Month: August 2012

Building On Fill – Concrete Piers

Its not unusual for the Site Investigation for your new house to reveal fill materials on top of the more stable clay or rock.

Even if there is no fill the builder may need to level a sloping site using ‘Cut and Fill’ methods, or the top layers of soil are generally poor.

To deal with the problem of building on poor ground concrete piers are commonly used.

These are basically a hole that is excavated through the fill and into the top of good ground. The hole is then backfilled with concrete to the level of the underside of the slab.

When they are finished you have a flat site with concrete pads (like the photo below), ready for the slab to be constructed

You don’t have to have Concrete piers over the whole site, just the parts where there will be fill between the bottom of the slab and the stronger soils.

The following diagram shows a typical slab on a cut and fill site with piers excavated through the fill to the good ground.

See the following link for an alternative to Concrete Piers: Screw Piles.

The Slab is likely to be either a Waffle Pod Raft or a Conventional Raft Slab

When the site investigation indicates fill the builder will often put in a Provisional Sum for so many metres of concrete piers.

At the time of construction they will drill down to  good ground in the fill areas and calculate the actual metres you will need to pay for.

If your whole house is on ‘Controlled Fill‘ You may not need to use concrete piers.

 

Lots more information in the anewhouse Guide to Buying a Block for only $4

See Ground Conditions for more about your new house foundations.

 

Contracts – Contract Period

In your house building contract it will quote a Building Period. This starts when the contractor actually starts work (Site Clearance)

The period will be in days. (Calendar days not working days)

The time should allow for any expected loss of productivity due to:

    • None working days including
      • Weekends.
      • Public Holidays.
      • Rostered Days Off.
      • Christmas and Easter shut Downs.
    • Inclement weather including;
      • Heavy Rain.
      • Waterlogged site following heavy rain.
      • Strong Winds.
      • Excessive Heat.

An example would be my last Building Contract………… This had a time for completion of 260 days which included allowances of:

    • 25 days due to inclement weather.
    • 71 days for weekends Rostered days off etc.

The only time the builder has ground for extending the contract period is if: there has been unexpected delay that could not have been reasonably predicted. Such as:

    • Industrial Action – May be at a suppliers factory or be be something like a truck drivers strike.
    • More Inclement Weather – For instance a much wetter winter than average.
    • Delays Caused By You – Asking for Variations after contract signed, or not getting permits in agreed timescale, are examples.

If the builder want to claim an extension of time due to an unexpected delay he has to tell you of the delay as soon as he becomes aware of the delay.
Putting in a claim for an extension to avoid Liquidated Damages at the end of the contract is not acceptable.

 

For similar posts see Contracts

 

Solar Hot Water

With the current emphasis on building efficiency solar hot water systems are pretty much a standard option if not automatically included.

These systems incorporate either gas or electricity boosting for cloudy days.

Here are a few thoughts on the options for solar hot water:

Split System or Tank On Roof

  • Systems with Tanks on the roof are the most efficient . They don’t need a circulation pump to circulate the hot water to the storage tank and don’t have long pipe runs that lose part of the heat you have collected. If this is the way you decide to go make sure your roof has been designed to take the load.
  • Split systems are easier to service when they go wrong as everything other than the panels is at ground level. Many people also prefer the look as they don’t like the large tank on the roof for aesthetic reasons.

Flat plate or Evacuated Tube Panel

  • Evacuated tube systems are more effective. Also from comments on forums I hear 2mm evacuated tubes are stronger than flat plate collectors in the case of large hail, and are less likely to be hit square-on, due to their shape. Just make sure you aren’t getting cheap quality thinner walled tubes.
  • Modern good quality evacuated tube and flat plate systems should be essentially maintenance-free. Just make sure of the quality, it can cost $300-$400 in labour to replace a defective panel even if the actual panel is replaced under warranty.

Insulation

Some of the early Solar water systems only insulated the hot water coming from the system. This is poor practice as once the system starts running the water from the storage tank back to the panels warms up. If this cools in the pipes to the panels you will be loosing efficiency. Make sure you have all pipes insulated.

Boosting Systems

  • I think Gas Boosting is probably the best way to go even if you have the higher priced bottle gas rather than mains gas. This is because gas systems only boost the water when you want it rather than electricity where you are heating the whole tank up even if you are only using 10% of the contents.
  • If you `go for electricity its best go for an off peak boosting, but only switch it on if the forecast is for cloudy weather.

 

See why a West Roof Mounting may be worth thinking about

For more  information on choosing systems for your new house see  ‘Selection / Pre-Start Guide’

 

New E Book – GUIDE to PRE-START / SELECTION

Once you have paid the deposit on your new house the next big step is the Pre Start or Selection Meeting. (some builders call it the ‘Gallery Meeting’, if you are having a custom built house it may be called ‘Detailed Design’)

This is normally the day when you sit down with your builder and select all the details that turn an empty house into a home.

There is lots to think about on the day……………..and its difficult and expensive to change things later.

The builder will be trying to up-sell you expensive upgrades and all you want is another opinion!

To help prepare for this big day I have brought out the :

98 pages of advice and opinions including:

Electrical planning;

Plumbing;

Painting;

Heating and Cooling;

And much more with 24 PAGES of CHECK LISTS

And only $4.

 

For more information CLICK HERE

 

Another E Book from the author of the ‘Guide to Pre Completion Inspections’ 

 

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