Full Show Podcast: 30 August 2026

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder Podcast with Peter Wolfkamp
from Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Measure twice. Call once. On 0800 80 1080.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
The Resident Builder with Peter Wolfkamp and independent building supplies.
The future of Kiwi building today. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
The house is a hole even when it's dark.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Even when the grass is overgrown in the yard. Even
when the dog.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Is too old to bark. And when you're sitting at
the table, try not to stop.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
A house is a home.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
Even when we've up and gone. Even when you're there alone.
A house, a house is.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
A home.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
The house is a home, even when there's ghosts Even
when you got around from the ones who love.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
You most Scream doors, broken paints peeling from the wood.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Locals whisper when they're going to leave the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
A house is a home.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Even when we're up and gone. Even when you're there alone. Yeah,
a house.

Speaker 5 (01:46):
Yeah, a house is a home.

Speaker 6 (02:10):
Well, a very, very good morning and welcome along to
The Resident Builder on Sunday. You're with me, Pete Wolfkamp,
The Resident Builder. And, well, as always, it is your show, basically.
Anything that you'd like to talk about in regard to building, construction, maintenance, repairs,
we could go down a little bit of a... I've
had a bit of time in the workshop this week,
which always is actually kind of a bit of a pleasure, really.

Speaker 7 (02:33):
Um.

Speaker 6 (02:35):
A couple of jobs finished and then a little bit
of time in the workshop. And look, yesterday, Saturday in
Auckland was a good old-fashioned miserable kind of day. It
just sort of rained persistently all day and I thought, well,
I can mooch around or I can sneak out to
the workshop and try and get a couple of little
jobs done, which I did, which was enormously enjoyable. It
feels good making progress on what would otherwise be a

(02:57):
day that you'd go, oh, flag it, I'll just sit
on the couch all day or something like that. Not
really my style. So anyway, into the workshop with a
few improvements to the management of the workshop and a
couple of upcycling tasks that I started and then finished off.
Just by the by, firing up an old two-stroke chainsaw

(03:17):
inside the workshop for a period of time. Not super advisable.
Thank goodness I've got a bit of extraction in there.
but it did get the job done a lot quicker
than I thought it was going to be, and certainly
a lot quicker than if I had used a hand,
sort of cut through a 300mm log. Anyhoo, that was
my job yesterday. What jobs have you got on? What
projects have you got on? What would you like to

(03:38):
talk about this morning? The lines are open. The number
to call, 0800 80 10 80. We're going to have
a bit of a chat with a young gentleman that
I spoke with during the week after 8 o'clock today.
We'll talk with Nate Alley. He's actually from Sentinel Homes
in the Waikato. And what struck me is I picked
up an article a little while ago about him and
his firm and his team really taking an active role

(04:02):
in reducing the amount of waste that they have on site.
We'll go into it a little bit more detail later on,
but in a nutshell, building sites contribute a phenomenal amount
to landfill, right? So if you're talking about the role
of the the impact that construction has on the sheer
volume of material going to landfill, it's more than half

(04:26):
of what goes to landfill comes from building sites. Kind
of not surprising to some degree, but also well above
our sort of contribution to the economy. And also in many,
many cases, just negligently wasteful. So I always like it
when firms go, actually, I think we can do better
than that. And then what have they done? And also

(04:48):
it sends a signal to others that go, no, you
can't do it, doesn't matter, just throw everything in a skip,
chuck it off down to landfill, you can't do anything
about it. Well, the fact is you can. So we'll
be talking with Nate after 8 o'clock about that. We're
into the garden, of course, with Ryd Kleinpast. I think
a couple of weeks ago we talked with Ryd about
chainsaws and sharpening chainsaws and that sort of thing. And

(05:11):
I have to say, yesterday, taking out a brand new
chainsaw file and then giving the chainsaw chain a bit
of a tickle-up before firing it up in the workshop.
There is a deep satisfaction of sharpening something, especially with
a brand new file where you can hear the sound
of the sharpening happening. Anyway, it made a hell of

(05:33):
a difference. I was quite surprised at how good my,
I don't know how old my chainsaw is. It's got
to be 30 odd years, I think. I mean, I
bought it about 20 years ago and it was old then.
Secondhand at an auction. Pretty much, has it let me down? Well,
I was a bit embarrassed the other day. I took
it out and it had a very blunt chain in it.
Not anymore, as it happens. Anyway, we've been doing that project.

(05:56):
So anything that you might have on, any projects that
you might have on, maybe yesterday you caught a glimpse
of a fairly long article, actually, written by Jane Farr,
I think it is. It was in the Herald, in
the newspaper. I see it's still online. It's never-ending, why
a new generation of homeowners could face financial ruin. This

(06:18):
is about the possibility that there are still leaky buildings
being built. There are still buildings that are going to
cause problems for owners into the future, whether that's the
long-term future or, in fact, the medium-term future if they
fail within the next couple of years. So if you
saw that article and you'd like to have a bit
of a chat about that, it's good reading, even if

(06:38):
it is, I suppose you come away from it going, gee,
I thought we'd sort of sorted ourselves out, but it
seems not. So we can talk about that as well.
So new builds, renovations, alterations, maintenance, sharpening your tools. I've
been right into that this week as well. Makes just
using them so much more pleasurable. Looking after them and
sharpening them makes a huge difference. And I got my

(07:00):
door lock. Well, I actually finished the door lock the
other day, but I posted up a little video just
of kind of the end of that particular project. So
that's up as well. My new Yale lock, smart lock.
Smarter than me, got that installed as well. 0800 80 1080,
what's on your mind? Text up and running 9292. And
you can email me, of course. It is pete at newstalkzb.co.nz.

(07:24):
13 minutes after 6 o'clock, if you were impacted by
the weather, parts of, well, central South Island, Queenstown, quite
dramatic flooding there. And then I guess like most of us,
we've had a look at those images of the flooding
in Nepal and near the border, and it defies comprehension

(07:49):
to some degree. The sheer scale, the force of it,
the enormous destruction that it wrought in what was just
a couple of minutes. I suppose we can do something
about it. You can contribute. You can chip in a
few dollars to a, an aid company that's working in
the area, but it was staggering to see just the

(08:10):
sheer force of that water, ice, rock, trees, buildings coming
down that mountainside. Absolutely staggering. 14 after 6, let's get
amongst it. 0800 80 1080 is the number to call. Annie, Anne,
good morning to you.

Speaker 5 (08:25):
Yeah, good morning.

Speaker 8 (08:26):
Hi. I haven't rung you before. Can you hear me?

Speaker 6 (08:30):
I sure can. Welcome aboard.

Speaker 8 (08:33):
Oh, awesome. Good that All Blacks had a good game,
wasn't it? 33-26 or something?

Speaker 6 (08:39):
The other way around, I think. So Springboks won. Yeah.
But I suppose it sets it up to it's everything
to play for in the next couple of tests because
there's only one more in South Africa and then off
to Boston.

Speaker 9 (08:53):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 8 (08:54):
Yeah, 33-26.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Baltimore, sorry.

Speaker 6 (08:56):
They're off to Baltimore. Rightio.

Speaker 8 (08:59):
I know a roof problem. A friend has a roof
that's got the spine of the roof, if that's to
sort of get terminology from you, the spine of the
roof and then the corrugations of the steel are causing
heavy rain and heavy wind only to leak into the

(09:20):
hallway through the ceiling.

Speaker 10 (09:23):
Yep.

Speaker 8 (09:24):
What needs to be done to the spine of the roof?
spine of the roof? Does it need nails to, when
the heavy wind comes and gets under the spine of
the roof, there's a name for it. Can you give
it to me?

Speaker 6 (09:36):
Yeah, so that's the hip of the roof. Sorry, the
ridge rather. Hips are the ones that go on the,
hips are where the change in direction and they're external
and then valleys are internal and then it's the ridge
capping that goes across the top of the roof. So
I wonder whether Typically, when you lay roofing up to

(10:01):
the ridge line, before the ridge cap goes on, the
roofer uses a tool. to turn up the trough, right,
to turn up the last piece of the sheet and
create like a little dam at the end. Now, if
that hasn't been done and potentially if the ridge flashing,
the soft edge is not pushed down into the trough,

(10:22):
in strong... basically wind-driven rain, will hit the sheep, get
driven up, and if there's no dam to stop it,
it will then drop over the top of the sheep
and then it's inside, particularly if the building paper's not
doing a great job either. What I would suggest is,
and is this leak only in one place or is

(10:44):
it all over the place?

Speaker 8 (10:46):
No, but it's repeated and only when the cyclone sort
of weather comes.

Speaker 11 (10:51):
Yes.

Speaker 8 (10:52):
So it's a hallway. It leaks from the roof down
into the hallway. So there's a pencil drawing where it's
leaking on the white ceiling.

Speaker 6 (11:01):
Right.

Speaker 8 (11:02):
But I think I can get what you're saying, except
could you help me? Could you explain again how would
I get someone to make that dam.

Speaker 7 (11:11):
Under the ridge?

Speaker 12 (11:12):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (11:12):
So chances are you'll need to get a roofer, and
I would always recommend getting someone who's a part of
Roofing Association of New Zealand, so R-A-N-Z. You can find
them online. And then what they'll have to do is come,
get up on the roof, take the ridge capping off,
and then go through, determine whether or not the upstands

(11:33):
have been done on the sheets. If they haven't been done,
they should do them. If they haven't been done enough,
they could add to them. They can then refix. Hopefully
the ridge capping has enough length to it so it's
providing sufficient protection, so an overlap. Let's assume that it's
a regular profile, so it should be compliant with the

(11:54):
building code. And then they could then go through. If,
for example, it's a particularly flat roof or not particularly
steep roof, then you can also get a foam sealant
strip that you could add in there and put that on.
It matches the profile of the roofing iron. Put that

(12:15):
in and then put the ridge cap on top of it.
and then make sure that the soft edge is dressed down.
So it's certainly a job for a professional. They need
to know what it is that they're looking at, but
that's the process, basically.

Speaker 8 (12:29):
Well, that's great. Pete, just one more addition. Would it
be a good idea to get some of those headed
nails and hammer it down after it's repaired?

Speaker 7 (12:40):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
I think what you'll find is whoever comes to do
the repairs, if there are nails there now, they won't
use nails again. They'll use a roofing screw. And that
will also, I mean, it's possible that, you know, if
it's a place that is subject to particularly high winds,
that the wind constantly trying to get underneath that flashing
can sort of work those nails out and then they

(13:06):
become a bit loose and then the flashing is able
to move more. But they will simply solve that by
putting in some screws.

Speaker 8 (13:15):
Because the person said that they might get sealant, that
outdoor sealant.

Speaker 10 (13:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (13:20):
And the corrugation goes up and down, up and down,
up and down, those little curves. When they meet that
ridge you're talking about, that ridge cap, his idea was
to get the sealant and squeeze it in there.

Speaker 7 (13:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (13:36):
No.

Speaker 6 (13:37):
I think the thing with sealant is people think that
you can repair poor workmanship with a sealant, right? So
we use sealants all the time, but they should only
be used in the right situation. So, for example, on
a ridge, you might have the ridge in two pieces.
They overlap. You put a bead of sealant underneath the lap.
That's an appropriate use of sealant. But sealant to just–

(14:01):
there's a phrase going around that I heard recently, do
your best, silicon the rest, right? So that's not the
attitude we want to take.

