Yearly Archive: 2014
Access to Rear
With the narrow blocks that are becoming more common you see a lot of new houses built right to the side boundary on both sides. In some cases that can’t be avoided, but I think there is a real advantage…
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Green Wall Fail
One of the big current architectural trends at the moment is ‘Green Walls’. Didn’t work too well at this location! It looks like they grew a creeper up the wall but didn’t think about how the creeper would stay fixed…
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Fixings on Plasterboard Walls
When you move into a new house there are lots of things that need to be fixed to walls. For things like small pictures you can use picture hooks . . . . but what about heaviers things like; mirrors,…
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On-Site Stormwater Detention – Storage
Background Many urban developments, and subdivisions, require stormwater flows from your block to be limited to a maximum flow rate. (See: ‘Onsite Stormwater Dention‘ for the reason why) Although councils will require the calculations to be done by a qualified hydraulic engineer here is some…
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Tasty Door
Well this door takes the biscuit! And you can actually eat it. It was set up by the British company Tate and Lyle as part of a promotion in which they built an edible ‘Hotel’. Thanks to the British web…
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Breaking the 500 Post ‘Barrier’
Welcome to this, the 501st Post on the anewhouse Web Site. The blog has certainly come a long way over the past 3 and a half years. The site is currently getting around 8,500 visits a month with over 20,000 pages viewed each…
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Cost Plus Contracts – Avoid
What Is A Cost Plus Contract Basically it is a contract where you agree to pay all the builders ‘Direct Costs’ plus a ‘Fee for Administration and Profit’. Rather than a quotation the builder provides an estimate with the actual cost…
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Pressure Reducing Valves (PRV)
I have previously talked about Noises in Pipes and Dealing with Water Hammer, but neglected to mention PRV’s. Frequently people think high water pressure to be a good. In fact it can be a big problem. Too much water pressure in a…
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Walk The Plank
Do you like this entrance to a house? It’s from the Wabi House in Southern California, designed by Sebastian Mariscal. For more photos follow this link to Dwell Magazine. Looks like a great site for breeding mozzies. It could also…
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Fixed Price Contracts
Having a ‘Fixed Price Contract’ doesn’t mean the bottom line price of the contract will stay the same. All it means is that the majority of prices for individual work items are fixed. Here are reasons for changes in the final price:…
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