Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Jul 27, 2021 9:34 am Hello all To start, I'm located in Melbourne, Vic and for a bit of background, I'm really frustrated with my builder due to ongoing delays, extra costs that I question so I find myself questioning everything he says. We are currently trying to work out where to put concrete paths around the house, and he has told me that not having a concrete perimeter around the house voids the builders warranty. I dont believe him, but if he is correct, I find it really strange that something that is not required in the plans, can affect the builders warranty. Not to mention that there is a permeability requirement, so need to have a certain % of garden / grass and there is not a lot of wiggle room. Does anyone know if a concrete perimeter is a requirement? We are planning on putting a path around the majority of the walls, but don't see the point for one side of the house that is close to the border fence. Thanks! Re: Is concrete around new home required? 2Jul 27, 2021 10:50 am helenzdj he has told me that not having a concrete perimeter around the house voids the builders warranty. I find it hard to believe that the builder would not have qualified that statement in any way. There must be site drainage and an adequate slope away from the slab during the build and the house must also be handed over with the ground sloping away from the slab. What is your soil classification? If you are on highly reactive soil, it is strongly recommended that you have a concrete perimeter with good drainage around the house to give protection against slab heave. If you fail to do this and also have garden or grass or a permeable surface against the house and then suffer slab heave, your failure to have a concrete perimeter installed soon after handover will be a strong reason for a builder's professional representative to determine that the heave was caused by not employing an impermeable protective perimeter barrier. As such, the builder's liability would be voided. EDITED: Added "with good drainage" 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: Is concrete around new home required? 3Jul 27, 2021 11:53 am SaveH2O helenzdj he has told me that not having a concrete perimeter around the house voids the builders warranty. I find it hard to believe that the builder would not have qualified that statement in any way. Yeah, this is common for him. Makes statements over the phone which he can later deny (or claim we misunderstood). As he tends to waffle on a fair bit about non build related stuff, I have to be careful to make sure I dont miss these sorts of statements, and then follow up via email (so that he cannot deny things later). SaveH2O What is your soil classification? If you are on highly reactive soil, it is strongly recommended that you have a concrete perimeter around the house to give protection against slab heave. See AS 2870. From the soil report: The site is classified "P" in accordance with AS2870 – 2011 (Section 2), which represents a problem site due to fill/abnormal moisture conditions. In the absence of the fill material / abnormal moisture conditions, the designing engineer should recognize that the natural soils encountered on this site – under normal conditions - result in a class "H2" site classification applying to this site. Funnily enough, I looked at that and thought we might need concrete pilings (I think that's what they're called). Apparently no one else thought that until we were starting the slabs, Is the concrete required around the entire perimeter? Our landscaping plans specify that one of the walls has a garden adjacent, which I've read is not ideal, but also means his comment is redundant, because if we dont include the garden, we lose one of our bonds. Will the type of slab affect that? It is multiple units, so one has a waffle slab while another has pilings under the slab. Re: Is concrete around new home required? 4Jul 27, 2021 12:58 pm helenzdj I have to be careful to make sure I dont miss these sorts of statements, and then follow up via email (so that he cannot deny things later). Wise move. The strange thing is that his advice is to your benefit whereas there is a litany of past cases on Homeone where builders have supplied non compliant information about the required slope away from the house or refused to adequately drain the site during construction despite requests to do so and being shown the regulatory requirements. helenzdj From the soil report: The site is classified "P" in accordance with AS2870 – 2011 (Section 2), which represents a problem site due to fill/abnormal moisture conditions. Therefore needing to be stringent about the equalisation and stabilisation of the subsurface moisture levels. helenzdj Is the concrete required around the entire perimeter? Our landscaping plans specify that one of the walls has a garden adjacent, which I've read is not ideal, but also means his comment is redundant, because if we dont include the garden, we lose one of our bonds. Yes, the entire perimeter. You also need to ensure that water does not pool along the path's edge where it can soak down and penetrate under the path. Whoever was responsible for specifying that you have to have a garden next to the house on one wall has given highly irresponsible 'advice' and I would seriously question their qualifications. It is 'advice' best ignored but it should also have been picked up and deleted during your precontract signing review. There are slab experts on the forum who can go into greater depth addressing your questions about slab suitability, members like regular contributor cornellengineers who's website would also be worth visiting. cornellengineers also recently started the thread Waffle slabs, slab heave and site drainage linked below. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=102622&p=1892733&hilit=Cornellengineers#p1892733 It is good that the builder is onside and upfront plus the engineering reccomendation/requirement has hierarchy over the incompetent landscaping clause. Have you read any of the forum's slab heave threads? Just enter slab heave in the forum's search bar. 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: Is concrete around new home required? 5Jul 27, 2021 1:17 pm SaveH2O helenzdj Is the concrete required around the entire perimeter? Our landscaping plans specify that one of the walls has a garden adjacent, which I've read is not ideal, but also means his comment is redundant, because if we dont include the garden, we lose one of our bonds. Yes, the entire perimeter. You also need to ensure that water does not pool along the path's edge where it can soak down and penetrate under the path. Whoever was responsible for specifying that you have to have a garden next to the house on one wall has given highly irresponsible 'advice' and I would seriously question their qualifications. It is 'advice' best ignored but it should also have been picked up and deleted during your precontract signing review. The joys of having multi unit builds, where you need a % of open space. It was the way the architect designed it, and it was approved by council. So stuck between a rock and a hard place it seems. Thanks for your advice, and I'll definitely do further research here. I dont suppose you can point me to something that says it's required, as opposed to recommended? Re: Is concrete around new home required? 6Jul 27, 2021 3:42 pm helenzdj It was the way the architect designed it, and it was approved by council. So stuck between a rock and a hard place it seems. I dont suppose you can point me to something that says it's required, as opposed to recommended? The blind leading the blind. I prefer to quote regulations but I don't have a copy of AS 2870 apart from some excerpts somewhere. The slab design experts will most probably see this thread after they finish work. What notes has the slab design engineer made on the plan? 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: Is concrete around new home required? 8Nov 16, 2021 11:01 am nodyorc Hi, so just to clarify. if the P site (clay) already has a lot of bored piers under the waffle slab (say 50+ piers) single storey, you still need concrete/apron perimeters? yes. the piers do nothing to stop moisture getting under the slab. They're there for a different purpose. Dark matter scientist, can breathe underwater, mind reader and can freeze matter just by willing it. Trust me, its in my sig. Re: Is concrete around new home required? 9Nov 16, 2021 11:25 am Noname nodyorc Hi, so just to clarify. if the P site (clay) already has a lot of bored piers under the waffle slab (say 50+ piers) single storey, you still need concrete/apron perimeters? yes. the piers do nothing to stop moisture getting under the slab. They're there for a different purpose. Thanks noname. Yeah ive been getting mixed advice on this. some say dont need to because its piered and has drainage points, but others say i need them. I was thinking of doing a combination of pavings and deckings to surround the house. does that mean i need to put a concrete layer underneath pavings and deckings for it to work? i wanted to avoid ugly concrete but looks like its unavoidable. |