Speaker 7 (14:10):
All right.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
So let's do the best first, and then you'll find
you won't actually need as much sealant.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
Good.

Speaker 8 (14:15):
So just summarise it in brief for me. Just summarise
it in brief.

Speaker 6 (14:19):
Get a roofer, a professional. So a professional roofer, particularly
someone who might be part of the Roofing Association of
New Zealand, they'll come, they'll take the ridge cap off,
they'll check the upstands, they'll check the fixings, they'll check
the soft edge, and it should be a relatively straightforward fix.

Speaker 11 (14:38):
Awesome.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
All right.

Speaker 13 (14:39):
I'll teach you.

Speaker 8 (14:40):
Very knowledgeable and nice to talk to you.

Speaker 6 (14:42):
Thank you very much. Nice to talk with you too.
Take care. All the best, Anne. Bye-bye then. 20 minutes
after 6, 0800 80 1080 is the number to call.
I do like that phrase, do your best, silicon the rest.
Seems to be the approach. And I mean, anyone that goes, oh,
I'm just going to put a bit of silicon in
there as if it has some magical power to solve

(15:04):
all problems.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
It just won't.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
Right?

Speaker 6 (15:07):
Um, and, and sealants applied in the wrong area can
actually create a dam that makes the problem worse. Uh,
and bearing in mind, many sealants, uh, have a lifespan
in which case, if you're using sealants to create a
weatherproof junction, for example, uh, then you've got to commit
yourself to going, right, I'm going to need to get

(15:27):
back out there again in five, six years time, uh,
to replace that sealant because it will fail over time. So, um,
It's fantastic. I've got plenty of it. There's tubes and
tubes of it in my workshop, but you need to
use them in the right application, and they're certainly not
a substitute for good design and good execution of your

(15:49):
flashings and junctions. 21 minutes after six, we'll take a break.
If you would like to call, now's a great time
to call. We've got some spare lines, 0800 80 1080,
anything to do with building, construction, renovations, alterations, new builds,
And maybe you would like to, I took the time
yesterday to read that article about sort of an opinion
on current building standards and whether or not we're actually

(16:10):
still going to end up with leaky buildings into the future.
You may care to comment on that as well. 22
after 6.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Fixing what they forgot to mention on that YouTube video.
The Resident Builder with Peter Wolfkamp and independent building supplies.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
The future of Kiwi building today. Call 0800 80 1080.
Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (16:31):
Indeedy, Newstalk ZB, it is 6.25. We're talking all things
building and construction, so 0800 80 1080. If you'd like
to give us a call, we've got some spare lines
for you right now. Text, if you wish, to 9292
or ZBZB from your mobile phone, and I'll fire up
the email in a minute. That's pete at newstalkzb.co.nz. A

(16:53):
couple of texts have come through. Pete, it's embarrassing how
builders and councils are still building leaky buildings. From A.J.,
He's obviously fired up because he's come back with another text,
which is very true, actually. Pete, sealants are part of
the reason that we have leaky builds. I think an
over-reliance on sealant in some junctions, I mean, I think

(17:18):
they play a really, really important role, and good quality
ones will perform an essential role in creating a weathertight
So where you can apply a bead that has a
little bit of movement between two differentials, two different materials,

(17:39):
it makes sense to have a flexible sealant there. But
maybe only as one line of defence that a back
flashing that drains correctly, etc., is always going to then
catch anything that might not be deflected away by that
initial lane of sealant. So in the same way, if
you're sealing your head flashing to your joinery, and it's

(18:00):
in an area where the sealant is protected from exposure
to UV, that makes a lot of sense that that's
going to then provide that additional layer of protection to
the building envelope. So I'm not at all suggesting that
sealants are bad, I'm just saying that an over-reliance on
them and I guess a lack of awareness of the

(18:21):
limitations of them has meant that we've come to rely
on it a little bit too much. And I hear
lots of stories like the You know, in the discussion
with Anne about the roofing, you know, I've got a leak.

Speaker 12 (18:32):
Great.

Speaker 6 (18:32):
I'm just going to find a tube of goop and
I'm going to spread that around and that's going to
solve my problem. And it just doesn't. Oh, 880, 1080,
the number to call. Pete, can I build a conservatory
without a building permit? It would be under 10 square
meters and a meter away from the boundary, you know. Again,

(18:55):
I would direct you to canibuildit.gov.nz. The reason that I
have a slight hesitation around the fact that it's a
conservatory is that it's an enclosed space and it's attached
to the existing building. And in some cases, what happens
with those is there's a little bit of like Project
Creek where it starts as a conservatory and then it

(19:16):
kind of gets a little bit more filled in and
the next thing it's a bedroom and it was never
intended to be a bedroom. So you might find.

Speaker 10 (19:24):
That the.

Speaker 6 (19:25):
You may need to get a consent on that basis.
Likely that you don't, but I would just check that
out as well. Pete, I've got a small gate hinged
onto a stucco house base. The hinge has come off.
What should I use to reset the hinge into the
stucco base? Looks like concrete under the stucco. Cheers from Craig.
I mean, this is the classic one, Craig, I have
to say, where inadvertently adding a penetration to your weathertight barrier,

(19:51):
which is your exterior stucco, can potentially find. or provide
egress or ingress rather for moisture so just simply you
know drilling a hole and and putting in a raw
plug or something like that without thinking about how you're
going to stop water tracking along that fixing and into

(20:13):
your building can actually be a bit of a challenge
so I would I mean if it's solid concrete you
could I would probably look at epoxying or using something
like bolt fix a bit of threaded rod into there
that you can then fix the hinge to but just
make sure that behind the hinge so between the hinge

(20:37):
and the cladding itself that you've ended up with like
an EDPM window sorry, EDPM flashing washer that stops moisture
tracking around there. If you've ever done any sort of
deconstruction of buildings, let's say where a ribbon plate is
fastened directly onto the exterior cladding, water gets trapped in

(20:59):
behind the ribbon plate, drops down, finds the bolt, and
then tracks along the bolt and into the building envelope itself,
into the actual framing. So those washers, or better still,
having it packed off the building, allows the water to
shed around it and provides you with a gap that

(21:22):
allows for ventilation as well, so it dries out rather
than getting trapped in there. Sorry to make a very
small job slightly more complicated, but in talking with cladding people,
the number of faults, you know, leaky buildings caused by
people fixing things like wall-hung buildings washing lines or fixing

(21:44):
a gate post directly through the cladding with no thought
or consideration to what happens now that I've drilled a
hole in the side of my building. How am I
going to stop water getting in there? So that's worthwhile.
0800 80 1080 is the number to call. Should all
new builds have a blower door test as a matter
of course to help New Zealand build better? Hard to

(22:09):
argue with that to be fair. We might and try
and explain what a blower door test is a little
bit later on. 0800 80 1080 is the number to call. Carol,
good morning to you.

Speaker 11 (22:20):
Hi. I, yes, I'm going to sound a bit dumb here.
I've decided to do renovations on a, I've got basically
an old Beasley home.

Speaker 6 (22:34):
Yes.

Speaker 11 (22:36):
And I'm wanting to take the bath out of the
bathroom and put in like a walk-in shower. do I
employ a builder or a plumber first to come and
let me know what to do? And the other question
is can I put in like a tiled or a
flat floor without getting consent or because it's flat I'm

(22:59):
going to have to get a consent or use a
shower tray rather than doing it with no lip.

Speaker 6 (23:10):
In terms of contractors because you know bathrooms are arguably
the most complicated space to work in right um so
in in the end because there's there's going to be
a builder to make the structural alterations and redo the
lining chances are there'd be an electrician because you want
to add a fan or a heated towel rail or
something like that then there'll be a plumber obviously And

(23:33):
then before the plumber gets there, there'll be the waterproofer.
If you are going to use tiles or even just
putting tiles on the floor, for example, you might want
a waterproof underneath there. And then if you're doing tiles,
obviously you'll need a tiler. And then chances are, if
you're doing sort of a custom made shower, you might
even end up with a glazing company involved. So straight
away you're talking six trades in one space. Oh, hang on,

(23:56):
plus your stopper, plus the painter. So we're up to
eight trades, right? You know what I mean? And this
is the thing, this is where bathrooms are really challenging
just because there's so many people. And then you go, okay,
so if I'm the homeowner like you are, and then
you go, okay, well, who do I talk to first?
And can I find someone perhaps who has all of

(24:19):
those contacts or do I need to individually find each
of those contractors, and then I've got to try and
coordinate them all, get them to talk to each other,
and so on. So out there, there are a number
of sort of companies that now are doing like a
one-stop shop type thing where they go, right, you know,

(24:39):
we're bathroom renovation experts. We will be able to, through
our networks, provide you with all of those sub-trades. We'll
coordinate it. We'll do the job. So you might want
to consider that.

Speaker 12 (24:49):
That's what I need.

Speaker 6 (24:51):
Or you go through, if you've got a contact for,
let's say, a builder who's prepared to act as the
main contractor, and they've probably, like all of us, we've
got our plumber and our sparky and all the rest
of it, right? And so we can coordinate those people.
Just in terms of consent, certainly if you are removing
the bath and doing a walk-in shower and it's going

(25:12):
to be tiled because you're doing waterproofing, it generally triggers
the requirement for a building consent just because basically there's
been so many failures with these over years.

Speaker 7 (25:26):
That's what I thought I'd picked up on from listening to.

Speaker 14 (25:29):
You before, but I just wanted to double check.

Speaker 6 (25:31):
Yeah, very much so. So in that sense, if you
were to go for a shower enclosure, let's say with
a pre-formed shower base and walls, then that would mean
that you could do that work without necessarily requiring a
consent because you're not adding to the number of sanitary

(25:51):
fittings in the ensuite or in the bathroom. Therefore, it
doesn't trigger it. So I think unless you're really, really
intent on wanting a complete tiled shower, the simpler pathway
is to go for a preformed shower. Okay, cool.

Speaker 4 (26:11):
Okay, thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (26:12):
But I'm not sure if that's, I mean, it's one
of those things, like we do bathroom renos all the time,
and people wonder why they take as long as they do,
and it's just simply the number of people in there.
You know, think about another room in your house. If
you wanted to change it, you know, you might say, well, look,
I'm going to freshen up the bedroom. That's great. You
just need a painter, right?

Speaker 15 (26:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (26:34):
You know what I mean? And then suddenly there's all
of these people, and it's just the sheer coordination that
makes them complicated.

Speaker 11 (26:40):
Okay, cool. Perfect.

Speaker 10 (26:42):
Good luck with it.

Speaker 6 (26:43):
All the very best. Take care. See you, Carol.

Speaker 11 (26:45):
Bye-bye.

Speaker 6 (26:46):
You and Newstalk ZB will take a short break. We'll
talk to Maggie in just a moment. If you've got
a question of a building nature, 0800 80 1080 is
the number.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Turning uh-ohs into she'll be right.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
The resident builder with Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
The future of Kiwi building today. Call 0800 80 1080.

