Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Feb 15, 2013 10:08 am Hi guys, need to pick your brains, any help would be appreciated. Bought a house (owner built, finished building 2 years ago), suburban Melbourne Situation: Brick veneer Ground level parquetry flooring in dining room Concrete/pebble path directly abutting outside brick wall Small loose stone on the other side of path About a year ago when Melbourne had heavy rains, we came home form holidays to some water puddles on our parquetry. No leaks visible from walls or ceiling. Parquetry and skirting swelled, over a period of months, parquetry stained. Previous owner/builder came in had a look and painted some tar on the floor of the path and up the brick about 10cm horizontally and vertically. On THE hottest day in Melbourne, a water meter 2 houses away burst and about 8 hours of water streamed down the street and pooled under the loose stone, came home from work to a big puddle of water on our parquetry. Looked outside, no flooding visible above the level of the concrete path, some flooding when I dug some loose stone away. Called home insurers and inspector came out. He said that there is an underlying problem and also pointed out that the weep holes were covered up by the concrete path, no weep holes visible at all on that outside wall. What do I do?!? Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Bought owner built house flooding underneath parquetry 4Mar 10, 2013 2:25 pm Not sure whether it was the OB or his contractor either way, he signed off on it and whoever did the inspection after that, signed off on it too. Brought a third party Building Inspector in who said it is a major screw up and the whole ground/path level needs to be dropped and if there aren't weep holes underneath then they need to create some. It's a huge job, haven't yet spoken to the OB but the Inspector said he can see this going to court, there is a similar issue around the whole side of the house as well. Just out of interest does someone have to inspect the OB work after it is completed? And how does this type of thoughtless work pass that inspection?? VCAT here we come. Re: Bought owner built house flooding underneath parquetry 5Mar 12, 2013 6:39 am Did you get a pre purchase inspection before you bought the house? If so why has this not been picked up? 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 The bottom of the downpipe has been taped (see the black tape) to seal the necessary gap between the downpipe and the adaptor that would normally prevent the downpipe… 3 10000 Until you find the cause of the flooding you need to take action to mitigate potential damage to your home. Get automatic float pump and dig a pit then connect to power… 2 5046 The most likely cause of your timber swelling (parquetry?) is either a plumbing leak or carelessly leaving water on floors after use or both. Without seeing, i am ignoring… 1 3531 |