Full Show Podcast: 16 November 2025

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to The Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from US talks ed by doing up the house, astorting
the garden, asked Pete for ahead The Resident Builder with
Peter wolf Camp Call eight hundred eighty eight US talks
ed by.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
The house sizzle even when it's dark, even when the
grass is overgrown.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
In the yard, and even when.

Speaker 4 (00:39):
A dog is too old to borrow, and when you're
sitting at the table trying not to starve.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Sissor even when we.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Again, even when you're therellone.

Speaker 5 (01:05):
Well, a very very good morning and welcome along to
the Resident Builder on Sunday. On a Sunday morning, normally
kick off pardon the pun is at around six o'clock,
but of course slightly delayed after that live coverage from
the All Black the England match, part of their Grand
Slam tour of the Northern Hemisphere. Obviously, the Grand Slam
is kind of out the window now a defeat to England,

(01:27):
but fantastic commentary as always from our cometary team. Right,
let's change gear. Let's get into making stuff, doing stuff,
being active around the house, fixing things or figuring out
how to fix things. We can talk about all of
these things because this is the Resident Builder on Sunday
and we are here to talk about building. And that

(01:47):
could be some renovation work on your own property. It
could be maintenance. You might be thinking about a new build,
you might be thinking about additions. You might be thinking
about improvements to your home. You might be thinking about
summer barbecues on the deck. But the deck doesn't exist
right now. All the decks in slightly shabby. Well, maybe
it's falling down and you need to know how to

(02:10):
fix it. Well, we can talk about all of these
things on the program this morning. The lines are open.
The number to call eight hundred eighty ten eighty. You
can text, of course, that's nine two nine to two
or zbzb from your mobile phone, and if you'd like
to send me an email, you're more than welcome to
do that as well. It's Pete at newstalksb dot co

(02:30):
dot Nz. So Pete at newstalksb dot co dot Nz.
Right twenty seven minutes after six, we've got a fairly
packed old show this morning on a touch base with
the young guy Todd just before the news at eight o'clock,
who's won the BCO Apprentice of the Year for concreting.
He's got a remarkable story, so I'm going to touch

(02:53):
base with him, and then after eight o'clock I'm going
to have a chat with Ralph Kessel, who's head of
Concrete New Zealand, and I think we've ever actually on
the show. We might have talked about concrete from time
to time, but not specifically about how does it made,
what's its impact on the environment and some of the
changes if you're involved in the whole green building space,

(03:17):
sustainable buildings. A lot of criticism around concrete for its
impact in terms of carbon Obviously, Traditionally the way to
manufacture it involves the burning of a vast amount of
fuel in order to make the cement. That's changing a
little bit, so there's some change to concrete. The concrete
has been around, once you get into it, you know,

(03:39):
at least two thousand years, right. So the Romans we're
using concrete obviously for some of their structures, including the Pantheon,
which is the one in Rome. Pathenan is the one
in Egypt. Pantheon is the one in Rome. Been there, fabulous.
So anyway, we're going to talk with Thraf Kessel from
Concrete New Zealand, after eight o'clock. Red Kline pass on

(04:02):
the run today because he's got a head to the
wire upper again these teaching seminars and engagements that he does.
But here be beaming in at eight thirty this morning.
So busy old morning. If you've got tasks that you
would like to get underway, but you're just not quite
sure where to start, what to do, what products to use,
which contractors to engage, then now's the time to call.

(04:26):
We will get busy a little bit later on the show,
but right now you could kick us off. I eight
hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call. Trust
you've had a good week, glorious morning, like absolutely spectacular morning.
Driving in this morning, high tide in the harbor. A
couple of people is on my way out of where
I live. There's a service station this morning. Couple of

(04:46):
people filling up their fuel tanks, boat and trailer in tow.
Thinking right, we can launch at high tide. It'll be
a fabulous day out there. Good on you. Slightly envious
of that. So if you are on your way fishing,
good luck. I hope it goes well. Mem not to
take too much. I wait, hundred eighty ten eighty the
number to call. And if you've got a question of

(05:07):
a building nature compliance regulation, spend a little bit of
time in that space this week in terms of you know,
what's compliant building work, what's not compliant building work. And
also i'll tell you a story a little bit later on.
This is where one of the things that I've come
to really appreciate about sort of life in the trades

(05:28):
and in the building trade in particular, is, and I
guess this is true for most businesses over time, a
tremendous sort of loyalty and bottom me maybe so many
of the people you meet are actually just genuinely good people.
And I had a situation this week where I needed

(05:48):
to There was a shower door that had started to
bind a little bit, and it was a sliding one,
so a glass, custom made glass shower door on a track,
you know, barnslider type thing, and part of it had
come loose. I tightened that up, but I still couldn't
get the adjustment right. So I rang the guy that
installed it for me five years ago now and said, look,

(06:12):
next time you're in the area, can you swing by
and just do it, because you'll do it ten times
faster than me, and you know what you're doing as
opposed to me where I have a crack at it,
but the results might be a bit uncertain. Let's say,
you know it's not my cup of tea necessarily glass

(06:33):
sliding doors in a shower.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
Either way, good.

Speaker 5 (06:37):
Thing was he said, Yeah, I think I'm in the
area doing a couple of jobs next week. I'll swing by.
Text me goes yep, I can be there in twenty minutes. Awesome.
Let you in have a wander around, bit of a
chat and a catch up, and then sorts it out
and goes all right, we'll catch you on the next job.
So Dale, thank you from Dale's Glass and Glazing. Used
them for years, got them to do all sorts of jobs.

(06:58):
But that's awesome, And this is that thing of that
those connections you build up with people in business over
a period of time. But Dale from Dale's Glass and Glazing,
thank you very much. Mate, really appreciated that. Radio six
thirty one here at News Talk ZB we're taking your calls.
If you've got a question about building, about the rules,
the regulations, the contractors contracts themselves, materials to use. We

(07:23):
can talk all of these things. Oh, eight hundred eighty
ten eighty is the number to call. And I ended
up making something I've never made in my life this week,
a Plinko board. Yeah, even Locke, my producer, is looking
slightly bemooved to be fair. Until I got asked to
make one, I didn't know what it was either, but
I made one. You can actually see it on my

(07:44):
social media. If you go to my Facebook page, you'll
see it there and they'll get to use it today
because today is the day of the Saint Leo's School Fair.
I'll tell you a bit more about that later on
as well, but right now, let's talk. Oh eight hundred
eighty ten eighty the number to call.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Whether you're painting the ceiling, fixing the fans, or wondering
how to fix that hole in the wall. Give Peter
wolf Gabber call on eight hundred and eighty eight, the
resident builder.

Speaker 5 (08:08):
On your news talks they be We're into it. Oh
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is that number to call. Yes,
if you want to see what a Plinko board looks like,
or Plinko game, Plinko board game, something like that, check
out my just go to Facebook search for a resident
builder on Facebook. You'll find it there. It was good
fun actually making that. It was raining, so I figure
it's okay to be in the workshop when it's raining

(08:28):
because I can't do any jobs outside. John. Good morning
to you, sir, Good morning, everythings very well, thank you.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
I've got a question regarding painting, and I guess also.

Speaker 7 (08:44):
As best off.

Speaker 8 (08:46):
Because it's the seventy old house, yes, and it's all done,
and why we're board which I don't want to stand.

Speaker 5 (08:59):
Yep, fair enough, So my.

Speaker 8 (09:05):
First thoughts for use bresine smooth surface power.

Speaker 6 (09:12):
Instead of standing, yeah, yeah, and then maybe lumbersider or
science or the pine the top of that.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
Yeah, sure, I guess the good only for being cautious.
And actually I was just looking at a story now
about apparently there's they've discovered asbestos and colored sand in
children's toys. Absolutely yeah, So we'll talk about that in
a minute. But for you, I guess the important thing is,

(09:47):
as with all paint jobs, it's about the surface preparation
that will give you longevity.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Right.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
If you do a rubbish job of the preparation, the
paint won't stick and you'll be repainting it. So the
challenge for you is that You've then got to go, Okay, well,
how do i prep that area in such a way
that I've got a good clean surface for the paint
to adhere to without potentially aggravating it or sanding it

(10:15):
and creating fibers. So I would start with before you
do any actual painting, I'd probably use something like, actually
I used it just the other week, the Razine housewash
and prep. So dilute it down, apply it onto the surface,
give it a brush down with a soft broom, and

(10:36):
then rinse it off. Let that dry thoroughly, and that
will take off all of that mold and mildew and
so on the in a bit of that surface debris
that's on the paintwork. I'm not sure about the smooth
surface cellar. I think I'd probably just prime it with
quick dry and then once you've done the priming, go
over it with either Lumberside or Sonics, whichever of the

(10:57):
exterior paints you want to use. In terms of the
actual paint that's on there at the moment, is it
flaking or bubbing, bubbling or anything like that?

