Full Show Podcast: 26 October 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from News talks ed by doing up the house, sorting
the garden, asked Pete for ahead The Resident Builder with
Peter wolf Camp called eight hundred eighty eight US talks edb.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
The house is a whole, even when it's dug, even
when the grass is overgrown in the yard, and even when.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
The dog is too old to bar, and when you're
sitting at the table trying not to stop house scissor hole,
even when weave a bend, even when you're there, the

(01:03):
house is a hole, even when.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Even when you go around.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Fun the one you love your most.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Scream broken pains apeing in fund.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Locals Westball when they're gone, leaving them has even when
wilbra Ben, even when you're there alone.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well, a very good morning. Welcome along to the show.
My name is Pete wolf Camp and this is the
Resident Builder. On Sunday with me Pete worf Camp, the
Resident Builder, And it's an opportunity as we head into
the long weekend label weekend to maybe get a couple
of tasks done. I cracked into a project on Thursday,
a little bit more on Friday to a little bit

(02:00):
more yesterday. Will I be out there today, Yeah, probably
if the weather whole up, and then back into it
again on Monday. So if you've got some tasks that
you have set out to begin, or if you are
thinking about jobs that you'd like to get done, because
we're in that sort of that zone where suddenly I'm

(02:22):
not wanting to bring this on, but it's going to
happen anyway. You know, Christmas is pretty much well two
months away. So if you're thinking, Gee, I want to
get the kitchen done. Gee, I want to get the bathroom, dongee,
I'd like to add on to the deck. Gosh, I'd
like to do some landscaping something like that. Well, now
might be the time to start preparing, start getting the materials,
maybe getting some trades people that you need to get

(02:43):
these things done, or figure just basically figuring out what
you want to do and when you can do it
and how you can do it. A couple of things
that have been on the horizon, let's say, or been
talked about, have become law, in particular this week final
announcements around the legislation for the changes to the Granny
Flat rules that passed it's final reading in Parliament just

(03:07):
a couple of days ago. I jumped on with Matt
and Tyler in the afternoons just to go through some
of the rules and regulations and more than happy to
talk about it. I think that potentially some people have
not misinterpreted the intent of the legislation because it's not
from my point of view, it's not that there are

(03:28):
no rules. Yeah, there are going to be slightly less
rules in terms of having to get a building consent.
Still needs to be built in accordance of the building code,
still needs to be built by a licensed building practitioner,
still needs to follow codes for plumbing and drainage and
electrical safety and so on. But you may or may
not need to go and seek permission from the council.

(03:51):
In terms of a building consent, you still need to
inform counsels. So there's it's not just hey, you can
go and whack up seventy square meters in your backyard.
Undoubtedly that's going to happen, but at this stage that's
not actually the rules. So we can talk about that,
we can talk about proj that you've got underway. We
can talk about new materials, new ideas, if there's something
out there that you've seen and you go, I wonder

(04:12):
if that works well, give me a call. Always happy
to talk products, tools and ideas on the show. Also,
today marks the beginning of basically a week of highlighting
construction waste. This is something that I've been involved with
for a little while in terms of a trustee of

(04:33):
a not for profit that operates or manages the local
Resource Recovery Center what we used to call the TIP
in the old days, and so this is something and
having been in construction now for quite a while, I've
seen it firsthand, right, the tremendous amount of waste that
comes out of the construction sector. And to be really blunt,

(04:54):
it's awful, right, And we contribute so much to landfill.
We are much, we are the largest contributor to landfill
in terms of the construction sector, which it's pretty appalling
and we could do better. So this week is a
week to focus on construction waste. So after eight o'clock
this morning, I had a chat with Dr Terry and

(05:17):
Barry earlier on in the week, and she's going to
join us on the show just to try and give
you a snapshot of why this is important and what
can be done about it. So doctor Terry and Barry
joining me after eight o'clock. But right now the lines
are open. The number to call eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
For those of you down south who took are literal

(05:38):
hammering this week, my sympathies are with you. That's a
really tough situation to be in. Some truly remarkable sites
in terms of entire shelterbouts going, you know, large trees
coming down, people looking at their neighbors roof just being
ripped off and sent who knows where. So there's there's

(05:59):
obviously two things about that. One is the house where
the roof got ripped off. The other thing is where
does that go? And what damn does that material cause
upwind of where that incident took place. So if you're
without power and you might be listening to the radio
on the battery, it seems like help is on its way.
The Hercules flew out from Vanolpai with generators and staff

(06:22):
and equipment and so on, but it's going to take
a while. And Mark mitchell I heard on the news
there at six o'clock saying that in some cases, maybe
for some more isolated areas, power may not be restored
for weeks. So yeah, now for what it's worth, my
thoughts are with you. I eight hundred eighty ten eighty

(06:42):
is the number to call. It is twelve minutes after six.
The lines are open. I eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
The text is up and running. That's nine two nine
two or ZBZB from your mobile phone. I've remembered my passwords,
so the emails up and running as well. It's Pete
ATNEWSTALKSEB dot co dot nz looking forward to the show
on this labor day or labor weekend, tomorrow's labor day

(07:04):
obviously six thirteen Diane, good morning, Hello.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
I've just got a query, Joes. It's fibrilite sheeting on
the building? Is that as best just or not.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Most likely? So, fibrilight is a phrase for a particular
product that was available a number of years ago. So
for example, today, if there was something like that on
the wall, I'd call it a fiber cement sheet and
be reasonably confident that it's not doesn't have any asbestos
containing material. But I think anything that let's say pre

(07:49):
nineteen nineties nineteen eighties, I would say it's very highly likely.
So the best thing to do, obviously is get it tested, right,
And what's your concern about the possibility that this might
have ACM in it.

Speaker 5 (08:07):
Well, I've had that probably about fourteen years and it's
on a it's on a garage, it's complete, there's no
holes or damage to it, and it doesn't worry me

(08:28):
in the slightest. And on the plan it's got that
it's fiber light sheeting.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Yeah, that'd be right.

Speaker 5 (08:35):
And a lot of people get all alarmed about no,
it's as bestos, but I just thought, well, you know,
i'd like to know.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yeah, sure, I mean, and the simplest way is to
remove a piece from somewhere and send that into a laboratory,
have them tested, and then you'll get, you know, a
proper finding as to whether or not it's ACM. So
it's best it's containing material.

Speaker 6 (09:05):
I think they really have.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
You'd have to damage it to do.

Speaker 4 (09:08):
That, you would you'd need to take a piece off
from somewhere, or to scrape some maybe from the insight.
I mean, look, it's interesting actually the time sorry, go.

Speaker 5 (09:20):
Ahead, the time when I when at the time when
I got a builder's report, I was told then they
weren't sure. But as long as it didn't get damaged
or broken, then it would be absolutely fine as long
as it was well well painted.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yes, so that makes right. So I think while while
there are significant health risks to the exposure to it's
basically the fibers, right that, if I'm being really graphic,
what happens, or what potentially can happen, is when those
fibers become friable, when they become airborne, if they're inhaled,

(10:01):
they will go into your lungs and cause all sorts
of horror consequences. Right, They're like little hooks and they
don't come out. So you know, there is really good
reason to be very very concerned if you're drilling it,
cutting it, grinding it, breaking it. Now, if you're not
doing any of those things, and in your situation, and

(10:24):
to be fair, I've got it at home as well,
on an old shed. It's there, it's painted. I'm not
drilling it, I'm not cutting it, I'm not breaking its off.
Is there any exposure or risk to me? No?

Speaker 5 (10:37):
No, I'm very very careful. Whether I won't let anyone
go near it with a water blast or anything as well. Yep,
I don't want it damaged.

Speaker 4 (10:49):
Yeah, I think that's that's sensible. So again, you know,
we we shouldn't underestimate the risks, but we also should
realize that there are you know, well known and safe
ways of managing having it there. And if at some
stage you decide, we'll look, Actually, you know it shouldn't be.

(11:09):
But let's say you decide to sell the property and
you know it's a concern that's raised on a pre
purchase inspection or something like that. Well, I think there's
a reasonable way of responding to that. And the other
thing is you might decide at a certain stage, look,
I'd rather just have it removed, in which case you
should really have that removed by a licensed professional who

(11:31):
will do all the checks and balances, make sure that
there's no contamination, et cetera. But you know, if it was, well,
if you're asking me, should I have it removed, I'd
say no, I don't think you should. I think you
need to be able to explain to people what the
actual risks are.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
So what is the as bestos? Is there another asbestos
that people get concerned about.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Another p I think, well yes, and it's remarkable. So
asbestos as an item, right, as a it's like a
mineral type material has been used in all sorts of things,
so it's not uncommon for example for people ripping up
lino tiles for example, back in the day that that
had ACM, that lagging has ACM, That all sorts of

(12:22):
fire rated products have ACM asbestos containing material in them.
And you know, I was always under the impression that
it was something that kind of faded out by the
nineteen seventies sort of thing in terms of its presence
in New Zealand buildings. And I was reading through some

(12:43):
work safe documentation a little while ago there was there
were items coming into the country that still had asbestos
in them as recently as two thousand, So you know,
we can't be complacent about it. And if you had
a look at the news recently, unfortunately there's been an
incident where some materials that were used in the construction

(13:05):
of fire doors, so supplied offshore obviously comes into the country.
The sheeting or some elements of those fire doors when
they've tested them for some reason, have found that they
had ACM as well. So you know, it's not like
it's not like somewhere out there in the world people
aren't still using it.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
Yeah, Oh, that's very good. But every now and then
I have wondered about you. Sure, I've got a garden,
and I've got a garden around the edge of most
of it, and I just thought, you know what, I'm
just gonna find out.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yeah, good on you, Good on you. But you know
it really shouldn't keep you awake at night.

