Garage Door – Win

yellow_lamborghini

Do you want a conventional garage door?

 

Want to impress the neighbors with your new yellow Lamborghini?

 

Perhaps you want another type of car?

 

or Do you feel the need? THE NEED FOR SPEED!!!!!!


 
 
It might be you are a fan of Top Gun and want a TomCat in your garage!

 

If so one of these garage stickers could be for you.

 

There are a huge range of designs at Style-Your Garage.com

 

Prices start at around $200 including shipping to Australia
 

For more Unusual Houses and Fails see What the………………….?

 

Contract Documents – Vehicle Access

All Weather Access

You will notice in the contract documents a clause relating to ‘All Weather Access’. This normally requires the Landowner to provide all weather access to the site.

In other words a hard access from the nearest road to the site of your house wide enough to take a delivery truck. Typically this will be a shaped gravel track.

On sloped sites the access should be to the construction pad level. which may be either higher or lower than the existing ground level. (May require considerable excavation, or fill)

As well as rural blocks this clause can apply to Battle Axe Blocks.

I would advise against doing this on the cheap if the road becomes deeply rutted or a truck becomes bogged you could be faced with:

  • The cost for towing trucks off the site.
  • A claim for additional costs due to delays and repairing the track.
  • An extension of time on the building contract.

Access Over Footpath

Most suburban blocks will require site vehicles to cross the kerb and footpath within the road reserve.

Damage to the footpath and kerb should be covered under the insurance clauses of the building contract ……………………Usually the words are “ must indemnify the Owner in respect of, and insure against liability for personal injury, death, property loss or damage arising out of the Building Works. If you don’t see these words in your contract, or see an exemption for footpath damage BEWARE.

Although a good builder will normally protect paths by installing a timber mat over the footpath that may not stop all the sub-contractors driving over other other parts of the path, and causing damage.

One useful check is to take photographs of the kerb and footpath before the start of construction. Send copies of these photos to the site supervisor saying these are a record of the condition of the councils assets.

If you see any damage to the footpath before work starts I would also send copies of the photos to the council pointing out the initial defects.

For similar posts see Contract Conditions

Why Brick Veneer?

Brick veneer is probably the most common method of construction in Australia.

However if you live in Western Australia you will find Double Brick is more popular in that state.

Although brick veneer is the usual term these comments will apply to all ‘Masonry Veneer’ construction which includes external walls of:

  • Brick.
  • Block work. including Light block such as Hebel.
  • Rendered brick / blocks.
  • Stone.

A Masonry veneer structure has two main components:

  1. The Frame. Can be either Timber or Steel. This is the main structural component of the house supporting the roof, and if required the upper floor. This is usually ‘wrapped’ as in photo above.
  2. The Masonry Veneer. Although this looks solid it really only supports itself, and relies on ties to the frame to keep it stable. It provides a weatherproof ‘skin’ to the building.

So Why

  • Gives a solid look to the house.
  • Lower cost than solid brick
  • The prefabricated frame allows the frame to be erected quickly allowing the builder to get the structure weatherproof.
  • Easy to insulate.
  • Lightweight internal construction which means it can be cooled or heated up quickly when you get home.
  • Relatively easy to make internal alterations at a later date.
  • Better able to deal with soil movement in ground conditions such as Clay Soils.

Problems with Brick Veneer:

  • Termites if using a timber frame.
  • Not as good as brick in preventing noise transmission.
  • Doesn’t have much Thermal Mass to balance extremes of temperature or help with Passive Solar Design

If you don’t like Brick (Masonry) Veneer tell me why not!

 

The most appropriate Brick Dimensions will make the walls easier to build.

 

Slab Insulation

I have previously posted about the relatively small heat loss from a slab on ground
But what if you have got in slab heating, or just want to minimise heat loss/gain from your house?

Before Construction

This sketch shows the placement of the insulation, if you can arrange for the builder to install it before construction.

The way this is installed is the insulation foam is installed inside the slab formwork.

A 40mm foam board with an R value of 1.0 will typically reduce the heat loss from the slab by 50%.

If you have a small builder or are having a custom home built this should be possible……some project builders however will probably be unwilling to do this installation.

After Construction

If you want to insulate after construction this detail is as effective as the previous method.

It works by using the soil as insulation.

Although soil is not a great insulator by stopping the heat escaping upwards 1m of  soil will provide a R value around 1.