Speaker 8 (11:07):
No, No, because.

Speaker 5 (11:09):
I mean, if if there are areas.

Speaker 8 (11:11):
They're flaking, I just don't understand.

Speaker 5 (11:14):
Agree with you there. I'm just thinking if there are
some loose areas you may still want to, you know,
scrape if the if the paint's obviously flaking and you
paint over it, that paint's still going to flake off,
so you don't want to have to redo it. I'm
just trying to think of a safe way to remove.

Speaker 8 (11:32):
That the etching prime would be and just normal quick dra.

Speaker 5 (11:40):
In terms of bonding, yes, but like where I've use
smooth surface Seala has been on things like polyurethane, for example,
where I've had a polyurethane surface that i want to
bond to, and even then I've done smooth surface Seala
and then quick dry over the top and then my
top coats. I'm just not sure. I mean, hey, look,
best people to talk to will be down at the

(12:02):
raisine shop when you go and chat with them. But
I would have thought in your instance, just some quick
dry will give you that adhesion primer and then straight
over the top. If there's any loosened flaking bits, you
could very gingerly sort of scrape those back with a
tungsten But then what you want to do is collect
any of those fibers and that material, and then you
really should be disposing of that in the right landfill.

(12:24):
So maybe it is just going to be a soft
wash primer top coats. Yeah, but good on you for
being cautious.

Speaker 9 (12:36):
Awesome joy.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
All right, it feels like we're getting into that season.
A were the days slightly longer? I mean you say
bucketed down? Bucket it down? You stoday afternoon? Was I
in the workshop? No, I was doing other stuff, but yes,
rainy days, workshop days, good days outside. Oh, eight hundred
and eighty, ten eighty is the number to call it.
Need to take another break. We'll be back with another

(12:58):
John straight after the break.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
Squeaky door or squeaky floor.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Get the right advice from Peter Wolfcare, the resident builder
on News Talks.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
Be your News Talks hed B six forty three, and
we're into it. Eight hundred and eighty ten eighty the
number to call John. Good morning, Good morning, Peter morning. John.

Speaker 10 (13:19):
John's a popular name, isn't it?

Speaker 5 (13:21):
And justifiably so? If you got to write a gospel,
I figure it's not a bad name. It's an enduring name.
There you go.

Speaker 10 (13:29):
How about wolves Camp? Where does that come from?

Speaker 5 (13:32):
The Netherlands. So it's a Dutch name that goes back. Actually,
funnily enough, in my own family treat it goes back
and then the surname changes about one hundred and fifty
years back. Yeah, but no, it's it's a Dutch name.

Speaker 10 (13:50):
Interesting, cool two topics, Well, the same job in a
retaining war. Yes, it's above ground about five six hundred
and it's just a walkway down in the backyard.

Speaker 9 (14:07):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (14:08):
And I'm wondering if the builders max is A is
a good quality enough for the concrete in the post.

Speaker 5 (14:18):
Oh absolutely, yeah. I mean it's interesting. We're going to
be talking with Ralph Kessel from Concrete New Zealand later on,
and I must concrete's a fascinating thing or I have
this kind of weird relationship with it. Whenever the concrete
truck is due, I am as nervous as we will
get out because the reality is is that once it's there,

(14:43):
if it goes well, it's great. If it goes wrong,
you've got a very hard problem to solve, right, So
I always find it quite a nervous time on site,
especially if it's one of my jobs and i'm responsible,
let's say, for the form work or something like that.
But I suppose the beauty of buying ready mixes. You
know it's been you know, all the tolerances have figured
out the mixture, the amount of water, et cetera, et cetera.

(15:04):
If you're making it yourself, I some Builders Mix, which
is a combination of an aggregate, so a stone and
some fines in there, bit of sand in there as well,
and then some cement. You've got to make sure you
get your mixes right. Typically my go to recipe is,
let's say six scoops of Builders Mix and one scoop

(15:28):
of cement, and don't skip on the cement, but six
to one generally a really good mix. Don't make it
too sloppy. So depending on whether you're mixing in a
wheelbarrow or mixing in a mixer, if you happen to
be able to get one, I tend to tip a
bit of Builders Mix into my wheelbarrow. If I'm mixing
by hand, like I did the other day, bit of

(15:51):
Builders Mix in there, put in my cement, bit of
Builders Mix over the top. Get that nicely mixed through
so it's reasonably even before I add the water. A
little bit of water in start mixing it up a
little bit more water and then get it to a
nice consistent mix and then away you go.

Speaker 10 (16:09):
Okay, well it's explained it one. For the other thing
is just the post, Yes, the post, the part of
the post it's going to the ground. What's got any
recommendations on how to treat the post?

Speaker 5 (16:27):
What sort of timber are you using for the posts.

Speaker 10 (16:31):
The end grounds?

Speaker 5 (16:34):
Okay, so if it's already h five treated posts, then
there's no further treatment required. I know some people like
to use you know, for sort of decorative type retaining walls,
and at five hundred high, you know, okay, there's always
risk of failure, but you can use macrocarper and then
seal the timber with maybe some flint coat or or

(16:56):
or dip it in some timber preserved of something like that.
But in general, just the fact that it's treated. What
is really good to do, though, is before you put
the post in the ground, if you're setting up all
your posts, just find a concrete block or something like that,
or tip a little bit of concrete into the bottom

(17:18):
of the hole first, and then set your post on
top of it. Because I think what people sometimes do
is they're setting up their posts. So they dug the
hole right, it's just bear dirt at the bottom or
bear soil at the bottom, or clay ideally, and they
drop the post on top of it, and they put
the concrete around it. But the bottom of the post
is sitting on the wet surface, and that will absorb

(17:41):
moisture quicker than if it's sitting on a little bit
of concrete. So I tend to make sure that either
I've tipped a bit of concrete into the hole first
and then set my post on top of it, or
I've thrown an old brick in there, or even just
a bit of ideally a bit of concrete or an
old brick, and then make sure that you get plenty
of concrete around the bottom of the post, and then

(18:02):
bring your concrete up. And also, and this is the
reason that I had to dig out a whole bunch
of fence posts a couple of weeks ago, is that
the person that did the job probably forty years ago,
So I can't be too critical. When they put the
post and concrete around it. It concreted around the top
of the post. They kind of left the concrete slightly

(18:24):
hollow and slightly below ground level, which meant that when
it rained, the water sat there, didn't shed away from
the post. And over time that water has saturated through
cause decay, and the posts were literally rotting at the
top of the concrete. So when the fence started to
lean and I went to push it back up, you know,
it didn't move the bottom of the post. The whole

(18:45):
post was snapping off at that point. So when you
do your concrete, bring it up to ground level, and
then closest to the post, bring it up a little
bit higher, and finish your concrete with a slope so
that water that runs down the post runs away from
the bottom of the post. That will last a lot longer.
Oh good, no trouble, pleasure, nice to talk with you,

(19:09):
You too, all the best. Take care then, And I
was going to say the other thing. With concrete or
retaining walls, embedment equal to the amount above. So if
it's five hundred high, make sure you're at least five
hundred in the ground. I'd probably just you know, for
the extra bit of effort to dig a little bit deeper.
I would dig a little bit deeper, never hurt. Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty we're talking all things building

(19:30):
construction after.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
The break, helping you get those DIY projects done.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
Right the resident builder with Vita WOLFCAF call Oh eight
hundred eighty ten eighty Youth Talks EDB.

Speaker 5 (19:41):
Yeah, on New TALKSB. We're talking all things building construction
and those secret little recipes when it comes to making concrete.

Speaker 9 (19:47):
Right.

Speaker 5 (19:48):
Oh, Tracy, good morning.

Speaker 11 (19:50):
Good morning, Pete.

Speaker 5 (19:50):
How are you very well? How can I help?

Speaker 11 (19:53):
I'm just inquiring about We're doing a back fence between
three neighbors. Myself has one hundred percent of the line
and the back neighbor has seventy five and twenty five
a third party, and I'm just wondering about what contractor
we can use. We've both got a contractor, we've both
got quotes, but their contractors are seven hundred dollars cheaper.