Speaker 5 (13:49):
No, no, good on you.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
All right, you look after yourself, Diane, very much. All right,
you take care by. I think if you've got a
comment or a question, maybe you think I'll either write
or not right on that. Inter single enough doctor Terry
and Barry, who were interviewing after eight o'clock this morning
around construction waste. Her background is actually is a chemist,

(14:13):
I think, and knows quite a lot about this as well,
so might get her opinion on it too. It is
six twenty here at news Talk ZB. The lines are open.
Looking forward to chatting with you this labor weekend, long weekend.
So if you've got a project on, if you're thinking
right tomorrow, I'm not off to work. I'm going to
crack into something we can talk about it. Oh eight

(14:34):
hundred eighty ten eighty.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Whether you're padium the ceiling fixing with fans or wondering
how to fix that hole in the wall. Give feed
Wolf Caabacle on ten eighty the resident builder on you
dog zeb.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
From everyday excellence to statement design, you do It Kitchens
gives you the freedom to create a kitchen that fits
your life. If you're serious about DIY, you'll love the
flexibility and design control that comes from the U sizet system,
which lets you change cabinet sizes to fit your space perfectly.
It's all about giving you choice from cabinet design and

(15:07):
finishes to the small details that make every kitchen unique.
Start with solid colors, step up to textured wood grains,
or go premium with Ultra Touch and Ultra gloss finishes
for a high end, modern look. Drawer and cabinet options
range from standard metal sided through to soft clothes and
other designer hardware upgrades, letting you decide exactly how your

(15:31):
kitchen feels and functions. Everything is proudly New Zealand made,
with your kitchen manufactured and dispatch to your door in
just seven days. Advice from local DIY experts is only
an email away. Search you do it, That's DUI and
see why their customers are proud to say I did

(15:52):
it myself. Z B righty oh, eight hundred and eighty
ten eighty is the number call. Someone's chipped in on
the whole asbesios thing, maybe slightly tongue in cheek. Don't
be afraid to pooh, what is large? The asbestos myth?
Pete walking down the street with the exhaurce fumes. Who
is far more dangerous for everyday life?

Speaker 7 (16:16):
No?

Speaker 4 (16:16):
Not really, you know, I think when if you are
exposed to it in some way, the results and it's
one of those things that it only takes one exposure
to actually impact your life and possibly shorten your life. Basically,
that's why we take it so seriously. So walking down

(16:38):
the street when the bus goes past, maybe not actually
quite as dangerous. But I appreciate you giving us a text. Actually,
I tell you what I Last week on the show
we were talking about building and building controls and building
quality and I did raise the point, and I raised
it I think the week before as well, And to

(16:59):
be fair, I haven't had a great answer from you
listeners thus far, but I raised the point if you
are building a new build, how do you know that
you're getting a good building? And I went on to
make the comment that you know, building inspectors, as in
council building inspectors who come out are there to ensure

(17:20):
that the building is code compliant, but they may not
always or don't often comment on workmanship on the quality
of the build because that's outside of their remit. Anyway,
I got a text to my personal phone during the
week from a chap who is a building inspector and
he said, look, me and some of the other guys

(17:41):
and girls probably listen to the show and just thought
we'd point out the fact that we do actually in
some cases make comments around the overall quality of the
site and the management of the site, and we will
refuse to inspect buildings if it's dangerous or just poorly managed, right,
And I mean you see this if you drive around

(18:03):
and look at a building site and there's rubbish all
over the place, scaffold's being moved, and it's just a
general shambles, right, I mean, it'd be really really hard
to feel that if that's how they manage the site.
If that's how the builders manage the site, their quality
control is not going to be that great. So anyway,
I appreciate the inspector that took the time to send

(18:25):
me a text. I hear what you're saying. I think
it's great if building inspectors do. If you come on
to a site and it's poorly managed and it's dangerous
and there's rubbish all over the place and all the
rest of it. Yeah, I think it is your responsibility
to pick them up on that. So the point that
I was making, it's things like, you know, if a
door is hung but it's got an uneven gap around it,

(18:46):
or there's a wind in the door where the walls
on either side might be slightly out of plumb and
so the door doesn't sit flush with the door jam.
Those sorts of things to be fair are not often
picked up or commented on by the inspectors because that's
a quality control thing. So I'm still interested in your
opinion as to whether or not if you've if you've

(19:06):
been And we had those calls last week on the
show People moving into a new House and then finding
that there were actually reasonably significant quality issues with the bill.
So if you're building, how do you know you get
in a good house? Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty
is that number to call? Lines are open and Jeff
A very good morning to you.

Speaker 8 (19:26):
Yeah, morning, Pete, Jeff. Hey, I've got a project where
I've got a deck which is the second floor up.
It's a nail shaped deck on the house. Currently it's
decked with pine one ninety x nineteen, but they've put
the ridge up just thought it was grip tread and

(19:48):
then it stained it and it's pretty.

Speaker 4 (19:49):
Ugly, right, yes, So I want.

Speaker 8 (19:52):
To replace it. So I've got sort of three options.
I wanted to talk three with you. So the first
option is just replace it with the ninety box nineteen,
but that's only the narrow board, and we wanted to
use the wide pine like we've used around other decks
on the house, which is one thirty two.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
Yeah, they don't do a one forty in pine in
the nineteen mil, do they correct? Correct? Yep?

Speaker 8 (20:21):
So the deck is effectively picture framed by having the
boundary re joiced higher than the deck. Yes, board, right,
So when I want to use the one thirty two,
I've got sort of three options. So the first option
is cut the boundary joiced down to the height of

(20:43):
the deck joists and option yep yep. The second option
would be to rebate the one thirty two to sit
over the top of that boundary joiced and picture frame
it with the one. And the third option would be
to pack the joist, you know, up by twenty three milk.

(21:07):
So the problem I might have with that would be
moisture between the packer and the joist. So before I
do it, I sort of thought, well, which which would
be the best way? You know, all involved bit of work,
you know, cutting the boundary joists three meters up on
the ladder, got to try and do it, etc.

Speaker 4 (21:27):
Yeah, and I presume that the boundary joicse also has
your hand ralphicks to it.

Speaker 8 (21:33):
Yeah, but that's a glass balustrade on poles, so I've
sort of I can remove that and sort of that
and you know, I can sort of manage the balustrade, okay,
and the step down from the deck from the.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
The threshold from outside to outside.

Speaker 8 (21:52):
Yes, yeah, that's got plenty, plenty of es. So I'm
not not worried about, you know, coming up another twenty
odd milk, but I was worried about packing the joist,
And yeah, that was probably my one.

Speaker 4 (22:05):
And to be fair, that's quickest way I could describe.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
It.

Speaker 4 (22:10):
Feels like a bit of a clumsy option, you know,
in the sense that it adds a whole complexity, and
it adds that extra layer where moisture is going to
get trapped, right, So some moisture will get in between
there and sit there between the two surfaces. And typically
we do h three point two treatment on our exterior timber.
So even if you did three point two, it's not

(22:32):
designed to have to retain moisture. Typically moisture sheds off it, right,
and then it dries and ventilates. So in this instance
here we are potentially going to trap moisture there. It
could cause decay. Funny like, in my head, I'm thinking
about doing this job, but I'm thinking about myself as
a contractor acting for you, and then all of the

(22:57):
complexity around trimming, cutting, adding, and all the rest of it.
And I'm thinking, if it was purely a thing a
metric of going what's my labour content, what's my material content,
I would spend more money and go and buy some
hardwood decking that is one forty nineteen replace that, and
then you don't have to make any structural changes at all.

Speaker 8 (23:21):
Yep, that's been considered. Yeah, the problem is you get
the bleed off the hardwood and sort of under the
deck has all sort of got short pieces. So I've
got to manage the bleed, yes, and that.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
We're not all hardwoods bleed out as much as you know.
It's typically it's queler right, that really does go for it.
So if you went for vitechs or a eucalypt or
something like that, you might find that's that's less so,
but you've considered it, and that's fine. I don't know
about rebaiting that board because the rebate once you cut

(23:55):
effectively nineteen mil out of the bottom of the board,
you're going to have about thirteen millimeters left over, and
if that's hanging forty five milover, that's going to cut
right well, even if if you fixed down oh, if
you fix down the perimeter, maybe it won't. What's and
there's no concern around trimming nineteen millimeters off the top

(24:19):
of the boundary joist in terms of you know, was
it designed to be let's say two fifty or a
two forty forty five, and that if you took nineteen
millimeters off, you're having an impact on the structural stability
of the boundary joist.

Speaker 8 (24:33):
No, okay, I've got good. I've got a good two
fifty and yeah, okay, it's been very well built and
you know, the poles are at a good distance. Yeah,
so structurally I'm fine. Yeah, it was sort of just
you know, as you say, the moisture retention and sort
of doing it right at the beginning.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
Yeah. I'm wondering whether your simplest option is going to
be actually if you're going to take the handrail off anyway,
and obviously putting the decking there and then refixing the
handrail makes no impact on the structural stability of the
handrail once you've put it all back together.

Speaker 8 (25:11):
Because it sticks down into that boundary choice in the
deck joists sort of got good, sort of or one
two hundred.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
It feels like the most straightforward solution is once you've
stripped the deck off, stripped the handrail off, run through
with a skilly on a guide, trim that down to
the height of the others, make sure you put some
metal X or something like that in there, treat that,
seal that new cut, and then then you can bring
your decking boards right out to the edge, pop the

(25:44):
handrail back down over the top, redo your fixing. This
job done, Yeah, okay then awesome, mate, excellent, thanks pleasure
and this will be finished by tomorrow. A yeah, I
know the feeling all the very best. Do you take care?
See then you and you still said at six thirty five,

(26:06):
if you've got a question or a comment, eight hundred
eighty ten eighty is the number to call a squeaky.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
Door or squeaky floor get the right advice from Peter Wolfcare,
the resident builder on News Talks by your.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
New talksb it is six thirty eight and we are
taking your call. So if you've got a question of
building nature, oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighties the number. Glenn,
good morning, Oh.

Speaker 9 (26:30):
Good morning, Pete. I've been listening to you for a while.
I'm meaning to give you a call. I've got a
house here that was it was actually moved on site
in about the late nineteen forties, and it was a
clubhouse before it was chopped and a half and moved here,
So I don't actually know how old it is everything,
and it's native. I've been doing some renovations in the

(26:51):
last couple of years and I've probably well what the
ceiling on the inside is about two point eight high.
But if you actually walk out on the deck. The
eves are about two point five. Yes, an actual there's
a there's a well. I guess the I guess the
ceiling the true into the attic, right, and i've when

(27:16):
I when I did the renovations at the living end
of the house, the lounges, dyning and so on, I
managed to religne all the walls, put insulation and we
moved some doors and took out some bits of wall.
But and I love it. It's great. It's it's so warm,
can be to how it used to be. And I
used upc double glazing. I actually went for triple glazing. Wow,

(27:38):
and it's it's it's fantastic. But it's been bugging me
that there's actually a gap. And I noticed when they
were when the when the when the linings were going up,
there's actually a gap between the that that gap of
two hundred and fifty all the way around on the
outside walls obviously, and it's the one place you really

(27:59):
can't insulate because it's essentially the ease of the house.
And I had my mate who's a builder, doing the work,
and he was like, lean, he says, I don't like
this gap here. And I was using a bit of
cutoffs from the building industry just down the roads, like
some big planks that I was burning, or big big
chunks of wood.

