Author: Brian Ashworth

DIY Painting, Is It Worth It?

Graphic from www.clker.com

Painting doesn’t seem so hard to do.

Some people say “Why not paint our new house ourselves rather than pay the builder and save money?”

Well I have done plenty of painting of individual rooms over the years but I wouldn’t attempt a new house!

A figure I have heard from an amateur doing the surface preparation and painting of ceilings and walls only (not the woodwork) is around 180 hours for a 300 square m house.

Even if you have got a 200 square house its still 120 hours before you start on the woodwork. Add the woodwork and it will probably be at least another 60 hours.

Assuming there are two of you painting for 6 hours per day that can be over 7 weekends. This consequences are:

  • If you want the painting doing before you move that could be paying another couple of months rent where you live. That will eat into any savings from doing it yourself.
  • If you do it after you move you are going to be living in a mess for around 2 months. All your spare time will be used up painting, while all the other jobs that you find when you move, will have to wait.

About the only painting I would do myself would be painting a feature wall. Even then I would have the decorator do the initial painting of the wall. This would mean:

  • There would be no rush to paint.
  • All the surface preparation would be completed.

If you are going to paint yourself here are a few hints:

  • Invest in some good brushes and look after them.
  • Don’t try painting with a brush out of a big tin of paint, drop it and it makes a huge mess! Decant it into a half litre container.
  • For painting large walls a roller is the way to go. I regard these as disposable as they are difficult to clean well. You can wrap it with cling film and it should be OK to use the next morning, longer and plan on using a new roller.
  • Get some of those disposable overalls with a hood, because you are going to spill paint, and its worse if it gets in your hair.
  • When you have put the top securely on a paint can store it upside down, this stops it getting a skin on the top.
  • Make sure you get plenty of drop sheets or builders plastic on the floor.

 

See the Selection / Pre-Start Guide for more to think about when finalising your new home

 

Beware of Escalation Clauses

What Are Escalation Clauses

These are a way of allowing for inflation. Basically it provides a way for the builder to increase his costs in line with inflation.

The Clause will quote an inflation index which can be used to adjust the stage payments.

When Are They Used

I have only used escalation clauses in civil engineering contracts, when one or more of the following apply:

  • The contracts expected to take more than a year to complete.
  • The work will be carried out in a period of very high inflation.
  • If there will be a lot of imported materials and fittings that would be affected by a loss in value of the dollar.

Why I Don’t Like Them.

  1. Taking the time pressure of the builder means there is less pressure on the builder to complete the works in a timely manner.
  2. Escalation clauses are a way of transferring risk from the builder to you. . . . . . . If the builder want to have this clause is he going to offer a price discount for reducing his risk?
  3. With imported materials there are alternative methods of reducing the risk of currency fluctuation, such as buying materials in advance.
  4. Sometimes the inflation index may not relate accuratly to the actual costs paid out by the builder allowing them to make extra profit.

 

See Contract Payments for more posts

 

Risks of DIY Remodeling

One of my favourite ‘Waste of Time’ activities is reading the Not Always Right website.

Below is a recent post which indicates  the problems of DIY house remodeling!

Going Totally Off The Wall

(I work for a company that builds homes and develops land. As per California law, we warranty our homes for a ten-year period after the house is bought. Our warranty covers structural defects.)

Me: “Warranty. [My Name] speaking. How can I help you?”

Caller: “Hello, my house has a structural defect. I want you to fix it.”

Me: “Okay, ma’am. Could you give me your address? And what exactly is the defect in question?”

Caller: “My address is [address].”

Me: “Okay, I see you in our system. Could you tell me the problem, and I will see what I can do about entering a ticket for you.”

Caller: “The walls are not strong enough. You have to send someone here to put in better walls.”

Me: “The walls are not strong enough? Are they bowing, or cracking?”

Caller: “No, the ones that are still standing are fine.”

Me: “The ones that are… still standing…?”

Caller: “Yes. I wanted to remodel to make my living room and kitchen one big room, but it was too expensive. I saw a demolition crew do wall removals on those home improvement shows, so I just got a chainsaw and cut the wall out myself.”

Me: “Okay… so you ‘remodeled?’”

Caller: “Yeah! But then my house caved in.”

Me: “… Ma’am, are you saying you cut down a load-bearing wall in your home with a chainsaw?”

Caller: “Well, I didn’t know it was load-bearing. But this is clearly a structural defect! The roof caved in, and I’ve been living here for 16 years! I could sue you for endangering my life all this time!”

Me: “Ma’am, it was not a structural defect.”

Caller: “How can you say that?! THE ROOF CAVED IN!”

Me: “Because you chopped down a load-bearing wall!”

Caller: “THIS IS NOT MY FAULT! I DESERVE A BRAND NEW HOUSE! IT WAS A STRUCTURAL DEFECT, AND I HAVE A WARRANTY!”

photo from http://www.buildingdiy.com/

Me: “Your house was under warranty for 10 years. Your house is 16 years old. It was structurally sound until you made it structurally unsound, by CUTTING OUT A LOAD-BEARING WALL WITH A CHAINSAW.”

Caller: “YOU OWE ME A NEW HOUSE! YOU OWE ME A NEW HOUSE! I’LL SUE! I’LL SUE YOU!” *click*

 

For more Fails and unusual houses go to What the………….?

 

 

Termites

Did you know Australia has around 15 species of termite which can damage the timbers in your new house.

Although some species of timber are resistant to termites none are termite-proof. In practice any structure containing wood can be attacked, unless protective measures are taken.

