Blog Posts

Rising damp issues explained

14/11/2022

Rising damp can often be seen on solid plastered walls as peeling and flaking paint or exposed brick walls as flaking brickwork or by efflorescence or white salts on both.
Mostly caused by water being drawn up into the slab and lower brickwork by capillary action, into the porous masonry materials.
Often modern structures are built with adequate Damp Proof Courses (DPC membranes), however these membrane areas may be breached by poor path height or gardens located against the slab or walls.
The dampness can affect both underfloor structural timbers, floor boards and timber skirtings, causing rot and decay.
If left unrepaired it can also become a health issue affecting asthmatics, as it promotes mould issues to internal rooms. Often the air will smell musty in a room with damp issues.
I often see areas of lower wall patching to interior walls on older double brick houses, as the vendor is trying to sell the house without rectifying the issue due to the high costs involved.
This should be an area of great concern to any purchaser, who is looking at the house as repair work involves many stages and costs thousands of dollars for each room.
Even DIY kits that you can do yourself will cost around $50 per metre, just for the applicator and chemicals. You still need to drill holes, remove any damaged plasterwork, re plaster walls followed by cleaning up and re painting.

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10 faults you should look for at a house open inspection

12/10/2022

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The most common faults are often hidden in the roof cavity or on the house roof itself, however there are many other locations to check.

1. Cracked roofing tiles or cracked roof tile mortar, can cause water damaged ceilings. You can spot the issues by looking for water stained markings and rusted nail staining, sagging ceiling linings or collapsing ceilings.

2. Split lead flashings or sagging lead apron flashings on tiled roofing, especially look around the gable flashings, also will cause the same issues as above (1.), you just need to look at the roof profile to see where the leaks could be coming from. A building inspector will then examine the roof itself and ceiling space to check the damage. The issue is most people selling will paint everything to look nice, so it sells. So unless you have an inspection done you may not know.

3. Insulation often is not installed in older houses, resulting in expensive heating and cooling costs. An issue easily rectified but at a cost you may not have budgeted for.

4. Moisture transfer from bathroom damaged tiles and grouting issues. Grout is only waterproof for around 8 years, then breaks down due to chemical reactions with hair cleaning products and cleaning agents. Often the grout then simply washes away, cracks or falls out, resulting in moisture transfer to areas outside of the shower alcove. Moisture is often seen in the walls opposing the shower, such as the hallway, a building inspector will see this by either looking at the powdering of the solid wall render, or with a moisture meter on both gyprock or solid plaster walls. Bathroom wall and floor junction sealant also has a limited life, as it can peel or lift allowing mould and moisture ingress behind the tile surface.

5. Moisture due to poor ventilation under strip footing type homes, can result in major rising damp issues. As can rising damp issues caused by poor drainage away from the dwelling itself or damaged plumbing. A good building inspector will use a thermal camera or a moisture meter to investigate areas of concern, so in your report it will show not only the area of concern, but the reason for the issue. This then gives you some idea of what is required to rectify the issue. Slab floor newer houses have similar issues concerning moisture but most issues are plumbing related, or bathroom related.

6. Wood rot is common to timber fascias, due to leaking gutters or the use of modern LOSP timbers that have not been adequately sealed or re-treated after cutting. I have seen houses less than 10 years old with serious rot issues. Wood rot is common on fences with timber rails, old timber pergolas constructed with oregon and especially on timber window or door frames.

7. Termite damage is often located in damp timber, located under the house, however once they have entered the house, termites will keep feeding, working up through wall frames into the roofing timbers. Unfortunately the builders original pest spray will only work for around 8 years at best. It is recommended to have yearly inspections. If when looking at a house you notice round disks located in the garden, these are termite traps or inspection traps. You may find drill holes that have been filled with coloured grout around the perimeter of the house. This is where spray has been used prior. Sometimes you may note an area around the house, where the paving has dropped, this was where the trenching was dug for treatment around the exterior of the house. Any treatment should have a Durability Notice left at the house, often placed inside the power box lid to say what chemicals were used and when further treatment is required.

