Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Aug 24, 2009 8:14 pm How long can a frame withstand the element of rain before it's water damaged? I know it treated wood but like all wood n water..! Has anyone experienced really bad weather during frame stage??? and did it affect the quality or strength of the wood? cheers [b]Contract signed 3rd May --> Handover mid FEB Re: Frame and water damage 2Aug 24, 2009 8:41 pm Frames aren't built out of timber treated against rot/decay. Generally you wouldn't want a frame exposed for more than a couple of months. This can vary though on the amount of water it gets Re: Frame and water damage 3Aug 24, 2009 8:43 pm If the frame is standing it can withstand a few months in all conditions all though obviously not recommended. Have seen some frames go 6-9 months before the iron has been put on. However if the frame isn't standing it should be covered up and elevated with some props. You need to be careful with roof trusses though if there left in the elements too long the plates will start lifting which is a pretty serious problem. Re: Frame and water damage 4Aug 25, 2009 7:47 pm Thanks guys, in that case i probably shouldn't be stressing over 3 weeks of rain. Are there any tests (apart from visual checks) that can be made to ensure the frame is in acceptable condition during a build? [b]Contract signed 3rd May --> Handover mid FEB Re: Frame and water damage 5Aug 25, 2009 9:16 pm Make sure it has dried out properly after the roof goes before any plastering starts Re: Frame and water damage 6Aug 25, 2009 11:01 pm 3 weeks is fine, the biggest problem would be the timber swelling which can make straightening the walls take a bit longer but that's your builders worry. In 3 weeks I really don't think there is anything you need to check, LVL timber is the most sensitive to rain which may be in your lintels/beams but I don't think 3 weeks is anything to worry about there. Re: Frame and water damage 7Aug 26, 2009 8:45 am Dukekamaya Make sure it has dried out properly after the roof goes before any plastering starts We've had a lot of rain lately and I've only just got the roof finished so one side of the house is absolutely water logged. It has been exposed to the elements for what I think is far too long but not much you can do in winter down here. Plaster is scheduled for about 2 weeks from now. I gather its a "how long is a piece of string" type question, but in the cold Melbourne environment, assuming no further water touches the timber what is a resonable period of time for the timber to be fully dried out? Is it worth hiring one or 2 of those portable industrial gas log heaters (spitfire/jetfire or something like that) and placing it in the area to assist with drying? Aside from the usual safety measures would this be a good idea or possible that the timber might dry too quickly? Re: Frame and water damage 8Aug 26, 2009 9:50 am Generally the frame and trusses will be ok for a few months. Studs need to be straightened anyway. Biggest problem if its a two storey and water is sitting on your flooring. Solution is to go there when its raining and drill holes thorugh the floor where the pools of water are and let it drain away. Re: Frame and water damage 9Aug 26, 2009 5:51 pm All LVLs are manufactured with an A-Bond adhesive which is an outdoor rated glue. Therefore they are no more prone to damage than the rest of the framing. Yellow tongue flooring is designed for up to three months exposure Re: Frame and water damage 10Aug 26, 2009 6:24 pm Bananas Generally the frame and trusses will be ok for a few months. Studs need to be straightened anyway. Biggest problem if its a two storey and water is sitting on your flooring. Solution is to go there when its raining and drill holes thorugh the floor where the pools of water are and let it drain away. No problems upstairs where the yellow tongue is since the roof got done up there fairly quickly. More the ground floor frame along one side which had no roof until the upper floor rendering was done some time late. You can see the bottom plate is saturated since the water had no where to go. Just hope it dries up enough before plaster starts going in 2 weeks from now. Don't have any structural LVL stuff, since we used normal posi's and lots of steel. Re: Frame and water damage 11Aug 26, 2009 10:13 pm Dukekamaya All LVLs are manufactured with an A-Bond adhesive which is an outdoor rated glue. Therefore they are no more prone to damage than the rest of the framing. Who said anything about the glue? Decay is the issue with LVL's that have a high moisture content, something that ply is very prone to. Weather is a much bigger issue for LVL than any other solid timber. And I'm talking about LVL's up to H2 treated as H3 isn't used in conventional framing. Re: Frame