Showing posts with label professional Building Inspections Perth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label professional Building Inspections Perth. Show all posts

Friday, August 21, 2015

Inspect Home before Selling | Professional Building Inspections Perth


By:bhis
Posted By:Peter Huber
Source: www.bit.ly/1NzosBy
Before You Sell Your Home, Have it Inspected!

So you’re considering selling your home and now you want to be sure that there will be no unpleasant surprises to upset the settlement process. Well, we’re here to help make sure of that! Building and Home Inspection Service currently has five offices spread around the wider Perth metropolitan area, all of which draw on a wealth of experience to ensure that your home is thoroughly inspected with the most up-to-date equipment and reports digitally collated for your future reference.

Professional Building Inspections Perth
Common Problems with Building Integrity

1) Termite Infestation and Damage

This is one problem you never want to let get out of hand. Termites just love untreated pine and will turn structural timbers to dust in months if left unchecked. We will endeavor to find their trails, any timber that has been affected from ceiling supports to floor joists, and record all the sites photographically and in your written report.

2) Foundation Settling

A common problem with suspended houses – those on stumps – but also on concrete slab foundations are cracks that appear as a house settles, or as the ground dries out or becomes wetter over years. Cosmetic or structural repairs are called for, but in terms of selling your home, so long as the issue is catalogued, no-one can complain they didn’t know what they were buying.

Professional Building Inspections Perth
The movement of buildings can also result in problems with main lines in and out of the structure. While electricity and gas are not usually a problem, due to the malleability of the materials used, even modern day PVC pipes are susceptible to fracture. This can result in leakage from waste pipes wherever the connection becomes stressed – even in the wall cavity of your home.

3) Construction Short-cuts


We don’t want to seem overly critical, but even the width of mortar joins between bricks must meet a minimum standard – too much mortar compromises the structural integrity of the wall. Elsewhere, poorly secured flooring can result in buckling of verandah floors, or the use of untreated or uncured, water-sensitive wood close to down-pipes can result in much the same thing.

Professional Building Inspections Perth
All these and many, many more criteria are examined and checked with a Building Inspection reports Perth – there is one for your budget and building, no matter where in Perth you are located. Call one of our offices today! or else go to:www.bhis.com.au/contact-us/

Source:www.bit.ly/1NzosBy



Monday, August 10, 2015

Building Inspections reports Perth | Improving Sub-Floor Ventilation


By: Peter Huber
Posted By: bhis.com.au
Source: bhis.com.au/2012/10/improving-sub-floor-ventilation/


Improving Sub-Floor Ventilation

We will look at improving sub-floor ventilation which if not done correctly can be a cause of decay to timber components.

The other day we were asked to inspect an older style home in Nedlands it was a grand old mansion with timber flooring through out, massive ceilings space and it was oozing with old world charm. Generally the home was in good shape some of the roof timber were showings signs of sag and ageing but one room in particular was extremely cold, and it almost reminded me of the spooky stories one reads about cold rooms in haunted homes, but no such luck.
It turned out, after removing the inspection (male/female) opening in between the floor joists, it was obvious why the room was so cold.

Building Inspections reports Perth:

For starters the distance between the ground and the floor was very close, the home was on a sloped block, and sub-floor ventilation was minimal. I will insert some data facts as supplied by CSIRO to us, on how to improve the subfloor ventilation with some interesting and commonsense applications, but you may well ask what has a sloping block to do with it, well when water via rain is deposited around the perimeter of a house if the home sits on a flat block of land the water will seep into the ground vertically down, if the block is sloped the water that may pond in areas can and will flow down the hill and seep into the ground as it progresses down the incline of the land and hence we get damp and moisture under areas that would mot normally get damp on a level block.

Now the CSIRO Division receives an steady stream of requests for advise on prevention and correction of decay in flooring and in the majority of cases the problem is one of inadequate subfloor ventilation, that is for a free flow of air under all parts of suspended timber floors.

In older buildings the problem can be complicated by an ineffective dam-proof course, by leakages from water supplies or wastes or by the discharge of storm water into the sub-floor cavity, further more in older buildings the provisions for under-floor ventilation is often inadequate.

Building Inspections reports Perth:

We shall take a case in point, where in a double brick dwelling circa(1920) most of the timber flooring had to be renewed. During the repairs the size and numbers of openings in the brickwork below floor level was increased because, with a few exceptions, the only provisions originally provided for ventilation was the openings in the brick work beneath the doorways. Before the new flooring was laid, extra openings were provided within one(1) to two(2) meters of every corner of every room and midway along any wall over five(5) meters long. Each of the new openings occupied the space of at least two bricks.

In addition because of the low sub-floor clearance and the difficulty of providing good cross ventilation, plastic sheeting was spread out over the ground and under all new flooring so as to reduce the area from which soil moisture could evaporate into the sub-floor cavity. Mortar droppings and other debris were removed from the inside of all external ventilator openings and finally the ventilators themselves were replaced.

Replacement of the ventilators was an essential part of the repairs. Surprisingly the smaller of the original terracotta vents provided for rather more free airway than the double brick size, even though the latter had one more opening. However in practice, nether allowed for much air exchange between the subfloor space and the outside because the openings had been blocked by spiders and assorted debris. The pressed metal vents that were used to replace the original terra-cotta air bricks allow for about ten(10) times as much air flow through each opening. This together with the other measures taken should ensure that conditions conducive to decay do not develop again under that floor.

Adequate subfloor ventilation is also an essential requirement which is often overlooked when remedying the problem of excessive dampness in walls, by effectively ventilating all subfloor cavities, moisture that evaporates from the soil or the foundation is removed and the sub-floor humidity is prevented from rising. However achieving an airflow across or along the sub-floor space can be difficult in some houses, especially in terraces where there can be problems in providing vents at both ends of the house.

Building Inspections reports Perth:

In case like that the Division often recommends the utilisation of disused fireplaces as a means of venting. If decorative facing is placed over the front of a fireplace openings cut through the hearth to the sub-floor space and a cowling or chimney pot placed on top of the chimney then a n up-draught will be created when the wind blows over the roof and air will be drawn from under the floor.

Any questions that our readers may have would be gladly welcomed and endeavoured to be answered as seen fit.

Source: bhis.com.au/2012/10/improving-sub-floor-ventilation/