Browse Forums General Discussion 1 Mar 09, 2013 11:17 pm I see lots of new houses in my area where the owners have put a 600/900mm-ish pathway right around the house, hard up against the brick veneer. On face value, this seems to be a good idea to move water away from the house, but I saw something from my local council recently advising against this, as it may attract termites. My home has T2 timber and we also have the reticulated termite pipe work in the soil around the house. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience on this? I'm thinking about doing it to my home. Re: Concrete path around house 2Mar 10, 2013 1:26 am As per BCA - Surface Drainage. "Surface water drainage must be graded away from a building with a minimum gradient of 1 in 20 over the first metre." Having a hard surface against the house offers some protection against foundation subsidence caused by low subsoil moisture levels. Foundation and slab movement is also caused by excess sub soil moisture levels. Hydraulic expansion is a powerful force. The main worry with termites is when people put mulch up against the house exterior. Which option would your council prefer? EDITED to highlight quoted text. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Concrete path around house 3Mar 10, 2013 9:05 am SaveH2O As per BCA - Surface Drainage. Surface water drainage must be graded away from a building with a minimum gradient of 1 in 20 over the first metre. Having a hard surface against the house offers some protection against foundation subsidence caused by low subsoil moisture levels. Foundation and slab movement is also caused by excess sub soil moisture levels. Hydraulic expansion is a powerful force. The main worry with termites is when people put mulch up against the house exterior. Which option would your council prefer? Its certainly a catch 22. But - gardens shouldn't come right to the bricks and you should be aware of the correct level for anything against the house - ie which layer of bricks. You could of course have it layed (paths) with the slab - might assist with the termite issue ? You really need to keep an eye out for those tell-tale signs of termites. Re: Concrete path around house 4Mar 10, 2013 9:09 am I remember from years ago there being a clause in the builders warranty that a lack of perimeter concrete paving would void their warranty Arfur Re: Concrete path around house 5Mar 10, 2013 1:00 pm Ok, so concensus is that concrete around the house is a good thing (and will be easy to mow ). In my mind, it makes more sense than bark and mulch. My house is in NSW (Liverpool Council). Do I need to submit a new Landscape plan as these paths were not shown on my original plan lodged with the DA? Councils seem to have a thing about hard surfaces! Also, with my Landscape plan, do I need to notify council about every change in my plan? I'm all for keeping to the rules, but if I follow the "rules" and this is different to my submitted plan, am I in trouble? I d rather spend the fine money on concrete, grass and plants. Re: Concrete path around house 6Mar 10, 2013 2:03 pm You can think of concrete paving apron around a home as a hat on a head, good for protecting foundation material (just as hat protects the head) however it can increase termite risk if you are not careful. Three issues 1 You must be 75mm below DPC (bottom of weep hole)BCA 2 Grade away 50mm in the first metre.BCA 3 Re treat termite protection before pouring concrete or your warranty will be void or get it done if you have not got it. Also use foam expansion joint against brickwork Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Concrete path around house 7Mar 10, 2013 2:14 pm Thanks for the tips. I just posted down in "paving and concrete" a question about expansion joints before I saw this. Strangely???, my Hebel house hasn't got any weep holes. I've checked the Hebel construction guidelines (its Hebel Pamel Construction) and could not see any mention of weep holes either. It's on my list of things to check with my independent building inspector at PCI in a week or so. Re: Concrete path around house 8Mar 10, 2013 2:25 pm I assumed your house is BV, if it's Hebel it will not have weep holes, in that case check your detail drawings for slab height. Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Concrete path around house 9Mar 10, 2013 2:27 pm building-expert I assumed your house is BV, if it's Hebel it will not have weep holes, in that case check your detail drawings for slab height. Would you need to do that little "moat" along house wall - and between house brick and cement ? To check for termites ? Re: Concrete path around house 10Mar 10, 2013 5:33 pm building-expert Grade away 50mm in the first metre.BCA Have they changed this from the 20mm that I posted? It would make sense if they have. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Concrete path around house 11Mar 10, 2013 5:40 pm SaveH2O building-expert Grade away 50mm in the first metre.BCA Have they changed this from the 20mm that I posted? It would make sense if they have. No, you were right in your first post (ie 1 in 20). The 20mm is wrong. 