Speaker 10 (28:19):
So we use that.

Speaker 9 (28:20):
I don't know if it's called back blocking to fill
it up because he was worried about the mice and
the rats getting down into the wall. So I suppose
in some way I've mitigated any heat loss through that
particular gap. But is there any way of filling can you?
Like I heard you talking about spraying a phone into
the walls over the years, and you've seen the odd

(28:41):
case where it has caused a bit of dapness, although
that was a while ago. Product, how would you insulate
the eaves? I'm just wondering how much heat loss I'm
losing through there, even though we've blocked it with, you know, timber.
Is it something that there is a product out there
that you can do that with to block the eaves,

(29:01):
because I mean, it's lovely. I'm in the winter. I
used to be rugged up like you wouldn't believe. I know,
you could breathe out and there was fog coming out
your mouth in the winter and the house and now
t shirts and shorts year round and I'm using very
little firewood like I used to, but I reckon, there's
probably a chance to make it even better.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Right, is that small performance game that you're looking for
in terms of because if you think about what heat does, right,
so typically inside a building, heat rises, and if then
as that warm air inside your room rises, it then
finds the weak spot in your thermal envelope and exits
through there. So kind of makes the one.

Speaker 11 (29:38):
Week spot that left.

Speaker 5 (29:39):
Right.

Speaker 9 (29:40):
Yeah, And I look at it like I've gone to
the extra effort of showing the walls. I had a
look at the time. It was about three years ago
when we commenced doing this then, and I looked around
at the wooden double glazing, and then I looked at
the and I think the rules had just changed that
they were about toy given notice, I think twelve months

(30:02):
notice of having to make all your blazing. Was it
double glow azed aluminum or family broken, I can't remember.
But when I looked around, because there was a guy
here I putting windows from the states that were UPBC,
he was so much cheaper for double blazing. It was
it was it was like silly, and I just decided, look,

(30:23):
this is this is an easy one. And in fact,
I when we were we priced up the project, I
remember him saying something about triple glazing. So I inquire, like,
you know, what's what's the advantage is there? And to
be fair, it was a very small increase to get
triple glazing. I said, well, this is kind of like
the Forever Home.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
Now.

Speaker 9 (30:41):
I like the aspect and so I why not spend
the extra little bit and get a triple glazer, which
is what I've done. So everything to me is now
it ticked off, except it's just been bugging me. Am
I losing much through the ease. And to be fair,
it's this end of the the three bedrooms I did

(31:02):
myself years ago, back in the day when you're allowed
to the walls without having to get a permit, which yeah,
where I found they had to do this time around.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
There was there was never a time when you didn't
need a permit. But I'm just I'm just thinking, just
draw me a picture. So inside the room that we're
talking about, if you stripped the wall lining off right
to the ceiling at the top of that, would you
see that cavity that is created by the eaves or
is that above that top plate.

Speaker 9 (31:34):
You can see into the eaves.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
Okay, so when you stripped the lining off, did you
not insulate all the way to the underside of the
top plate there?

Speaker 9 (31:44):
So what we did is we put some insulation in,
but we also back blocked. First great, yep, is itocking?
He put? He put the toper in, So there's some
insulation there. I'm just wondering if it's worth insulating and
the eaves or not, or it doesn't really matter.

Speaker 4 (31:59):
No, No, I think the I suppose the concept that
we're using a lot now and have done for a
number of years is the stermal envelope. So what you
want is that all of your insulation links together. So
if you've got insulation in the ceiling running across the
ceiling and to the top plate and ideally just onto
the top plate or even slightly over the top plate,

(32:20):
and then you've got insulation in your walls that runs
all the way to the underside of the top plate,
you've created a thermal envelope. So that space, that unconditioned
space in your eve, while it's unconditioned, it's what I suppose.
The impression that I had was that maybe there was
a space at the top of the wall that you

(32:41):
couldn't get any insulation in, so that was a direct
link to that unconditioned space that's.

Speaker 11 (32:47):
In the EVE.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
But it sounds like in your instance you've done the
back blocking, which is great in terms of the vermin control.
You've got some insulation in there. The insulation links up
with the insulation that's in your ceiling. You've created your
thermal envelope. I don't know that I'd have too many conceits.

Speaker 5 (33:05):
It.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
Yes, that's it. Yeah, so you know, you know, we've
got a box essentially that we've wrapped an insulation, which
is great. The jutty outpits on the outside of that
don't really matter as long as you've got that thermal envelope.
You've got that encapsulation of your living space, the space
that we're looking to contain the heat. So I think

(33:27):
you've done a fantastic job. I'm interested in you choosing
to go So when you did the uPVC joinery, did
you do retrofit into existing timber frames or did you
remove all of the frame.

Speaker 9 (33:41):
No, it's retrofitive because you take the measurements to them
and they make it to your size and then just
bring it over on the ship and delivered the door
and it was I've never seen anything so easy watching
them do it. Yeah, they literally take out I don't
know is it is it called what's the the sessions.

Speaker 4 (34:03):
And the mullions and that sort of thing. So typically
you've got a woodendden window. You've got all these different components.
You got the frame, you're the facings ascribe as the
head flashing and all the rest of it. You leave
all of that in place, You pull out your sashes
and whether it's a fixed sash or an opening one
and a million, you know, rip all of that out
and insert your uPVC in that space, just.

Speaker 9 (34:23):
Literally slots them from the inside. And it was it
was so fun. It was you watch them do it
and it really well. One I don't can remember how
long it took them to clean out the timber on
the out before they took the took the extra window out,
but inserting the new window literally takes minutes. It's and

(34:46):
the heavy bug is at triple blazing. So yeah, it was,
but it was amazing and watching them work and finish
it off, it's it's the fastest thing.

Speaker 4 (34:55):
You do know that there are local companies that do
high performance U PVC.

Speaker 9 (35:00):
And yeah, but this was this was three years ago.
I had it done right, and at the time I
couldn't find anyone that did UPBC and to the quality
that I could find here when I shopped around. And
it's got comes with built in fly screens and lowing
glass and argun filled. So now when I live in

(35:20):
a semi rural area, you know, every window has got
fly screens on it in the summer up instead of
the sheep farms, flies coming over to me. Well, they
still do, they just can't get in and it's it's
it's lovely. And I was surprised at the time when
I shopped around because I actually was going to go
for the timber, just to keep that same look. I
think it's called d g U and they do some

(35:42):
great work, but it was just so expensive by comparison.
Most of us have to have to operate on a budget.
And so when I looked at and then I looked
at the what do you call it the aluminium at
the time, it was it was just too expensive and
the is it the insulative value wasn't anywhere there was

(36:03):
That's that it wasn't as good. Although I think it's
got better. They build a new factory out there Orton
where they make a whole lot of them now. But yeah,
at the time, as I say, it was just the
best way to go that I could see financially and
to get really really good performance. And it's nice quality
stuff as well. Funnily enough, you can get it in
all sorts of colors. And I chose I chose white

(36:25):
because when I first started renovating the place, they used
to do a different color on the inside of the
versus the out, and when it kind of came down
and to do touch up was like, oh, this is
a bit of a sod trying to make sure I
get the lines right where they match. And so doing
white means that's as stretches. You don't have to worry
about the color coming through from underneath. It's just white
all the way around.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
It's all the way through. Brilliant.

Speaker 9 (36:49):
So much warmer Mans. Good listening to you over the years,
lovely to.

Speaker 11 (36:53):
Talk with you.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
Really appreciate the insight and and you know with that
wanting to teach you the SACKI I think what's really
encouraging for me is to listen to someone like yourself
who spend so much to research time, researching, thinking about
it and making really good and formed decisions and to
hear that you've appreciated the benefit of it. Right, So warm, dry,

(37:15):
comfortable is what we're after. It sounds awesome. Really appreciate
you call T.

Speaker 9 (37:20):
Shirt and shorts in the middle of the winter and sounds.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Good to me. Take care all the best to you, Glenn,
take care interesting too, I just think about that. In
terms of uPVC, there are local firms that are doing
it now. So if you want to find out more
about that, have a look at the Stark website. That's
st Ark. The Stark Website's got a lot of detail
on that as well. Six point fifty at News TALKSB,

(37:43):
we're taking your calls. Oh, eight hundred eighty ten eighty
the number.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
Helping you get those DIY projects done right the resident
builder with Peter WOLFCAF call, Oh, eight hundred eighty ten
eighty Youth Talk ZB.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Yeah A News talks HEB coming up News time top
of the are at seven o'clock. We might have time
for another quick call before then if you would like
to call the numbers eight hundred and eighty ten eighty.
Couple of texts coming through. I'll just read this one
out as it's come in. Good luck with the maintenance
on that joinery. U PVC will not last. Give it
ten years and you'll have major issues, says the texter

(38:20):
unnamed basically wrong. All right, so I can refute that
I've spent quite a bit of time with the Stark people,
who do you PVC joinery durability is far far longer
than that. I think that's one of those old myths
that floats around around some of the early types of

(38:42):
PVC joinery systems. But the uPVC performs very differently to that,
so durability wise, no issues whatsoever. Pete roughly how much
cheaper is retrofitting double glazed windows than actually getting new ones?
Really good question. I think if you take you know,

(39:02):
if you were to take a house loot of joinery
out and replace the joint and the glazing at the
same time, if the frames themselves, because windows are two parts, right,
So windows are the frame and the individual sashes and
all of those components, and the glass or the glazing.
So frame plus glazing equals window. So if you throw

(39:25):
everything out and replace it, that's going to be a
fairly it's a disruptive process, and it's time consuming one
and to some degree it can be quite wasteful. Often
there's not actually a problem with the frame, with the
window itself, with the window frame, just with the fact
that it's got some single glazing in it, which we
know loses heat or gains heat a lot more than

(39:48):
double glazing does. So, but in the joinery itself, the
timber or the aluminium is in very poor condition, then
it doesn't make sense to keep poor conditioned frames and
put in good, new, high performance double glazing. So in
that case you might be sort of not forced into it,
but makes more sense. In terms of cheap I think

(40:09):
you've just got to go through and price everything, just
price it up. But if it's poor condition joinery, then
I think replacing it is the way to go. And
that process that Glenn was describing where the timber frames
were actually in really good condition and they were able
to retrofit a uPVC frame into that is actually it

(40:31):
is quick. It's surprisingly quick, and of course the performance
games are there, and so what you end up with
is the new frames or the new sashes and the
insert you get the glazing, the double glazing in it.
You get all the new hardware, and you get something
that's effectively low maintenance because there's no painting of those
frames either. So it is a really really good option.