Speaker 5 (27:05):
Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (27:10):
I'm getting a couple of texts on the whole building
consent thing. It's an interesting one, and I wonder whether
it will change a little bit once the legislation proposed
to shift from joint and several through to proportional liability
has an impact on council. And that's quite a lot

(27:30):
to unpack in that statement. But I'm looking at this
text that's come through. we converted a small bedroom into
an ensuite. We had to do a 3D plan, which
cost us $ 2, 500, a complete waste of money, says Doug. Well, look,
doing plans is never a waste of money. I mean,

(27:51):
plans are helpful, obviously. It's just those things where, you know,
I'm thinking, for example, to Carol's point, right? So if
she wanted to take, it's an existing bathroom, she's not
changing the number of fittings. So changing a bath to
a shower, arguably, is not terribly complex. It's within the
existing footprint. And what she wants to do is she'd

(28:14):
like to have a tile shower. And we know that
there's some challenges with that in terms of getting the
waterproofing right. So you submit a building consent to ensure
that you're providing evidence to the authorities, to the council, saying,
I'm going to use this system, I'm going to provide

(28:34):
a producer statement and a warranty on behalf of the
installer and the product manufacturer, and that can go on
the title. You know, should that be a difficult process?
I don't think it should be. But it seems like
often when it hits council, it becomes much more complicated
than it needs to be, you know, with lots of

(28:57):
evidence being required and lots of documentation and so on.
You know, ideally, it should be a simple floor plan
cross-section and this is the product I'm going to use,
that should be as simple as it gets. But obviously
that's not the case for Doug. Two and a half
grand for a 3D plan. Again, don't have a problem

(29:21):
with plans. I think the cost of compliance, the high
cost and the time that it takes to is often
what dissuades people from getting a consent. I would talk
about it every week on the show, pretty much. And
so is there a pathway where consents, they shouldn't be

(29:42):
easier to get, but somehow, I don't know, a bit
less risky? tape a little bit less concern around every
minute detail and shifts that responsibility onto the contractors oh
there's a controversial one maggie good morning to you good.

Speaker 16 (30:00):
Morning peter greetings um i I have cracks in my concrete,
and I've heard you talk about, sorry about my voice,
talking about something to put on them or in them.

Speaker 6 (30:14):
Yes, it depends a little bit on where they are.
So where are they?

Speaker 12 (30:21):
Outside.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
Outside, on concrete pathways, that sort of thing?

Speaker 16 (30:24):
It's a patio sort of area.

Speaker 10 (30:27):
All right.

Speaker 6 (30:27):
And is the patio sort of finished in a decorative style,
is it? Or is it just plain concrete, broom finish?

Speaker 16 (30:34):
It's aggregate concrete, yes. Quite a big area.

Speaker 10 (30:38):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (30:40):
And the cracks, either side of the crack, is one
side higher or lower than the other?

Speaker 16 (30:47):
No, no, it seems to be the same.

Speaker 6 (30:50):
Just a crack.

Speaker 10 (30:50):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (30:53):
One of the real challenges with repairing something like that
is sometimes the repair is more obvious than the fault,
let's say. So you can buy cementitious powder, so a
very light, fine powder that you can either make into
a paste and apply into those joints, or in some

(31:15):
cases you apply it dry and then just mist a
little bit of water over the top, which is enough
to start the chemical reaction.

Speaker 12 (31:23):
Yes.

Speaker 16 (31:24):
What was that called?

Speaker 6 (31:25):
Well, you can, CEMIX, so C-E-M-I-X, make some products for that,
and so do Sika, S-I-K-A. So both of those companies
are specialists in that area, and they'll have different types
of crack repair compounds.

Speaker 16 (31:43):
There's nothing like a silicon you can put on.

Speaker 7 (31:45):
It, is there?

Speaker 6 (31:46):
Well, I have, funnily enough, actually, Mike from Resene Construction
texted me the other day. We were talking about cracks
in exterior renders. and there's a particular type of sealant
that he's found that has, it almost has like a
sort of powdery texture to it, or you can create that.

(32:06):
Because what you don't want to do is, like if
you've got some sealant and it's grey, for example, and
you put that into the crack on the concrete, it
will just look like a bead of sealant on the concrete,
and it kind of jumps out at you. So one
of the challenges with repairing cracks in concrete is, do
you want to make the crack more And I don't

(32:29):
think that's the intention of what you're looking to do.
At the same time, if there is a crack and
water's getting in there, for example, then it's quite a
good idea to seal that. So I would probably run
with a powder, a cementitious material that you can brush
in there and then you can sponge it off, for example,

(32:49):
so you don't get the product smearing out over the
concrete on either side because that tends to make it
look a little bit ugly as well. Um, so there
are certainly some options, um, but it's, you kind of
need a powder.

Speaker 10 (33:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (33:05):
It's, you almost need a slightly delicate touch to, to
doing it. Um, certainly don't mix up a great big
bucket of it and, you know, tip it in out
there and then swirl it all around. You'll end up
with a really big, ugly patch. Um, but the powders
are quite good. I would go the powder, brush it
into the crack, um, A little bit of water on it,

(33:27):
that'll get it started, and then that's your repair done.

Speaker 16 (33:29):
And do I get that from Rosene or would I
get it from Bunnings?

Speaker 6 (33:32):
No, you go to Mitre 10 or Bunnings or any
of the large stores will have it. And my tip
for going to stores like that is you wander down
the back and you find the older person and you
ask them for advice.

Speaker 7 (33:47):
Definitely.

Speaker 6 (33:49):
And I was actually at Mitre 10 a little while ago,
and a guy who was working there who was slightly
older came up to me and kind of tapped me
on the shoulder and went, I think I'm the guy
you're looking for.

Speaker 16 (34:02):
Yes, I know what you mean.

Speaker 6 (34:04):
Yeah, exactly. All right, that should sort it out.

Speaker 16 (34:07):
Thank you, Peter.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
Lovely to chat with you, Maggie. Take care.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
See you then.

Speaker 6 (34:10):
Bye-bye then. Your news talks he did, he sort of
came up and said, yeah, I heard your comments. You're
probably right. 0800 80 1080 is the number to call.
It's coming up 14 minutes away from 7. If you've
got a question, call us now. We'll be able to
talk to you before the news. 0800 80 1080 is
that number. This was fired through a text. When Minister
Pink was working on this, I pointed out to anyone

(34:31):
who may listen that nothing was going to be done
to ensure liability follows those who make the money in
the same way a mortgage follows the buyer. After much fanfare,
he was simply making it easier for people to make money.
Remote inspections, buyers paying for warranties, from insurers who could
also liquidate. No justice for those whose lives have already
been ruined. Regards from Owen, a regular contributor. Buyers paying

(35:01):
for warranties from insurers who could also liquidate. That's going
to be the real challenge, isn't it? Or withdraw their cover.
And I think we've had a go at private certifiers
in the past. To the best of my knowledge, it
seems to be that when the claim started to come
in for the leaky buildings 20-odd years ago, that the

(35:23):
insurers started to realise the scale of the problem and
started to withdraw their cover of the private certifiers, which
means that they were exposed and so they had to liquidate.
And I guess the challenge for the new proposed legislation
is going to be to ensure that those people providing
the cover are are going to stick around because otherwise

(35:49):
it's going to leave a whole lot of people exposed
to risk and with no pathway to some sort of recompense.
I'm going to be at the Master Builders Conference this week.
It's on Thursday, Friday. And I think one of the speakers,
actually there's going to be a number of politicians there,
including the new Minister for Building and Construction, Simon Watts.

(36:13):
I'm sure that's going to be a hot topic. at
the conference on Thursday and Friday. Rightio, 12 away from 7,
back in a moment.

Speaker 1 (36:20):
Helping you finish that five-minute fix you started. The Resident Builder,
with Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies. The future of
Kiwi building today. Call 0800 80 1080. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (36:34):
Just before we chat with Ray, Phil has fired me
through a text, including some correspondence or some references to
correspondence he's had with Council. respond about tiled showers. Below
is a couple of comments from a letter from council. Quote, however,
replacement tiled showers being exempt is a grey area. That's helpful.

Speaker 10 (36:56):
P.S.

Speaker 6 (36:56):
The government removed in October 2025 from their guidance that
wet area tiled showers need consent, but the industry has
a history of them needing building consent. Again, that's an
interesting comment. Phil, if you could forward me that correspondent.
I'm really interested in that. to my email, pete at newstalkzb.co.nz.

(37:17):
That would be awesome. Thank you. Ray, good morning to you.

Speaker 15 (37:21):
Well, good morning, Peter.

Speaker 13 (37:22):
Just a bit of a spur-of-the-moment call.

Speaker 6 (37:25):
Go for it.

Speaker 13 (37:25):
A little bit of a panic just moved into a
new property, and we've damaged the.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
It's got an electric.

Speaker 13 (37:33):
Dominator garage door, one of those big, heavy ones.

Speaker 6 (37:36):
Yep.

Speaker 13 (37:37):
In a nutshell, we... I accidentally pulled the cord. The
agent was showing me how to use the cord.

Speaker 12 (37:43):
Oh, yes.

Speaker 7 (37:43):
Yes.

Speaker 13 (37:45):
Absolutely buggered it. We've got it back up through some help,
but I haven't liked the thing from the beginning, and
I just wondered, before I get a specialist in to pick,
it's obviously come off the tracks or something.

Speaker 12 (37:58):
Right.

Speaker 13 (37:59):
When you pulled the cord, it flew down quite violently.

Speaker 6 (38:02):
It would have taken off like an avalanche.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
I don't like them.

Speaker 13 (38:06):
They scare me. Would it be a very big, expensive
job to get rid of this and just put up
a normal manual sliding garage door?

Speaker 6 (38:15):
Oh, hang on. When you say normal manual sliding garage door,
do you mean like a roller door or something like that?

Speaker 13 (38:23):
Just an up and down roller door, yes, rather than
this contraption with the power. And, you know, if the
power goes off, they might have issues.

Speaker 6 (38:32):
Yeah, sure.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
I'm just.

Speaker 13 (38:35):
It's probably going to cost me a bit for the
guy to come in and fix it. I've got to
get on to that Monday. Or do we deal with it?

Speaker 6 (38:47):
Just for the value of the house and all the
rest of it, I wouldn't. I mean, I've got no
objection to roll the doors, but... you might find it's
actually quite difficult to install them because you won't have
the height from the lintel to the underside.

Speaker 12 (38:59):
Of the roof.

Speaker 9 (38:59):
Right, right.

Speaker 6 (39:00):
And then what are you going to do with the old,
you know, the existing door?

Speaker 2 (39:03):
It's a new one.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
And Dominator's a good brand, right? They make good doors.
So I think just get someone in to check it,
adjust it, and, yeah, I guess, I mean, The whole
point of those release is that let's say in the
event that the door's closed and the power's off and
you needed to get out, you can pull that little toggle,

(39:26):
it releases the fixture onto the chain and you can
manually lift the door. But at the same time, was
the door up and someone pulled the toggle and the
door shot down again? Is that what happened?

