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Polystyrene ceiling tile dangers

28/10/2019

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Picture
Polystyrene ceiling tiles produced in the 1980's had no fire retarding materials added to them. They were commonly DIY installed to cover over prior ceiling issues, such as water staining or staining from mould. Styrene does have additional insulation benefits, however the issue of it's flammability is a huge problem during a house fire. Polystyrene easily melts, dripping hot burning liquid on to everything below and also releases highly poisonous fumes that can self ignite.
Considering this, if a property is to be rented out containing styrene tiles, it is quite legal to do so, however as a land lord you have a duty of care for your tenants. If it is a house for your own family, surely you would simply remove the tiles to negate any of the associated risk and danger.
These light weight tiles are often simply attached with a small blob of blue, so rectification work is quite simply patching and painting.
As an additional reason to remove these foam products, termites are also commonly found within polystyrene, as it provides a temperature controlled environment that they like to set up a sub nest within. It is easy for termites to borrow through styrene and unfortunately as an insulation material, it is hard to detect them.


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Roofing patch ups, what's the issue and do I need a re roof?

8/10/2019

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Buying a shack can be a great adventure, you may however only see the fantastic views, lifestyle and a place to call your own away from the pace of city life. 
During a house and shack inspection, I get to spend 90 minutes looking at every aspect of the building, from the roof downwards.
All these photos are from one shack on the Murray River, that I looked at last week. From the inside looking up at the freshly painted crisp white ceilings looked fantastic.
Using a thermal camera, no insulation can easily be seen, in either walls or ceiling space. This will be a hot environment for your family during daytime summer, even at night with the air conditioning struggling to cope.
Guttering, although new to look at from underneath, are so poorly attached, with only a few gutter clips installed, will undoubtedly cause issues once a heavy rain hits the roofing.
The roofing has been sleeved with a poorly attached skinny strip of sheeting, as it was too short to reach the guttering. Then rusted roofing holes were patched with any type of sheeting the last owner could find.
Rusted sheeting still not patched in other areas or silicone placed over anything that should have been replaced, to temporarily stop leaking.
The eaves, above the verandah, show the bulging from water and leaf ingress into the ceiling space.
Other obvious issues, such as the lack of barge flashing's and obviously leaking pipe penetrations all add up to an expensive repair that you were probably unaware of at the time of making your offer to the vendor.
This shack had many other issues, but this article was simply about showing the poor roofing maintenance or patching up to sell issues that are quite common. 

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Termite and house inspections should be done together but do you really need one?

4/10/2019

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Paying for a house inspection, you are getting your house examined for issues that include termite damage. However it takes at least another 30 minutes on top of the 90 minutes allocated for the house inspection to be thorough and look for active termites. This is why there is an additional fee, for a pest inspection in addition to the normal charge. If two reports are to be written up, there will need to be that extra fee. It's only fair for the time spent and it is in your best interest to have it done. I like to be pro active but also up front with my clients, I will only charge out the additional fee once on site and if an issue has been discovered. If I see no need for the pest inspection, I will not call you and advise it should be done. The way I see it, if you want to have both services done, I am more than happy to spend 2 hours at the house and supply two reports. If you are happy to just know that damage was discovered, you then know that there is likely structural damage and not want to proceed with buying the house, that's fine too, why should you spend more at this point. 
Fees and charges are explained on the home tab above. Thanks for having a read and I hope I can assist you with your biggest purchase, your next rental property or with an inspection for your holiday home.
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    Steve McLeod 

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