be more effective.

Speaker 14 (01:20:13):
Okay, all right, that's lovely.

Speaker 4 (01:20:14):
Lovely to chat with you, my pleasure.

Speaker 14 (01:20:16):
It's helped a lot.

Speaker 4 (01:20:17):
Take care of FA all the best. It's eighteen minutes
after eight back after the break.

Speaker 1 (01:20:22):
Door, squeaky door or squeaky floor. Get the right advice
from Peedi Wolfcare the resident builder on Us talks b.

Speaker 4 (01:20:31):
From every day excellence to statement design. You do It
Kitchens gives you the freedom to create a kitchen that
fits your life. If you're serious about DIY, you'll love
the flexibility and design control that comes from the U
sizet system, which lets you change cabinet sizes to fit
your space perfectly. It's all about giving you choice from

(01:20:52):
cabinet design and finishes to the small details that make
every kitchen unique. Start with solid colors, step up to
a textured wood grain, or go premium with Ultra touch
and Ultra gloss finishes for a high end, modern look.
Drawer and cabinet options range from standard metal sided through
to soft clothes and other designer hardware upgrades, letting you

(01:21:15):
decide exactly how your kitchen feels and functions. Everything is
proudly made in New Zealand, with your kitchen manufactured and
dispatch to your door in just seven days. Advice from
local DIY experts is only an email away. Search you
do it. That's UDUI, and see why their customers are

(01:21:37):
proud to say I did it myself.

Speaker 5 (01:21:41):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:21:42):
Let's a couple of quick calls before we jump into
the garden Fay. Good morning, Yes, good morning, Adam.

Speaker 15 (01:21:51):
I'm just going to quick questions. I'm in an over
fifty five at Belfast in christ Choo. What's my chap
in the laundry and the kitchen grip quite well to
turn them off. Yes, the plumb is said, that's what
taps do. Won't fix it. Yeah, And we just can't

(01:22:15):
get anybody, they said. I've been in here since March
and still getting problems fixed the front door in that time.
The door lock is jammed and i can't get in
or out. And I've had it fixed, as I said,
five times since March, and it was fixed again that's Friday.

(01:22:38):
But I think it's going to go again.

Speaker 4 (01:22:40):
Yeah. I mean sometimes, just with regard to the taps,
they do. You know, depending on the design of the
nozzle you might have. Once you turn the water off,
a little bit of water might still sort of drop out.
But I mean, and if it's inherent in the design,
then that's what it is. But it seems unlikely, so

(01:23:01):
I suspect it's an industry with the washer or the seal.
With regard to the door. I mean, look, that's really
frustrating and I would sort of escalate your concerns by
going to the property managers and to the maintenance people
and saying, look, this becomes a health and safety issue
right the door keeps jamming, in which case if I
needed to get out an emergency, I wouldn't be able to.

(01:23:24):
You need to take another look at it. And maybe
it's not a repair to the lock, it's a replacement
to the lock. But I mean, you know these things
to be blunt, they're not that complicated. People should be
able to fix them. So I think it's it's really
a question of challenging the maintenance team on that eight
hundred eighty ten eighty A couple of quick text Actually

(01:23:45):
it's quite nice on the kitchen thing that we're just
talking about with Tatalia. So the industry standard in terms
of like the New Zealand Kitchen Association or m k
b A standard is twelve hundred if you're thinking about
the distance between two bench tops in a galley type kitchen,
so getting down to eight sixty as well below that,

(01:24:08):
someone else said, well, you've got to make sure that
with that limited space, what happens when you open the
door of the dishwasher you'll have to unload from beside it,
there won't be enough space to stand behind the door
and reach, and so there are some challenges in that
particular design for Natalia. So good morning to you, Hi there.

Speaker 16 (01:24:31):
Peter, Thanks for taking a call. Lassen't no trouble, thanks said. Look,
we're trying to figure out the rules for putting a
swim spar in our backyard. It's four fifty seven long,
two twenty six wide and one twenty seven high, so
it should be over the height for not needing to

(01:24:53):
be fenced, potentially with a lockable cover. But honestly, we
can't make a little tail of the council rules on this,
and we seem to be going around in circle. Just
what sort of advice you offer, And obviously we need
to get into the thing as well, so stairs of
steps of some kind and catchally some decking around it

(01:25:13):
and sensing yes, but it's really a bit of a minefield.
So I'm just wondering if you could offer some wisdom.