Speaker 13 (39:40):
That's what we did, actually. I did it because the
agent was just passing on the information from the owner.
If the power goes off, and of course I barely
touched it. It's very, very sensitive. And then the agent
had a few goes at it too, so we completely
got it malfunctioned. So don't touch that unless it's down,

(40:01):
I've learned.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Right.

Speaker 6 (40:03):
Yeah, because when it's up, it's holding the door in place,
that little toggle, that little fixer. So you let it
go and it will take off like a downhill skier.

Speaker 13 (40:13):
I've got to, Peter. Yeah, it was a bit of
a silly idea thinking the big thing get rid of it.
It is a double garage too.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
It's a big old door. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (40:23):
I would go, you know.

Speaker 6 (40:26):
If it's a dominated door, right? You might be able
to find out who the original installer was and see
if they can come out and do a maintenance. Then
at least they're familiar with it.

Speaker 13 (40:37):
I wonder how I'd source that.

Speaker 12 (40:38):
All right.

Speaker 6 (40:39):
Well, is this a relatively new build that you're looking
at that you've moved into?

Speaker 13 (40:43):
Oh, I think it was put in with a previous owner.
So that would have been before five years ago, I think.
So we'll do a bit of research.

Speaker 6 (40:51):
Ring the team at Dominator. I'm sure they'll sort you out.

Speaker 12 (40:53):
Oh, yes.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Lovely. Thanks so much, Peter.

Speaker 8 (40:56):
Thanks for your help.

Speaker 6 (40:57):
My pleasure, Ray.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
You have a great day.

Speaker 14 (40:58):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (40:59):
Take care then. Well, that's right here. That's the first
hour done and dusted. We'll be back straight after seven o'clock.
If you've got a question of a building nature, you
should call us now 0800 80 1080. And Phil, again,
thank you for that text. If you could fire that
information through to my email, that would be awesome. Back
after the news.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
Where DIY gets unstuck.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
Call 0800 80 1080.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
The resident builder with Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies.
The future of Kiwi building today. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
We don't want to stress.

Speaker 7 (42:11):
I guess I'll make room for the elephant.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
I'm quite doing that, actually.

Speaker 6 (42:34):
It sort of boys things up a bit on a
morning where it may be a bit ho-hum after the
All Blacks lost to South Africa, but by all accounts,
a reasonable game, and it makes the next one all
the more exciting, plus the match where both of them
head off to Baltimore, I think it is, for the
fourth test in this greatest rivalry series. Actually, just talking

(42:55):
about sports, the new podcast for the ZB100 series, so
I think this will be the fourth podcast released, has
a real focus on sports. So the first one was
all about history, then the change to Newstalk ZB, then
big news stories. This one's all about the sport and
the way in which ZB has brought you so much coverage,

(43:17):
insight and analysis of great sporting events in the last 38,
almost 40 years. since the arrival of Newstalk ZB. So
check it out. You just go to iHeart and you'll
find it there or just go to the ZB website.
And I'm sure there's a link there to the podcast series.
I've got a little bit of catching up to do.
I think I'm up to the second one. So if

(43:39):
I end up in the workshop again this afternoon, maybe
that's what I'll be listening to. 0800 80 1080 is
the number to call if you'd like to tune in
or you are tuned in and you'd like to call.
Now's a great time to call. I've got a spare
line for you. 0800 80 1080. Loving the text today, actually.
9292 for the text machines. Actually, here we go. What

(44:04):
was that song that you just had on? Says the texter.
No clue at all. All right, that's awesome. We're just
bringing you a random sample of some bangers from around
the globe. We'll see how we go. 0800 80 1080
is the number to call. 9292 for the text machines.
and pete at newstalkzb.co.nz if you would like to email.
And again, just a quick shout-out to the person that

(44:26):
texted me with regard to some correspondence they'd had with council.
I think it was Auckland Council. With regard to tiled
showers and whether or not consents are required, I would
love to see that correspondence, if at all possible, please, sir. Uh, Oh,
800 80, 10 80. The number, um, Pete garage doors
should not fly away when the emergency releases use the

(44:49):
door springs should be controlling the movement. If the springs
are not adjusted correctly, then the electric motor is going
to be working harder than it should from Brent. Uh, yeah,
I mean, I'm just trying to think typically if you
release the door, it should ease down rather than take
off like a rocket. Um, And so you're probably right, obviously. Thanks, Brett,

(45:15):
for that. And hopefully that gives Ray, who's thinking about
taking the door out because of the encounter, that somebody,
a professional coming along, balancing it, will be able to
determine what the issue was, why it took off like
a rocket, and sort that out. So thanks for that, Brett.

(45:35):
I really appreciate that. Morning Pete. Do you have a
fix for a cedar front door where the exterior has
gone black from the weather? Thanks Sue. The issue with
that Sue is that that black essentially mould and mildew
that you see on the outside will have soaked into

(45:55):
the actual fibres of the cedar. So even if you
clean the surface off you'll still have the remainder of
that in there. You can use some like an oxalic
acid type product to try and draw that out. It
helps to remove moisture stains from timber surfaces. But I

(46:15):
just wonder whether if the door's in that condition, I
would probably be inclined to sand it right back, oil-based
primer and then top coat and paint the door. You
could have a go and just sand it back and
then stain it. maybe a slightly darker colour to cover

(46:37):
the black of the mould, basically. But maybe if it's
going to be that exposed to the weather, possibly a
paint might work if the stain doesn't hide the other sins, basically.
11 minutes after 7, Pete, good morning to you.

Speaker 10 (46:55):
Good, Pete, how are you?

Speaker 6 (46:56):
Very well, and yourself?

Speaker 10 (46:57):
Well, I'm a bit disappointed about the footy, but that's
all right.

Speaker 7 (47:00):
Two to go.

Speaker 10 (47:01):
Two to go.

Speaker 6 (47:01):
Two to go, that's right. It makes the rest of
it more interesting, doesn't it?

Speaker 10 (47:06):
Yes. Hey, simple, well, I think it's a simple question.
Go for it. I'm building the surrounds for a deck,
redoing just the balustrade and the posts.

Speaker 12 (47:15):
Yes.

Speaker 10 (47:16):
I've used macrocarpa sleepers in the past, routed off the edges,
but over the course of a couple of years, they
started to get a bit... They twist it a bit.
Is there any way I can stop that?

Speaker 7 (47:32):
Stop them?

Speaker 10 (47:32):
I never stain them.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Post-twisting?

Speaker 10 (47:35):
Yeah, they get a little, not so much a twist,
but a warp.

Speaker 7 (47:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (47:42):
Or is there another product I should use? I like
the look of the Macro Carpa when it's not stained,
but treated, and then with the black balustrades. I like
that look.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Right.

Speaker 10 (47:56):
That's what I'm sort of after.

Speaker 6 (47:58):
The hard thing with painting anything a dark colour is
it attracts heat. And if you're attracting heat to a
product that is prone to movement, i.e. timber, then you're
going to, you know, exacerbate.

Speaker 10 (48:11):
I might have put you crook. It's just the macrocarpa
that does the timber, the rest of the aluminium balustrade.

Speaker 6 (48:17):
Okay, I'm with you. I mean, macrocarpa's a great... Macrocarpa's
a great timber and I really like working with it
but it is relatively soft and I guess unless that
post is restrained at the top you know it's likely
to want to move a little bit and it's really

(48:39):
hard once timber is moved to sort of unbend it
saying that my next job in the workshop is taking
a set of I don't know hundred and something year
old French doors internal ones old ones that have developed
a wind, right? And I'm going to have to try
and straighten a 2.2 metre high, or 2 metre high probably,

(49:04):
old French door and try and get that straightened so
that when the two close together, one door isn't winding out.
So I'll let you know how I get on in
a couple of weeks' time.

Speaker 10 (49:17):
Would I... Would it be better to go to a
Douglas fir, any stronger, well not stronger, but more solid,
or would I be better to go to a laminated post?

Speaker 6 (49:26):
Well, laminated posts are pretty good in the sense that
because you've got the lamination, right, so you've got different
pieces of timber orientated in a different direction and they
will be less prone to movement. So typically laminated posts
will stay straighter for longer. or just a much heavier
post if you do like the look. Gosh, it's going

(49:47):
back a few years now. We did a job where
we did a restoration of a two-story veranda on the
front of a heritage building. And as I recall, the
posts were like 115 by 115, so we found some
oversized timber that was much more like the sizes from
the old timber that would have been there. and I
think we used a hardwood. It might have been, gee,

(50:10):
it might have been quiller or something like that, and
then dressed them all up on site, did all the
fluting and so on, and then they were painted, and
I have to say, 20-odd years later, they're absolutely mint.

Speaker 10 (50:24):
When do you get a post these days?

Speaker 6 (50:27):
Well, I go to someone like South Pacific Timber.

Speaker 12 (50:30):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (50:32):
Yeah, they might have some stuff in there.

Speaker 10 (50:35):
Yeah, these things will only be, they won't be $ 1, 500,
but they'll be more than $ 1, 200 high.

Speaker 12 (50:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (50:42):
Coming off the face of the deck up on Green.

Speaker 6 (50:44):
Try South Pacific. They've got some interesting stuff floating around
out the back there.

Speaker 10 (50:48):
OK, cool, Ben. Have a great day. Nice chat. Cheers, buddy.

Speaker 7 (50:51):
All right, buddy.

Speaker 10 (50:51):
And you.

Speaker 6 (50:51):
Take care. Bye-bye then. Your Newstalk ZB, 15 minutes after 7.
Take a short break. Back in a moment.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Measure twice, call once on 0800 80 1080.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
The Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
The future of Kiwi building today. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (51:11):
So we're talking LVL framing with George Guthrie, owner and
operator of George Guthrie Construction based in beautiful Blenheim. George
has been using J-Frame on some recent builds. And we
just wanted to have a bit of a catch-up to
talk about how it's performing and why it's made an impact. George,
great to have you with us.

Speaker 12 (51:28):
Thanks, Pete.

Speaker 7 (51:30):
Good to be here.

Speaker 10 (51:31):
Absolutely.

Speaker 6 (51:31):
Hey, now tell us a little bit about the business,
your business, the types of projects that you would typically
use J-Frame on.

Speaker 12 (51:38):
Yeah, so we're based here, as you say, in Blenheim,
but also service all of Marlborough. We target architectural, residential builds, renovations.
We do a lot of sounds work, Marlborough sounds work,
and light commercial. We target the higher-end stuff, but we're

(51:59):
happy to take on any project.

Speaker 6 (52:02):
So from a builder's perspective, what are the biggest benefits
when you're working with J-Frame on-site?

Speaker 12 (52:09):
The consistency, really. When it turns up, you know the
frames are going to be straight and true. The guys
are not battling with bowed timber and timber that's not stable.

Speaker 6 (52:22):
Yes.

Speaker 12 (52:23):
So it's just that consistency, really, and it gives you
confidence to know that you're getting a good straight frame
or a stick of timber.

Speaker 7 (52:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (52:35):
So for builders considering J-Frame for the first time, what
would you say is the biggest reason to give it
a go? Is it that consistency?

Speaker 10 (52:42):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 12 (52:43):
I mean, as builders, we know pretty quickly whether something's
going to work or not, don't we?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Yes.

