Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Oct 04, 2009 10:06 pm Building again . . with Redink Pre-start 04/12 Keys - 03/13 Finishing off. . . Painting/Floor Tiles/Carpet - 04/13 Walk In Robe/Lighting/Blinds and Moving 05/13 Gates/Front Landscaping / Pool 05/13 Re: bed height againts house 8Oct 06, 2009 3:42 pm Building again . . with Redink Pre-start 04/12 Keys - 03/13 Finishing off. . . Painting/Floor Tiles/Carpet - 04/13 Walk In Robe/Lighting/Blinds and Moving 05/13 Gates/Front Landscaping / Pool 05/13 Re: bed height againts house 12Oct 08, 2009 10:10 am CSIRO has excellent information regarding care & maintenance of footing systems. The general recommendation is to keep trees and gardens away from footings. Although aimed predominately at clay sites - it is still recommended for sandy/silty soils. Clays swell or shrink to some degree as they become wet or dry out. Reactive clays can do so to such an extent that foundation movements can damage houses. "The site must be well drained. Under no circumstances should water be allowed to lie against the house or even near the house. Large garden beds are best not located near the house. This will avoid the possibility of introducing too much moisture to the foundation clay by overwatering. The zone near the house should be planned for paths or covered with gravel and plastic sheeting. Small shrubs may be planted at reasonable spacings. Gardens and lawns should be watered adequately but not excessively. Uniform, consistent watering can be important to prevent damage to the foundation during dry spells such as droughts or dry summers." May or may not be of use to you, but sound advice to anyone with highly reactive soils. The first thing we ask when someone rings our office about cracking to their slab or structure is if they have trees/plants nearby and their watering scheme. Re: bed height againts house 13Oct 08, 2009 12:20 pm Thanks, that's interesting. Can someone explain how white ants actually get into a double brick house? I'm interested to hear the mechanics of it, because I've always been a bit unsure. My tac-home-ter: Been in 8 months! Re: bed height againts house 14Oct 08, 2009 5:07 pm White ants will follow any crack or cavity that leads them to food. In a double brick house this could be a cavity or expansion joint. Where possible they avoid daylight, but will build mud tubes to protect themselves from light if needed. (a cavity in a double wall saves them the effort) They can and will crawl up through small cracks in a slab if they find a source of food (termimesh usually only protects protrusions for pipes, but any other cracks can let them in), and may make their way up to the roof in a double brick home to eat out your nice timber roof trusses or eat your door frames and architraves Re: bed height againts house 15Oct 08, 2009 6:05 pm Here is information written by the WA Ag Dept's Entomoligists (bug people) http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/impor ... btrend.pdf Re: bed height againts house 16Oct 09, 2009 3:07 pm Fu Manchu Here is information written by the WA Ag Dept's Entomoligists (bug people) http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/impor ... btrend.pdf Aha! So all I need is a moat of vegetable oil! Simple! My tac-home-ter: Been in 8 months! Re: bed height againts house 18Oct 09, 2009 7:16 pm annie.s Fu Manchu Here is information written by the WA Ag Dept's Entomoligists (bug people) http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/impor ... btrend.pdf Aha! So all I need is a moat of vegetable oil! Simple! hahahha 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: bed height againts house 19Oct 11, 2009 10:33 pm yeah, it's the wrong bloody one They used to have a really good ag note on white ants. Can't find it now I'm pretty sure I have it on paper in the office so I'll check through later Re: bed height againts house 20Oct 20, 2009 1:53 pm This has been a really useful thread. We were thinking of planting around the base of our house to tidy up a bit and now I'm thinking this isn't such a good idea. Is it ok if it's beneath the damp course or is it better to avoid completely? What do people recommend instead? Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10682 ok thanks - yes was wondering if that should have been listed as Option Three! 2 7741 I'll look into different shower heads and ask the plumber about some engineering and see what he says. Thanks 2 9563 |