Speaker 4 (01:25:20):
Yeah, I've done a few of these. Actually. It seemed
to be a fairly common issue when we were working
on the block back in the day. So typically for
things like those sparples and that if it had a
lockable lid. Right, if it had demountable stairs, and if
it had a certain height and it was somewhere around

(01:25:42):
twelve or thirteen hundred high, then it didn't didn't trigger
the requirement for pool fencing because if you combine all
of those three measures, then the chances of someone entering
the property, falling into it, et cetera, etc. Is diminished. Right,
So there's that's your checks and balances. I would have

(01:26:05):
thought that the people who are supplying you the item
would be able to guide you through the consenting saying that.
I also accept that not all councils take the same
approach to things, despite the fact that there is only
one set of rules, right, there's only one swimming Pool Act,
but it doesn't stop individual councils interpreting it slightly differently.

(01:26:28):
And you know, like the demountable stair thing that can
be challenged sometimes when you know it is lockable, just
a little latch that means you can click it in place,
or does it have to have a key attached to it.
Most of the ones that I've seen have got like
a small plastic key so you can click the lid
into place and then turn the lock. So that you

(01:26:50):
can't just you know, press the levers on either side,
the buttons on either side and release it. You actually
have to have the key. So generally those things mean
that it's doesn't require fencing as per the Fencing Act
or the Pull Fencing Act. Rather okay, well not generally,
but I would have thought that the people you're buying

(01:27:11):
it from would be that should be able to give
you a bit of guidance accepting the fact that council change.

Speaker 16 (01:27:16):
The rules when we start. If we start put decking
around and then the height comes up, yes, challenges.

Speaker 4 (01:27:25):
That's right. So if in fact you put it on
the ground, then you build some decking around it, and
then suddenly the distance from the deck, which is where
you're going to be walking to the top of the
pool is less than the required minimum, then obviously that
then triggers a requirement for a pool fencing because you've
so it's those three key elements. You've got to make
sure that you comply with all three of those and

(01:27:46):
then you should.

Speaker 1 (01:27:47):
Be okay, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (01:27:49):
Alrighty, no trouble at all, Thank you, Take care your
news talks. We're going to jump into the garden in
just a moment. Can I just say too, I had
the opportunity. I was invited to attend the SPAN Build
and Your conference or to attend the awards dinner at
the end of their conference. So SPAN build is the

(01:28:13):
group that includes people like Versatile and Total Span and
Ideal Buildings and Porter Build and so on. So they
got all their distributors and some of the suppliers from
all around the country. They've been in Auckland for a
couple of days. They had dinner at the Moment Hotel
on Friday night, and I was invited to go along

(01:28:33):
sort of as an MC and guest speaker. What a
delightful bunch of people. I have to say, I quite
enjoy it. Sounds a bit naive, but I quite enjoy
the awards that I go to because I've never worked
in a corporate environment where I'm part of that system. Right,
So in order you know, to see the support the

(01:28:56):
friendship between people, you know, they're all competing for prizes
and that sort of thing, but generally there's just a
recognition of excellence and hard work and community public service
and customer relations and just generally all round good people
and some really smart thinking coming out of that sector
as well, because if you're thinking about, you know, seventy

(01:29:17):
square meter buildings and how do you get compliance. Well,
I've always maintained that the simple approach for the government
would have been, will allow you to do seventy square meters,
but they essentially they've got to be built by companies
that we know about. So you create a register of
these large companies like Versatile and Total Span and Ideal
and so on, and because they've got checks and balances

(01:29:39):
in place, you just buy from them. Simple. But anyway,
that's not how the legislation's wrapping up at the moment.
But my thanks to the organizers for the invitation to
attend that Span Build Awards dinner. It was a hell
of a lot of fun. Thank you very much. I
really enjoyed it. Eight thirty Let's jump into the garden
Red climb passed after the break freak.

Speaker 1 (01:30:00):
Helping you get those DIY projects done right The Resident
Builder with Vida wolf Ga Call Oh eight hundred eighty
ten eighty Use Talks EDB. For more from the Resident
Builder with Peter Wolfcamp. Listen live to News Talks EDB
on Sunday mornings from six or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Full Show Podcast: 09 November 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Dateline NBC

All Episodes

Full Show Podcast: 09 November 2025

Stuff You Should Know