(20:17):
But he's going to leave the concrete posts below the ground.
He's going to chop the post off, and I'm not
sure I fee's going to do it to the quality
that my contractor is. And the major neighbor on the
backside he's going to sell the property very shortly, so

(20:38):
he's just wanting it done.

Speaker 5 (20:39):
This engaged, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so.

Speaker 11 (20:42):
I'm just wondering do I have an standing because I'm
long term and he's short term.

Speaker 5 (20:50):
It's a great question, to be fair. I don't know
if that's covered, you know, because typically we then go, okay,
what does the law say? And I'm not sure that
in this instance the law would offer up an opinion
as to how you choose a contractor. It really comes
down to your powers of persuade and your ability to
negotiate with the neighbor to say, look, how about we

(21:11):
both ask each of our contractors to provide.

Speaker 2 (21:14):
Us with.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
A job in the area that we can look at,
and then we can compare the quality of the work,
and can we choose I guess the other alternative is that,
if you're more confident about your contractor, could you say
to the neighbor, look, I will cover that seven hundred
dollars difference, but I'd like to use my contractor because
I think we're going to get a better job. So

(21:38):
the neighbor still ends up paying the same amount of work,
but you get the surety of knowing that the contractor
that you've engaged who will build to a higher quality
your is your feeling, and then you just have to
accept that cost.

Speaker 11 (21:54):
I had thought of that route, so I just think
of that.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
You know, it just comes down to a negotiation, or
you know, again negotiation. How about look, I'll contribute an
extra three hundred and fifty dollars, you know, something like
that to get them to use a contractor that you
feel really comfortable about, because you know, we tend to
look at fence building and go, you know, it's pretty simple, right,

(22:17):
but then there's I've seen them. I saw one the
other day. We just look at it and go, man,
I'm just so happy that that person just just builds fences.
I really hope that they never have a chance to
build a house because you know, I.

Speaker 3 (22:37):
Much.

Speaker 5 (22:38):
Yeah, it's your powers of persuasion, which I'm sure are formidable,
but that's what it comes down to. I think, good
luck with it all the very best, take care of
bother Then, radio, we've got New Sport and Weather again
at seven o'clock we have an hour of talk back
on whatever you'd like to talk about in terms of
building construction. Straight after New Sport and Weather at seven.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Meta twice God was but maybe called Pete first. Peter
walkcav the resident builder News Talk said be your news.

Speaker 5 (23:22):
Talk sa'd be. We're talking all things building and construction
this morning on the program. Oh eight hundred eighty ten
eighty is the number to call text nine two nine two,
and if you'd like to email me, you're more than welcome.
It's Pete Atnewstalk sb dot co dot M said. Now,
a couple of things coming up this hour, mainly your
calls hopefully. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number.

(23:44):
We're talking construction, we're talking building, we're talking those little
tips and trucks. And again, as I was digging out
one of three, well actually we had three to dig out,
I had my son working with me. This was during
the school holidays a little while ago, so he was
he was working away on one of them. I was
working away on the others. So fence posts, you put

(24:05):
them in, right, Okay, They've probably been in for forty years,
so I'm not criticizing the people that put them in.
But fence posts in the ground. Dig a hole, set
up some concrete fence posts and do the concrete. If
you leave it just slightly low, or if you leave
it with a dip towards that will collect water. The

(24:28):
post will rot at that point right over time. So
here's my little tip. If you're going to do fence posts,
that sort of thing concrete up to at least the
ground level and then slightly higher against the post will
fall away just ever so slightly, just to make sure
that the water doesn't puddle there, and the post will
last a lot longer. I had plenty of time to
think about that while I was trying to break up

(24:50):
this post that had already snapped off at ground level.
But then I had to dig out the post in
that location. And I know people will go, but why
didn't you just put a new post next to it?
Because I wanted to reuse the same fence panels because
I'm cheap, and so I needed to put the post
back in exactly the same spot right. Anyway, it worked eventually,

(25:12):
but it did take a little bit of digging to
dig around the concrete to get it broken up, to
get it pulled out, like pulling old rotten teeth. It
was not that I've done much of that. Oh eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call,
and we are talking all things building construction through till
eight o'clock. We'll have New Sport and where they We're

(25:32):
going an interview with Ralph Kessel from Concrete New Zealand
speaking about concrete as we have a little bit on
the program this morning, and of course the Red Climb
passed from eight point thirty, so is the old morning
ross A very good morning to you, sir, very well,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (25:48):
Right well, I'm here to give you a bit of help.
Go for it because I think I think you need it,
and I think sounds like a lot of other people
need it. Forget about bloody concrete and posts. I'm a
fair bit older than you, right and and I'm still
putting posts in occasionally. Yes, forget about concrete. Buy a

(26:13):
decent rammer and dig a hole and put the tops
or other in one heap, clay in the other heap.
Get yourself some broken bricks or some stones. Yeah half
reasonare sized stones. Ram the post in well and do
it properly. You can rap it, heart it as hard
as you can do concrete.

Speaker 6 (26:34):
Well, I can on in the mid.

Speaker 3 (26:35):
Seventies and ram it properly. And then if you do
have a problem later on, and make sure you put
your stone in half, not at the bottom. Put a
bit of clay in ram put a stone or a
bit ram it, put some more clay in, ramm it
another stone if you've got one. Rabbit, doesn't matter if
you haven't, and then put your top sword and run

(26:56):
the hell out of it.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
And when you say that's the tool that you're using
for that looks it's like a long sort of wrecking bar,
but with like a almost like a fist sized lump
on the bottom of it.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah, you could say that is like a crowbar, like
a crowbat, but it's got a thing on the bottom,
and round the hell out of the thing. And you
can't hurt it. It's not going to bleed, so just
get into it. And then if by chance your post
comes loose and you've got concrete around it, you've got
a problem. I throw the bloody post away. If it

(27:31):
comes loose and you've rammed it in, which is unlikely
it will, then you just dig a wee bit out
and ram the hell out of it again, and do
it again.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
Do you need to have the concrete, some stones in there,
some metals in there, did.

Speaker 9 (27:47):
Not hear me?

Speaker 3 (27:48):
Put some clay in the bottom, and then put a
stone on half a brick or whatever you want in there,
and then a bit more clay, and make sure your
clay goes in before you if you've got play in
your area, that is, and make sure you put the
clay in before you put the top soil in. And
your post should never move if you've done it properly.

Speaker 5 (28:11):
And look, I'm not going to disagree with you. I
get it exactly what you're going because when you started
to say ram them, and I'm thinking, I've had guys
you know, drive piles and for me. But that's that's
an intensive cat.

Speaker 3 (28:23):
No, that's a post driver. That's a totally different weapon.

Speaker 5 (28:26):
Yes, and put it if you put it.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
If you're putting in two thousand posts up at Boody Hill,
you're not going to dig them with a shovel.

Speaker 8 (28:34):
I know that.

Speaker 3 (28:36):
I might have a guard up, but you wouldn't.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yeah, yea, And.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
No, you just get a rammer. They're not that expensive.
Well I suppose they're not.

Speaker 2 (28:44):
I've done.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
I've had mine for fifty years and and I've got
two of them. When I get down on my knees
and use a short one, yes, the other one is
about six foot yep. And I've got a slight bend
in the pipe.

Speaker 7 (28:57):
I've got a piece of.

Speaker 5 (28:58):
Pipe that'll save your knuckles.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
That's what it was for. So we slight bend and
and then it comes back into the into the true
thing again or bent the pipe deliberately fabulous And and
let's forget the bit bloody con you're going to you're
going to be throwing posts away, man. Yeah, look, you
being a Dutchman, don't don't like throwing anything away.

Speaker 5 (29:22):
No, that's true actually, And so you know when you
were talking about the ramma, I wanted to buy a
little like a little plate, not a plate compactor, but
the handheld ones, right, a stomper stamper type thing. And
I wandered off down to the hardware store and I
found it and I looked at it and I went,
hang on, what we're talking about is a bit of

(29:43):
steel plate one fifty one fifty roughly and a bit
of steel tube, right, And I'm thinking hang on. So
I went round the corner to a little metal place,
got them to make me cut off a section of
flat into the size that I needed. Fossicking around underneath
the house, found a bit of pipe, welded that together, Bingo,

(30:04):
it's done.

Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, right, we don't try that on post.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Get a proper one for you.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
I love the conversation.

Speaker 12 (30:11):
Ross.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
I'm with you. I think it's it's wise advice from
a man who's done it lots and lots of times.
Appreciate that. Ross. Thank you very much, Steve. Good morning
to you.

Speaker 12 (30:23):
Good morning Peter.

Speaker 5 (30:24):
Hey Steve, he look got a question.

Speaker 12 (30:27):
We're looking at a property that was built in twoenty
ten and it has Gerard steel press steel tile that
have got the stone ship on them. Now, all the
research I've done online I can't find a confirmation or
otherwise as to whether at that period of time the

(30:48):
Gerrard tiles would have had asbestos in their surfacing product.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
Yes, I don't know that you'll find a definitive answer.
So the really the only way of knowing for sure
is to request the opportunity to take a samples, send
that away to a lot lab and have it tested.

Speaker 12 (31:10):
Okay, yeah, certainly, other than the warnings about the tiles
being easy to damage by walking on in the nails,
fixing nails coming out, it's all that there is online
about all those time, and it.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
Would be nice if there was a more definitive answer.
But you can also understand why there just isn't because
I think you know, quite possibly, within let's say the
duration that a product is manufactured, the mixture let's say,
might change over time, So you might find that that,
you know, at a certain period of time it may

(31:44):
have contained ACM or asbestos containing material, and in another
period of time it might not, so on so forth.
So I think the only way to be sure is
if you are thinking, this is a house that you're
thinking of purchasing, correct, right, you know, like in this market,

(32:05):
I would have thought that a homeowner wouldn't object to
the possibility that if you did it your you know,
if you requested access to the property and requested it
that you take a sample, that's not an unreasonable request.

Speaker 12 (32:20):
Yes, yes, Unfortunately, the market as it is so quick
moving that yeah, the property.

Speaker 5 (32:27):
Came on and rights.

Speaker 12 (32:31):
That offers are presented is less than a week that
pursue all those sensible right at challenging. But anyway, that's
that's the situation.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
I suppose. The other part to this is that in
and of itself, the fact that you might have a
roof that may contain some elements of asbestos in it,
in terms of risk, it's like, there's there's not that
much risk to you in terms of health risk as
it is at the moment. But I'm wondering whether what

(33:04):
your concern is is that at some age when you
need to replace it, and it's probably getting towards end
of life, at that point, the replacement becomes considerably more
expensive because you have to get licensed applicators to remove
the roof, and you have to pay a particular premium
for the disposal and so on. So you know what

(33:27):
might be. And based on a job that I know
of a couple of years ago, you know, stripping off
a roof might cost a thousand bucks, it was a
sixteen thousand dollars job because of the contractors engaged, the
licensing and the disposal. So that's possibly what you're thinking about.

Speaker 12 (33:46):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (33:48):
Yeah, Okay, good luck, Thank you all the very best.
Take care, Steve. Interesting to hear his comments about the
market as well. Given the housing markets being well sluggish
at best, there does seem to be quite some activity

(34:08):
at the moment. Seventeen minutes after seven And I love
people that text in and go hey, because we were
talking about just before the news my little suggestion that
when you're now this will upset Ross. But if you're
going to put concrete around a fence post, right so
you've dug a hole, you're setting up a fence post

(34:28):
or a post for a retaining wall, something like that,
or all head of box, doesn't matter what sort of
post it is. I always make sure that I put
either an old brick or the first scoop of concrete
goes into the bottom and then you set your post
on top of it. That helps seal the bottom. And
quick as a flash, gentleman texture and says, hey, you
could suggest space at pile pads. I've had a quick

(34:51):
look online. I have seen these around. They're like a
little plastic foot that you can fix to the bottom
of the post stand. You post up on the end,
then the concrete goes all the way around it. Yep,
lifty idea. So space at pile pads is the suggestion.
I think there's a couple of other brands out there
as well. But oh on you, thanks for listening to
the show. Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the
number to call. I'll take a short break and then

(35:11):
I'll be back with Sean in just a moment.

Speaker 4 (35:14):
Viewing other house, storting the garden. Ask Fete for a hand.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
It's a resident builder with Peter wolfcap call Oh eight
hundred eighty News talks.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
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(36:30):
customers are proud to say I did it myself. News
talksz'd be right talking all things building and construction. Oh,
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to call.

Speaker 10 (36:42):
Rick.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
Good morning, Yes, Rick, how are you?

Speaker 9 (36:45):
Good morning, Pete. Now there is another thing I just
wanted to know if you had any ideas, suggestions, knowledge about.
We've got a building site running our boundary that's started
up with multiple townhouses. They're building out of concrete blocks,
but there, unusually to me, mine als cutting the blocks
and half with sort Yeah, and so the silicus dust

(37:07):
flying everywhere and cleaning all over our place, and we're
observing the blot windows, et cetera, et cetera, and keep
doors shut. Now they have spoken to the site manager
and they are using and sometimes a concrete source with
water suppression sometimes but it's not really working. And then

(37:28):
there's piles of dust on the site which flying everywhere
as well. So are you gonna know all will have it?

Speaker 5 (37:40):
Yeah, I mean it's in some ways, like I'm a
little bit surprised that guys are still cutting their blocks
without some sort of suppression, right.

Speaker 9 (37:50):
So they are even if they are, it's not really working.
That's that's that's the thing.

Speaker 5 (37:56):
Yeah, And then I guess there's the other issue too,
which is, okay, so you cut your concrete block with
a saw and maybe you've got water on it, and
so you're not getting billowing clouds of dust, but eventually
that drops onto the ground and once it dries, you've
got dust again.

Speaker 9 (38:10):
Right, and you're certainly getting the billowing and dust because
it's an open situation and tremendously windy.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, I guess there's a responsibility on the
contractor not to, you know, cause a nuisance, right, and
billowing clouds of dust are a nuisance.

Speaker 9 (38:34):
Yeah, it was silica dust.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
And it is there is that hazardous element to it
as well. To be fair, I don't actually know whether
there is a specific guidance. From where I would probably
start investigating this is to go to the work Safe
website and search for their guidance and find whether or

(38:57):
not there is a requirement within the work Safe provisions
that say, you know, you must control dust and so on.
Chances are they won't be the way they have done that.

Speaker 9 (39:11):
There was a it's pretty complicated, but yeah, it's a
hazard and they say that you know, verbally, so well,
we're controlling, we're trying. But I mean the site itself
is it is it sort of something that you could
block off with knitting, you know, that sort of thing.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
Yeah, I mean that's that's not If you look at
large commercial sites, for example, often they'll hang like a
netting around the perimeter of the scaffold. I've certainly seen.
You know, there's plenty, you know how typically most sites
tend to do site fencing, those panels, those mesh panels,
and then you could put you could request that they
put up some netting over that fencing that will stop

(39:59):
dust in one area, ask them to move their cutting
to one area perhaps, and and put up some site
fencing around that to contain it. I mean, you know,
there are solutions. It's really just engaging with the contractor
and asking them if they could do it. And then
I guess if there are incidences where it comes billowing over,

(40:20):
capture a photograph of that. You could go to work
Safe and say, look, I think that they're not complying
with their obligations under the Health and Safety Act, so
that that would be discussion first, suggest some solutions, you know,
like make if they made an area, let's say, further
away from where the wind's blowing, or in a if

(40:42):
they created a sheltered area that they could then cut
in and potentially have a little swale that that material
goes into. Yeah, there's kind of no excuse for it,
but I also understand that it happens. It's not uncommon
on sight.

