Hi everyone Got a quick question. I have timber floor boards laid first with caesarstone island with waterfall plonked on top. Builder have left a small gap between the stone and the floor. The builder says they can caulk the gap if I want but they said they usually don’t do it as the caulk will get...

https://forum.homeone.com.au/u/71611_1530490977.jpeg Hi coral ppl, in bed 4 the robe seem to have a slope to it. Apparently the roof is not quite level which has thrown out the measurements for the robe. This is the only place it is very visible? We met with our SS and he said it’s common and there...

What do you mean across doorway. Normally floating floorboard don’t need gaps except for the edge against the wall but need to ask someone more qualified. I’m doing solid wood flooring and it needed an expansion gap every 6 metres on the long edge.

Thanks for your opinions arcadelt and TashPaul. I'm glad that there are others who have had flooring running parallel to the front door and have had no issues with it. I just thought it would look odd as every display home or interior design magazine has the flooring to running perpendicular to the...

I have noticed that most houses built these days (at least in Victoria) are built entirely out of timber framing with choice of masonry outside including the garage. I just noticed with the house that I'm building that the external walls of the garage is brick only with 5 double brick pillars along ...

Pretty standard across the industry. It’s pathetic really. Owner end up footing the bill for further escavation just to meet code.

I wanted to touch up some paint on existing house. I took a photo of all the paints used during the house build and they are all from the Dulux professional range. How do ordinary folks like us get access to this as it's not really available online or at places like Bunnings?

Hi @StructuralBIMGuy, This is all I got from the Council. Is this it? https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uel0hh6i462f1kh/AACyXBaPlEbr0m-dmxkUeOk3a?dl=0 Thanks in advance I’m not an expert but unfortunately houses build during the great drought during late naughties plus use of the old 2870-1996 standard do...

Another East Melbourne KDR. Sorry to see what you are going through. If it’s any consolation, I got a 9m set back thanks to my neighbour’s double block. Backyard is starting to look pretty sad.

The problem with sliding windows is you need to split your window into 2, fixed pane and a sliding pane which lets in less light. Awning windows is probably more popular since you can have one big piece of glass so you let in more light.

Hi kirashogun Thanks for the tip. Never knew of this one. We have some big trees at the back which we don’t want to loose as they offer privacy to our backyard. I have spoken to my CLE and she said that we will need an arborist report to do that if the siting survey says we can keep them. BTW haven...

By stumps do you mean bearers and joists on concrete stumps? If the stumps are of sufficient depth, because your floor is suspended, your structural floor can’t heave as it will be quite a few mm above ground. The clay may swell leaving you with a slightly smaller crawl space but it won’t touch your...

I have discovered there is a lot of standing water at the base of my house footing in the front porch. If I remove the water, an hour later the water comes back as if I have a underground water well. I was told by the builder’s plumber that it’s cause by the service trench they dug to run mains wate...

Did they even do a soil test or did they infer. Because a Ys value of 20-40mm sounds suspect. My soil report has a single figure rather than a range that is exactly matching soil classification. Sounds like all they did is infer. Not good enough. P just means your slab needs to be custom designed du...

The Issue isn't with the Engineers report, @kirashogun Once you have handed over a deposit to the builder and signed, the builder can charge whatever he wants for big ticket items It's up to @bentleigh_boy now to scrutinise the cost if he thinks it's going to be too high, then his option is to pull...

Comdain Englehart are probably the 2 most well known and have a lot of display houses around that area. Carter Grange is a cheaper builder which also does that kind of style. I did have initial conversation with L37 but decided they weren’t for me. With that budget you will struggle with a pool and ...

Pretty sure 24kw is cooling capacity not actual current draw. Efficiency is calculated using AEER rating. Higher the rating lower the power draw for equiv cooling capacity. Typically they are around 5kw actual draw if I remember correctly. Generally 24kw 3 phase systems are more efficient than small...

It’s mostly a function of cost. Mass builders have smaller margins (cheaper) so they cut corners to save time and money on things you don’t see. Waffle slabs, chipboard wall bracing, minimum frames, cheap 1st floor joists, paper square set cornice, starting interior fixing with just wall wrap, even ...

Volume builders will save every penny especially for things you don’t see. Nobody specifies posistrut floor joists as part of the spec or know what it even is. However that is not to say all volume builder’s house is crap. Some of the quality can be as good as custom but it’s just not consistent. Th...