(40:54):
So we'll talk about that. Someone's asked if there's any
update on the story from last week about a woman
who called us who'd spent sort of one hundred grand
trying to sort out to be blunt a dodgy builder.
Not at the stage, but stay posted on that and
Sandy not this weekend. I couldn't get to them, So
this is the nail Boxers something again, but it will

(41:15):
definitely be next weekend. Right back after the news at
seven the.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
Measure twice God was but maybe call Pete first. Vie
Work gave the Resident Builder News Talk said.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
B right, the O lines are open. We're into it.
Eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to
call if you've got a project that you're thinking about
getting into. Perhaps you've got a project that you're into
and to be fair, the wheels have fallen off and yeah, yeah,
you're plummeting to your doom. And that happens sometimes on projects.
They don't always go well and kind of a plan

(41:47):
B is required. So if you want some help with
Plan B, we can talk about that. All these new products,
new ideas, innovation. And I have to say, again, just
going back to Glenn's comments before the news, tremendous to
hear of someone who's obviously had a well considered renovation,
understand stands exactly what it is that they want the

(42:08):
outcomes to be. In terms of this as an old house,
we know with older homes that they're not particularly well instulated,
they're not terribly draft proof, et cetera, et cetera, and
so if you put heat in them in winter, it
just escapes through the building fabric and we end it
still in a reasonably cold place. Or if it is warm,
we've spent an enormous amount of energy creating that warmth,

(42:30):
and most of it's just dissipating through the walls and
ceilings and windows. So that's it is, from my point
of view, kind of quite reassuring to hear that in
many cases with these old houses, with the right care
and attention, you can create warm, dry, comfortable from it.
So that was great.

Speaker 9 (42:47):
Right.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
If you've got a project though that you want to
talk about, or a task that is underway with you
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is that number call
text is up and running is well? Certainly a lot
of texts about the old uPVC. Still I'm dubious about
the uPVC. Can you point me to someone in New
Zealand who's had windows that are, say, thirty years old,

(43:10):
that are in good condition? I certainly can for aluminium,
and I'm not just seeing the aluminium. Certainly, I've seen
plenty of aluminium jewelery that's started to come apart in
the joins and that sort of thing and causing leaking
in that's sense, and that I've seen. Just trying to think,
I think I first put in I was working on

(43:31):
a project where someone had imported some new PVC that
would have to have been more than twenty years ago.
That's still there and still in good condition. So I'll
do some research. I'm sure I can find it. Eight
hundred eighty ten eighty. Thanks Kevin for your text as well.

(43:55):
We'll get to that in a minute, right, Oh, if
you've got a question, it is eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
The other thing that we could talk about now that
something that we've talked about for a while. We've done
a couple of interviews with the minister involved with this,
which is of course the honorable Chris Penk who's come
into the studio a couple of times. Is the Granny
flat legislation has come in? I would be really interested

(44:16):
to know whether now that it is it's well, the
law has been passed. I don't think it'll be implemented
till early next year, as in, I don't think you
can go out on You can't go down to your
hardware store buy some timber and start framing one up tomorrow.
But it is coming. So will now that it's there
and you may not necessarily require a building consent for

(44:39):
that type of work? Would you are you going to
be looking at this? Has this changed? Has this moved
the needle? Are you thinking great a project that perhaps
I wasn't going to do because of the compliance issues
around getting a building consent, et cetera, et cetera. You know,
can I can I get stuck into that? Will you
get stuck into this? And in which parts of the

(45:01):
country and what sort of environment will you be building?
And for what purpose? Interested in that too? So it
is underway, and apparently there are also new regulations that
have come into play around proximity to boundary as well.
This is for sort of smaller items like sheds, which
typically always and we've talked about this for years on
the show. If you're putting up a garden shed, it's

(45:23):
got to be the height of the shed away from
the boundary, was the general rule. That's now gone. So
if it's ten square meters or less, it can be
right up against the boundary. There's a couple of problems
with that, I have to say, in terms of maintenance.
So if you put a garden shed. Let's say you

(45:44):
do a garden shed and it's got some plywood on
the outside, and you put it hard up against the boundary,
how are you ever going to get in there to
clean it, or maintain it, or give it another coat
of paint. So there's got to be a practicality with
these things too. If you are jamming anything hard up
against the boundary, how do you do the maintenance? Oh,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty will take your calls on
all things building, construction and legislation. And in the next hour,

(46:08):
looking forward to a chat with doctor Terry and Berry
heavily involved in the whole construction waste issues. And when
I say issues, we've got an issue right in terms
of how much waste is generated by the construction sector
and a lot of this material just simply going to landfill,
where I think there are some solutions for reducing the landfill.

(46:30):
And before I get texts from people going it's all
woke nonsense and all the rest of it, think about
the people that have to live next to increasing space
given up for landfill because we can't control our waste.
And there's a big story in the paper at the
moment about family near the in dairy Flat opposing the
extension of the current landfill that's there. And certainly if

(46:52):
you happen to be living somewhere and there's a notification
of the paper, Oh, look, such and such a company
wants to start a landfill over the back fence, chances
are you'll object to that, right. So if we can
reduce the need to send materials a landfill, we also
that's good for the community. I think, Oh eight one
hundred eighty ten eighty the number to call and adult,

(47:13):
good morning to you, hy do the good morning, good
morning very well? How can I help.

Speaker 8 (47:21):
Hi?

Speaker 11 (47:22):
I got an aluminium window. It's on a two story
building on the upstairs and the window frame, I guess
the wooden inside the four square bogs yes, And on
the bottom bottom plate it got I think it's a
water damage. It's and it's swallowen up. So I just

(47:42):
want treame whether it's possible to replace only doors one
or should they need to replace the and their window.

Speaker 4 (47:49):
You can replace effectively. It's it's the liner, right, what
we call the liner. Do you know whether it's timber
or md IF. I think it's empty, okay, yep. And
and you know one of the challenges with md IF,
and it's not so common these days to have MDF liners,
but at a certain time they were quite common, is

(48:10):
once you get moisture in them, it expands, right, and
that's what you're probably seeing. So two parts that the
really challenging part to it is when those frames were
made in the factory, there's a rebate. There's a little
channel in the aluminum frame itself that the liner slots
into and then guys will use staples to fasten it through.

(48:33):
So they staple through the aluminum into the timber or
MDF and that holds them in place. Now that is
that's not visible, So that's on the outside perimeter of
the window. So when you're trying to remove that timber
from the inside, you end up not being able to
get to this. To those fasteners. You can kind of

(48:54):
pick away at it, but you've still got this issue.
And also, if you're doing more than you know, a
small ish portion of it, it's that liner that's holding
your window in right, So in some cases it might
actually it feels like it's a bigger job, but in
some instances it's actually quicker too. Do you know whether

(49:17):
it's got architraves or a rebate for the jib on
the inside when you're standing on the inside, is there
an architrave around the window? There is no, okay, so
the jib goes into there as well. So you're going
to have to cut through all of that jib. And again,
if it was if I was looking at it, i'd
look at it and go can I cut through the jib,

(49:38):
pull the nails out, simply pop the window out, depending
on how it's fastened on the outside and what the
celant is around the outside, pop it out. Then I
can lay it down. I can pull all the staples out,
put in a new liner, put the window back in,
and then if you want to keep it looking consistent,
you'd have to cut back the jib to halfway on

(49:59):
the stud, slide new pieces of jib into the rebate,
or you go, we'll look in this window. I'm just
going to add architrave to it. Then I don't have
to worry about that. So yeah, I'm sorry. It sounds
like what looks like a little job has become a
slightly bigger job.

Speaker 11 (50:15):
And one more thing, is it common for the aluminium
windows to have those kinds of team because I got
a couple of other windows, but it's not that bad.
But I can see kind of on the bottom corner. Yes, Moist,
I think.

Speaker 4 (50:30):
There's there's possibly two things going on, or both things
going on, one or either or both. One is you
will get most likely you'll have condensation on the inside
of the window, and that's partly a result from having
standard aluminium joinery, because you're even with good quality glazing,
you'll still get heat transferred through there, and that's you'll

(50:52):
get condensation on the inside. So that condensation if it's
not wiped up every morning, and I don't think anyone
expects anyone to do it every morning that will will
stay there and the moisture will go into the liner,
and especially if it's an MDF lineer, you'll get that
swelling as a result of the moisture. The other thing
might be you might have that You may also have

(51:13):
let's say, if the drainage holes that are on the
inside of the aluminum extrusion are not working properly, then
you might get some leaking there. You may also if
the miter on the window, if it's an opening window,
if that has broken the seal, you might get water
that's running down in there and then being tracked inside.

(51:35):
So there could be a combination of things that's happening
there that's causing the leak. So at the same time
as you fix the box section part of it, i'd
also have someone carefully look at the window, just assess it,
make sure it's working properly, and then go ahead with
the repair so you're not doing it again in the future. Yeah,
so there's a little bit in it. Unfortunately, all the

(52:00):
very best to you. Hope that helps my pleasure. Take
care bother then quick text Hey Pete, can we builder
in Canada here? I've been installing your PVC windows since
the late eighties, the uPVC performs well, no issues here
and yeah, there you go. It's interesting, Pete, it's weird
that you can build a granny flat up to seventy

(52:20):
square meters but only thirty square meters for a garage, etc.
M I hadn't really considered it. Well, hang on, no,
if this is actually you raise a really interesting point.
If you can build a seventy square meter granny flat
without needing a building consent, is it really about the

(52:43):
fact that you can build a granny flat or a
simple standalone dwelling, or can you build any structure up
to seventy square meters. That's a very very good point.
Thank you text on that one. We'll come back and
talk to Nick in just a moment. Your news talk set.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
Be doing up house storting the garden. Last, Pete for
a hand the resident builder with Peter Wolfcap call, Oh
eight hundred, Envy, Now let's get into it.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
Oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is that number
to call now before we do that? Actually, ah, here
we go. Now, with the weather getting a little bit
warmer and the season starting to change, it won't be
long before you're out getting stuck into the garden like
I was the last couple of days and enjoying the
fresh air. Spring is the perfect time to get your
garden growing. And what's the secret to bigger, stronger, more

(53:33):
productive plants. It's root blast if you haven't heard, root
blast gives your plants that little extra boost of nutrients
they need to grow abundantly. Simply add root blast to
your soil and what your plants grow. Whether it's flowers, veggies, trees,
or the humble house plant, a little sprinkle of root
bar blast helps build stronger plants from the roots up

(53:56):
and plays a part in creating healthier leaf structures. In turn,
you'll have plants every green thumb will be jealous of.
It's environmentally safe, it's hormone free, it's disease resistant, so
no need to worry about those nasties. Plus it's easy
to use one application, no need to mix with water.
Get the most out of your garden this spring. To

(54:17):
get your hands on root blast, call eight hundred root
Blast or search root blast dot co dot nz or
see your nearest garden store. Z beh Okay, we're into it.
Eight hundred eighty ten eighty Nick, good morning to.