Speaker 7 (40:58):
Yeah, I'll appreciate the advice.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
Okay, all the best, Yeah, take care of all the best.
I think a couple of weeks ago I made the
comment disregarding building inspectors, as in council building inspectors not
always commenting on the quality of let's say, workmanship on site.
And I got a text actually during the week one
of the guys must have found my number somewhere and

(41:23):
flip me a text to my phone saying, hey, look,
not completely true. If we go to a site as
a council building inspector and it is in disarray, you know,
there's materials all over the place and that sort of thing,
we will on occasion refuse to undertake the inspection because
of the site conditions. I'm like, good on you, And

(41:45):
that wasn't what I was commenting on. And to be fair,
like I went and had to look at a new
build the other day that had recently been issued a
code of compliance, and yet I found fault with any
number of workmanship issues, including nails popping on the cladding,
cavity clothses being filled with silicon boards already popping, and

(42:08):
so on, uneven cutting, you know, flashings that were incorrectly installed,
Flashings that didn't cover a box corner that then got
verified by another guy who came to do a pre
purchase inspection. So you know, I mean, these are some
of those things could be workmanship issues, and council don't
always pick them up on it, So a bit of

(42:29):
a balancing game. Oh eight, one hundred and eighty ten
eighty is the number to call quick text as well. Pete,
what do I do if my neighbor refuses to help
pay for a retaining wall that's leaning over my driveway
from his property? He says, the developer who subdivided the
property is to blame. That was twenty five years ago
when neither of us owned our respective properties. The quotes

(42:49):
four and a half thousand dollars. We need some help
from him. His section is very water logged in winter
and oozers moisture in winter, effectively rotting the post. What's
your advice? He's getting quite nasty, Kate. It's a horrible
situation to be and it really depends on where the
retaining wall is located, i e. Is it on your

(43:10):
side of the boundary or on their side of the boundary?
And then the other question is who benefits from the wall?
So was the wall installed so that the neighbor could
level their section, let's say, in which case the benefit
is theirs and they are responsible for it regardless, or

(43:31):
is the wall on your side of the boundary and
the previous owner benefited from it by being able to
excavate down. So it's really where is the retaining wall
located in relation to the boundary and who gets the
benefit of it. And the fact that somebody built it
twenty five years ago doesn't take any responsibility away from

(43:52):
the owner. If they've got something that's unsafe, then they
are going to be responsible for it. If they're getting nasty,
then maybe it's time to go to your lawyer and
just remind them of their responsibilities under the Property Act.
Good luck that. Let me see who do we need
to talk to next. Let's talk to Owen, good morning, Oh.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Good morning, Pete.

Speaker 5 (44:14):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
I'm just interested of work in the area of health
and safety, auditing and consulting. And it's interested to hear
someone saying that they had a construction work going on
next door it was in a silica dust or coming across.
The people who are doing this haven't got a leg
to stand on. There is work safe guidance is even

(44:34):
available in multiple languages and under the Health and Safety
at Work Act. Anything you're doing in a workplace, you've
got to even if there wasn't a specific a guidance
on it, you have to assess potential risk and you
can control it. And the first thing is to eliminate
it do another way, and after that you've got various

(44:56):
means of control. And basically the chap who called, if
you had to have a talk with him and say, look,
you know, you could go into this great cycle of
so I've been contacted. You're having to have all your
work has tested, the health monitoring and all the other
things you should be doing, or you could just stop
doing it, and you know you should do it wet

(45:18):
and stop sending the dust over the fence, because you're right.

Speaker 5 (45:22):
Often with these sorts of things. People's responses often oh, well,
that's just what it is, right, or this is how
I've always done it. But the reality is that in
most cases there are controls available for almost all of
this sort of hazardous work, and it's just a basically
lack of interest or a blatant disregard for anybody else

(45:42):
that allows people just to carry on, you know, like
I say, with no regard. But you're right, there are
controls and there are ways of doing it.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
Yeah, yeah, I suppose you do.

Speaker 9 (45:54):
You do.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
I can either do it the easy way or the
hard way, and the easy ways to stop and do
it right and the hard ways for the work they
to be called, and there's nothing wrong with calling work.
That's what they're it's what they're there for. Therefore, and
you're also protecting the lives of the workers on the
site too, because if they're operating like that, it's not

(46:16):
going to be safe for them. But you know, neighbors
are neighbors are important. And then as soon as you
go from you know, everyone is that, particularly if there's
kids around or anything, that we've just got to protect them.
It's a charity too.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
It's interesting too, and you would have picked up on this.
The I was going to say the new it's not
so new now Code of Ethics for LBPS, which came
in what was it, October twenty twenty two. So if
you're a licensed building practitioner, there's a code of ethics.
It's divided into four areas. One of those areas is
to work safely and then within that guidance, it also

(46:54):
says that as LBPS, now we have an obligation to
essentially be involved in, you know, intervening when we see
other unsaved work. And it's a really interesting one because
you know, I've had a couple of discussions with people going, okay,
so I'm an LBP, I'm working on site, and let's

(47:14):
say the block he is there and his boys or
whatever cutting blocks with a diamond blade. They've got no suppression.
They might not be wearing air muffs, they might not
be wearing a dust mask, that sort of thing. Now,
if I read the legislation right, I actually it's my
obligation to go over and go, hey, guys, this is
not good enough. Now that might produce a result that

(47:38):
is fairly abrupt. You know, it is now an obligation
on the part of LBPS. So even if it's not
your contractors, right, so you know I might be there
as the carpentry LBP with with my team or just myself,
but if I see anyone else working unsafely, I have
an obligation now under the Code of Ethics to inform them.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Yes, it's basically tell you you can't turn them blind
by thank you very much every week and I'm looking
forward to that rascally that's from coming on too, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
Eight thirty not too far away, al you look after yourself?
Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number
to call. Hey, look, it's just a heads up if
you're looking for something to do today and who doesn't
like a good school fair?

Speaker 3 (48:28):
Right?

Speaker 5 (48:29):
So you could tootle on down to Devenport the Saint
Leo's School Fair on today in Devenport. So where Owen's
Road Victoria Road just opposite the church on the way
into Devenport. Saint Leo's School Fair ten o'clock today through
little two o'clock. It'll be great. Food's awesome and well
my Plinko game you'd have to have a crack at that.

(48:52):
I don't think lock my producer still fully comprehends the
complexity of the Plinko game. To be fair, I don't
know what the rules are, but I made it and
it was a lot of fun making it. It is
seven thirty five here at New Stalks. B will come
back in a moment.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
Talk to Carol whether you're paid in the ceiling fix
with fair or wondering how to fix that hole in
the wall.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
Do you have Peedo wolf cavicle on the resident builder
on youth dogs.

Speaker 5 (49:14):
B righty oh gee. A bunch of texts that are
coming in as well. Now, someone makes a good point,
a little bit more research on this. Blocks in New
Zealand do not use silicon sand. The sand itself is harmless.
It's the dust that's a nuisance. So the idea that
inhaling it is going to cause some sort of long
term injury. I mean, look, inhaling dust isn't great, but

(49:39):
whether or not the silica which is you know the
I suppose where this concern has come from is in Australia,
in particular the whole engineered stone bench top industry, where
there was insufficient controls and people have ended up with
silicosis as a result of inhaling a harmful material. That

(50:01):
might not be the same as cutting a concrete block,
or it isn't the same as cutting con block and
causing dust. But look, I tell you what, here's my
reflection on you know, a number of years decades in
the industry. If I'm working in a dusty environment, I
feel rubbish at the end of the day. And a
few years ago after you know, Hunteen years building and

(50:25):
that sort of thing, and not always being particularly diligent
around that, I thought, well, hang on, you know, every
now and then I get up in the morning and
I cough and splutter a bit and so on. You know,
I should go and get myself checked out. So went
and had a talk to my doctor, went and had
a chest X ray, just to sort of set a
benchline to go. You know, is there something that I
should be concerned about years of breathing and all sorts

(50:48):
of dust from all sorts of different materials. Is there
a genuine concern? And part of this is also prompted
by research I know, done by work Safe, which says, look,
you know, we've probably got about unfortunately, about seventy or
eighty workplace deaths a year, not just from construction in general,
people dying at work, but around they used to make

(51:12):
sort of five to six hundred people a year will
have their lives shortened by long term, prolonged injurious exposure
to dust in the workplace. So making you know, putting
controls in place, having extraction on your tools, these sorts
of things, it makes a lot of sense in terms

(51:34):
of your long term health. And certainly if I look
in my workshop now, for example, I've got a drop
saw set up, and I've got extraction that's hooked up
to that. So I've got a little, not a terribly
expensive we have a little vacuum cleaner that's permanently hooked
up to the drop saw. And then I've got a
tray at the back of the drop saw that I
can plug another vacuum cleaner into just to suck up

(51:54):
all of that dust when I'm sanding. Now I've got
this elaborate collection of various little hoses and bits and
pieces that I can plug into the port on a sander,
whether it's a random orbital or about sander or whatever,
that goes straight to extraction. And it just makes the
work environment so much more pleasant and hopefully reduce the

(52:16):
possibility for some sort of long term injury as a
result of exposure to dust. So you know, why wouldn't
you put in place those proper controls. Oh eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty the number to call Cara. Good morning,
Good morning, Hello Carol.