8. Settlement cracking is often located around doors and windows of both gyprock and brick walled houses. Gyprock cracking is often easily rectified by replacing the board linings, or just patching over and painting if minor. House brickwork cracking however can be an issue when brickwork may require removal and the wall rendered over again or even underpinning to lift the house by the footings back to the required levels to close up the wall cracks.

9. Cabinetry damage due to moisture ingress or just years of use. Common bathroom cabinets are constructed from cheap chipboard type materials that are prone to swelling and falling apart in a damp environment. Kitchen cupboards and bench tops also are easily damaged with water from the sink or leaking back splash areas. Black mould can grow in these damp areas, as can the area be conducive to termites activity.

10. Paint finishes are a minor issue, that on a recently painted house may be hiding many other issues. Paint can cover over black mould, rising damp, termite damage, wood rot, just to name a few things that would be expensive to rectify.

So this list should assist you in your search for your next home, but I would recommend that you choose a quality building and pest inspector, who has the opportunity to spend 90 plus minutes at the house, not just the 20 mins you had to look around. A good building and pest inspector will use tools such as a thermal camera, moisture meter, termatrac radar unit, cavity camera, ladders to gain access to areas of concern, high power torches etc. and the years of experience required to know what they are looking at when they see an issue, so it can be recorded

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Thermal cameras are used when required

6/10/2022

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Put simply, a thermal camera is a non-invasive tool that simply shows temperature variations, often caused by heat, dampness and dryness. As a building Building inspector I am looking for issues, such as damaged plumbing caused dampness or leaking wet areas such as from roofing and bathrooms. Not every report will include these photos, unless issues are found that need to be explained. Photos help to explain issues better than words alone.
Often most houses will have insulation gaps, that will result in poor thermal efficiencies that cause additional heating or cooling costs. These are shown in most reports if an issue is found.
Overloaded wiring caused heat signatures can be found on fuse boards, thermography can alert you of this dangerous wiring issue.
The variances in temperatures are shown in colours, cool is purple or black, while hotter is yellow or white.
Thermal cameras can even detect the location of wall framing or missing wall framing in structures that have been completed. This is often seen in garage conversions done by DIY house flippers.
Unfortunately, due to temperature variations of a house, if a house has been closed up for a long time, the camera will not see any temperature differences and find nothing, as the house is all the same temperature.
This is why both a moisture meter and a thermal camera is required when inspecting.
Thermal cameras can also be used for assisting in finding termite mudding behind walls and other issues.

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Rammed Earth structures

3/8/2022

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Rammed Earth is a beautiful product that can last hundreds of years when properly installed and is resilient to most environmental conditions.
The basic method of construction is to use locally obtained earth if suitable, combined with a mix of sand, aggregate, with some cement to stabilize the mix and some waterproofing admixture.
The mixture is heavily compacted between formwork, which when removed produces natural looking earthy walls.
Careful batch mixing and maintenance is however important, to ensure that the finished product is stable, otherwise some areas may weather or degrade as in these photos as additional waterproofing is required every 10 or so years.
As a walling product, it has fantastic thermal value for internal walls and has great sound absorption qualities. External walls can absorb heat and cold, so often insulation (foam panels) can be added during the build.
As a product it is also fire proof, it is termite proof and relatively stable to environmental conditions, although incorporated into a structure, often includes other materials that are not.
Wall thickness varies but 300mm is standard and provides a load bearing wall to support roof framing, although this still requires engineering for council approval.
Fixings such as masonry plugs or anchors can be used, but at twice the normal length of embedment, services such as plumbing and electrical are installed during the build process, so as to not affect the finished wall surfaces.