Speaker 7 (54:32):
You the morning, Pete.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
How are you very well? How can I help?

Speaker 9 (54:39):
Good?

Speaker 7 (54:39):
Hey, I just got in the car and turned the
radio on a little bit late, but I heard you
talking about garden sheds up against boundaries. Now, so that
don't include swimming pool sheds. I suppose there any kind
of shed, right, I.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Think it's described as a shed up to ten square
meters in size.

Speaker 7 (55:02):
Okay, there are heights to boundary ratio on that or anything.

Speaker 4 (55:06):
Well, to be fair, I'm not sure. I guess the
assumption being that, you know, most sheds are sort of
around two point two two point four meters high. Certainly
there'll be a maximum, as there is for the granny
flat legislation, so the buildings there can be a maximum
of four meters high. But I think that would exclude sheds.

(55:29):
I mean, if your neighbor puts a four meter high
shed on the boundary, I think you're probably going to
have grounds to object, yes, okay, right, all.

Speaker 7 (55:40):
Right, I'll just more investigating on that with our good counsel. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
And look, typically their response will be, you know, like
if it's an issue where you might want to complain
about a neighbor's placement. Also right now, the current rules apply, right,
so any sheds that are there, if they're infringing, now
you would have grounds to comply to complain. Rather, I
guess if someone install are shed now ahead of the

(56:07):
legislation actually becoming law, that would be non compliant. But
once it does come in, it seems like anything up
to ten square meters can be placed basically on the boundary.
All right, okay, all right, good luck with that, take
care of all the best and Peter, good morning to you.

Speaker 5 (56:27):
Hi.

Speaker 11 (56:28):
Pete.

Speaker 9 (56:28):
Hey, this is a little bit of strange question, but
one of my family members has bought a nineteen sixty
style house. It's had some renovations done in the bathroom
and kitchen, but need some others done. I just want
to know, is here like a planning guide for doing
these things so that you don't you know, like if
I need electrician in the one room, I can bink

(56:51):
ahead and making sure that any other stuff can be done.
Is there any books that you're seen as being done
very well? And the other part of the question is
is there people that are not architects as such, but
help will renovations And the idea one of the laundry
has to be the flaw needs to be raised and

(57:12):
then it has an impact on the ceiling and things
like that. So just kind of keen to, you know,
like have a plan that you can work off because
the renovations could take twelve months, eighty months, sure, and
so you don't double things, you know, electrition back and
again that type of thing.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
It's a fantastic question. I can't say how you know
how important and pertinent and timely that sort of question is, Gosh,
where do you start? I guess part of it is
determined by the scope of the work. So if most
of the work that is a that you need to

(57:53):
do on this particular property can be done under Schedule
one of the Act, which means you don't need a
building consent, then you're not going to be engaging with
a designer, right. But if it does require a building
can and you are going to have them put from
a professional designer, architectural designer, architect whoever, then you might
find that you get some guidance from them. Otherwise, if

(58:18):
you can find a contractor who's going to be doing
the work, who can come and spend a bit of
time with you beforehand to sort of map out it's
that sort of thing like for experienced contractors, we've kind
of got it in our head, right, we understand the process.
So hey, we're going to do X, Y and Z,
and it's step ABC and D, and we've got that

(58:41):
in our heads, right. So you want to be able
to extract that little bit of information and help them
to guide you through the process. So that's getting the
contractor early contractor engagement could be really helpful for that,
so you could do it that way. In terms of guides,
there's a group called the Super Home Movement that have

(59:03):
a couple of years ago they produced Base, a guide
for better building. They've also now either about to or
have just released a renovation guide. So if you're interested
in getting a building that is warm, dry, comfortable, a
more high performance home, you can use the guide. So
it helps with information about retrofitting, joinery fitting, insulation, getting

(59:29):
decent ventilation into a building, all of those sorts of things,
and it's specifically focused on renovations and so that's a
really good place to start. So if you just search
for Super Home Movement, you'll find their guides there. The
other thing too, is brands have done a lot of

(59:49):
research in terms of retrofitting older buildings, and in fact,
I think they've either got hard copies or copies online
of guidance around you know what to do with older buildings,
what the key issues are, and how to solve them.
So I think between all of those you'll be able
to put together a bit of a plan. But I

(01:00:13):
think there's I think there's an enormous benefit in what
we might call formally early contract or engagement, whether that's
something that the contractor will do and sort of do
it basically without charging you because they're going to get
the work later, or you pay them for their time
and you get them to come and help you create

(01:00:33):
a plan for an effective renovation. I think that'd be
money well spent, fantastic, all the very best, enjoy the project,
thank you, take care, then bye bye. Someone sets through.
Why has the height to boundary shed rule changed, Robin.
I think it's probably a response to the fact that
everybody pretty much ignored the rules anyway, So and I

(01:00:58):
think this is I think it's been driven in large
part by David Seymour around his kind of removing unnecessary
red tape. And so the old guideline for garden sheds
is they used to be and still are until the
law comes in. They have to be the height of
the building away from the boundary. So if you've got
a two point two high garden shed, you need to

(01:01:22):
put it two point two meters away from the boundary,
which kind of leaves you with a space that no
one's ever going to use. To be fair in the
list case now, in smaller lots, rather than you know,
putting them in a place that you're going to create
a bit of wasted space, you can move it to
the boundary as long as it's less than ten square meters.
So unless you've built a shed that's ten meters long

(01:01:44):
and one meter wide, chances are it's something in the
four by two and a half that's ten square meters.
Then you'd end up with, you know, a four meter
high structure or four meter long and hopefully only two
point four meter high roughly structure alongside your boundary. I
still think there's going to be some problems with that

(01:02:04):
from a practical point of view, but at the stage
that's where they're heading with the legislation. So as to why,
I think it's just because so many people ignored it anyway.
Craig are very good morning to you.

Speaker 12 (01:02:16):
Yes, a good morning to you. I just remembered what
wasn't inquiring about a two crapeers? And when can we
finally push push them to get on and finish the
There are repairs that I have nearly ten years now,

(01:02:38):
and I've still got repairs that have not complained. I've
got a split foundation that they caused when they lifted
the house unevenly. They will they will warned to not
not to lift the house unevenly, and they did and

(01:03:00):
they split the foundation. I've got a split level house
and they lifted it evenly, and I've got water in
entering the house, and I've got chap off walls, and
that they don't seem interested, and they're not willing to

(01:03:21):
spend any more money. And I think that they have
got to the stage, after spending seven hundred thousand dollars
on my house, that they are just going to wait
until everyone's sick of asking, and then they're going to say,

(01:03:42):
well that there's a total of you know, twenty five
million or whatever, divided by the number of houses. You know,
here's ten thousand dollars each.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
I would have thought by now there would be like
an old boodsman type role that's opened up so that
people who are still struggling to complete their EQ see
repairs if it's dragging on. Otherwise, I look with respect.
I feel that it's something that you could go to
your local councilor newly elected and get them to advocate

(01:04:19):
on your behalf, or go to your local member of parliament,
or if there is an official sort of ombudsman type
body that's been there to establish to look after if
you see repairs, that's going to get you a little
bit more action than I might be able to. But
good luck and I can certainly imagine the frustration. Quick
text before the break. You can remove the MDF ward

(01:04:41):
from the window by using a wide chisel and just
hading it on the face. It splits like a page
and a book, and then peel it back and remove it.
I can do a bottom liner in an hour. Yeah,
I hear what you're saying. How do you get rid
of the staples though? Just push them back in and
then insert the liner. Yeah, I mean that is an option,

(01:05:03):
especially if it started to decay. Appreciate that. Thank you, Peter.
It is seven thirty three here at News Talks.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
HEEDB whether you're pety with ceiling, fixing with fans, or
wondering how to fix that hole in the wall. Give
Peter Wolfgamper call on the Resident Builder on newstalksed B.

Speaker 4 (01:05:20):
Your News Talks HEB seven point thirty six after the
News at eight o'clock, Doctor Terry and Barry will be
joining me. This week is kind of a focus week
on construction waste, so we'll take a bit of a
deep dive into that. And in fact, I was talking
with her during the week and one of the things
we were talking about is, if you know, like Peter

(01:05:43):
talking about this nineteen sixties house and a renovation, I
wonder how many people you basically, if you're talking with
contractors and lbps and builders and so on before you
start a project, do you ask them what are you
doing with the waste? Like what's your waste management plan
or what's your your minimization plan? Basically, what are you

(01:06:05):
going to do it? I'd be really curious, even if
you just want to send me a quick text on that,
you know, do you ask if you're about to do
let's say you're doing a two hundred thousand dollars renovation extension?
DA DA da da da. Do you ask your contractors
what are you doing with the waste? Really interested to know? Oh,
eight hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number to
call if you'd like to chat. Wendy, good morning, Oh,

(01:06:27):
good morning, Papa.

Speaker 9 (01:06:28):
There.

Speaker 10 (01:06:28):
I have a house that was built in nineteen ten
and it was built on the boundary. Has lots of
them seem to be in the area where I am.
So would the new regulations mean that someone could build
an under the nice square meter shared right up against
my house?