 

See Insulation for similar Posts

For Posts about Green Building see Sustainability

 

Planning the Laundry

In England the washing machine and dryer are generally in the kitchen.

As a consequence the laundry in our first house we built was tiny. It was just big enough to fit the washing machine, dryer, laundry trough, and a walkway about 800mm wide to the back door.

After ten years in that house we decided that the next laundry would be bigger.

Our current house has a laundry that includes room for washing baskets, and a linen press. We also have room to store the ironing board, brushes and mops. I am still not sure however I have got everything the laundry right.

I have tried to list all the things below you might want in this undervalued room besides having a home for the laundry appliances and the trough:

  • Baskets for dirty linen and clothes baskets.
  • Room for baskets of laundry brought in from the washing line before they are folded
  • Storage of soaps, detergents, toilet rolls.
  • Room to set up an ironing board.
  • Rail for ironed clothes.
  • Airing rack.
  • Laundry press.
  • Television, to watch while doing the ironing.
  • Hooks for gardening clothes and a boot storage rack.
  • Pet food storage.
  • Dog basket.
  • Storage for mops, buckets, brushes, and a vacuum cleaner.

I am not saying you need to have room for all these things but its worth considering what space you want.

Other things to think about are

  • Installing a floor drain to protect the rest of the house in case of floods.
  • Putting the machines on a plinth to save all the bending over.
  • Making sure a drier can be vented to the outside.
  • Plumbing to allow grey water to be collected for garden watering.

Do you have any tips for laundry planning?

 

See Electrical Planning for Electrical fit out of your Laundry

 

Bell Trap – Win

See what I have to deal with when calling on people to organise sewer inspections……a bell push set in a rabbit trap!

Do you think the house owner has had too many people calling to ‘Save Their Souls’.

Or they just don’t like their relatives?

With some trepidation I did press the button, to hear a sound rather like Lurch (from the Adams  Family) opening a creaky door.

A great idea, well executed! It kept me smiling for the rest of the day.

For more Unusual Houses and Fails see What the………………….?

 

 

Living While you Build – Cost

Living costs during the time your new house build can be much more expensive than after you have moved in. Its well worth planning for the additional expense.

Why is it expensive?

Well you will have either a mortgage or rent on where you live now, You will also be paying the mortgage on your new block, plus the mortgage on the stage payments on the house construction.

In the last couple of months of build you could be paying close to twice the monthly cost of the final mortgage. If the build is delayed things can really go pear shaped with regard to debt.

There is the opportunity in a standard building contract to have a liquidated damages amount which can help control the risk. In our last building contract this was set at $250/week (which would pay the rent on the place we were living in) if the build took over a year.

If you are unmarried and still living at home, or can move back with family for the time of the build, that can really help. For the rest of us its a case of making sure that we budget for the additional costs and putting some cash aside.

It’s worth remembering that if you have selected the right size of house you should be able to afford more than the basic mortgage on your new house so that you can stand possible future interest rate rises.

Just make sure that when you move the credit card isn’t maxed out. There are usually lots of costs up after the move such as blinds, curtains, additional furniture and gardens. All things needed, to finish off your house.

If you think all this as a major obstacle, then perhaps building isn’t the way to go. Buying an established house or finding a house/land deal with a standard real estate contract deal of 10% deposit and the balance at settlement may be better options.
 

For more posts about decisions like this see Starting Off

 

Concrete – Pavement Joints 2

Contraction Joints have been previously described in Pavement Joints 1

The second most common form of Joint is the Expansion, or Isolation Joint.

Although concrete does shrink as it cures, in hot weather it will expand.

Unless an allowance is made for  the expansion the concrete paving can push foundations. In long runs of concrete it can create a hump in the paving like the photo below.

The following sketch shows a typical Expansion Joint against a building.

Holes are drilled into the concrete and steel ‘dowel bars are grouted in, so they all face the same direction. In order to stop the concrete holding onto the dowel and stopping the expansion the dowel is fitted with a close fitting plastic sleeve both the joint and the end cap are also fitted with a compressible foam.

 

For more posts on on getting your paths and driveways correct see Concreting

 

READ the small print

I’ve been driving past this lighting store with the Closing Down board outside for the last year.

It was only last week when I had a job in the area, and I was walking, that I had the chance to look more closely at the board.

This is a a photo of the top left corner of the board, which shows the writing you can’t see from the car.

It only goes to show…… You should always check the small print!

 

For more unusual and funny housing related pictures go to What the………………….?

 

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