Speaker 12 (52:50):
So my suggestion would be just give it a go
and you'll quickly learn that there's huge benefits from using it. Yep.

Speaker 6 (53:01):
Hey, and what sort of projects are you on right now?
You're talking about high-end architectural.

Speaker 12 (53:05):
Yeah, so we're doing just under 400 square metre place,
three-storey place in Waikawa.

Speaker 7 (53:12):
Wow.

Speaker 12 (53:12):
Yeah, it's drive-to access, but right on the Marlborough Sound.
So she's got fantastic views and we've just gotten the
roof on it. So it's a good milestone.

Speaker 6 (53:28):
It's always a good day when you get the roof on,
without a doubt. And so for the rest of 26
and sort of looking ahead, a little bit optimistic for 27?

Speaker 12 (53:37):
Yeah, we've got a few good projects in the pipeline.
It's certainly challenging in terms of time it takes to convert.

Speaker 7 (53:53):
A project, but we have got some.

Speaker 12 (53:57):
Good projects or balls in the air, as I like
to say.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
Yeah, and that's the nature of being your own business,
isn't it? There's always something to... There's a lot of
planning to do. Hey, George, really appreciate chatting with you
this morning. Now, if you want to have a look
at George's work, because it is pretty stunning, ggconstruction.co.nz. If
you'd like to know more about J-Frame, go and visit jnl.co.nz.

(54:21):
Newstalk ZB. Your news talk, ZB. Lou, a very, very
good morning to you.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
Yes, hi, Peter.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
Hi there.

Speaker 4 (54:32):
I just love the show.

Speaker 8 (54:33):
Love it.

Speaker 6 (54:34):
Oh, thank you. That's very kind.

Speaker 17 (54:36):
I had a question because I live in Openackey and
Taranaki and recently just been in many houses with the
solar panels going up.

Speaker 6 (54:43):
Oh, yeah, yep.

Speaker 17 (54:45):
The one next door to me a little way away,
I've got 40 on it to start with. But I
just had a question watching this, I'm thinking– hmm, that
roof has to be in really good condition or pretty
much new, or I hope you've painted it recently because
how on earth do you maintain a roof once the
panels are on? And how are they attached? Where's the

(55:08):
warranty if you've got a fairly new house or insurance?

Speaker 12 (55:14):
Yes.

Speaker 17 (55:14):
Who covers if something goes wrong?

Speaker 7 (55:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (55:19):
It's one of the things that I said that I
was going to do and I haven't had time to
do it. So I'll, I'll, I'll, um, apologize now. So
on my list, um, of things to do is to
have a chat with, um, you know, I know some people, uh,
I guess in the roofing supply side of things. So, um,
and I, cause there's lots of talk at the moment around,

(55:42):
if you install solar panels, it's going to void your warranty.

Speaker 7 (55:45):
Right.

Speaker 6 (55:46):
Um, and, I don't know if that's actually true. And
if it is true, then I'd like to know. And
if it's not true, then I'd like to be able
to tell you. So it's certainly on my list of
things to inquire about. And look, I guess one of
the things for the solar installations that I've been part of,

(56:08):
there is a really robust methodology, let's say, to the
installation of the rail's before the installation of the panels.
And it's the brackets that get fixed down onto the
top of the roofing material that I guess is where,
if it's going to leak, if it's going to fail,
that's going to be the issue, right? So if it's

(56:31):
a conventional.

Speaker 17 (56:32):
It's a very high wind area here.

Speaker 6 (56:35):
Yeah, I mean, look, to the best of my knowledge,
I don't know if I've ever heard of a situation where,
let's say, the wind has got underneath the panels and
pulled the panels off, let's say.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Hmm.

Speaker 6 (56:47):
You know, plenty of examples of roofs being ripped off,
but I'm not sure if just panels have been removed.
Interested to know if they have. But I think typically
what I've seen is that, you know, there's a washer
that goes, so there's obviously going to be a penetration
through the, in this case, if it was roofing iron,
penetration through the roofing iron, a washer that seals that penetration,

(57:09):
then a bracket that goes on top and then the
rails and then the panels that go onto there. and given, again,
I suppose there's probably an argument to say some types
of roofing are more suitable for the installation of panels,
but typically the penetration through the top, so in that sense,
it's not a lot, I would look at it and go,

(57:30):
it's not a lot different to just having a conventional
fixing through the rib of your roofing iron, so that
goes on, and then the issue sometimes with the steel,
the actual coating, there is often a requirement in the
warranty that says in areas where it's not washed by

(57:53):
the rain, you need to manually wash your coating once
a year. Words to that effect. So in that instance where,
let's say, because you've got a panel on the roof
and it's sheltering the panels below it or the iron
below it from exposure to rainwater, you're only getting water

(58:13):
in the trough of the profile, in which case the rib,
the raised part, isn't actually getting wet, in which case
material could build up on there. So I don't know
whether you have a system whereby you get up on
the roof once a year and wash that down, whether
or not you create a sufficient size gap that you

(58:33):
could run like a duster brush or something through there
in order to maintain the warranty. But again, I'm also.
To the best of my knowledge, I've never encountered someone
who said, look, my roof has failed because of the
installation of solar panels.

Speaker 7 (58:49):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (58:52):
That's kind of where I'm at. And look, it's a
big discussion at the moment. It's a political discussion. Both
of the major parties, I suspect all of the parties,
will be promoting the installation of solar, whether that's through
rebates or interest-free loans or the ability to add it

(59:12):
to your rates bill or something like that, certainly there's
a big push for the installation of solar.

Speaker 12 (59:21):
Thanks, Pete.

Speaker 17 (59:22):
No trouble at all.

Speaker 6 (59:25):
Thank you for also prompting me to the fact that
I do have that on my to-do list. Absolutely. but
I'm easily distracted by, um, like going out into the
workshop and doing other stuff rather than making phone calls,
but I'll, I'll get, I'll get it sorted out.

Speaker 7 (59:40):
No worries.

Speaker 6 (59:42):
Nice to talk with you. Take care.

Speaker 10 (59:44):
All the best.

Speaker 6 (59:45):
Bye bye Lou. Um, will I get a chance to
this week? Maybe I'll see.

Speaker 10 (59:53):
How I go.

Speaker 6 (59:54):
I'll give it a red hot crack. Um, along with
all the other jobs on my to-do list. It is
27 minutes after seven. Wendy, good morning to you.

Speaker 15 (01:00:03):
Oh, good morning.

Speaker 9 (01:00:04):
Just wondering if you could give me some advice, please.
I've got an internal door for my garage to up
the stairs, and it's quite thin timber, and I have
got a very persistent cat. Now, she bangs against it,
it's split a bit, and the split is going... This
is going up the door. I'm wondering what sort of

(01:00:26):
product which I could put on there to stop that.
And because she will claw at it, it's got to
be something that would withstand her claws as well.

Speaker 12 (01:00:38):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:00:40):
I'm laughing in the sense that we also have a
very persistent cat. So I can imagine, particularly if there's
a bit of heft to your cat, There is.

Speaker 9 (01:00:54):
I should feed her less, not really. But she's very persistent.

Speaker 5 (01:00:58):
She'll bang against it sideways and now the split's going up,
but she will also scratch if it's just timber. And
I was trying to find some product or some piece
of something which would be solid enough to get stuck
on the bottom of the door. Is the door.

Speaker 9 (01:01:16):
She reaches up.

Speaker 6 (01:01:17):
Is the door kind of just a standard flush door,
hollow core painted?

Speaker 5 (01:01:23):
Yes, completely hollow, because that's why the split's moving up
the more she bangs us.

Speaker 9 (01:01:28):
She bangs us, but then, well, she claws us, so
it's got to be something that will stand the claws
as well as the weight of the cat thumping herself
against us.

Speaker 6 (01:01:37):
I wonder whether just a thin sheet of, like, oil-tempered
hardboard or something like that that you could simply... get
cut to the right size, glue it onto the face
and then paint it. And then, yes, it'll, I mean,
if you wanted something that perhaps is more scratch resistant,
you could see if you can get an off cut

(01:01:59):
of like melamine or something like that, a wall lining
with a coating on it. It's about five mil, six
mil thick and just fix that on. I had a
job again for actually a dog owner years ago. where
the dog would scratch on the doors, on the French
doors to get in. And I actually made up some

(01:02:20):
metal plates and fixed them to the door so that
the dog wouldn't, like the dog was, you know, a
third of the way through the thickness of the timber. Wow.
Over time, they'd lived there for a while and that
was the dog's persistent sort of habit. There's got to
be ways to train that out.

Speaker 9 (01:02:37):
Would it be something like stainless steel?

Speaker 6 (01:02:40):
No, look, I think that's even the most persistent cat.
I'm not sure that you need to go to that extent.
But I just wonder whether something hard-wearing, like a little
bit of oil-tempered hardboard or a sheet of serotonin, melamine,
something like that, and just apply that over the bottom
section of the door, and that'll be enough to stop it.

Speaker 15 (01:03:00):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (01:03:01):
Or just leave the door open.

Speaker 9 (01:03:04):
I do, but the times when I do need to
leave her down there, it's a big area, she's determined
that she wants to come back up.

Speaker 7 (01:03:13):
Yes.

Speaker 15 (01:03:14):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (01:03:15):
Yes, and I was in the house yesterday, and I
heard the cat calling out, crying out from the back doors,
from the French doors, and it was raining. And I'm like,
there is a cat flap, right? But, of course, it's raining,
so why would you walk out in the rain and
in through the other door when you can just meow
long enough for one of us to come and open

(01:03:35):
the back door.

Speaker 9 (01:03:37):
Yeah. You've got a spoiled cat.

Speaker 6 (01:03:40):
Well, yeah, actually, you're probably right.

Speaker 9 (01:03:43):
Yeah. Well, look, thank you very much.

Speaker 6 (01:03:45):
Hey, lovely to chat. All the very best.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Take care then.

Speaker 6 (01:03:49):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
Bye.

Speaker 13 (01:03:54):
Bye.

Speaker 10 (01:03:54):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (01:03:54):
0800 80 1080 is the number to call.

Speaker 10 (01:03:57):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:03:57):
Bunch of texts to catch up on. Let's do that
after the break. I'll come back with your text, but
love your phone calls as well. So 0800 80 1080
gives a call.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
Fixing what they forgot to mention on that YouTube video.
The Resident Builder with Peter Wolfkamp and Independent Building Supplies.
The future of Kiwi building today. Call 0800 80 1080.
Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (01:04:21):
When you're looking for quality flooring, take a look at
Futurefloor from Independent Building Supplies. It's proven European OSB4 technology
now built specifically for New Zealand conditions works with timber
or steel framing and the tongue and groove design locks
together tight so you get a floor that's stable strong

(01:04:42):
and solid underfoot no give no bounce you can run
it right through the home too through the kitchen the
laundry the bathroom once it's properly waterproofed and because it's
code mark certified getting your paperwork through is straightforward which
means it's less hassle for you and real peace of
mind for the homeowner Whether it's a house, multi-unit or
commercial build, Future Floor is a floor that you can

(01:05:05):
trust from the ground up. So head to ibs.co.nz forward
slash future floor and get it sorted.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Zed V. Rightio.