and water damage 12Aug 26, 2009 11:29 pm Our frame and upper flooring (yellow tongue) seemed to sit exposed to the weather for months. The builder has since run a floor sander over the floor joints to level off any swelling. I haven't got out with a straight edge to see if it's all remained flat. Re: Frame and water damage 13Aug 27, 2009 4:53 pm nomad Who said anything about the glue? Decay is the issue with LVL's that have a high moisture content, something that ply is very prone to. Weather is a much bigger issue for LVL than any other solid timber. And I'm talking about LVL's up to H2 treated as H3 isn't used in conventional framing. We have non-treated LVLs in use outdoors at work. One in particular has been in place for about 8 years and has minimal signs of weathering. Re: Frame and water damage 14Aug 27, 2009 5:13 pm There won't be any water damage problem with the frame It's the flooring board for upstairs that could have "floor lipping" problem if soaked in water for too long (before roof on). The builder will normally sand the whole area to improve the situation. But sometimes it's just still not good enough. Plus, builders will only use simple nails for the flooring board. Not quite sure if it can hold the boards properly in the long term, we used lots of screws as extra "enhancement"... http://building-our-first-house.blogspo ... crews.html In a different context, if your house already in locked up stage and then it leaks, it might be as bad as ours: http://building-our-first-house.blogspo ... -hell.html Re: Frame and water damage 15Aug 27, 2009 5:30 pm Dukekamaya We have non-treated LVLs in use outdoors at work. One in particular has been in place for about 8 years and has minimal signs of weathering. So there either H3 treated or painted/stained then. Re: Frame and water damage 16Aug 27, 2009 6:55 pm They have no finish on them and are the standard H2-S Re: Frame and water damage 17Aug 27, 2009 8:51 pm nomad Who said anything about the glue? Decay is the issue with LVL's that have a high moisture content, something that ply is very prone to. Weather is a much bigger issue for LVL than any other solid timber. And I'm talking about LVL's up to H2 treated as H3 isn't used in conventional framing. So this would be the bracing ply they use near the corners of the frame on the outside for extra support? I have one corner where the sheet has been soaked to hell, is it no good? Re: Frame and water damage 18Aug 27, 2009 9:14 pm building.our.first.house There won't be any water damage problem with the frame It's the flooring board for upstairs that could have "floor lipping" problem if soaked in water for too long (before roof on). The builder will normally sand the whole area to improve the situation. But sometimes it's just still not good enough. Plus, builders will only use simple nails for the flooring board. Not quite sure if it can hold the boards properly in the long term, we used lots of screws as extra "enhancement"... http://building-our-first-house.blogspo ... crews.html In a different context, if your house already in locked up stage and then it leaks, it might be as bad as ours: http://building-our-first-house.blogspo ... -hell.html Far out, I hope your builder sorts this out. [b]Contract signed 3rd May --> Handover mid FEB Re: Frame and water damage 19Aug 27, 2009 11:15 pm Dukekamaya They have no finish on them and are the standard H2-S Then they must be under cover and not exposed to rain as any untreated/stained LVL won't stand up to a year exposed to the elements. LVL is not suitable at all for outdoor exposed applications for that reason. dave- So this would be the bracing ply they use near the corners of the frame on the outside for extra support? I have one corner where the sheet has been soaked to hell, is it no good? Different sort of ply but that's still ok, it will stand up to the conditions a frame must withstand before being cladded/bricked and bracing ply isn't as structurally important as a LVL lintel/beam. Re: Frame and water damage 20Aug 28, 2009 10:45 am dvs_dk Far out, I hope your builder sorts this out. Yes, it's all been resolved. There's all sort of accidents that could happen in your construction site everyday due to unforseen reason. I am not blaming the builder, just kept those info as a reference. I am great that at least our builder is honest and willing to fix any problem. there was an event. The question is whether the builder had the insurance and whether the event was covered. The workmanship is a separate conversation. 10 23742 This is 100% true. You can not hang anything on steel frames. very frustrating 8 8021 This certainly doesn't look good. I would be engaging with an independent inspector to have a look at this. As for the unscheduled site visits, most builders are quite… 1 28320 |