Exterior Building Inspections Dunedin

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Above, the cladding is Weatherside rather than Hardiplank. Hardiplank is made from cement and does not rot, however Weatherside cladding is made from manufactured timber and is susceptible to rot so needs to be kept paint sealed to protect it. It was withdrawn from sale in the 80s due rot issues. This type of cladding will need to be kept well maintained to prevent rot including replacing any cracked and damaged boards and keeping vegetation and storage items away from sides of dwelling. Your HouseTest Property Inspector will tell you if Weatherside cladding is present and its condition upon inspection. In some cases extensive rot in the cladding will required the house to be re-clad. 

Asbestos cladding -  Fibrolite, Hardiflex, Super Six, Coverline, Highline, Durock, Poilite, and Hardiplank. Asbestos was in widespread use in New Zealand houses and commercial buildings from the 1940s to the 1990s. It was commonly used in wall or roof cladding, for insulation (both thermal and acoustic), soffit linings, as backing to vinyl flooring and in decorative plaster and textured ceilings.

You may come into contact with it if you are removing or replacing certain types of roof tiles, wall claddings, vinyl floor coverings, sprayed fire protection, decorative ceilings and roofing membranes.

Expect asbestos products in homes build between 1940 and 1990. Professional lab testing is the only way to be sure a product contains asbestos.

Brick cladding is a low maintenance cladding that in the absence of building movement can last for decades without much more than a spray with moss killer and a pressure wash from time to time.

Your HouseTest Building Inspector will be checking the pointing particularly on pre 1940 buildings and for cracks caused by building movement. In the worst cases your building inspection/home inspection may advise under pinning the building may be required and in older buildings it may require repointing. Bricks were laid in a stretcher bond pattern with a maximum of 3/8” (9.5 mm) wide joints. The mortar for brickwork typically consisted of one part cement to three parts sand. Joints were generally formed as either a weathered joint or a V joint. 

This cladding system is usually about 20  mm made of mainly sand/cement plaster, reinforced with steel mesh. Installed over either a rigid backing board (timber boards, concrete or fibre cement sheets, plywood, fibreboard or polystyrene sheets) or simply directly over building paper.  It can crack allowing water to penetrate the framing causing rot.

Weatherboards are a common form of cladding on New Zealand homes and when kept paint sealed are generally inspected in reasonable order but with long periods of poor maintenance extensive rot can be found particularly at sills, corners and near foundations.

Plaster over brick Cladding is a robust type of cladding with only building movement causing cracking and detaching of the plaster layer. It will need to be kept paint sealed to protect the plaster from excess moisture.