WEATHERTIGHT REMEDIAL DESIGN
Before the early 2000's, terms like WHRS, Weathertight Remedial Design, cavity cladding systems and the emotionally charged subject of the "Leaky Building Syndrome" never came into the conversations around building a new home or building. Now, nearly ten years on it comes into almost all project brief meetings as one of the most important things on the build list..."we don't want one that leaks!"
The New Zealand Building Industry in this time has been steadily building momentum in terms of these repair projects coming on-line. It is predicted that over the next 2-4 years, as we come to the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Building Act 2004 which brought us the 10 year 'long stop' limitation period, the industry will be busier than ever remediating a swag of pre-2004 projects.
One positive thing to come out of what has been a terrible situation was the complete review of the NZ Building Code and the significant increase of minimum code requirements resulting in treated framing, cavity systems, risk analysis etc becoming pretty much mandatory on all new building after 2004.
Like a lot of industry professionals, AD Architecture have become involved in some weather tightness remediation projects over the last few years. The experience and knowledge gained from this involvement along with our significant existing in-house design and construction experience has helped us in developing the tools to advise clients through this very stressful process.
In my opinion the first thing that a home owner should do if they suspect that their house or building has a leaking issue is to contact people with relevant experience to help you initially diagnose the problem and then make recommendations about how to move forward from there. An experienced building surveyor is usually the best place to start and preferably a member of the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors.
Whatever you do, do not leave it as this may affect your chances of having your claim accepted further down the road notwithstanding the potential for even further damage to occur if the problem or problems are left.
A great book to read on the subject from someone who has been through the whole harrowing process from the homeowners perspective is Yvonne van Dongen's "How to Survive a Leaky Home - Risks, Remedies and Repairs" which can be purchased from the Mighty Ape website.