Building inspection (for a house)

[gjm 3258]

Long shot, but does anyone know of, or can recommend, a building inspector?

We're looking at a house. Older, probably 60s, fibre cement clad, on piles. Looks and feels good to our uneducated eyes, but obviously best to get a professional inspection done. It's a small place and we would be looking to extend in about 6 months to a year.

This is a part of the attraction (for me) but I really am not letting it be the only reason for buying it!

[Ahmedsinc 414]

Where is it? If you're still around Franklin I highly recommend Simon Brown of Brown & Brown in Waiuku.

Bit of a grumpy sod but doesn't miss a thing

[gjm 3258]

A location would help!

Waikato. Not out of the question for someone in Waiuku, but unlikely to alleviate any grumpiness!

[Haitoman 110]

If it's '60's the bones will be fine. 

[Olaf 3317]

10 hours ago, gjm said:

Long shot, but does anyone know of, or can recommend, a building inspector?

We're looking at a house. Older, probably 60s, fibre cement clad, on piles. Looks and feels good to our uneducated eyes, but obviously best to get a professional inspection done. It's a small place and we would be looking to extend in about 6 months to a year.

This is a part of the attraction (for me) but I really am not letting it be the only reason for buying it!

hmmm.  on... CONCRETE piles?  or.... TANALISED piles?  or.... original TOTARA piles?  

more seriously though, you're right not to let that picture overly influence your decision.  You can find those palms for a few hundred at any competent nursery.  

Looks like a great garage.  You should buy it, land looks flat enough to park a caravan or couple of shipping containers adjacent.

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, Olaf said:

hmmm.  on... CONCRETE piles?  or.... TANALISED piles?  or.... original TOTARA piles?  

more seriously though, you're right not to let that picture overly influence your decision.  You can find those palms for a few hundred at any competent nursery.  

Looks like a great garage.  You should buy it, land looks flat enough to park a caravan or couple of shipping containers adjacent.

Oh, that's not the garage... That's a playroom.

There's also a double garage.

[richard 384]

fiber cement

13 hours ago, gjm said:

Older, probably 60s, fibre cement clad

check that its not asbestos

[kiwi535 538]

13 minutes ago, richard said:

fiber cement

check that its not asbestos

it may have asbestos fibres in it but as long as it is not disturbed it is fine.It is (asbestos) fibre reinforced cement sheet,it is not made of solid asbestos.

[gjm 3258]

1 hour ago, 3pedals said:

Graham,

The physical building inspection can be done by any competent and experienced builder, what you also need to do is a proper examination of the services into / out of the building and most important is all the compliance and consenting and a comparison to the current requirements for that area. 

Any works not consented will need to be remedied  and bought up to the current standard BEFORE council will accept an application for consent to do alterations.

Be aware that some original consented works will also need to be bought up to the current standard for consent approval. Usually plumbing and drainage- separation of waste and storm water/ run off  on the property. Also noise, insulation, Geotech / seismic  and other requirements can be on the list.

These issues a usually identified and documented in a "pre lodgement meeting" do your homework and be prepared - you should do this prior to buying so you know what you are likely to be up for and have a plan before you design alterations and go to a pre-lodgement meeting.

Also allow for an upgrade of the power supply into the house  and a new switchboard as these were notoriously undercooked in the 60's.

 

I think power has been dealt with, but I do know there is a tree at the front of the porperty that wil require attnetion - the power lines run very, very close to it's branches.
Drainage is septic, water supply is tank. It's actually a little further from other houses than I would like, but that does mean noise isn't an issue.
From the look of it, no additional works (other than the outbuilding construction, which was consented) have been done.

Thanks for the advice.

1 hour ago, richard said:

fiber cement

check that its not asbestos

 

49 minutes ago, kiwi535 said:

it may have asbestos fibres in it but as long as it is not disturbed it is fine.It is (asbestos) fibre reinforced cement sheet,it is not made of solid asbestos.

I've worked with asbestos, and written safety guidelines on it's use and removal. There's a good chance, given the age of the property, that there is asbestos within the cement/concrete tiles on the outside of the property. Again, a building inspection should reveal this.