Speaker 4 (01:06:47):
What a great question as well. Yeah, I guess when
they're introducing the legislation, they're thinking about most common situations.
And I know exactly what you mean. It's not uncommon
with older houses because a lot of them, you know,
you got to think about at the time when they
were built, right, they were probably built in some cases

(01:07:10):
before formal surveying, and so it's only later on as
the surveys became more formalized and now we've moved to
cadastral surveying and that sort of thing that we actually
find that, oh gosh, the boundaries one hundred millimeters one
hundred and fifty millimeters from the edge of the building
and So what you're saying is that's your situation. Imagine

(01:07:31):
if the neighbor then said, right, I'm going to build
a new fence here and I'm going to put a
shed on the boundary. Suddenly you're it means that you can't,
for example, get in and do any maintenance on that part.
I mean you can't squeeze into one hundred and fifty milimeters,
can you?

Speaker 10 (01:07:49):
Yes, exactly. So what happens there.

Speaker 4 (01:07:55):
To be blunt I don't know, you know, And this
is where the legislation has been introduced, but it's untested
in the real world. And I kind of understand where
they're coming from in terms of saying, look, everybody pretty
much everybody ignored the rules, right, And I've just checked
again because someone text me and said, oh, wasn't it

(01:08:16):
that it had to be half the half the height
of the building away from the boundary. Currently it was
that it has to be the distance to the boundary
at least equal to its height. Right, So unless you
get a building, that's what it used to be. So
unless you've got a building consent, I wonder whether this
just becomes something that you're going to if it does happen,

(01:08:39):
go to the neighbor and say, look, could you please
give me sufficient space to allow me to get in
and do required, you know, if you needed to get
there to get to a window, or if you needed
Is that you're only access to the backyard down that
side of the house. I presume not.

Speaker 10 (01:08:57):
No, the boundary goes all the way along, of course,
you know, so I can't, And that would just rely
on the good wall of my neighbor. And if I
see something going up and I go over and say hey,
and he said, oh, well look I've already started whatever.
I mean, I feel a bit powerless about this unless
there is some way that the regulations address the situation.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
Unless there's something in the Property Act in terms of
access for maintenance or something.

Speaker 6 (01:09:27):
Like that.

Speaker 10 (01:09:29):
Night, I wonder how i'd find oh, thank you, Oh yeah,
a big problem for me maybe, But I wonder how
I would find more information out because I wonder if
the counsels would know.

Speaker 4 (01:09:42):
Counsels will know, but remember, yeah, I mean they'll they'll
know as much as anyone else. I guess. I wonder
whether in drafting the legislation, and this would be true
for all legislation, you don't know every unforeseen consequence and
something like this where you know, my concern was always okay,

(01:10:03):
So if we're saying to people build something and build
it hard on the boundary, then even for that shed
that's being built, you've taken away the opportunity to do
any maintenance on that.

Speaker 10 (01:10:15):
Right, so's they'd rather have the space, well, they don't
care about that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:19):
It's not a I know, I know, but it's not
a practical solution either, or it's you know, but that's
up to the homeowner, I guess to figure out. We'll
hang on if I jam it hard up to the
boundary and I can't get in there to maintain it,
if it starts to leak, or if the cladding fails
or something like that, I'm going to have to take
the whole shed down in order to get to it.
So hopefully, hey, look maybe common sense will prevail. Sure,

(01:10:43):
and I'm both laughing about that. Look, I'll the short
answer is, I'm not sure what the impact is. I
get exactly where you're coming from, because I've worked on
a number of houses where you know, older houses often
right up on the boundary. Yeah, it's challenging. Not sure
how that's going to wash up.

Speaker 10 (01:11:06):
Thanks, a lot, Petere for your health anyway.

Speaker 4 (01:11:08):
All right, nice to talk with you. All the best, Wendy,
someone sticks through. If someone wants to build a shed
up against your house, you could invoke the over my
dead body clause. I don't know that that has any
basis in law, does it? The over my dead body?
I'm curious if you would like to offer up an
opinion as to what that is. We could we could
talk about that. Jupiter, Good morning to you.

Speaker 6 (01:11:28):
Hello, I've hello, I've emailed you a picture of my
bathroom windows. If you opened it, let me.

Speaker 4 (01:11:38):
See if it will allow me to open it. I'm
sure it will. The security protocols don't don't dum dum, yes, radio.

Speaker 6 (01:11:52):
It's all discolored. And it's a double blaze bathroom window.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
And that's so it's in the But how close to
the shower is it?

Speaker 6 (01:12:04):
Two natives?

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
So it doesn't get wet when you're using the shower
as such?

Speaker 6 (01:12:10):
Well, if it's closed, oh not from the show, not.

Speaker 4 (01:12:13):
From the shower. I meant, yeah, and that discoloring. So
I'm trying to paint a bit of a picture. Here
was that window it's a bathroom window, so was it obscured?
In the first place it is was it designed to
have Is it designed to be opaque so for privacy
for example, yes? Okay, But now it looks like that,

(01:12:36):
which looks like you've sort of sprayed white a white
solution or a cleaning solution over it. And is that
discoloration that you see on the inside as in between
the two layers of glass or is it on the
surface of the glass?

Speaker 8 (01:12:52):
M I thought that I.

Speaker 6 (01:12:56):
Not one hundred percent sure.

Speaker 4 (01:12:59):
How old is that window?

Speaker 6 (01:13:02):
About thirteen years?

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
About thirteen years? Okay? Do you think that when in
the records for the building you might be able to
find who the original joinery manufacturer was? Yes, okay, Well,
if you've got some records like that, I'd go back
to the manufacturer. They might be able to tell you
who installed or who supplied that double glazed unit. I
think it would be outside of the warranty period for

(01:13:26):
the d G unit itself. And certainly if that discoloration,
that opaqueness that I'm seeing on the photograph is insight
so between the two layers of glass, there's no repair
to that, you'll simply have to have it replaced. So
I wonder whether either the dessicont has failed. That absorbs
the moisture that might be in there, or the actual

(01:13:48):
seal the bead between the two layers has failed slightly.
And in a really damp environment like a bathroom, you know,
you're sort of pushing the performance of it. So I
think it's a failure of the DG unit. It'll be
a replacement, right.

Speaker 6 (01:14:07):
My second question is I had a new shower installed
and one quarter of the floor creeks.

Speaker 8 (01:14:14):
Oh yeah, when you stand on it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:17):
Oh the actual shower tray itself. Yeah, oh right, well
it like when they're installed. Well, so when you're installing
these shower trays, the ground needs to be level and
then you need to apply a sufficient bead of sealant

(01:14:37):
to the underside of these typically little round circles on
the underside of them, which is where it bears down.
So what you want to do is make sure that
all of that has some sealent underneath it to prevent
that creaking. Really hard thing is if it's creaking, now,
is it on a timber floor or concrete floor?

Speaker 9 (01:14:55):
Concrete?

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
See, there's basically without pulling the whole thing apart, there's
no way to get back in there. Unless what you
did is on is it two sided or three sided,
so it's into a corner and the creek that you're

(01:15:17):
talking about the sound. Is it closest to the corner
or closest to the rest of the bathroom.

Speaker 6 (01:15:26):
It's a school quarter like.

Speaker 4 (01:15:28):
Yes, But is that the quarter closest to the corner
or is it a corner that's closest to the outside
perimeter of the shower?

Speaker 6 (01:15:38):
To the outside perimeter?

Speaker 4 (01:15:42):
One option might be and you'd want to talk to
some of the shower repair and shower install teams. Is
you could theoretically drill a small hole through the side
of the liner or through the side of the tray
and try injecting some foam into there. It's a very
fine balance because you don't want to put too much

(01:16:04):
foam in there because it will expand and lift the
train up, and not enough foam won't be enough to
pack that space and get rid of that creek that
I can imagine when was this done?

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
When I was about coming up two years ago.

Speaker 4 (01:16:21):
I try and get the original contractor back because they
if you install them well, they don't creak. And so
the only conclusion you can draw is that whoever installed.
It didn't take the time to either level the floor
or to ensure that the surface is clean or that
they put enough sealant underneath it, and that's why you've
got a leak. So I think you've got grounds to

(01:16:41):
go back to the contractor and say, hey, can you
come and sort this out please? Okay, alrighty, all right,
good luck. You nice to talk with you. Thanks for
the email. Take care your News TALKSB coming up twelve
minutes away from eight. Squeaky Door or Squeaky floor.

Speaker 1 (01:16:57):
Get the right advice from Peter Wolfcare, the resident builder
on News Talks B.

Speaker 4 (01:17:02):
Right, we're going to race through a couple of calls
ahead of the news Tony, good morning.

Speaker 6 (01:17:06):
Yeah, good mining.

Speaker 13 (01:17:07):
Look I've just got a quick question for you. We've
got a colonial townhouse, one of two, the adjacent one
sold recently and the neighbor.

Speaker 5 (01:17:18):
Went up on the roof and he cut off the overhang.

Speaker 12 (01:17:21):
Of my barge board.

Speaker 13 (01:17:23):
Why he said, oh, I thought it needed trimming up, but.

Speaker 12 (01:17:27):
There was nothing wrong with it.

Speaker 13 (01:17:30):
So now it actually only goes to where it.

Speaker 5 (01:17:34):
Doesn't even cover the guttering, if you know what I mean.

Speaker 12 (01:17:37):
So what is I mean?

Speaker 13 (01:17:39):
The fact that it doesn't look right because one ends
overhanging one. Is it a purpose for Do I need
to replace it to overhang?

Speaker 7 (01:17:50):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:17:50):
In terms of like making sure the building doesn't leak
in those sorts of things. No, If it's pure at
that point, it's probably purely decorative.

Speaker 9 (01:17:59):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:18:01):
So in order to cut the barge board back, did
they cut through any of the roofing or anything like that,
or just it projects out.

Speaker 13 (01:18:07):
Past the roof that my property overhangs his roof by
like the difference of the feet, right, So he must
have got a sin blade and just gone behind the
gutter and cut it off, and the timber's fine. I've
wanted two options, either to take it back and put

(01:18:28):
a new overhang on, or just put some wood preserve
on the end of it and then paint it.

Speaker 4 (01:18:35):
I would probably, you know, in terms of making it
a straightforward job, just go and do exactly that. Trim
up the end, you know, send it a bit, put
some treatment in there to prevent possible decay, and then
yeah some middle X or yeah, yeah, that's probably the
best one. Do that and then paint it and leave it.
But I guess what happens now is you can see

(01:18:57):
the end of the spouting, and that would have been
covered in some part by that barge board extending out.
Kind of chicky, isn't it.

Speaker 13 (01:19:05):
Well, that's what I said. He's a Russian.

Speaker 12 (01:19:09):
I'm not against any Russians or anything, but it doesn't.