Speaker 13 (52:31):
I'm so pleased to hear about the fen scene. Yes,
can you recommend I'll look here at all and unfortunately
my husband dies are I'll look after it myself.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
You're sitting enough.

Speaker 13 (52:43):
Company they can give me advice. And I quote for
building a privacy fence between two townhouses. And this is
a bit of a joke, but it's true. I don't
want wooden fence with coasts.

Speaker 5 (52:56):
Okay, yeah, yeah, I hear what you're saying. Look in
terms of a contractor in your area. I'm not sure
that I can help you out, just because I don't
know enough people. But what I have found really interesting
to see is there's a lot of gosh, I remember
my dad doing it almost fifty years ago, concrete posts
and concrete panels. You could go for a block wall.

(53:18):
There's metal posts and panels that I've seen installed. There's
UTV and something that's have a look of blender, have
a look for some of the PVC component systems that
are out there at the moment as well, which are
quite intriguing in terms of you know, not having to
paint them and mineral maintenance and those sorts of things.

(53:40):
So there are a range of options for you these days, Carol.

Speaker 13 (53:45):
Where would I don't know where to stop, I don't
know this and retire about who trust?

Speaker 5 (53:51):
Yeah, I get it. I wonder whether I tell you
what if you This has often been my advice. One
is drive around if you see a job that you like,
knock on the door and say who did that. The
other optionists go to your local building merchant and say, hey,
look do you have some local you know some fencing
contractors that come in here that you know their work

(54:13):
is good, and they'll they'll soon know again, particularly if
you go and find the gray headed ones at the
back of the workshop, they'll know. And that's probably my
best advice.

Speaker 3 (54:26):
That's it's because I do know some reliable daughters.

Speaker 13 (54:30):
Great show, Thank you lovely.

Speaker 5 (54:31):
To talk all the very best to you, Carol. Take care.
Then now we're going to be talking with Todd Maitland.
Todd Maitland's a young guy who is involved in concreting
and has won the Apprentice of the Year, an award
in the Apprentice. So we're talking concrete. Before eight o'clock
we're all going to talk to Ralph Kessel who's from
Concrete and z. I never know where we go on

(54:55):
the show, which is part of the attraction for me
doing the show. But it has been a fairly solid
show today talking a lot about concrete. Oh eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty is the number to call allan
good morning to you, Good morning Pete.

Speaker 14 (55:10):
But I've got a twenty seven year old money year
tile play tile roof. We've had a branch come down
and break a corner tapping where it meets ball in
the in the roof, and I've run the money year.
I've been rung a lot of demolition places and roofers
and that, and I can't seem to find these tiles right.

Speaker 7 (55:33):
Just wanting with any options or.

Speaker 14 (55:34):
Anything you can think of.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Have you.

Speaker 5 (55:38):
Yeah, have you tried Mike at north Shore Demolition. Interestingly enough,
north Shore Demolition has the yard in Avondale, but it's
still called north Shore Demolition. Have a look online north
Shore Demolition. Find Mike's number, give him a call. I
know because I was in the yard not that long ago,

(55:58):
that he's got a reasonably good collection of those sorts
of materials.

Speaker 7 (56:03):
That's awesome.

Speaker 14 (56:04):
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Speaker 5 (56:05):
All the very best. Good luck, take care. By the way, see,
back in the day, there used to be demolition yards
all around the place in the central city. In fact,
I'm going to catch up with guys that I went
to school with this week. We do it once a
year long story at the Horse and Trap, the Horse
and Traps in eden Terrace that used to be a

(56:27):
demolition yard. Back in the day. There used to be
a couple on Great North Road. They were all around
the place, but there was a great one on Pirana Road,
timber recyclers. But they've all had to sort of move
out of the Central city unfortunately, but they are around
and if you're looking for roof tiles, Mike north Shore
Demolition might be able to help you out there as well.

(56:49):
Righty oh, we will take another break in just a moment. Also,
just on the school fair thing. And you know, if
you've been involved in school fares, you rely on the
community to help out. So about a month out from
the school fair, I get an email typically that goes, hey,
could you go and organize that generator again? And so
then I immediately phone Riggsy at high Pool and god mate,

(57:13):
it's that time of year again. Can I come and
pick up a trailer mounted generator for the school fair?
And he writes out the paperwork and I race out
to high Pool on the Friday toe the generator back
and the bits and pieces for it. So again, you know,
these community events only happen with the supporter businesses, and
my thanks to Highpool for their help, their continuous help

(57:36):
over many many years, and undoubtedly next year about this
time I'll give you a call again. It is seven
forty five.

Speaker 1 (57:42):
Squeaky Door or Squeaky floor Get the right advice from
Peter Wolfcap, the resident builder on Newstalk SEB.

Speaker 5 (57:51):
I'm really enjoying, I guess part of the show which
allows me to shine the light on some outstanding young
people that are coming through. We have the opportunity to
interview the Master Builders Apprentices of the Year and so
it's a great pleasure to welcome to the show this
morning Todd Maitland, who has recently been recognized for his

(58:14):
contribution or his endeavors in terms of the concrete industry
by becoming the basically Concrete Apprentice of the Year as
recognized through the BCO training program. So a very good
morning to you, Todd, Good morning morning.

Speaker 15 (58:32):
Hey.

Speaker 5 (58:33):
First up, congratulations, because I know these apprenticeship awards are
not easily awarded. You have to work pretty hard and
you really have to be outstanding. Can you tell me
a little bit about your sort of journey through your
apprenticeship and you know, I understand that you've faced a
few challenges in terms of getting into work and then

(58:57):
working you way through the learning. Tell us a little
bit about what draw you to or drew you to
construction into concreting in the first place.

Speaker 15 (59:09):
Just working work experience. I was at school one off
I a friend of mine. She asked me to come
work for her dad for work experience, which I did
and been working full primal concrete like every Friday for

(59:34):
work experience. And as soon as I finished it school
and then I asked the boss to aver to work
with him full time and he said chill fame, and
that's when it all happens and signs me up for

(59:56):
the apprenticeships.

Speaker 5 (01:00:04):
So this is Rick's your boss at brown More Concrete.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:10):
And in terms of getting through the I suppose the
academic or the learning part of the b C I
t O apprenticeship scheme. Did some people help you to
get through that?

Speaker 15 (01:00:23):
Yeah?

Speaker 11 (01:00:25):
Yeah, I have.

Speaker 15 (01:00:29):
Autisms and visibility and alongside with learning difficulty and why
I only right and BCTL basically helped me from through
all these times and years for effort to to get

(01:00:53):
to the stage at where I'm at.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
And I guess it's one of those things that given
the you know, it's it's not unfair to say, given
the challenges that you've got, you need someone to work
alongside you. But they've done that, and at the end
of it, you've got to a place where you can
be Apprentice of the Year, which is an amazing achievement.

Speaker 9 (01:01:15):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 5 (01:01:17):
And outside of work, tell me a little bit about this.
You're the vice captain of New Zealand's first Whakaha men's
basketball team, so this is for athletes with some intellectual
disability and you've competed internationally. What's your role there?

Speaker 9 (01:01:36):
Yeah, and.

Speaker 15 (01:01:40):
I've been there. That was like you said February, Yes,
we're in Australia and I was the chosen to be
the vice captain.

Speaker 10 (01:01:50):
And now.

Speaker 15 (01:01:53):
Since this time we did the second trials and already
made it take a time for the ends at our
men's team and into the overseas. Yes, for next year,
for for Australia, for foot Locker Championship.

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
That's that's really awesome. And in terms of like going
back to the work stuff, are you guys finding this
plenty of work because it's been a pretty tough time
in the industry over the last couple of years. Does
it feel like it's packing up a little bit? Have
you got plenty to do?

Speaker 13 (01:02:34):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (01:02:35):
We have for any to do, like non stop every
day ever since, like winning the Prince Concord the year
and be on the show and all that stuff. Now
just feels like all the gets a people intention to
bringing my boss for us, all these concrete driveways and

(01:02:58):
almost all those things. So that's why we have non
stop like every day.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
Maybe you'd be a great person they have on the
team and I really appreciate you spending of it a
time with us. I know it's early on a Sunday
morning and we've all got other things to do. But
Todd congratulations, it's a tremendous award and really appreciate you
spending some time with us this morning.

