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Leaning walls are a serious issue

18/9/2017

Brick wall plumb deviation is a serious issue that patch and paint cannot fix no mater what your real estate agent states to you.
The calculation for new walls is the lesser of the two formulas shown below.
10 x (the wall height in metres) divided by 3.
Or
0.05 x the wall thickness.
Most modern homes have a wall height of 2.1m measured from the eave lining to the base of the concrete slab.
So 10 x 2.1m divided by 3 equals 7mm
Or 0.05 x 112mm wide brick wall equals 5.6mm
If your looking at a wall that is leaning around 7mm it has been built to code and if ok.
Unfortunately older homes do have leaning walls and I have seen walls leaning around 50mm quite regularly. These often require underpinning which is expensive or the walls should be removed and re built, which costs substantially more.

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Houses that look renovated but have hidden dangers

6/9/2017

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The strutting beam was not long enough, so they bolted another piece to it, so it could span the opening, where they had removed a wall. It could be dangerous, is not to code and not what you would expect to be done by a tradesman. The house was fully renovated inside and looked great, but inspections show up the hidden things.

Roof tiles were obviously smashed, so a piece of old asbestos was sleeved under the missing tile section. Simply not adequate to stop the damaged roof leaking when a few tiles are cheap to buy and so easy to replace. It was a rental prior to the sale and they are mostly poorly maintained. Buyer beware.

Dwarf walls are often penetrated, so pet control access can be obtained for spraying pesticides. But never should a penetration be made over the same joists and in a straight line like this. There is no support for the floor at all .

A two storey house has wood rot and termites in the underfloor area, beneath a bathroom. This house was being sold part renovated, the new bathroom already done up and looking great, but this was what was below and only visible by crawling through the underfloor areas.

The strutting beam had broken free from the strut and dropped as did the 3 rafters that then broke. The hip beam also splitting due to the extra load placed on it, all in one roof.

Here is a picture of one of the rafters that the under purlin above was supporting. The worst bit was that they had done repairs to the opposite side of the roof, so must have seen this damage, but just ignored it. The inside of the house was done up for sale and looked fantastic.

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Leaning walls are a serious issue

Houses that look renovated but have hidden dangers

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