Speaker 5 (01:19:12):
Say good English, right, And I just can't.

Speaker 13 (01:19:16):
I was there, and I looked up and had gone.

Speaker 4 (01:19:21):
To be fair, it's a story that I've never heard before.
But that look, I think, rather than provoke a boundary dispute, maybe,
like you say, just from the end, tidy it up,
seal it and paint it and you've got a great
story to talk about later on a right, nice to
chat with you all the bit. Thank you, thank you,

(01:19:42):
Take care boy. Then, Gabriel, good morning, Hello Gabriel.

Speaker 9 (01:19:47):
Hello, hey, very good morning to you.

Speaker 4 (01:19:49):
How are your morning to I'm well.

Speaker 9 (01:19:51):
Yeah, yeah, first first time caller. We've been in this
house for twenty eight years and the house behind us
has been changed ownership twice. So the person living in
it now loves to grow things on the bow defence
and do what happened. We've got like a big, big shrub.

(01:20:12):
I mean it's this big shrub which is started to
lean the fence over, so we had a closer look.
It started to rot at the bottom defence and we
discussed it with him, could you please call the shrubs
take what's behind it? He grew banana trees, he grew
parties not even a meter from the fence, and after

(01:20:35):
discussing yes he will, he would not. They put the
house up for sale, which is only about a week now.
So we thought we'll have a look at the open
home and we had a closer look. There is so
growing at the bottom of the fence and past the
covering all of it and with the root with the
fence leaning over to our place. I mean he's going

(01:20:58):
to walk away by selling the house and handing the
problem to the new owner. Should we tell the agents
selling that they should put as a problem for the next.

Speaker 4 (01:21:10):
Ah, that's a really interesting one. Yeah, because once agents
are informed about that, then they have a duty to disclose.

Speaker 5 (01:21:17):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:21:18):
That's probably not a bad tactic, to be fair, and
what it might do is prompt the current owner to
sort of sort it out before they sell it, hopefully.
There is also your other possibilities. You could seek redress
through the property through basically the Property Act right which
you know you can't deliberately do something that impacts on

(01:21:40):
your neighbor. You can't undermine, you know, walls or those
sorts of things. But if that's being sold, then you're right.
The person's likely to just walk away from this and
the new owner you have to deal with the new owner.
So yeah, raising it with the agent might actually be
quite a good tactic. It's I mean, I've always Thanksgaverall

(01:22:01):
for that. You always feel, gee, I wish these things
didn't happen, but they do, and I guess that's why
the war is there. Radio after the break we are
going to be talking to doctor Terryanne Barry about well
basically we're talking rubbish after the break, News talks beat
back after the eight o'clock.

Speaker 6 (01:22:18):
News, me.

Speaker 1 (01:22:21):
Helping you get those DIY projects done right. The Resident
Builder with Peter wolfcants call eight eight Youth Talk ZB.

Speaker 4 (01:22:36):
It is Supertramp the Long Way Home. Well, in fact,
that's I didn't know who's going to play that song,
but it's actually not a bad song in terms of
thinking about what we're about to talk about, which is
sort of a long, long issue that we've got to
deal with. It's a long way to find a really
good solution to this. So before we begin our chat
with doctor Terryanne Barry, I just want to be really,

(01:22:59):
really upfront with everyone. This is something that I am
quite passionate about, quite involved about. I sit as a
trustee of a not for profit that works on a
local recycling center. So I'll hang my colors on the
line and say, I think we've got a massive problem.
And I think as a sector, we as builders, constructors,

(01:23:21):
contribute far too much to waste and many of my colleagues,
let's say, in the industry, have an appalling attitude to it.
So just so you know where I'm coming from, That's
where I'm coming from. So let me introduce to you
doctor Terry Anne. Just reading from your the Environmental Innovation
Center that she heads up as well trained chemist, oceanographer

(01:23:41):
PhD and Water and Wastewater Engineering Fellow of the Royal
Society of Chemistry, Charted chemist and environmentalist, part time Associate
professor at Auckland University and adjunct professor at Southern Cross
University in Australia. It is my great pleasure to welcome
to the program doctor Kerry. Terry Anne, very good morning,

(01:24:03):
good morning to speak to you nice to speak with
you too. So I pinned my colors to the mast
and go, this is where I stand on it. Can
you give us a snapshot of the construction sector and
its contribution to the amount of material that goes to landfill?
How wasteful are we?

Speaker 14 (01:24:26):
Yeah, it's quite impressive, actually for a very resourceful society.
So let me put it into a bit of context,
because I always find giving just numbers out it's actually
quite hard to visualize. So every person in New Zealand,
on average is contributing about three tons of waste per

(01:24:46):
year annually. Now three tons means nothing to me, so
I put it in my terminology, which is the same
as about three Sisuki swifts and about sixteen five hundred
packets of tintams. But with that waste value, I know
that's huge, isn't it. That waste value remember includes construction waste.
That's not just waste that we put in our bin.

(01:25:08):
It's also the construction waste. And construction waste is about
sixty to seventy percent of all the waste that goes
to landfill, and that's huge. And remember that waste means
something's wasted, and in this case it's not just that
we're wasting resources, but they're also wasting.

Speaker 4 (01:25:24):
Money, yep. And we've got to find somewhere to put that.
And right now, right across the country, there's lots of
local community groups that are upset about, you know, maybe
a landfill applying for permission to extend because they're running
out of room because the trucks keep rolling in day
after day after day with material that we've decided we

(01:25:45):
just can't be bothered doing anything about.

Speaker 14 (01:25:48):
Yeah. Absolutely, Look, I've never seen a state agent advertisement
for a house that says, hey close to local landfill, because.

Speaker 10 (01:25:55):
The reality is we don't want to.

Speaker 14 (01:25:57):
Live negst to a landfill. And that's quite understandable. And
that report by Ben Leahy from The Herald was really interesting.
You know, Red Veil landfill parents, you know, understandably not
really keen on the fact that the air pollution issues
and object to the extension. The Whitford residents don't want
all the waste going there from all of Auckland. And
the new way by a Valley landfill has been in

(01:26:19):
the works for nearly seventeen years and it's not due
to open until we sort of mid twenty thirty, so look,
landfills are not particularly popular, but they're also really expensive
to set up and to run, and they'll operate, and
if we keep filling them up really really quickly, then
the outset is that, yes, we might end up living
closer to them because we're going to need more. But

(01:26:40):
also the prices are going to be going to be
going up for you to dispose to landfill, and that's
going to have an impact on.

Speaker 12 (01:26:47):
Us long term.

Speaker 4 (01:26:49):
So if we take a snapshot, we're going roughly every
single person in the country contributes about three tons of waste.
If you looked at the total amount of waste, now,
most of us will look at that and go, well,
hang on, I put my wheely burnout at ways about
ten kilos every week. You know, surely that's not me.
Probably isn't because it is people like me. As a contractor,

(01:27:10):
as a carpenter. You know, we're pulling down a house
right or and then we're going what do I do
with this? Or we're building new and you know the
one thing that you see on almost every single building site,
there's a great big skip out there, and depending on
who's running the job, either everything goes in there or

(01:27:30):
a little bit goes in there, So if you do
want to do something about it, what can you do?

Speaker 14 (01:27:39):
Yeah, look, I think that it's really important to say
that we're not going to completely recycle ourselves out of
this issue, and that the issue actually I'm not going
to put it straight on the work of the builders
because I don't actually think that's fair. Now, it's everybody's
responsibility to take a little bit of ownership in this problem.
And if you look at it in quite a holistic way,

(01:28:01):
you've got everything from the architecture side, where you know,
we're encouraging people to design out waste in the first
place so it doesn't get to site. We've got the
designers and planners their role in this too, and then
of course for the builders. Yeah, absolutely that there are
practical things that you can do and the resources available
for you to be able to.

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
Take that on board.

Speaker 14 (01:28:22):
But at the moment we don't have a national recovery
infrastructure that serves everybody. So what's available in Auckland is
quite different to what's available, let's say in the south
of the South Island, and we have to be aware
of that. And I think also an important part of
it is thinking about if you're a homeowner, You're right,
that's three tons is an average, and it includes construction waste,

(01:28:47):
and not everybody's buying a new house and not everybody's renovating.
But you know, a lot of this is about customer
des are demand. We want good quality in expensive houses,
and I think there's definitely a responsibility on our homeowners
and our customers the new homes or renos to actually
asking the question, actually, what are you doing with your waist,

(01:29:09):
where's the waste going, and accepting that if they, you know,
if they want to counteract the idea that we're going
to end up with more and larger landfills and those
costs fundamentally will come back to us, then we need
to start asking these questions and encouraging and you know,
asking for people to do just that little bit better.
So I do see it as everybody's problem. I don't

(01:29:31):
just see it as one one group. But what I
would say is that for builders, there are some great
resources out there that can be used. And so for
like the last fifteen years or so, we've been working
on what sort of waste to being produced? How can
you separate those wastes from site, How can you get

(01:29:52):
the best from it. We've got a website called the
Waisthub very simply www dot waste tub, dot co dot
nz and that wasthub gives you things that are very practical,
like how can you set up on site separation? Can
you explain in two minutes a short video that tells
you about you know what to do with? Was why

(01:30:13):
waste impacts carbon? You know, all those fundamental things, how
to write a waste management plan. Those sorts of things
I think are quite important. And yes, I agree some
people are really against the waste management plan. I understand
why because it can just be a tick box. But
I think done well, it helps you to identify where

(01:30:35):
you might be able to send materials, and also it
helps you to think about, well what materials should I
be purchasing? Should I go back to my suppliers and say, hey,
what's the solution for this? You know, you don't want
to be left with a big mass of offcuts that

(01:30:56):
you can't do anything with. And we certainly see in
ourselves at the Environmental Innovation Center, suppliers come into us
and saying, hey, can you help us find solutions for
our waste material And that's just so encouraging because it's
all about finding solutions.

Speaker 4 (01:31:14):
I think we all accept that it does require a
bit of effort. Right So, just from a practical point
of view on site, if I'm running a job and
inevitably we create some waste, the simplest thing for me
to do is just pack it all up and throw
it into the back of a skip and make it
somebody else's problem. Right, So, in order not to do that,

(01:31:35):
what sorts of things might we in terms of builders
and trades people or homeowners who are managing a project
and want to do the right thing basically and say
to their builders, look, what can we do to reduce
the amount of waste? What's the next step from there?
What would you do?

