Browse Forums Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1 Jun 14, 2011 9:28 am Good morning folks I am just wondering if there is a standard minimum clearance that should be allowed between the ground/soil and the subfloor (I am not sure the correct terminology of sub-floor - assuming it is the bottom of the beams under the house ). Anyway, when our Owner builder extended and re did the stumpings, I am just wondering what (if any) clearance should have been left. Both in terms of 'ideal/preferred' and any actual standards that he must adhere to. We are trying to find the course of our mould/condensation issue and we tried to get under the house yesterday - couldn't get very far because there is not enough room. But, hubby saw that there is a white fungus growing on top of the soil so there is a damp issue going on. Trying to gather info because we are writing to the owner builder with another issue and want to try to put everything in one letter if we can. (The other issue, for those that recall, is the leaking water through our grouting in the ensuite - interestingly, under the house, hubby noticed actual mould growing along that beam line - so there is definitely a serious leak there - but that wouldn't be causing the serious damp covering the entire ground under the house). Any tips/advice/info.... starting to get concerned we are living in an unhealthy house. Oh, and just to clarify, half the house was existing, and half has been added on by the owner builder. But the entire house was renovated and restumped so I would assume the entire house would have to confirm to any standards that may (?) be in place with regards to clearance allowances?????? HHCIB Re: Clearance standards under floor?? 2Jun 14, 2011 8:17 pm from memory its is min. 150mm for the first 2 mtrs on a gaduating slope to minimum of 400mm therafter or to that effect, there is a standard but cant remember it something like 3600.1 section 2 from building standards australia. could be wrong Da Vinci Outdoor Living Architectural landscaping http://www.davincioutdoor.com Re: Clearance standards under floor?? 3Jun 15, 2011 9:38 am Thanks davinci - I'll keep investigating. I've tried contacting the Building Commission technical department to get the details but they make you leave a message and haven't yet called me back (I called them yesterday). HHCIB Re: Clearance standards under floor?? 4Jun 17, 2011 12:50 am The current standards can be found in Table 3.4.1.2 (Page 240) of the 2010 BCA. Generally, **400mm if a termite inspection is required (on sloping sites, 400mm clearance may be reduced to 150mm within 2mtr of external walls) ** 150mm if termite inspections are not required. However, these standards apply to a construction built now. Depending when the extension was built the requirements may not have been the same. If the builder had plans approved by the council (or a private entity) and all the required inspections were performed at each stage of building, it would be safe to assume it complied with the relevant standard at the time Re: Clearance standards under floor?? 5Jun 17, 2011 9:16 pm Thanks for that tjilpi. Without knowing for sure if we are in termite prone area or if termite inspection is required (how do we know that??) - then we can safely say that they have allowed the 150mm. And without measuring, it could potentially be up to 400 (need to measure properly - hubby estimated about 300). It was inspected, but we have so many issues - with the surveyor also - that I'm not sure if I'm confident in anything anyone has 'inspected' and signed off on. But I think we are OK on this one... just wondering now how we know about the termite aspect?? Is it something the council would advise us or how would we find that sort of thing out (we are in an existing/old (renovated) house - not a new build in a new estate. Thanks again... HHCIB oh - and PS - those guidelines that you say are found in table 3.4.1.2 - for eg - are they available to be viewed anywhere on the Web? I was told they weren't. Building Commission was going to email them to me but 3 days later (and even after one reminder) - still nothing. Re: Clearance standards under floor?? 7Jun 20, 2011 6:42 pm Hi Tjilpi - I could have just said here, but I just PM'd you to say thank you so much, but that won't be necessary just yet. Thanks again. Today, DP pulled off all the plinth boards (I think that is what they are called??) around the base of the house to let some air circulate underneath and hopefully dry out the damp soil. Not sure if I mentioned previously (can't scroll back right now) but one 'damp' company we contacted very briefly told us we didn't have any serious issue but that was all he would say - in a hurry to get off the phone. So I rang another company today just to get a second opinion and she confirmed that is a very common problem, nothing too serious, and we just needed to get some ventilation happening. So, as I said, we have pulled the boards off and will leave them off for a while. We will either put the same boards back on but cut out some holes/gaps for ventilation. Or, we might put back two narrow boards which allows for a gap in between. Either way, hopefully, fingers crossed - this is/will be one problem sorted (OB will still have to sort out the actual green mould growing on the beams from the leaking ensuite). HHCIB Building Standards; Getting It Right! When my house was built (over 7 years ago), the post brackets were done to allow for concrete porch, but they didn’t allow for the planned stone paving. I’m finally… 0 1911 Building Standards; Getting It Right! Don't think they are designed for double brick. WA has a particular way of building and unfortunately that's the way a large amount of sills are finished. 3 7003 I believe this is correct. From the picture you can see the power was put in last so the electrician knew where the water was. Really it's a common sense issue more… 4 5152 |