Even if you have got a steel framed house, or double brick, you will still have timber in things like doors and architraves.

photo from Wickipedia

Know Your Enemy

Termites are more like cockroaches than ants.

Subterranean termites do more damage to timber than either damp wood or dry wood termites.

The termites generally remain within a system of tunnels that can extend 50m, from the central nest, to food sources.

Its not unusual for the termites to build their tunnels round any barriers so no matter what termite protection you use you still have to inspect the barriers regularly.

In order to get to their food source of wood, termites can damage materials they cannot digest such as plastics, rubber, metal or mortar.

Protective Measures

In the past certain areas were identified as at risk of termite attack while others were considered termite free. I thick it is much better to consider all properties at risk.

I’m not a fan of regular spraying of chemicals so for me a permanent barrier is a must.

Basically you need a continuous barrier to prevent termites climbing up through the external wall and individual protection around any pipes and conduits that penetrate the slab.

Options for the barrier in the walls, in order of rising cost include:

  • Exposed Concrete This is cheap and effective as it involves leaving the bare concrete of the slab exposed for a minimum of 75mm. Unfortunately not very attractive,  although you could use a concrete paint to match the brick colour.
  • Barrier Containing Insecticide Probably the most common is  Kordon, which is a  combined DPC and termite protection. It is two layers of plastic sandwiching an insecticide impregnated layer. (Expect to pay around $1,500)
  • Termimesh A fine stainless steel mesh. (expect to pay around $2,000)

Last time I built I used Termimesh as I was concerned about appearance, and preferred not to use chemicals.

 

Decisions on your new home? . .  see  Selection/Pre-Start Guide

Only $4

 

Build A Sustainable House & Save Money

When the stricter energy standards came in the big builders all complained that it would make houses more expensive.

Well a recent CSIRO report ‘The Evaluation of the 5-Star Energy Efficiency Standard for Residential Buildings‘ has found it can actually be cheaper to build a sustainable house.

Here are three reasons why a more sustainable house can be cheaper to build:

  • Smaller Windows Plain brick walls are more energy efficient than single glazed, or even double glazed windows. The plain brick will be about a third the cost of double glazing. (See this link: Smaller Windows for more information)
  • Shape A more rectangular shape is simpler and cheaper to build and can have 10-15% less wall area for a given floor area. See how the walls and floor areas change for variations on a basic house shape in the sketch below:

 

  • Right Sizing Builders try to sell you the biggest house they can and you often find there are rooms that you will hardly use. With Project Builder cost/sqm ranging from $1,100 – $1,600 saving one room can drop the cost by $10,000 – $15,000. See How Much House to plan how much space you need

Don’t forget that the sustainable house will also be saving you thousands of dollars every year!

Seaweed House

What do you think of this house?

Roof look a little unusual?

Well the roof, and the walls, are built using seeweed!

The seeweed provides a long lasting external surface, which as well as being a natural renewable resource, has great insulation values.

To find out more, with lots of pictures of a spectacular interior, see the www.dezeen.com website.

 

For more Unusual House Photos, and Fails, have a look at: What the………………….?

 

Stormwater – Kerb Discharge

If you are going to build on an existing house block you will probably have a planning permit condition that storm water must discharge to an approved point.

If there is no surface water system one option can be to discharge to the street.

This is normally by constructing a proper kerb outlet like the photo below:



But not like this dodgy installation on the right!

Or even discharging over people walking along the path like the one illustrated in this post: Overflow Fail

A kerb connection can be at a reasonable cost as long as the house is above the road.

If the house is below the road you will need either:

or

  • A pump and storage for the storm water, which can add significantly to the build cost.

 

For more information on issues like this see Guide to Buying a Block

 

What Are Brick Articulation Joints?

When you are looking round your new home build you may think  “What’s that gap between the window and the brickwork?” . . . . . . .or even “Why is there a vertical gap between the bricks in the middle of the wall?”

Before you panic it might be worth checking if it is an Articulation Joint.

Why Are There Articulation Joints?

Brick Veneer houses can move for several different reasons including:

  • Temperature
  • Humidity
  • Movement of the frame
  • ‘Flexing’ of the foundation

As the structure moves articulation joints are used to accommodate these movements in the structure without cracking.

Unless the soil has been classed as either A or S (see: Soil Classification) vertical articulation joints must be installed in any un-reinforced masonry walls.

Location

In straight walls without openings, the articulation joints must be at a maximum spacing of 6m. They must not be closer than the wall height from the corners.

Where there is a door or window its normal practice to put the joint alongside so they are less obvious.

Construction

For articulation joints next to windows and doors a gap of 10 mm must be left between the edge of the frame and the brickwork.

In a plain wall the gap between bricks again should be 10mm.

The space between the bricks is taken up with a foam filler with a flexible seal on the outside face keeping water out.

The bottom of this photo shows what the finished seal should look like . . . . . . . the top part shows a problem that will needs to be sorted. (normally this tearing of the sealant from the brick is caused when the sealant is too thin)

What you can’t see is  that during the construction the bricklayers should be inserting expansion ties across the joint.

During construction it is well worth checking that there is NO MORTAR in the joint. . . . Any mortar will stop the joint acting as it should and can cause cracking over the next few years.

See Bricks for More Posts

 

 

Throw Away The Spirit Level

A spirit level, or a builders square wouldn’t be much use in this house. . .  Hardly any of the walls are vertical or the corners square!

This is actually a modular building designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind (who incidentally has one of the worst websites I have come across)

If you really want this house you may still be able to get one as they are available in modular form in a limited edition of 30 units.

.

For more Unusual House Photos, and Fails, have a look at: What the………………….?

 

 

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