Speaker 14 (01:31:55):
Okay, so use the resources that are available there. As
I said before, there's a waste tub resources, some great
resources from brands, so stuck for me. First of all,
think about where you're ordering the tip from. And so
some suppliers have got some really great solutions. So Marley's
a good example, who have a great take back scheme
for their pipes. There's another company, good Rap that's doing

(01:32:17):
some great stuff with the building wrap that goes around
the buildings and they have a great scheme which means
you can't opt out. All of this stuff has a
good recycling system set up, So start thinking about choosing
suppliers that actually have that opportunity for you right there
built into what they're doing. I think that's an important.

Speaker 4 (01:32:37):
Part of it.

Speaker 14 (01:32:38):
Look out for suppliers. The next thing you can do
is start actually planning your waste. And one of the
interesting things we've found about waste is that the waste
that's produced at different building stages is very very different. So,
I mean, it makes perfectly common sense, but what you
actually have at that foundation stage is quite different to

(01:33:01):
what you have at the fixtures and fit in stage
at the end. So start thinking about what those wastes
are lightly to be and then.

Speaker 9 (01:33:08):
Plan for them.

Speaker 14 (01:33:10):
We have lots of pictures on the waste up of
site set ups for you know, how you can separate
your waste in a really constrained neat way. You don't
need lots of land. I think that's a common misconception.

Speaker 4 (01:33:23):
That yeah, I don't have room to separate.

Speaker 14 (01:33:25):
It, you know, yeah, absolutely yeah, But we've not found that.
I mean we've been on sites everything from big commercial
to a one house build and we've always been able
to find space. And what's lovely about separating the waste
like that is that often it takes less space than
a skip. It makes your site. This is the FEEDBA

(01:33:47):
we've had. This is not my words, but the feedb
we've had has been it actually makes your site tidier.

Speaker 10 (01:33:53):
Because you're clearing up as you go, you're.

Speaker 14 (01:33:55):
Putting it in the right place. And if you can
do that and you can capture good quality offcuts and
waste that's not too dirty, than your opportunities and recycling
are just so much better one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (01:34:12):
And I had the opportunity to go to a sort
of a diversion sorting center a little while ago, and
the guys, you know, the was tipped out or the
materials being tipped out, and then they're fosking through it
and there's you know, they're grabbing little bits of cardboard,
and I'm thinking, hang on, how why not on site
you just get a wall bag and fill that up
with your cardboard offcuts, right, and then you take that

(01:34:35):
to your local recycling center rather than allowing it to
enter the waste stream and then be pulled out somewhere else.
So that that's that kind of simple practical solutions as
we go through. I've got to take a break. But
this is a classic text that's just come in. We
disposed of all of our building waste on our new build,
so this must be the owners taking responsibility for the

(01:34:56):
waste from their site reused or otherwise recycled. Took all
the polystyrene to a local factory, saved heaps on a
skip so we might come back and have a look
at it. That isn't that a great text?

Speaker 11 (01:35:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:35:09):
Yeah with me this morning is doctor Terry and Barry.
We're talking about waste. I guess you'd say we're talking
about rubbish, but it's not. It's a resource. We'll be
back after the.

Speaker 1 (01:35:17):
Break measure twice god once, but maybe call Pete first.
Feed your alcab the resident Builder news talks that'd be.

Speaker 4 (01:35:25):
From everyday excellence to statement design you do It. Kitchens
gives you the freedom to create a kitchen that fits
your life. If you're serious about DIY, you'll love the
flexibility and design control that comes with their U sizet system,
which lets you change cabinet sizes to fit your space perfectly.
It's all about giving you choice from cabinet design and

(01:35:47):
finishes to the small details that make every kitchen unique.
Start with solid colors, step up to the textured wood grains,
or go premium with Ultra touch and ultra gloss finishes
for a high end, modern look. Drawer and cabinet options
range from standard metal sided through to soft clothes and
other designer hardware upgrades, letting you decide exactly how your

(01:36:10):
kitchen feels and functions. Everything is proudly New Zealand made,
with your kitchen manufactured and dispatched to your door in
just seven days. Advice from local DIY experts is only
an email away. Search you do it. That's U d
UI T and see why their customers are proud to

(01:36:31):
say I did it myself. News talk z B right
oh with me this morning, Doctor Terry and Bury from
the Auckland University of Technology, where you are a lecturer,
as well as a whole bunch of other things that
you seem to be involved with. The just before you
know the last part the Environmental Innovation Center that you're

(01:36:51):
part of, and I know Nigel's part of the team
as well. What's the what's the drive behind that particular organization?

Speaker 14 (01:37:03):
The drive really came from waste, from observing just how
much waste was being produced, and particularly from the construction sector.
As you know, Nigel's master builder president for Auckland, so
you know he was very aware of it and we
actually met on a site and it was one of
his sites and he really wanted to find a solution.
He was just overseeing all the waste go into the

(01:37:25):
skip and out to landfill. So we do a lot
around waste. We do we look at hazardous waste like asbestos,
and we also do indoor equality. But really for us,
I think a lot of it is about being independent,
giving advice and bringing people together because I think when
we're working together, I know it sounds a bit corny,

(01:37:46):
but when we're working together, we're actually developing solutions. And
those solutions may well come from the construction sector itself,
it may come from academia, but if it's coming from academia,
we're very passionate about making sure that it's practical and
it actually works and it's feasible on site. So I
think it's taking some of those innovations and making sure

(01:38:06):
that they work and you know, they're set for purpose
for the construction sector.

Speaker 4 (01:38:10):
And I think it's really important to you know, given
that we've in general, we've got this massive problem around
what do we do with waste because we treat it
as waste rather than resource and so on and so forth.
And given that construction contributes way, you know, like our
contribution to the amount is far bigger than our contribution
to the economy, is how I look at it. So

(01:38:34):
you know, we're punching above our weight in the worst
possible way. So I think it makes sense to focus
on the construction sector and go what could you do?
And I think too once you dive into it, this
is from a practical point of view. From my perspective,
is that there is actually lots of achievable things that

(01:38:54):
you can do. And yes, it's a bit of effort,
but it's not that much effort, right, And to your
point about separating materials on site or choosing wisely from
wech and designing in less waste rather than kind of
dealing with it.

Speaker 14 (01:39:10):
At the end, yeah, absolutely, And I think that's all
part of what we're trying to do here. We're accepting
that there are lots of different opportunities. We've got the
design out, we've got the reuse. We've got the recycling,
but not all of those are going to work. And look,
we're pragmatic enough to say that there are some materials
that are going to end up in landfill. We upset that.

(01:39:32):
But you know, at the end of the day, sixty
to seventy percent waste to landfill from CND is huge,
and we can do better. We can save resources, but
more importantly, we can be saving money in this space.
And there are some really great solutions out there, and
I'm just going to mention a few more because I
think they're important. So you know, if you're if you're

(01:39:52):
a larger building group, then MOUTU is a fabulous way
of being able to share and reuse resources across your
different sites, which is brilliant. There's ways of managing your data.
There's a company called Waste Expert that are doing some
great stuff on data management and looking at how much
you're producing and where you might make those savings. I

(01:40:16):
think there's also opportunities for people to, you know, to
really feel safe that they're making good decisions and feel
that they're not being greenwashed. They're not going to end
up with somebody saying, oh, we're putting it here, but
actually it's really going to learn and there are things
that you can do in that space. So we've actually
just created a certification called Circular Path. It's the Plastic

(01:40:40):
Waste because we recognize that plastic waste doesn't contribute a
massive amount of mass to your SKIP and it's that
mass that you're charged to prompt and so we've set
up this certification, and again it's about really encouraging and
showing people, well, where do I look to find solutions,

(01:41:01):
how do I put them in place on site? How
do I set up my site separation to keep my
product really clean and really reusable or recyclable, And you know,
we'll go out and check and make sure that this
is happening, and so people will then learn that this
is something that they can trust and we're not the
only one that ours is the only one that's looking
at plastics. So as a customer, and I'm just about

(01:41:23):
my own renos down and I've said to my builders
on site, right, I'd like my site separation. They're probably
really gutted about that, but you know, I know what
I want to ask. And so when our windows come out,
we will take them to the community resource centers. Remember
that they're brilliant places. If it's just simply that actually, no,

(01:41:44):
the window doesn't fit the house anymore. It's not what
I want. I want to change it, and we get that.
You know, we've still got to live. But in this instance,
donate them. You know, they could end up really helping
somebody else out rather than just putting them in landfill.

Speaker 4 (01:41:58):
And I think often my impression now is often when
confronted with us and people go, it's hard, and then
you go to them extrall it's a little bit of work,
but not as much as you think, because this works,
this works, this works, here's a solution, here's a solution.
So you know, every I think typically our responses art's
too hard, it just isn't There are solutions for that.

(01:42:20):
I want to point people again to the wasst hub
dot co dot nz site. So if you're a homeowner
and you're thinking about doing a renovation, you don't know
where to start in terms of managing your waste, have
a look at that. If you're a contractor like me
and you're sort of interested in doing the right thing again,
have a look at that waste hub site. It's really practical,
really straightforward, and it's going to make a difference. This

(01:42:42):
is construction, demolition, waste Awareness Week. I suppose there's so
really please we could start with a conversation with you, Terry,
and really looking forward to talking with Mark Roberts from
Auckland Council next week on the show. And again, if
people want to know more, check out the waste Hub site.
There's so much good. Resource Brands does some great stuff.

(01:43:04):
You guys at the Environmental Innovation Center, you do some
great stuff. So again my thanks to you. Really appreciated
your time this morning, my pleasure. Thanks so much for
take care Bob. Rightio, let's jump into the garden where
if you created a great pile of waste like I
did not waste resource. After trimming the hedges, taking out

(01:43:28):
some plants, what else did we do? Do a bit
of weeding? I had the trailer full at Winton. It's
all recyclable, right it, screen mate, it's all recyclable. Let's
talk with Thrud about all things in the garden. Back
in a moment.

Speaker 1 (01:43:42):
Doing up the house, sorting the garden, asked Pete for
ahead the resident builder with Peter Wolfcamp call oh eight
hundred eighty eight Newstalgs EDB. For more from the Resident
Builder with Peter Wolfcamp, Listen live to Newstalks EDB on
Sunday Mornings from Sex, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

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

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Full Show Podcast: 26 October 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

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

Dateline NBC

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

All Episodes

Full Show Podcast: 26 October 2025

Stuff You Should Know