Speaker 6 (01:05:17):
Let's have a look at a bunch of texts that
have come through.

Speaker 12 (01:05:20):
Good.

Speaker 6 (01:05:21):
Oh, two mil vinyl on the door. This is for
the cat protection, let's say.

Speaker 12 (01:05:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:05:28):
Yeah, that'd work. a little bit tricky to apply sometimes
but yep that'd work uh morning pete regarding the solar
panels i've got 17 solar panels all insured i might
add interesting i also have bird protection around them for
my peace of mind i wanted to have my roof
sprayed for mold etc and discovered that the usual mold

(01:05:48):
treatment can damage the panels but there is a company
called eco shine solar that has a product that does
not damage the panels. So just to let you know, PS,
the solar is fabulous. I don't know that I've ever
spoken with someone who kind of regrets doing it. And
the other thing is we did a project about 10

(01:06:09):
years ago where we installed some solar as part of
the project, and that worked really well. But looking at
the performance leap, with the panels now is phenomenal, even
in that short period of time. And I understand there's
kind of new advancements coming out as well. Thanks very
much for that, Lorraine. Good morning. I'm struggling to find

(01:06:31):
a better direction on this, says the texter. I have
a low-lying section in a low-lying street. There is a
large paddock at the back of the section where the
water should drain to. I have an issue where the
soil around the house and in the back paddock is
now higher than the ground level under the house. water
accumulates under the house. Do I need to recontour my
whole section to drain it away? Section is slightly sloping

(01:06:53):
away from the road. I think the front soil has
slipped through to the back of the section. We had
some water flowing under the house during Gabriel, et cetera. Um,
I mean, look, it's not ideal if the ground under
your house is below the level of, let's say the
ground level around the perimeter of your section. Um, with

(01:07:16):
no drainage there, because water will obviously find its lowest point,
and if you've got water that persistently sits underneath your house,
that is an issue. Contouring it in such a way
that you could allow, like an overland flow path, to
allow that to go on to the adjoining paddock, which
I take it as uninhabitable. There's technically you're not allowed

(01:07:41):
to do that because you're not allowed to discharge your
stormwater onto an adjacent property in an uncontrolled manner in
which case you might want to try and get it
out from underneath the house install a catch pit and
then direct that to your stormwater but if your stormwater
the public stormwater is higher than the the level that

(01:08:01):
you're catching it in then you're looking at pumps of
some description to get it out but There will be
a solution, but it's not going to be an easy one,
I'd say. A couple of other quick texts before we
talk to Prasad.

Speaker 10 (01:08:15):
Morning, Pete.

Speaker 6 (01:08:15):
I've got a powder-coated aluminium front door. I want to
paint the inside of it. Do you have any tips, please?
Great program, as usual. If you, and I'm sure you have,
listened to Jay and Bryce from Resene, there are some
specialist primers that you can apply and then some topcoats.
That will work. The other option is to get a

(01:08:38):
professional company to come and redo the door. So someone
like NanoClear, for example, would be able to recoat the
door for you as well, Lindsay. So good luck with
that one. Not for the airways, but here we go anyway.
I'm not sure whether that means you want me to
read it out or not. I'll leave that for now.

(01:09:00):
People ringing are disappointed with the rugby result. Don't worry,
the WAs are playing today. It'll be our year. Oh,
that's fantastic.

Speaker 7 (01:09:08):
Rightio.

Speaker 6 (01:09:09):
What we might do is take a quick break and
then we will talk with Prasad in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
Turning uh-ohs into she'll be right. The Resident Builder with
Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
The future of Kiwi building today. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (01:09:28):
Rightio, still got time for your calls before the news
because that's, gosh, it's hours, ages away. It is only
7.43 right now. So give us a call 0800 8010 80.
Loving the texts as well. It's 9292. And if you'd
like to email me, it's pete at newstalkzb.co.nz. And Prasad,

(01:09:49):
good morning to you.

Speaker 14 (01:09:51):
Good morning, Peter.

Speaker 10 (01:09:52):
How are you? Very well.

Speaker 6 (01:09:53):
And yourself?

Speaker 10 (01:09:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:09:54):
Good, good.

Speaker 14 (01:09:55):
Hey, my query is, I'm basically a first-time caller, long-time listener.
My query is about my building. It's a two-story timber
frame from about 1970s. And in one corner of the building,
got a laundry on the, you know, right on the corner.

Speaker 10 (01:10:15):
Of the building.

Speaker 14 (01:10:16):
The building's got like a concrete, you know, floor. So
the walls are... I like sort of cement boards in
this place, in this corner. And I was sort of
refurbishing the laundry area at the corner of the building.

(01:10:38):
And I find that the big post right on the
corner has got a rot on the bottom, you know,
a few centimeters. I was wondering whether I can get
a licensed building practitioner, builder, to come in, prop it,
and probably chop off the piece that's rotten and splice

(01:11:02):
it and any horizontal timbers and that, replace them as well.
And before I, you know, recommence with the referring, you know,
the internals. So I wanted to get your opinion on
that sort of approach.

Speaker 6 (01:11:16):
Yes. I mean, what's the cladding on the outside of
the building?

Speaker 14 (01:11:23):
Um, At this place, it is like some sort of
cement board.

Speaker 6 (01:11:29):
Oh, okay, like an old party.

Speaker 14 (01:11:31):
Yes, that's right. Yeah, 70-year-old sort of place here.

Speaker 6 (01:11:35):
And do you, like, could you take a guess or
do you know why the rot has occurred? Obviously, moisture
is getting in.

Speaker 11 (01:11:44):
Yes.

Speaker 14 (01:11:44):
Yeah, it's a laundry area, but that's not the main cause.
Right on the corner of the building, I think there's
been like a spouting that had been leaking for some years,
you know, right from the top because it might have
been blocked or something.

Speaker 12 (01:12:01):
Sure.

Speaker 14 (01:12:01):
And the water just overflowed and it sort of, you know,
sort of just drew down and right onto that post area.

Speaker 10 (01:12:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:12:09):
And the ground level outside... compared to the finished floor
level inside so concrete floor inside outside is either paved
or garden is there a decent size step down so
like 150 millimeters or so.

Speaker 14 (01:12:24):
Yeah it would be about 150.

Speaker 6 (01:12:26):
Okay all right um all right so it does sound
like essentially i guess you know an overflowing pipe over
a period of time directs a lot of water down
there that's got into the building envelope the question is,
and I've been following quite a lot of discussion online
at the moment as to whether or not sort of
structural repairs like that would require a building consent, whether

(01:12:50):
you can do that sort of work, taking out a
rotten post and replacing it or a couple of studs
and replacing it under schedule, under the provisions within the
law that allow you to do some work without a consent.
I mean, look, I, My attitude would be get a

(01:13:11):
suitably qualified professional to come in. I think you're going
to end up having to replace or remove some of
the cladding in order to do that work. It's going
to be very difficult just to take the stud out,
leave the cladding in place, and then refix the.

Speaker 12 (01:13:31):
Timber.

Speaker 6 (01:13:34):
And if you're talking about having to– taking that much
of the structural timber out that you're having to prop
the house, then obviously you really do want to use
a suitably qualified professional who can do that work because
there is a risk that the building will move, obviously.
It's a whole other floor sitting on top.

Speaker 14 (01:13:56):
Yeah, I imagine that there'll be a truss and of
course the load coming onto it.

Speaker 6 (01:14:05):
And the extent of the rot, has it travelled up
100 millimetres, 500 millimetres, how much of the bottom of
that post is decayed?

Speaker 14 (01:14:14):
Well, it looks like, you know, 300 millimetres, but I
suppose until I remove, you know, I wouldn't be able to,
you know, have a guess. That's why I wanted to
bring a LBPE to.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
Inspect it properly.

Speaker 6 (01:14:29):
And I suspect that that that structural timber, those verticals
are sitting on a bottom plate. So chances are the
bottom plate has got some decay in it as well.

Speaker 14 (01:14:39):
Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 7 (01:14:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:40):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:14:41):
Um, and then, you know, water tends to travel horizontally
a little bit easier than it does vertically. So you
might find that if it's gone up 500, let's say
it's probably traveled seven or 800 millimeters, uh, horizontally.

Speaker 7 (01:14:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:14:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:14:56):
Um, look, I think that that's the sort of work that, um,
You know, it's limited in scope. You'll use an LBP.
I'd record what you do. But I think just go
ahead and get, you know, a suitably qualified person to
come in and do the repairs and maintenance.

Speaker 10 (01:15:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:15:16):
Because the other thing is if, like, because of the
age of the building, right, one of the things that
I think it's important to point out is that if
a sort of more modern building fails in that way,
within the durability requirements, then you must get a building
consent to do the repairs on that. But your building

(01:15:39):
is a little bit older. It's prior to the Building
Act in 1992. So I'm not sure if the same
requirements apply given that the building is older. But just
to be clear, let's say your building was 10 years
old and you discovered that actually water has been getting
in around the cladding and the bottom plate has rotted out,

(01:16:00):
you would need to get a building consent for that
because the building has failed to meet its requirements under
the Act in terms of structural and so on. So
that's a slightly different category. But I think in your instance,
chat with, if you've got a recommendation, someone that you
know or friends and family, and also someone who I

(01:16:24):
suppose you want to know that if you're going to
do the repair, it's going to be done well, with
the right materials, with a professional approach, and that you're
not going to end up with something that you might
have to re-repair in a couple of years' time.

Speaker 14 (01:16:35):
Yeah, I've been using a LBP builder for a bit
of work, and I'll get his opinion on whether it's
all OK.

Speaker 6 (01:16:46):
And I think with this sort of thing, because someone might, well,
I suppose when it's, Because of the nature of the
cladding on the outside, chances are you're going to end
up with a horizontal and a vertical join in that area.
So someone looking at the property in the future might go, gee,
hang on, that's not as per the original. I wonder
what happened there. And if they ask and if you're

(01:17:09):
able to provide some detail to say, look, it was
a historic leak and this is how I've repaired it.
Here's some photographs, maybe a brief statement from the LBP.
then that satisfies them as well. So make sure you
record what you do.

Speaker 10 (01:17:24):
Yeah, OK. All righty.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
All the best.

Speaker 12 (01:17:27):
All right.

Speaker 6 (01:17:27):
Nice to chat with you. Take care. And Beryl, a
very good morning to you.

Speaker 10 (01:17:30):
Hello. Hi.

Speaker 15 (01:17:33):
It's Peter, isn't it?

Speaker 10 (01:17:34):
It is.

Speaker 15 (01:17:35):
Thank you. Peter, my subject is rust. And what I
want to know is that I want to know what
I should ask for in Mitre 10 or Bunnings. At
your suggestion, I've got a brand new deep freeze. The
old one was wonderful inside, but it was very, very

(01:17:56):
old and it got rusty in the end. It didn't
work anymore. But what I'm wondering is what could I
get to spray the brand new deep freeze on the
outside so it doesn't go rusty? Plus, on the same subject,
I've got A granny flat outside that's made of metal,

(01:18:17):
I've had it since 89, and at the bottom of
the granny flat, just as it sits on the foundations,
that's going a bit rusty a little. I mean, you
can still live in it and everything, but on the
outside being metal, that's getting a wee bit rusty down
the bottom as it sits on its foundation. Have you

(01:18:40):
got a suggestion?