1cm in 20cm = 5cm (50mm) in 100cm (1 metre). I had to look twice too! Re: Concrete path around house 12Mar 10, 2013 5:49 pm Saint Mike building-expert I assumed your house is BV, if it's Hebel it will not have weep holes, in that case check your detail drawings for slab height. Would you need to do that little "moat" along house wall - and between house brick and cement ? To check for termites ? I'm keen for some more info on this too. At the moment, my anti termite reticulation pipework has been left exposed by my builder pending me doing "something" after handover. I'm assuming they expect me to put down some topsoil and then slap the lawn on top. With the path going around the outside walls of the house, my plan was to dig a deeper trench under the pipework and then bury it in soil (rather than encase it in concrete!) so the poison could still leech out. If I bury it deeper in the ground, am I diminishing it's effectiveness? Re: Concrete path around house 13Mar 10, 2013 7:04 pm gpoly SaveH2O building-expert Grade away 50mm in the first metre.BCA Have they changed this from the 20mm that I posted? It would make sense if they have. No, you were right in your first post (ie 1 in 20). The 20mm is wrong. 1cm in 20cm = 5cm (50mm) in 100cm (1 metre). I had to look twice too! Funny how the mind plays tricks. I did post 1:20 and of course 20 x 50 = 1,000. When I saw 50mm, I thought "gees, 20mm isn't much, 50mm is more like it!" Brain fades are always a bit embarrassing! Won't be the last unfortunately. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Concrete path around house 14Mar 11, 2013 6:24 am "Brain fades are always a bit embarrassing! Won't be the last unfortunately." Don't worry about it Save H2O, I have the same problem. After seeing thousands of people It's hard to remember when you bump into them again. It's even worse when people call me and say "you have done a report for me three years ago" and then keep talking as I have instant recollection of them and what I said in the report. My standard answer is" sorry, at my age I forget guys, just remember the ladies" it usually gets me off the embarrassment. Try it! Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Concrete path around house 15Mar 11, 2013 11:02 am A couple of weeks ago, I edited a post (a couple of weeks after posting) where for some reason I referred to the pump as the tank not just once but 2 or 3 times. It's a wonder no one commented as it made the post wacky! 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Concrete path around house 16Mar 11, 2013 11:19 am This is roughly what most termite reticulation methods rely on. Although I think that is a bit wrong myself. We used to have the DPC coming down onto the concrete and lay all the bricks on top of that. To get your minimum visibilty though we had to leave 75mm of the slab exposed. Then again we never used any form of chemical termite barrier relying solely on gal pier caps and barriers for timber sub floors and the 75mm exposed slab for when we poured a concrete slab. The biggest problem is where people build up a garden along the edge of their house as someone else has mentioned inviting termites to have a feed. Stewie Re: Concrete path around house 17Mar 11, 2013 12:01 pm As qualified and accredited timber pest inspector I can tell you that the simplest and effective non chemical method is to have 75mm slab exposed around dwelling as inspection zone (as Stewie mentioned ) but for some inexplicable reason it is not done in VIC. We prefer to pump toxins into our environment. One million homes= lot of chemicals x retreatment every 5-7 years. Want definition of insanity? You have got it! Foremost Building Expert in Australia,assisting with building problems/disputes, building stage inspections,pre-contract review advice for peace of mind 200 blogs http://www.buildingexpert.net.au/blog Re: Concrete path around house 18Mar 11, 2013 2:50 pm Maybe it is yet another conflict between the BCA and AS. If so, the BCA, as the primary document, has hierarchy. EDIT: 18/07/2017. The 3 part National Construction Code is now free to download and Termite Management is found in Part 2, BCA 3.1.3. The BCA references several Australian Standards including AS 3660.1 but note that the code also contains State variations. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Concrete path around house 19Sep 04, 2020 4:02 am building-expert As qualified and accredited timber pest inspector I can tell you that the simplest and effective non chemical method is to have 75mm slab exposed around dwelling as inspection zone (as Stewie mentioned ) but for some inexplicable reason it is not done in VIC. We prefer to pump toxins into our environment. One million homes= lot of chemicals x retreatment every 5-7 years. Want definition of insanity? You have got it! Is this still preferred? 75mm of slab exposed from the finished heigh of concrete footpath? And concrete footpath is 50mm of compacted roadbase + 100mm concrete slab? Did I get the right? 225mm in total from The base of the bottom bricks. Sorry just need to know. We have excavated 175mm below my first bricks to prepare for a concrete footpath. Just wondering if I have excavated too much? Hello everyone, After some suggestions and ideas about how to put a concrete path around the drop edge beam area on our new build. We are required to have a concrete path… 0 11006 Grab a hose, insert it at the top of the inlet/down pipe and turn the water on and see where the water is escaping from. Then you'll know. 3 6336 Thank you so much for your response. I have drawn a pedestrian gate in - for curb appeal, let's see how much costs come in at. I think you're right - if we decide to… 2 5105 |