Speaker 8 (01:03:23):
No, thank you, really appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (01:03:24):
Nice one, Take care Todd, all the very best to
you your new stalk set B and if you want to.
It's just such a fantastic achievement. So that's young Todd
Maitland who has been awarded as the sort of concrete
Apprentice of the year. That's through the bcit O training
and again acknowledgment and that to Rex his boss at
Brownmore Contracting, sounds like there's plenty of work and plenty

(01:03:48):
of opportunities for a young fella, and as you heard there,
he's got some challenges. And good on BCITO who have
become a lot more nuanced in terms of accepting that
some of the young people that they'll be working with
don't learn like other young people do, but they figured
out ways of working with them to a really good result.
Your News Talk ZB News at eight o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
Frek helping you get those DIY projects done right. The
resident builder with Vieta Wolfcat call Oh eight us talk ZB.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
You a news Talk ZB it is actually I've got
my time wrong before the news. Not to worry. It
is now, I can assure you six minutes after eight
here at News Talk CB. This is the resident Builder
on Sunday. One of the great delights of the show
is generally that I don't know necessarily where we're going
to end up. Well, I kind of did, because I
knew that I wanted to chat with before the news Todd,

(01:04:44):
who's the Concrete Apprentice of the Year through the BCITO program.
And I'd also had an opportunity to line up an
interview with our next guest, who is Ralph Cassel from
Concrete n Z, to talk a little bit about concrete.
But I didn't know that during the show we would
spend so much time talking about concrete and fence posts
and how to mix good concrete and those sorts of things.

(01:05:06):
But the this is one of the delights of the show,
so we will be talking concrete in just a moment.
Also a couple of quick texts that I do want
to reply to, including this one quickly morning Pete from
Bill wanting to buy a house that has a roof
built in nineteen sixty two or the house is nineteen
sixty two, the roof has got krrigaid iron with leadhead screws.

(01:05:28):
Should I just take those out and replace them, or
what you know, should the whole roof be replaced? I
think Bill, you're probably getting close to replacement. Nineteen sixty
it's close to when I was born. It's probably due
for a replacement. So I would look at replacing that.
And what's the text there that I wanted to get to.

(01:05:50):
Now this is an interesting one because we've been talking
a little bit about the quality of workmanship and in
some cases buildings perhaps that get a code of compliance
but maybe are not as good as they should be.
If you're looking to have someone professionally do a building survey,
particularly in terms of compliance, then you're probably looking for
a building surveyors, so a member of the New Zealand

(01:06:11):
Institute of Building Surveyors or Boys or one of these
professional organizations who will have a qualification to do that. So, Kate,
that might be of interest to you this with regard
to the new build with a CCC. But you've still
got some concerns, but it is good that you've at
least the house is part of one of the sort

(01:06:32):
of warranty schemes that's out there.

Speaker 4 (01:06:34):
Righty oh.

Speaker 5 (01:06:35):
In all of the years that I've been doing the show,
I'm not sure that we've ever had the opportunity to
take a deep dive into concrete, but we have been
talking about it, and so it is my great pleasure
to welcome to the program this morning, Ralph Kessel from Concrete,
New Zealand. A very good morning to you.

Speaker 7 (01:06:52):
Ralph, You good morning, Pete. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 5 (01:06:55):
It's a pleasure. And you know, a question that I
don't know that I've ever had the opportunity to ask
someone is what is concrete?

Speaker 7 (01:07:05):
Well, concrete is basically rock, it's water and cement. So
it's rock, water and cement. The rock in form of
scent and pebbles that make about seventy to seventy five
percent of the mix, then water ten percent and cement
fifteen to twenty percent depending on the strength. That's basically concrete, and.

Speaker 5 (01:07:25):
It is an ancient technology. We were talking about this
the other day that you know, the Romans seem to
be the ones who developed concrete in the first place,
and obviously some of what they built with concrete still
exists today.

Speaker 7 (01:07:38):
Yes, absolutely, concrete has been used for thousands of years,
which I'd say, are the testament to its sustainability credentials.
Look at the panzelone in Rome, for example, at two
thousand years old, built with concrete walls and floors, and
it's stunning, forty two meters spanning concrete. It is standing
and in use today. But you are correct. I think

(01:08:00):
at the moment the concrete industry faces a major shift
driven by decommonization goals.

Speaker 5 (01:08:06):
Because this is you know, within that sort of you know,
the sustainability space. It's fair to say that lots of
people that want green buildings tend to look at concrete
and go basically, you're part of the problem, not part
of the solution. But things are changing. So the way
in which we make concrete today and the various components
that go on to it, what's that significant shift there?

Speaker 7 (01:08:30):
Well, maybe if we should point out to our listeners
first that concrete is responsible for around seven to eight
percent of all global emissions. And yeah, but this is
because it's the most used material globally after water. So
concrete in itself is a low carbon material, but because
of the sheer quantity, there are considerable emissions. And these

(01:08:52):
emissions are firstly coming from a chemical process when we
eat the limestone to gain the cement, and here CEO
two is freed and technically from burning coal to eat
their cares. And of the emissions associated with con cement
is responsible for around eighty five percent. So it's a
good idea to your question. Now, it's a good idea

(01:09:13):
to reduce emissions from cement production or replace cement, and
our concrete members are doing exactly that. So all members
have begun to replace cement by supplementary matitia materials such
as fly ash or slag which are a byproducts bomb
from industries which otherwise would go to landfill. But we're

(01:09:36):
also looking at volcanic material, which is the natural material
very similar to what the Romans have used. We see
halsam for example, holsome cements that bring in we slag,
golden based cement. They have already reduced fifty percent of
the coal used to fire the kiln by waste timber, waste,
waste plastic or car tires. And then we have Harke dement.

(01:10:01):
They have a modern mill where the blend cement with
low carbon cement alternatives. We are on a good way
to achieve the concrete industry's vision of carbon reduction by
of for twenty thirty and then we aim to get
to net zero carbon by twenty fifty. This is then
in accordance with our road map. We have created a

(01:10:24):
roadmap and the industry fully stands behind it. And this
roadmap has actually been recognized and praised by the International
Panel of Climate Change. So we are on a good
traction there. And there are also other things coming up
at the moment. At University of Auckland, there's some research

(01:10:44):
done promising research done with fine ground seashells of sea
shell is a remainder from food processing and those shells
would other miles pile up on landfills. Its base material
is limestone, also the main main ingredient of cment, and

(01:11:06):
and with this material we definitely have another alternative to
replace cement. But it's maybe a bit longer answer than
you wanted.

Speaker 5 (01:11:13):
No, No, it's you know, I mean, this is the thing.
Sometimes we're looking for quick solutions, but these things don't
typically exist, and so it's the nuance and it's the
research that's going into it that makes it so interesting.
Someone has just text through and said, look, I understand
there is now concrete that's made without using cement. Is

(01:11:34):
that true or are we just the way in which
we manufacture cement has changed now.

Speaker 7 (01:11:40):
Yes, oversee it has been done. There are definitely a
concrete without any cement where we only rely on supplements
such as fly ash saw, a mixed orf fly ash
flag and a bit of a cunning material maybe added
gips and so there are possibilities already there, but you
have to understand that industries have to adapt, have to

(01:12:00):
have the correct silos and plant in place. Yes, before
that happenspit it will happen. And then on the other hand,
there's also a first plant now which is Norway in Brevericks,
where we have direct capture of the carbon dioxide which
is emitted on site on the cement facility, and these

(01:12:21):
carbon dioxide quantities are going into depleted oil and guess
reservoirs and you a very natural chemical process. The carbon
dioxide finds calcium and a bit more oxide oxygen and
that creates c AC three, which is calcium carbonate or

(01:12:41):
in short, limestone. So just just real retransformed into rocks
in a natural way, the carbon dioxide. So it happens
at the moment in Europe and New Zealand is always
a little bit behind in some of the things because
we are just a small economy here, but we definitely
will be getting there as well.

Speaker 5 (01:13:02):
And then there's also that question. There's a building right
outside our studio which is probably a nineteen fifties concrete
constructed building which is being demolished at the moment. But
if you look at that and go, okay, so what
happens to that material in this instance here I suspect
that most of it is going to be in a
sense recycled. You know, the beams will be crushed, the

(01:13:25):
steel will be extracted, and the material will go to
as hard fill. And so there is a challenge in
New Zealand around recycling concrete for use in new concrete,
isn't there We haven't quite cracked that.