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June 01st, 2022

1/6/2022

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Composite decking has advantages, such as not requiring maintenance to look good all year around. Priced comparably similar to timber decking, it may be attractive to the DIY buyer. Unfortunately, it is required to be adequately installed, otherwise it may become non-functional very fast. The deck I saw last week had many poor DIY issues, resulting in movement of the decking boards. Some areas of the decking was completely unsupported as the decking had slipped off the joists. Sewer inspection points were decked over without thought to access points, resulting in quite a few decking boards that will require removal to access if required. The composite decking boards were attached with DIY concealed fix clips, which gives a nice clean look, but also resulted in every board sliding out of position. This is not common, although composite decking boards are reactive to temperature variations, the boards can change in length once cut. Some brands recommend picture framing or breaker boards that help reduce movement as they are fixed with screws into the underside of the deck. Other brands such as Modwood allow for surface fixing, that would resolve this issue. When installing, a 2mm gap between the cut ends is required, due to expansion on some brands. Another notable issue, is that the decking can get very hot under foot, if installed as a low level deck with limited ventilation. Some brands require 300mm clearance others

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Building debris and termites

1/6/2022

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The builder can often leave your new home, completed but still requiring pathways, storm water or earthworks to be completed.
Your engineering report will state that these must be done, unfortunately this can be overlooked for many years, resulting in areas of concern.
This week I looked at a house that was built 10 years ago and still had incomplete external pathway areas.
The builders timber debris was still lying around in the mud, resulting in termite activity.
The mud had breached the concrete slab damp proof course and encapsulated the brick expansion joints and the lower course of the brickwork. This had resulted in moisture transfer on to the house brickwork, as well as breaching the termite control systems done when the house was built.
Moisture salting can be noticed on the brick and mortar face.
Termite attacked timber was located right next to this area.
Inspections are a must in all houses that you want to purchase.

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Termite damaged house still sells for 1.15 Million

10/5/2022

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In my opinion the current housing market has gone crazy with purchasers bidding without wanting inspections due to the fear of missing out, combined with the trend of the Vendor wanting to accept no conditions on the sale of their property, so they are excluding both the building inspections and subject to finance clauses from the sale contract conditions. This gives the purchaser auction-like conditions once they have made an offer that gets presented, if they want the house. The vendor then knows all the forwarded offers, but unlike an auction, the purchasers do not know where the price is at when making their offer. The risk is all on the buyer and my opinion is this should only be considered as acceptable risk if the property is that new that it is still covered by the builders warranty and you know what it costs to buy land and build. Due diligence is required when buying in today's market, as prices may fall just as it has in other states in Australia in the last few months.
Below are some photos of the damage that my client got to see of this 33 year old house, but I am sure the purchaser probably did not know about it at the time of the fast paced auction. During the Building and Pest inspection that I did for my client, mud tracks were followed through the roof and a termite nest was located in the wall. Notable flooring damage, hidden by a coffee table and rug on the floor. My client attended the auction with the knowledge that work was required when buying the house and knew when to stop bidding.

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Open inspection fault finding assistance

16/3/2022

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When you are at an open inspection, you are rushing around and would be lucky to spend 20 mins looking at the whole house. Often multiple open inspections are done, with other potential buyers, all possibly making an early offer.
Here is a heads up on the warning signs, that you should take note of.
In older homes with timber floors, often a carpet is positioned over a floor area. This can be hiding termite damage, or simply a staging prop. If possible, walk over the carpeted area and listen for creaking noises and feel for joist movement. If no one is around peel back the carpet and have a look, however this will be frowned on by the agent. Look for termite floor traps, suggesting prior inspections and for drill holes in the perimeter pathways, that show prior treatment.
Exterior timber windows that were freshly painted for the sale of the property, can also be hiding existing wood rot, look for the texture difference and feel the difference between the putty and the timber. The putty will over time just fall out, leaving the damaged windows.
Wood rot in timber fascia’s is often difficult to see without a ladder. Look for recently replaced guttering and metal capping covering the mitred fascia corners.
Rising damp can be seen by small paint blisters, these can appear after the first few rainy days and often located near damaged downpipes.
Rising damp or waterproofing issues in bathrooms can be seen with a torch, looking down the wall surface for small paint blisters.
A building inspector will have a Tramex moisture meter to check for all the above issues and many other inspection tools, so it's best to use an inspector after you have made an offer or prior to the auction day.
Happy house hunting.