My biggest concern is the piles. I couldn't see them, and have no idea what their condition is. The current owner has been there for 10-15 years and hasn't touched them. We would be looking to significantly extend the house and while piles would match existing building infrastructure, I'm tempted to go for a concrete foundation (if it is suitable). If we opt for piles, I'll need to check to see if the existing structure needs to be updated to current code (assuming it isn't) as a part of the extension works.

[kiwi535 538]

1 hour ago, gjm said:

I think power has been dealt with, but I do know there is a tree at the front of the porperty that wil require attnetion - the power lines run very, very close to it's branches.
Drainage is septic, water supply is tank. It's actually a little further from other houses than I would like, but that does mean noise isn't an issue.
From the look of it, no additional works (other than the outbuilding construction, which was consented) have been done.

Thanks for the advice.

 

I've worked with asbestos, and written safety guidelines on it's use and removal. There's a good chance, given the age of the property, that there is asbestos within the cement/concrete tiles on the outside of the property. Again, a building inspection should reveal this.

My biggest concern is the piles. I couldn't see them, and have no idea what their condition is. The current owner has been there for 10-15 years and hasn't touched them. We would be looking to significantly extend the house and while piles would match existing building infrastructure, I'm tempted to go for a concrete foundation (if it is suitable). If we opt for piles, I'll need to check to see if the existing structure needs to be updated to current code (assuming it isn't) as a part of the extension works.

the main problem with piled foundations is the bracing required.In wellington for example almost every house with piles  will have a continuous concrete foundation wall to the whole  perimeter with piles inside.In other parts of the country you may have concrete foundation walls to only the corners or the whole thing is piled.The modern system have braced piles and anchor piles to provide "bracing lines" on about a 5 m grid both ways .You could have a concrete slab built up to the level of the existing floor,where the walls would be built, the resulting void filled with hardfill,then a concrete slab poured on top.That could be a very good "anchor" for the existing building to brace back to.

Edited April 29, 2017 by kiwi535

[gjm 3258]

38 minutes ago, kiwi535 said:

the main problem with piled foundations is the bracing required.In wellington for example almost every house with piles  will have a continuous concrete foundation wall to the whole  perimeter with piles inside.In other parts of the country you may have concrete foundation walls to only the corners or the whole thing is piled.The modern system have braced piles and anchor piles to provide "bracing lines" on about a 5 m grid both ways .You could have a concrete slab built up to the level of the existing floor,where the walls would be built, the resulting void filled with hardfill,then a concrete slab poured on top.That could be a very good "anchor" for the existing building to brace back to.

That was my thinking behind going for a concrete foundation for the extension. it'd be a reasonable size extension - about 40sq m - which would increase the size of the house by around 50%. The land is over 0.3Ha so we'd not be over-developing.

Another consideration is recladding in plywood. In this scenario it is very, very strong and would tie everything together. Downside is that I don't like the look.

[gjm 3258]

32 minutes ago, 3pedals said:

We have a constructed block perimeter, in-filled with EPS and then topped with a slab, means the floor is insulated- look at that as an option - very common now, was not when we did it 25 years ago.

If you are contemplating stripping the cladding do get it checked for asbestos because it can only be legally removed by certified people using a specific procedure.

 

EPS... Expanded PolyStyrene?

I'm not fully versed in NZ building regs but I suspect they require underfloor and in roof insulation. I think they do require double glazed windows which means that our plans to save money by re-using the windows in the house (which are in excellent condition) is a non-starter. 

[kiwi535 538]

2 hours ago, gjm said:

That was my thinking behind going for a concrete foundation for the extension. it'd be a reasonable size extension - about 40sq m - which would increase the size of the house by around 50%. The land is over 0.3Ha so we'd not be over-developing.

Another consideration is recladding in plywood. In this scenario it is very, very strong and would tie everything together. Downside is that I don't like the look.

the bracing also needs to extend into the foundation,which is where old school piling can be lacking

You can clad in the cheapest construction ply and then clad over that 

Edited April 29, 2017 by kiwi535