Kiwi Building Guides Are Worth a Look

[hausdok]

With Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, all of the devestation in the Gulf States and in Florida, flooding in the Mid-West and fires and mudslides on the west coast, we sometimes don't realize that there are other English-speaking countries with weather and environment problems much like our own.

New Zealand is a good example. For the past 5 years leaky home scandals have dominated many Kiwi headlines and lawsuits against builders are on the rise. So much so that the government has had to step in to try and mediate some of the disputes.

Most homes in New Zealand are build with lumber the way that we build them here, using products that were pioneered in the US and Canada. In fact, business has been so good over there for the lumber companies that major companies such as Weyerheauser, Pacific Woodtech and James Hardie have opened plants down there.

Of what interest is this to a US or Canadian inspector? Well, not much unless you're interested in adding more helpful free reference materials to your library. The New Zealand Department of Building and Housing has established the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service on who's site inspectors can download some very well written free pdf booklets or browse their other publications.

On their Building a Weathertight Home page for builders, you'll find:

• Constructing Cavities for Wall Claddings

• Timber Treatment Requirements: Notes for Builders

External Moisture – A Guide to Using the Risk Matrix

External Moisture - An Introduction to Weathertightness Design PrinciplesBe patient when downloading these. Their site is high speed but it's 10,000 plus miles away. There's a little bit of a pause after the document loads before it will display.

There's nothing like finding decent references free. Now, where did I put that danged sledge hammer? I need to start knocking out this wall to make some more room for all of these new books.