Tiled walls can hide moistuire issues

Wood rot putty and paint to fascia

Window putty and painted over wood rot

Carpet rugs are not allways for staging

Termite damage noted to floor area under rug

Rising damp is difficult to find by eye alone, look for blistering paint

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Underpinning or just ground stabilising

20/10/2021

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Firstly, I am not an engineer, however the concepts involved are not that difficult to grasp. Underpinning is simply one way to stabilise the movement of house wall but is not the answer in all cases. Digging out and introducing a new stabilised footing under you house slab can and will rectify a lot of the issues, but is this expensive repair technique really the only answer? The other alternative is using an expensive resin injection system to push up the sinking slab to rectify the cracking walls.
All concrete slabs and footings are engineered to be serviceable for the life of the house, however the engineers do request that the entire perimeter of the house be surrounded by pathways that direct water away from the slab edge. When looking at houses for sale, quite often this has been neglected.
Understanding that cracks in ceilings or walls are due to slab heave, that occurs when the soil moisture content under the house has been changed and is no longer uniform under the slab. Reactive clay soils will swell when damp and shrink when dry. When the soil around the outside of the house becomes wet the clay soils absorb moisture and expand pushing up on the external edges of the slab or strip footing. The soil in the middle of the slab remains constant, so the expansion of the slab and cracking of the walls begin. These expansive forces are powerful enough to lift a house and easily crack the concrete strip footings of older homes.
If for example you do spend many thousands of dollars with either resin injection or underpinning, but do not rectify what caused the issues, you may soon find out that any warranty provided by the companies involved is probably void.
In lots of cases simply doing what was requested by the original engineer, making sure that water is directed away from the house and that the house has a decent pathway surrounding the slab to prevent heave is all that may be required.
I would suggest simply doing this and observing the cracking is a great start, then if the ground is not more stable after a year or so, then consider spending your money with an established underpinning or resin injecting business. You may only require patience, some quality crack filler and a slap of paint to keep it looking good.

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So you're looking at a house, but can't see inside the ceiling space....what do you need to know?

5/10/2021

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When you're at an open inspection looking at a house, you get to see all the nicely decorated rooms and freshly painted walls. But what is through that personal access hatch that you need to know about?

This space located between the ceilings that you can see and under the roofing surface that you can see from the road, is full of expensive repairs that let's face it, do not get repaired before a sale as they are not seen. This area is often only rectified, if the house has been on the market so long that it has had multiple prior inspections and it becomes apparent to the seller that it will not sell unless, at an auction where no inspection was arranged by the purchaser. The Vendor may at this point decide that they desperately want to sell and will spend some money to patch it up for sale, or spend so much rectifying the issue, they end up keeping the property after doing the renovations.
The issues can be simple insulation installation issues that may cause ceiling fires or even ceiling collapse. Older houses often have halogen downlights, that require 200mm clearance from the recessed luminaire, 200mm clearance from a timber structural member and 50mm clearance from the transformer. This is often not done and a fire can occur.
Other insulation issues are missing insulation batts, that will result in insufficient thermal areas, but this is a minor issue compared to a collapsed ceiling. Where no insulation is present in a ceiling, the unpainted side of the exposed gyprock absorbs moisture, gains weight and sags. The sagging gyprock then pulls through the nails and glue that holds the ceilings up. From inside the room all you may notice is a small ring crack around the nail or screw head. Each room that requires the ceilings to be replaced however can cost up to $3,000 to remove, replace and repaint. The costs are so high that an electrician will need to be involved, the insulation will probably require replacement and the clean up required afterwards.
Damaged timberwork can be the result of prior tradesmen simply removing structural timbers or altering truss sections to make their job easier. Other notable areas of damage is truss plate delamination, mould damaged timbers, chemical delignification damage, wood rot or termite damaged timbers. All of these items are an expensive repair and can require engineering recommendations and certification. The structural members of a roof are designed by an engineer and can not just be modified or repaired on site by anyone. Roof sheeting can rust and lead flashings can crack allowing for moisture ingress to the ceiling space, also roof tiling can crack or terracotta roof tiles can fret.