Speaker 6 (01:18:42):
Okay, with regard to the fridge or freezer.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
New deep freeze.

Speaker 6 (01:18:49):
Yeah, new deep freeze. If it's a new one, I
guess I would look at, is that going into …
an area where there's too much moisture and that moisture
is causing the rust? It's not a problem with a
deep freeze. I really wouldn't try and apply any coating
to a brand new appliance, given that you might find

(01:19:09):
that the material, it should be galvanized underneath there or
some sort of anti-corrosive material. And then it will have
a full coating on it. But I would be thinking
about maybe ventilating that area or especially ventilating that area.
If it's damp enough to cause rust on appliances, then

(01:19:30):
I think you've got sort of other challenges that you
need to address. With regard to the exterior cladding, if
that metal is down and close to the concrete foundation
of the granny flat, um, you need to have a
separation between those two because you will get corrosion where
the metal is in close proximity to the cement.

Speaker 4 (01:19:51):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:19:52):
And depending, if it's a little bit of surface rust,
you could, you know, with a wire brush, remove some
of that, apply rust converter and then repaint it. That
would work. But I think if the rust has started
to go right through the material, then maybe you're looking

(01:20:14):
at a reclad there because that cladding is probably getting
towards the end of its practical life. If you didn't
want to do a complete reclad, you could cut the
bottom of the sheets and slide another sheet up behind
it if you can still find the same profile. But
bearing in mind, if your exterior cladding, the iron, is

(01:20:36):
starting to deteriorate, then there's a possibility that water's getting
into the timber framing. So you know, do the repairs
in a timely fashion because otherwise you're likely to end
up with a much bigger repair if you then have
to do, like our previous caller, you know, where you're

(01:20:56):
then having to repair not just the exterior cladding but
you're also having to repair the framing.

Speaker 10 (01:21:03):
Right.

Speaker 15 (01:21:03):
It's just on the outside it's like at the bottom
but it hasn't gone right up.

Speaker 6 (01:21:09):
Yes, yes. Um, I mean, if it's exterior, I would
just give it a brush with a wire brush, take
some what they call rust converter, which basically seals the rust,
stops it from being active, and then you could paint
over the top of that.

Speaker 15 (01:21:29):
Now, that rust converter, do I get that from Bunnings?

Speaker 6 (01:21:32):
It'll be at any of the large stores will have it.

Speaker 5 (01:21:35):
Yep.

Speaker 7 (01:21:35):
Lovely.

Speaker 15 (01:21:36):
Okay, and it's called rust converter, is that right?

Speaker 6 (01:21:41):
Yeah, that's the sort of generic name for it. Different
brands might have a different name, but if you go
in and ask for a rust converter or a rust-proof treatment,
they should be able to direct you. It'll most likely
be in a spray can. You can get some that
you can brush on as well, but a spray.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
Can would probably be quite easy.

Speaker 15 (01:21:57):
So I should be able to buy a brush as well?

Speaker 6 (01:22:00):
No, I'd go for the spray one.

Speaker 12 (01:22:03):
Okay.

Speaker 15 (01:22:03):
You were saying about brushing it off.

Speaker 6 (01:22:08):
Oh, just a little wire brush or something like that,
just to clean as much of the excess rust off
as possible. So you get a little brush and then
apply the rust converter and away you go.

Speaker 10 (01:22:19):
Lovely.

Speaker 15 (01:22:19):
Thank you very much, Peter.

Speaker 6 (01:22:20):
My pleasure. Nice chatting with you. All the very best.

Speaker 15 (01:22:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:22:22):
Take care then. Actually, that was one of my little
jobs as well, trying to just clean up a little
drill press vise. that I found, I was having a
big tidy up the other day, it's all a bit
rusty and that sort of thing, so that's been soaking.
I might do that today, actually. I might go back
to the workshop. Rightio, 0800 80 1080 if he calls,

(01:22:43):
we're back straight after the news at eight.

Speaker 1 (01:22:48):
Helping you finish that five-minute fix you started. The Resident Builder.
With Peter Wolfkamp and independent building supplies. The future of
Kiwi building today.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
Call 0800 80 1080. Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 6 (01:23:30):
All righty-o, well, welcome back to the show. My name's
Pete Wolfkamp, the resident builder. This is the resident builder
on Sunday through till 9 o'clock this morning. Excuse me,
remember at 8.30, we'll jump into the garden with Rud
Kleinpast from 8.30. But right now, yes, indeed, ladies and gentlemen,
Luftham time. I read an interesting article. It was, actually,

(01:23:53):
it was in the Sunday Star Times the other day.
Kevin Norgay, who's kind of invested a bit helpful kind
of writer, was talking about, as it happens, a little
bit of lift in time, along with a whole lot
of other things about looking after your house and so on.
So it feels like the movement is growing. It feels
like people are embracing this. The idea is basically you

(01:24:15):
get up in the morning and all of that humidity
and moisture that's accumulated in the house overnight while the
house has been closed up, you just allow that to
be released. So open the front door, open the back door,
open a side door, something like that for five, 10 minutes,
allow all of that moist air to dissipate, allow a
little bit of fresh air to come in. Even if

(01:24:36):
it's a little bit colder, your house won't actually drop
in temperature that much. Interestingly enough, the heat is retained
in the elements within the house. It just freshens it up,
removes a bit of that moisture, close the house up,
get on with the rest of the day. That's what
lift in time is all about. Or as the good
people at Brands are calling it, a little bit of
blast ventilation, which I think sounds a lot more elegant

(01:24:57):
than burping the house, which apparently is how the Americans
like to describe it. So I think that blast ventilation
sounds more productive, more exciting than burping the house. Lufthansa
time I quite like, though. Rightio, we'll take your calls
on all things building and construction, but this morning I

(01:25:19):
also wanted to have a chat with Nate Alley, I
heard about him a little while ago in the company
that he's with, Sentinel Homes in the Waikato. I'm sure
it's familiar to some people. But it was more about,
I guess, a kind of like an attitude shift in
the company where they looked at the amount of waste
that is created. And all building creates, to some degree, waste, right?

(01:25:42):
There's surplus material, there's excess that has to be disposed
of at the end of the job. But my own opinion,
personal and professional, is that construction is incredibly wasteful. We
have a poor approach to managing materials. We have a

(01:26:03):
kind of dismissive approach in general to what we do
with it at the end. And most of it, unfortunately,
just goes to landfill. So more than half of the
volume of material, let's say in Auckland, that is trucked
out to landfill in the surrounding areas comes from construction.
That's an appalling figure. So I'm always pretty keen on

(01:26:24):
hearing from people that want to do something about that.
And that's why we're going to have a chat with
Nate Alley this morning. And Nate, thank you very much
for joining us.

Speaker 7 (01:26:33):
No worries, Pete. Good morning, mate. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:26:35):
Hey, again, I think it's hard to understate the scale
of the problem that we've created in terms of us
as home builders, right? And if you drive to a
building site the one thing that you are likely to
see is a skip or a pile of rubbish or
a trailer being loaded up. And we know that most

(01:26:58):
of the time up until now, it's just been taken
to a local transfer station. That gets crushed and then
it gets taken to landfill, right? But there are alternatives.
So for you and your company at Sentinel Homes, what
was it that triggered you to go, actually, we can
do something better?

Speaker 7 (01:27:19):
Yeah, I mean, I fully agree. Like, over the years,
it's just been something that we've noticed, and it's probably
just something that's kind of chipped away at me, and
I think it happens to a lot of people in
the industry, but there's never, you know, it's always, the
thing you always come up against is the cost and
doing anything different.

Speaker 10 (01:27:37):
Right.

Speaker 7 (01:27:38):
One of my guys on my team approached me three
years ago now, just over three years ago, and said, look, Nate,
I think we need to do something better about this,
and I have an idea.

Speaker 3 (01:27:47):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (01:27:48):
And I said, OK.

Speaker 7 (01:27:49):
And he said, I think we could divert the waste,
build some things out of it, sell them and invest
it back into the cost of diverting the waste to
replace the cost of using skips. And I said, yep,
sounds great in principle. Absolutely on board. I need you
to put together some actual numbers like a business case

(01:28:11):
around it. And to his credit, he went away and
did that. I set him a challenge of making it
cost neutral, probably with a bit of understanding that there
would need to be some investment in it.

Speaker 6 (01:28:22):
Sure.

Speaker 7 (01:28:23):
And he came back and put this business case forward
to me, and it looked like us getting a high ebb,
employing the guy part-time, and leasing some space to take
the waste materials to. So that was where something called
the Waste Project was born.

Speaker 10 (01:28:38):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (01:28:39):
Yeah, we're three years deep in it now.

Speaker 10 (01:28:41):
We are diverting.

Speaker 7 (01:28:43):
We don't have a single skip on any of our
building sites anymore.

Speaker 6 (01:28:46):
Yeah, brilliant.

Speaker 7 (01:28:47):
All of our waste is being diverted out to our
yard and to Corfy, just out of Hamilton. And we
build cabins out of them. We sell the cabins and
that funds the ongoing operation of the Waste Project. So, yeah,
it's something we're really proud of. I mean, we've diverted
hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of waste from landfill to
And not only that, we've got, I think we've built

(01:29:09):
15 or 16 cabins now, which are out there in
the Waikato and wider region. We've got one going over
to Whangamata pretty shortly. So, yeah, it's awesome. And for us,
it was about, part of it became about proving to
the industry that we can do something better with it,
you know?

Speaker 6 (01:29:28):
So, I mean, for most people, I think, like one
of the figures that I've heard is basically in New
Zealand typically, For every, I think it's five houses we build,
we throw away enough material to build another one, right?
That's basically how wasteful our sites are. And in a sense,
not saying that you guys are wasteful, but you've been
able to capture that material and in this sense, you know,

(01:29:50):
collect it up. And I presume for your building cabinets,
it's a little bit of framing that's left over. It's
a bit of, you know, the end of a roll
of building paper. It's some cladding, that sort of thing.
A bit of excess roofing iron, those sorts of things
that happen.

Speaker 12 (01:30:02):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (01:30:03):
In terms of material that would, you know, I've done it,
I'm sure most people have done it, you wander by
a building site, you see a skip and you think, gee,
that's a nifty piece of 4x2 there, I could use that, right?
So in terms of what other, like materials that you
can't use for rebuilding or for building something else, do

(01:30:23):
you now actively go, okay, so I'm going to make
sure that I keep my metals to one side, I'm
going to make sure that, you know, I try and,
sort out my plastic. So if you don't have a
skip on your site, what do you do to control
your waste?

Speaker 7 (01:30:38):
Yeah, so what Jono, our operations manager, he's the guy who,
I say, started the waste project.

Speaker 6 (01:30:43):
He's the main guy.

Speaker 7 (01:30:45):
He came up with the concept and developed the system
where he basically got some waste stations built out of.
Basically leftover D12.

Speaker 10 (01:30:56):
Yep.

