NZ Houses

[netchicken]

Despite Brick houses being lower maintenance (brick walls and tile roofs the easiest to look after), as noted above wooden houses are the easiest to modify. Older houses (mine is from 1927) have wood that has hardened to steel level :) I have trouble driving nails through some beams, and a staple gun just bearly enters staples into it.

As a result borer (termites) can't get in either and although soft wood may have termit holes the sub structure may be totally solid.

I love banging around in my old house (although it worries my wife when I start a new project) and its fun to reline walls, etc in them.

[jamesthecarman]

Oh, and be careful to not get any straw houses.

[MotherBear]

Oh, and be careful to not get any straw houses.

Like this?

[ag28com]

Guess that's a no-no to an open fireplace then?

[MotherBear]

Sounds like one big fire hazard, doesn't it, but I think the fire risk isn't too bad as the straw bales are packed so tightly that fire would take some time to take a proper hold. I'd have thought the building inspector would have something to say about this practice if there was a real danger of the place going up in a puff of smoke.

[moggy]

I have firend in NZ who have an very old house I believe mid 1800s. A couple of years ago they realise their piles needed replacing. So he bought an industrial jack, jacked up the house and replaced them himself. So in all it took about 150 years for them to wear out. They lasted a lot longer than many 1960s house that were built in the UK.

I was told that every 10 years was about the norm for repainting the a house, but that seems quite a long interval to me, I used to repaint my window frames a lot more often than that before I had double glazing.

We looked at a house from the 1940's that had just been re-piled. I guess it depends on the wood used, and the conditions the piles sit in as to what happens to them.

It's something to get checked if looking to buy an older house, certainly.

I don't think I'd fancy jacking a house up, moggy! Good on him for the D-I-Y, but with the statistics showing most accidents happen in the home, I wonder how you'd fair 'under the home'?!

[selchie]

I don't think I'd fancy jacking a house up, moggy! Good on him for the D-I-Y, but with the statistics showing most accidents happen in the home, I wonder how you'd fair 'under the home'?!

It's all about safety, and having the right equipment for the job.

Straw bale houses - there are a few in California (wouldn't you know?), and most/all have been plastered over. However, the one demo building I saw had cracks in the plaster from things settling. Seems like an avenue for moisture and mousies. If you try straw bales, remember to get dry ones, or you could wind up with spontaneous combustion!

I love my 1931 old-growth redwood & fir house, even if the wood bends nails! I'm looking forward to kauri and rimu in NZ.

[TheWaters]

I didn't expect to see straw bales houses on here. I work in a straw bale building and we used Amazon Nails ( of MB's link) on the build. We have a log burning stove and the buildling is very warm and well insulated. No fire risk and in OZ you can build with straw bales in high bush fire risk areas.

Lovely and cheap to build, so much so that would we be staying here we might consider it ourselves.

Small world huh?!?

[jamesthecarman]

Wasn't there a post a long time ago about NZ not having termites, and the only way they would come was if the Brit's tried to import one of those rickety wooden cars of theirs? Was it Puegot? Citroen? Morgen?

;) ;) All mispellings and comparisons to France were on purpose.....but there really was a post about no termites, and someone posted something about the Morgan and it's wood frame

/\ What is that small font up there? /\ Copy and paste to see the "subliminal message" /\