Speaker 7 (01:13:41):
Well. You can do with that, but you have to
be sure that you separate the sementitious part from the pabbles.
And then again if you don't know the exact source
of the tablets, yes that much to understand what a
mixed design you get out of it. Because what we

(01:14:02):
must consider as concrete to players, we have to suffice
the target strength of the engine. We have to get
to engineer the absolute hunderd percent certainty that the concrete
will perform as the structural engineer specifies. That is really important,
and that's maybe a little bit more tricky, but you're

(01:14:23):
absolutely right. A crush concrete is used for hard fare,
for draining, a back fither, for subpases, et cetera. So
it definitely has a use. It's not waste.

Speaker 5 (01:14:34):
And then one of the other innovations that I was
made aware of just recently is permeable concrete. So this
is maybe for a driveway where you know, typically you
don't want to just shed all of that water into
storm water, so you can it can percolate through. So
tell us about permeable concrete.

Speaker 7 (01:14:53):
Yeah, there are two ways. So there's the first most
pervious concrete, which is a concrete which has poores to
let water through basically, and there's all the permial paving,
which are a concrete paving block on the water in
a trades through those gaps. And at the moment, there
are requirements with the councils of a and Wellington Council
requested at least thirty percent of a development section let's

(01:15:17):
say medium density housing or there ay twenty units on
two thousand square meters, thirty percent of that land has
to be permeable.

Speaker 9 (01:15:25):
Yep.

Speaker 7 (01:15:25):
The water does not go into the sewery system, but
just into the ground directly. And if you pack your
side with buildings and you still need driveways to and walkways,
then the only solution is really pervious or permeable concrete
to allow for all that water going through. I think

(01:15:45):
Autland Council requests twelve hundred liter per square meter per
hour to be penetrated on side, and the spermial paving
that achieves about eighteen thousands, so that's quite a bit more.
That's very very good, and it has the high potential
of being taken up simply for flood mitigation as well.

(01:16:06):
So if the water can go directly into the ground
rather than gathering or collecting on an infirm of the
surface upfront, that definitely mitigates or sort of flooding issues.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
I hope that for listeners it's one of those things
that you know, you're driving on the motorway and you
see the concrete truck going past, or you're driving along
a building site. In fact, there's one just up the
road from me that've been boxing and prayer prepping for
the slab, and I presume they must have poured it yesterday,
because when I drove by this morning, there's a new
concrete slab for a whole bunch of townhouses. And we

(01:16:38):
tend to look at it and just go, it's concrete, right,
But it's it is obviously so much more and there's
so much more technology and chemistry behind the whole thing.

Speaker 7 (01:16:48):
Absolutely absolutely, and it's fantastic material. I mean I personally,
I am passionate about it. An architects in thirty five
years yep, and architects. There are many reasons why architects
love concrete. It's the one stop shop. What that means
is simply my use of concrete. You comply with many
building cold classes in one role. Structural stability, durability, with

(01:17:09):
fire safety, sound protection, you name it. And concrete is shapeable.
If you look around, there are some beautiful concrete buildings.
We always hear concrete's gray boring. It's really absolutely believe
this a lot. And I understand this because sometimes you
will really just want the top benefits of the concrete,

(01:17:31):
the stability, the durability, and then you make it monolithic.
Looking the other way, if you happen to be in Auckland. Yeah,
I mean, for example Point Resolution Bridge. There underneath you
see this beautiful maor repatterns Grave stunning. In Wellington here
we have the du Cultural Center where we have this

(01:17:51):
engraved maor repatterns. Again Otaki the Designers Institute now poor
poorer Institute queens down the retaining walls. So if you
make an effort, you can make concrete very appealing, very
beautiful as well. In Grave.

Speaker 5 (01:18:05):
I was looking at a house it's won an Architecture
award in Point Chev in Auckland, where they've cast the
concrete into a mold and it has like a slightly
three D textured surface to it. It looks absolutely stunning. Yeah,
and there's me happily doing my six to one mix
and my wheelbarrow and it works there, and then it

(01:18:27):
works on these massive high rise and I know the
guy who's one of the engineers for the Sky Sky Tower,
you know. And I look at that as an example
of the durability and the strength of concrete and its beauty.
And I saw it last night on the ferry heading
home and I'm thinking, actually it's quite a beautiful building.
Ralph thank you very much for your time. We'll get
you back on the show because we've had a whole

(01:18:48):
bunch of questions about it, so there's obviously some interest
to know more about concrete. A great opening segment. Really
appreciate it, and thanks very much for your time this Sunday.

Speaker 7 (01:18:59):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 5 (01:19:00):
All the best stealth Take care, Ralph Cassel from Concrete,
New Zealand. It is quite an exciting jo and look,
I'm incredibly fortunate that I've had the opportunity to stand
underneath that dome in Rome of in the Parthenon Pantheon.
Rather it is a just such a fabulous, fabulous building
and yeah, two thousand years old, still going strong. Twenty

(01:19:24):
one minutes after eight red climb passed at eight thirty
taking a short break.

Speaker 1 (01:19:28):
Now meta twice God was but maybe call Pete first
video Alcab the Resident Builder News Talks the'd be.

Speaker 5 (01:19:36):
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(01:19:59):
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There will be one near you shop and store or

(01:20:20):
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home delivery. No wonder kiwis Love Steel Shop the consumers
people choice number one brand in garden power tools. So
go visit your local steel shop this weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:20:34):
Still Charged for Life News Talk ZB right.

Speaker 5 (01:20:38):
Oh, a couple of texts before we go. Lots and
lots of questions for Ralph, which is great because I
think we'll get Ralph back on the show. If you
want to have a look at what they do. Excuse me.
Just in terms of concrete in z really simple concrete
in z dot org dot NZ. You'll find the website there,
so people have text through questions like hey, we could

(01:21:00):
ask him his opinion about using concrete for roadings. So
if you've ever been to the States, they seem to
do a lot roading and concrete, but typically we don't
do a lot of it here. Although the new Eastern
Busway seems to have a solid concrete base to it
with ashfelt over the top. Someone's TechEd through from phil

(01:21:21):
Am I correct in saying that the Hoover dam that
use so much concrete that it's still curing. I reckon
Ralph would know the answer to that. Concrete mate without
cement and this self healing concrete that the Romans developed
as well, So I reckon we'll get Ralph back on
the show. A couple of other texts that have come
through this morning. Pete, I'm installing JIB onto solid wood

(01:21:44):
walls in a lockwood home. The sheets are very tight
fits into the grooves around the windows, and it's very
hard to fit. Is it necessary to use glue and screws?
Can I put extra screws into compensate? Gluing is always
a good idea with fixing plasterboard because the screws can
if it dries out, can pop. So typically blue fixing

(01:22:06):
is way to do it. Screws and if you want to,
but they may move over time so I tend to
go and then you want to hold the board back,
so I tend to do dobs of glue adhesive onto
the wall and then put a screw in through a
block and then take that out and just stop the hole.
But you don't leave the screw and long term is

(01:22:27):
typically what I've been doing. A couple of texts about
we mentioned setting up fence posts and my little tip,
which is to make sure you put a little bit
of concrete at the bottom of the hole and then
put the post on there rather than having the post
sitting hard down on the clay. And then there are
some sort of plastic feet that you can get for them,

(01:22:51):
or you can just throw a brick in there as well.
So we talked about that. And then here we go,
new concrete path poured by a professional company. When it's dried,
there's been a disfiguration on the patch, irregular in shape.
How can I get rid of it? I would go
back to the people that poured it and ask them
to come and sort that out. That's a text from

(01:23:13):
a wee while ago. And then some interesting ones around
cracking and why concrete cracks. So I reckon we'll get
Ralph back on the show at some stage to talk
a little bit about concrete radio. Let's jump into the garden.
The red kline past is standing by if you've got
a gardening question. And Root has now moved into not
just being fantastic gardener, an entomologist ecologist. He's also a

(01:23:38):
recipe maker because he's done the research and sent me
a recipe for some sort of juice zut that you
could add into a bottle, hang in the tree and
it will deal to these hornets. Apparently. I know it's
a bit of an Auckland story. My apologies for this.
Two additional nests have been found in Glenfield here in Auckland.

(01:24:02):
So we'll talk to Rut about hornets, recipes and whatever
questions you might have for it. You can call us now.
Oh eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number.

Speaker 4 (01:24:12):
Doing of the house sorting the garden, asked Pete.

Speaker 1 (01:24:15):
For ahead the Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp, Call oh
eight hundred eighty ten eighty News 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,

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