Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Nov 09, 2010 4:34 pm I've just got my tender doc back and the builder has said I need to upgrade to a few things due to being in a saline environment. Anyone else been made to upgrade items due to being close to the sea? I know it's only a simple thing, but we've been charged to upgrade to ironed mortar joints. Anyone know how the mortar joints are affected by a saline environment? ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Re: Anyone else building near the sea? 2Nov 15, 2010 9:00 pm Hi Nic, Only recently back from our visit to QLD and finishes selection for our new Coral home and this was after visiting Austral Bricks display centre. I presume you are looking at the "Standard" range of bricks Coral offer in their selection process. These are the Terranova, Urban one or Pavillion range. We discussed with the people at Austral bricks the standard joint Coral say they use which is the raked joint and any other type of joint is "EXTRA". Austral do not recommend the raked joint on their Urban one or Pavillion range (check web site) but it is OK for the Terranova range. It seems that Coral have not been told of the recommended joints for these bricks when they changed the supply from PGH to Austral, so if you have selected either the Urban one or Pavillion then I should question with Coral that they are going against the manufacturers recomendation of the correct joint to use ,and if the bricks deteriate by using a raked joint then there would be probably no come back with a claim to Austral Bricks. According to the people at Austral there should be no loading for either joint either raked or ironed it is only a different tool the brickie uses to give the desired joint, and it probably takes a shorter time to produce an ironed joint as against the raked joint. At the selection/finishes meeting we had, we pointed this out to the lady doing the finishes and she stated she did not know of the recommended joint suggested by Austral but she would mention it to Head Office, she presumed it was an over site by the representative from Austral by not pointing it out during negotiations for the new contract. One of the reasons Austral recommend the Ironed joint is because the 2 ranges nominated use only a face colour to the bricks and if a raked joint is used then the body colour of the bricks will show and could be detrimental to appearance. All 3 ranges of bricks are "Exposure Grade" meaning "suitable for coastal areas subject to attack from windbourne salt spray" so the comment being close to a saline environment does not make sense. I would be suggesting to Coral they should check the specifications and forget about charging for a manufacturers reccommended mortar joint unless you are wishing to use the Terranova and even then the recommended joints are both raked and ironed so again should not cost extra. Hope this helps Cheers, John and Marilyn Our build: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=39708&start=0 Retaining wall for fill side 3/12/10 Cut and fill 6/12/10 Screw Piers 17/12/10 Rear retaining wall 22/12/10 Under slab plumbing and electrics 20/1/11 Formwork and slab 29/1/11 Frames 01/02 Roof tiling 14/02 Doors,plumb, elect rough in 16 -21/02 Bricks 23/02 Plastering start 2/03 Re: Anyone else building near the sea? 3Nov 15, 2010 9:31 pm Thanks John ... it's so frustrating the things they suddenly say we MUST upgrade too ... I mean surely they know in the area we're in up here we'd need the upgraded tie downs and ironed joints because of a saline environment? They'd know we need to upgrade insulation to meet energy efficiency requirements? In my opinion these should be covered in the base price, which is $36,000 higher than Brisbane price for the same house and even $8k higher than the Hervey Bay price. I went back to them with alot of questions as some things just didn't add up and we're now waiting patiently (or not so patiently in my case ) for some answers. ~ trying to build our dream home by the sea ~ Our standard double-glazed window is tested to achieve, Rw 34, and can be glazed to suit Rw 39. The price is good too... 3 11406 A survey must’ve completed by a certified surveyor. This form part of every DA requirement 3 225275 Wish you all the best. Once you signed the contract, they will find millions excuses to charge you. And have seen their sites unfinished for a long time. 4 25398 |