Effects of Heavy Rain on Timber Frame

Hi all,

Sadly for some, the Sydney wheather is blindly following its typical Feb pattern for my area - lots and lots of rain and humidity.

A few questions come to mind - for those who were unlucky enough to have had their house completely exposed during wet wheather for weeks or months:

• At which stage was your build when the rains hit (eg. frame up but no bricks yet, or bricking done waiting for roof, etc)?
• Did you have any problems with your untreated timber frame or your second storey plywood flooring?
• How severe the problems were (eg. needed replacing sections of bottom plate due to rot)?
• How were the problems addressed (if at all)?
• Any other comments?

Some interesting stats:
The BOM data for my local area for the last 10 years (2000-2009 inclusive) show the highest rainfall was during the month of February, totalling 1205 mm. The next wettest month in these 10 years was April, totalling (only!) 770 mm of rain.

Hey Lex!

We had about 6 weeks of exposure from mid September to the start of November for our frame and flooring. I too was concerned about it weathering as there was a lot of rain during that period. A lot of water pooled on the ply flooring of the second storey.

I can honestly say that there doesn't appear to be any bad side effects on our floor (can't comment on the frame as we can't see it anymore) as it's not squeaky anywhere (that was my main concern). There are some places in the joins where it's not flush yet it never was when it was installed and they will sand it down before handover.

I think you should be ok as it is meant to withstand a certain period of exposure.

Do you have an eta on your roof?

Oh, thanks for the reassurance, badh! Roof should be happening within a week (weather permitted) - but not before the big finale - this hideous, horrific drenching like the one we had last night .

OK, our plywood top floor went on about first half of December. As any Sydney-sider would know, it's been really unstable in Syd since Christmas, with rounds of drenching rains and baking hot & dry - the worst conditions for the plywood.
By now, I'm kinda "over" the plywood worries. I moved on - to the frame itself . I noticed white growth on many bottom plates which take so long to dry after being drenched (probably due to their orientation and location).
Once small piece on the top floor actually seems rotten (it's a partially chipped off piece so I suppose it's even more susceptible to the moisture).
I wonder if treated timber is any better in these wet conditions ...

So, it's a common practice for the builder to sand it down before handover? I don't even have to ask for it?

Oh, this thread went rather quiet ...

Can anyone say if they had the builder sand it down before handover? Do I have to ask for it? Maybe it's better to leave it to my own floor installer?

And has anyone had to replace any pieces of their frame due to rot?

Hi Lex,
we had exactly the same issues as you & at the same time of year. Our frame went up middle of November including the upstairs ply flooring .
Then all stopped because EB forgot to order our zebra tails (black & yellow plastic electrical cable covers) . So, the house frame & flooring had been exposed for 11 long weeks before the 2nd storey roofing went up. In that time we had excessively hot days with rain. Now you can imagine the consequences of that - twisted timbers & cupping of floorboards. Our ground floor family room which doesn't have a 2nd storey on top, had no roof for 4 months!!!!

The timbers were bleached & though this was purely an aesthetic thing, the house looked decidedly 2nd hand !
The EB carpenter eventually replaced/repaired frame timbers which were bowed, twisted and warped due to long exposure to the elements. You should insist on this !!

Our other concern was the swelling of the flooring. We got in touch with the manufacturer regarding this. We were advised that 3 months was the maximum exposure time before the flooring would start to deteriorate. So EB just got in by the skin of their teeth . We had no recall here. However, they did do the industry standard & sanded down any cupping. Rubbish, if you ask me

To give credit where it's due, EB screw & glue their flooring - not just nail. However, IMO that's all rather pointless if the flooring is exposed to heavy rain & heat !

We are now experiencing some squeaks upstairs, which seem to be getting worse

OMG, and thank you, Southies!! I remember last year ... it was wet! I know because one of our "neighbours" was building! And we used to comment - poor people, getting these weeks of absolute drenching, with everything just ready to go for the roof ... but no roof ....

Did it take you lots of fighting to get the frame fixed, or did you maybe get some "reinforcement" (help) from your private inspector? Lucky that you didn't have any rot! We have one piece literally rotting away ...

I am getting increasingly nervous about the frame as lots of water is pooling around the timber and it sits for days in that water without having the chance to dry out.
There is also lots of dotty white "growth" on many bottom plates (like some fungae). Should I "treat" this maybe with vinegar or something ??

Yeah, I thought that maybe it's better to leave the ply floor to the experts ...

I don't think I noticed any twists yet, but probably haven't paid too much attention to it, as all I see is black timber with white spots, sitting in water ...

We'll be having an independent frame/brick/roof inspection, so I'm thinking that this kind of thing should be picked up ...

BTW, there seems to be an awful lot to inspect during a frame inspection - does anyone have any idea how long it took? All the frame, roof, brickwork, tieing, windows, flashings, so many details ...

Also, do they measure the levelness of the slab as well, or only the frame (and do they actually measure it properly or just use the naked eye)?

I have absolutely NO experience in this so I'm of no help to you.
I've only got a single storey and I've been worried about my frame sitting out in the rain and very high temps since approx. the 5th Decemeber.
The white spots definately sound like some sort of fungus. I would insist that they would need to treat and fix any spots that have fungus on them and any twisted or rotten timber.
Frustrating huh!!

You are not alone, our house went through a thorough drenching as well, heaps of water pooled on top. our builder also assured us that it could last 3 months in the weather.

I think I have seen some moss when other pieces of timber were laying. I must remember to speak to the builder about that...

We had all this happening a long time before our frame inspection, so no help from outside professionals
We directed our complaints/concerns to our Construction Manager - in writing. It seemed to do the trick because the frame timbers were repaired/replaced.

Absolutely a NECESSITY! But I would also make special mention to your inspector of any particular concerns you have

Good luck

Thanks, guys

BTW, I've always wondered how come "everyone" seems to be communicating with the Construction Manager ... we have absolutely no access to him (or her) - how do you find this out ?? And is it common practice that clients can talk to the CM??

Your SS might be a great guy BUT he will most likely take the easiest route when confronted with a problem. Now bear in mind, that comment is a generalisation only !

If you have issues that your SS is not addressing to your satisfaction, as many of us on H1 have experienced , your next step is to take it up the line. In writing of course.

Your CSR can give you the name of your CM.

Cheers

Thanks, Southie!!

I needed a copy of the structural engineering for the frame and bracing so Alex the building surveyor can do his inspection. I was told by Carlisle unless its a double storey engineers no longer do a structural report or plan for frames. Instead all frames for single storey are built according to section 16 84 of the building code
Does anyone know anything about this new method? or have a copy of 1684 BC

Andy - this question is repeated in http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22296&p=455342#p455342 - see my response there ....

I took a couple of more photos today ,apiece of slab approx 100 ml had broken off leaving the bottom plate hanging by about 30ml Iam sure this is bad news .Iam sure the max is 10ml ,anyone got any opinions
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/2995 ... ndroom.jpg

the photo here shows the top plate with some chips in it

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/386/ ... mcroom.jpg

See http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=26458&p=459600#p459600
(repeated question)