Speaker 7 (01:30:56):
So he left over D12 from doing a few slabs.

Speaker 10 (01:30:58):
Yep.

Speaker 7 (01:30:58):
So he built these, he built these, I don't know
how to describe them, frames, I suppose, out of D12.
And then we put old wool sacks in them. And
so we have half a dozen of those on site
and some 40 gallon drums. And so that's probably the
biggest part of it. And we had to do education
with our trades and trade partners around Don't just throw

(01:31:21):
it in the skip because it's easy. Decide what it
is that's in your hand or in your wheelbarrow and
throw it into the correct bin. And then with things
like that, so soft plastics, obviously we're not using soft
plastics in building cabins. And so we stockpile the soft
plastics out at the yard. And then every so often, PJ,

(01:31:41):
our wonderful man who drives our high-ab and does all
our sorting, he takes that into a depot that does
recycle or recycles You know, use the soft plastics. So
even partnering with companies like Saveboard for things like UHT Plastics,
all of our recycling goes to normal recycling stations. So, yeah,

(01:32:03):
the use of everything is pretty high. Like we're using
over 95% of the materials in different ways.

Speaker 6 (01:32:09):
The education side can be challenging, though, eh, with tradies. So,
you know, I'm not picking on sparkies, but, you know,
you might end up with someone has a bit of
a tidy up, and so they end up with a
big box filled with smaller boxes filled with little bits
of other stuff. So are you sort of saying to them, hey, look,

(01:32:29):
rather than just tip that straight into a skip or
something that's going to go to landfill, maybe just take
some time, sort out your plastic, sort out your cardboard,
And that happens on site and everyone buys into that?

Speaker 7 (01:32:44):
Yeah, look, that was probably the thing that was the
most pleasant surprise of this whole thing was that Actually,
once we gave people a solution, everyone was like, oh, wow,
we've been waiting for something like this. So everyone, like
I said earlier, everyone has the intent. Everyone wants to
do something better because none of us like seeing a
massive skip full of perfectly good materials going away to landfill.

(01:33:06):
And so when we provided the solution to our subbies, Yeah,
it took some time and it took some education. We
held a few different hui at our office and on
site and we created some educational videos as well to
explain to everyone what to do. And then, yeah, the
response from them has been really good. So early on,
it was something we had to do. I guess, enforcement

(01:33:30):
for want of a better term. We had to hold
some people to account as we do as project managers
and builders. But no, over the last few years, it's
developed into now we've got subbies holding new subbies to account.

Speaker 12 (01:33:44):
Brilliant.

Speaker 7 (01:33:45):
This is how we do things around here.

Speaker 6 (01:33:47):
Yeah. And I mean, sometimes the argument is, it's just
so much simpler if I just put in a skip,
but then you're paying for that skip, right? And I
think most likely we're going to see the price of
that continue to go up. So unless you're starting to
get smart about diverting from landfill and then that whole
thing around resource recovery, you know, it's going to, in

(01:34:12):
your case, you've made it cost neutral, which is awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:34:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:34:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:34:16):
And I think too, like one thing that I say
to when I'm encouraging people in construction to have a
crack at it is that the unintended consequences for us
have been really, beneficial too so even just with clients
our clients love it um when we're tendering for commercial
projects it's a it's a massive part of broader outcomes

(01:34:37):
um you know even achieving things like homestar or passive
it's a massive part of that so um yeah it's
not just the it's not just the feel good it's
actually good for business too hey.

Speaker 6 (01:34:48):
Yeah absolutely hey look i'm i've You know, I'm always
really keen to sort of shine a light on other
tradies that are making a stand on this. So really
pleased that we could have a bit of a chat.
That Waste Project, if someone Googles that, can they find
out about that?

Speaker 7 (01:35:04):
Yeah, if you Google the Waste Project, you'll be able
to read a bit about it. We're just getting the
website redone at the moment. But there is the Waste
Project on Instagram.

Speaker 10 (01:35:12):
Yes.

Speaker 7 (01:35:12):
If you want to have a look at that.

Speaker 6 (01:35:13):
Sure will. Yeah. It's awesome. Nate, again, thank you, and
to all of your team at Sentinel Homes, good on you. Actually,
I'm down in the Waikato possibly early in October. I
might swing by, eh?

Speaker 7 (01:35:27):
Yeah, mate, go and have a look.

Speaker 10 (01:35:28):
Look forward to it.

Speaker 6 (01:35:29):
Much appreciated. Take care, and thanks very much for your
time this morning. That's Nate Alley from Sentinel Homes. The
reason I wanted to reach out is that I really
do think that the days of just having a great
big skip on site and sending that to landfill should
be over. I think if you're a client and you're
talking with your builder about a new build or a

(01:35:50):
renovation or something like that, one of the questions you
should be asking is what are you going to do
with the excess, right? And shifting the thinking from it's waste,
it's rubbish, through to it's a resource and it can
be recovered, it can be either reused or repurposed or recycled.
And I'm pretty sure for Nate, and I've done it

(01:36:11):
on sites where We've reduced the volume of material going
to landfill by 80%. Now, there are options, and a
couple of people have texted through, for example, that there
are a couple of companies around the country that will
do the diversion and the sorting for you. So you
can tip whatever you want or put into their skips

(01:36:32):
whatever you want. The important resource recovery, I happen to
sit on the board there, will send a skip to
a site. you put whatever you want in and then
we'll do the sorting on site. So there are companies
that will do that, but you have to be very
deliberate about which company you choose to engage with in
order for them to do it. But the better solution

(01:36:55):
is always going to be doing some of that separation
on site and a little bit of planning around where
those materials go. 80% diversion, not hard to achieve. Well,
It takes a bit of effort. I've been to one
commercial site where they get 92% of the volume of
material from their site gets diverted from landfill. It takes
a bit of effort, but that's a significant achievement, I

(01:37:20):
would have thought. 0800 8010 80 is the number to call.
We'll have time for one quick building question after the break.
Then we're into the garden with a red climb pass
from 8.30 this morning. It is 8.21.

Speaker 1 (01:37:32):
Where DIY gets unstuck. Call 0800 80 1080. The Resident
Builder with Peter Wolfcamp and independent building supplies. The future
of Kiwi building today. Newstalk ZB.

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Speaker 2 (01:38:44):
ZB.

Speaker 6 (01:38:45):
Rightio, let's get into it. Actually, one last call on building,
then we're into the garden. Ryd's on standby.

Speaker 2 (01:38:51):
Hello, Karen.

Speaker 8 (01:38:53):
Hello.

Speaker 4 (01:38:54):
So we've got a flat roof stucco house two streets
away from the beach, and the flashings are rusty above
every window. How do you replace a flashing on a
window on a stucco house with a flat roof?

Speaker 7 (01:39:11):
What do you do?

Speaker 6 (01:39:12):
How old's the house?

Speaker 7 (01:39:14):
Probably 1940s.

Speaker 10 (01:39:15):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
All right.

Speaker 6 (01:39:17):
So not unexpected that the flashing has reached the end
of its life.

Speaker 2 (01:39:20):
Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:39:24):
I mean, the really hard thing is you know that
the flashing extends up behind the stucco, behind the render
on the exterior of the building. In which case, if
you were to replace all of the flashing, you would
need to then cut into the stucco and then you've
got an issue of how do you repair that? Because
ideally you don't want just to cut it and butt

(01:39:46):
new render onto the underside. It'll be obvious and so on.
What you might find is that It's a little bit surgical,
but what you might find is that the rust and
the corrosion is only on sort of the leading edge
of the flashing and that you may be able to cut,
let's say, the rusted portion of the flashing off and

(01:40:11):
then slide a new flashing up underneath the old one.
It depends a little bit on the overall condition of
the flashing, but let's say where it exits the plaster
it's in reasonably sound condition, and that it's only the
leading edge that started to corrode, cut that off, slide
one up. It's not a perfect solution, but it's probably a, well,

(01:40:37):
you could argue that that's going to lessen the potential
for more leaks from having to repair the cladding than that.
It's not perfect, and I know the upstand won't be
the right height, and there's a whole lot of technical
things that aren't right with that, but as a sensible
precaution to ensuring that the rust doesn't spread, that's probably

(01:40:59):
where I would start first, is to try and do
a targeted repair, just replace that section. If that's not
an option, then really you want to be engaged with
someone quite professional who's used to working on older houses
and on stucco. And essentially, you're going to be cutting
the stucco out, replacing the flashing, and it would have

(01:41:21):
to be in stainless steel. There's no point in doing
any other replacement. And then re-rendering those areas with some
system that allows for it to seal the junction so
that you don't end up with water coming into the cladding.

Speaker 4 (01:41:40):
Yeah, interesting because there's this product called Hume Bond. I
don't know if you know it. It's like a two-part mix,
and it's almost like cementy, and it takes you a
bit of time to sort of spurry it along, and
that's what we were thinking. If we went along there
with a grinder and cut out the old flashing and
then put the new one and sealed it and then

(01:42:01):
sort of rendered it with the Hume Bond, but that's
what I thought I'd talk to you first.

Speaker 6 (01:42:06):
Yeah, I mean, shivers. What's the distance from the top
of the window to the top of the cladding, let's say?

Speaker 13 (01:42:20):
Yeah, interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:42:20):
I talked to my son-in-law about that.

Speaker 7 (01:42:22):
He's a builder.

Speaker 4 (01:42:23):
It's quite a lot.

Speaker 12 (01:42:25):
Right, okay.

Speaker 7 (01:42:25):
Because it's stucco, it's pretty obvious.

Speaker 6 (01:42:29):
And the hard thing is that, you know, is the
stucco kind of a trailed-on finish? Slightly uneven, that sort
of thing? Trying to replicate that is really, really challenging.
Even the very best renderers, and I know a bunch
of them that are awesome, it's so individual, it's so bespoke,
it's really hard to match what's already there. And then

(01:42:53):
you end up in that situation where the repair is
obviously a repair. Look, broadly speaking, I think those are
your two options. One is to take a sort of
surgical approach and just try and get rid of the
rot and slide another flashing up and make sure that
you you seal that, then you're not disturbing the stucco.
The other one is you're just going to have to

(01:43:13):
chop out a section around each window, replace the entire flashing,
and then do a bandage and a re-render of that area. Yeah.
All the best. The fact that it's hung on for
getting close to 80, almost 90 years in that environment
is a testament to, I suppose, the strength of the

(01:43:36):
original metal, but Not surprising that it's reached the end
of its usable life.

Speaker 7 (01:43:41):
True. Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:43:42):
Good to talk with you. All the very best. Take care.

Speaker 10 (01:43:44):
Bye.

Speaker 6 (01:43:45):
It's bang on 8.30. Let's jump into the garden. Ruth
Kleinpast will be with us straight after the break.

Speaker 2 (01:43:52):
Measure twice. Call once.

Speaker 1 (01:43:54):
On 0800 80 1080. The Resident Builder. With Peter Wolfcamp
and independent building supplies. The future of Kiwi building today.

Speaker 2 (01:44:03):
Newstalk ZB.

Speaker 1 (01:44:05):
For more from the resident builder with Peter Wolfkamp, listen
live to Newstalk ZB on Sunday mornings from 6 or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.