Browse Forums Building A New House Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 21Feb 08, 2011 3:49 pm Hi denny-mr, Our builder (politely) refused to pay for the damage cost as this was clearly the storm damage and they didn't find anything structural or construction wise which could have caused it. They even checked whether other rooms were affected, thankfully they weren't. I had a guy from plastering company to give us the quote.When asked him how long it takes to fix the entire ceiling, he said it's about 1-2 days work. Well, that's a relief. Our next door neighbors on both sides are affected exactly the same way and one of them is getting their ceiling fixed today. Of course the cost will be covered by the insurance company. Not only insurance co. will pay for the damage they will also clean up the entire house's ceiling/wet insulation. This was a biggest relief for me. I hope things went okay for you today and had some response from the insurance co. BTW, if you want the quote for the re-plastering, I have the contact details of the guy who came over to my house. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 23Feb 09, 2011 8:45 am Its a bit sad that nothing can be found to have caused it, as it will only be a matter of time before it happens again. In my opinions I would be looking at the way things are built on the outside of the house. Ie do you have enough downpipes spaced close to getter. Also I might even consider looking out onto the street to see if there are any issues with the storm water in the street. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 24Feb 09, 2011 9:19 am B Star, I completely agree with you and which is why I am awaiting for the insrance assessment. Our next door neighbours on the both the sides were impacted in the similar way. So as soon as builder sees that it was not just one-off occurance, they want to withdraw from this situation ASAP letting insurance co. to deal with it. There is no external damage visible on the street except for couple of broken fences. Also, builder checked for the downpipes and gutter issue, all they could say was due to the force of water it could be possible that water couldn't flow from the gutter as it normally would. still a possibility though. So the suspence still continues... Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 25Feb 09, 2011 11:02 am Hey Runmelb it would be interesting to see if those that are effecting with the damage have eves on there houses. If they all dont then you may be able to conclude that it is leaking from the gutters. If they do then it must be coming from higher up. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 26Feb 09, 2011 11:14 am Hi B Star, unsure what you mean by "eves on their house". Pardon my knowledge about construction terminology but could you please explain a bit more detail? In the mean time below are photos of my house damage taken at the time when it took place on Saturday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59277913@N03/5427991706/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/59277913@N03/5427386995/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/59277913@N03/5427385599/ Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 27Feb 09, 2011 12:01 pm The eves are the bit on the outside of the house that are used to provide shade also. (ie like a little veranda) because your house doesn't have this the gutters when they haven't been designed sufficiently and they over flow, do so in the inside of the house. If they house had eves they will overflow outside. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 28Feb 09, 2011 12:25 pm Hi, I don't think most of the houses that are being newly constructed in Melbourne have "eves" ...are they? Of course they would be good to have to protect from such events. Besides, I was told that you can even waterproof your roof by laying a "plastic" sheet underneath and then re-laying all the tiles. This would prevent the water to enter in case the tiles move due to heavy wind. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 29Feb 09, 2011 12:29 pm i dont think plastic sheet( sarking) will make the roof water proof. But it will stop the water spray that comes through on windy and rainy days. I still think the issue was with the gutters over flowing and spilling onto your plaster. The amount of water that would come through the tiles even if there was a crack would not be enough for it to drop your ceiling. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 30Feb 09, 2011 1:49 pm grab a hose, attach a sprinkler, mount it up high pointing at a face of the roof you suspect is leaking, plug it into your rainwater tank (so you dont get accused by busy-body neighbours of wasting water) and turn it on for a couple hours. check for leaks inside the roof. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 32Feb 09, 2011 4:08 pm Rain alone is not enough, must combine with 135km/hr wind. But that would unlikely to happen in near future. I have lived in the house for a while and never experience any leaking before (not the one I'm aware of, if only small leak and got absorbed by insulation sponge, no one would know) BTW, I've got the building consultant came yesterday, Here is his main conclusion: "My opinion is that the ceiling collapse is due to poor plastering - Not damp or water penetration. The photograph you showed me (as posted on flicker) with the damp tiles would not have caused this to collapse. As stated in my report, l think it is important to get expert plasterer opinion and then you have two reports which is harder to be disputed by the parties responsible for the poor workmanship, if that being the case." Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 33Feb 09, 2011 7:24 pm You're certainly not the only person in Melbourne whose ceiling collapsed as a result of last weekend's rain. The weather conditions were extreme and our storm water systems are not designed to cope with that amount of rainfall in such a short space of time. I agree with B Star about the likely cause ...we had an extreme weather event 12 months after moving in that caused the spouting to overflow and resulted in leaks from light fittings and fans (and some random leaks through the plaster) in almost every room. That was more than a year ago and it's never happened again since. It's unfortunate, and I hope your insurance company sorts it out for you quickly, but it may not be your builder's fault at all. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 34Feb 09, 2011 7:55 pm denny_mr BTW, I've got the building consultant came yesterday, Here is his main conclusion: "My opinion is that the ceiling collapse is due to poor plastering - Not damp or water penetration. The photograph you showed me (as posted on flicker) with the damp tiles would not have caused this to collapse. As stated in my report, l think it is important to get expert plasterer opinion and then you have two reports which is harder to be disputed by the parties responsible for the poor workmanship, if that being the case." @denny_mr, this is an interesting turn in the situation. Poor plastering is something I never heard of before. Regardless the question still remains how did the insulation become wet. Understand, damp tiles can't be the cause but the water certainly come from somewhere. The more I think about it the more I am inclined to check our gutter system in the house. As Kek advised, our houses are not designed for such storms. If anything, they are designed for the drought. If I find the gutter faulty then it is something to take up with the builder. Anyway, I still haven't heard from the assessor. Builder coming tomorrow or day after for plastering quote. Will advise you of the progress. Did you get my PM with contact details? We're headed for another "possible" storm tomorrow arvo. Fingers crossed that our current make shift arrangement doesn't do any further damage. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 35Feb 09, 2011 8:34 pm Hello Runmelb, Yes I received your PM, and contact the person, He may call me tomorrow if he could come. About the Overflowed Gutter theory, How are you gonna check and verify? The water should have been huge and the affected area would have been flooded. But not in my case. The wet insulation not only located near the gutter, some are in the middle section and it's not in the row. it's like random panel got wet. I believe water was dripping from roof tile in random order from the left hand side of the house. When the storm happened, the 135km/hr wind blow very strongly, it might made the roof out of alignment, that was the moment water came from any direction. I reckon the water still not much, probably contain only one full bucket in total. My conclusion at this time: - Faulty or poor workmanship on plaster ceiling that cause the whole area to collapse. otherwise only one section that collapse or only have watermark on the plasterboard. - Plus, could be another defect on the roof tile. I will monitor and see what happen this coming Friday. BTW, Does anyone ever submitted any complaint through BACV http://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/CA256902 ... plaint.pdf May I know whether their assistance is really helpful? Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 36Feb 10, 2011 8:11 pm Hi denny-mr, have got a small update. We had the builder from insurance co. for the quote. As his company also provides triage support (similar to SES). He advised that he visited a few houses with similar issues and found they all had a particular kind of roof tiles which are apparently not up to the Australian standard. He checked our tiles found them okay. He further stated the possibility of incorrect trusses layout. According to him sometimes the trusses are placed too far away from each other which doesn't give enough overlap for the roof tiles and thus increases the chances of rain water getting in (esp during storm). He still recommended an engineer assessment as they will look into each and every aspect, esp if the construction was done to the standard. BTW how did you cope with the rainfall half an hour ago. Hope all okay. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 37Feb 11, 2011 8:28 am Hello Runmelb, as expected, if only rain (heavy or small) without any storm. it's fine. I inspect from yesterday's rain and this morning. not even a single drop of water on the floor. few of the roof tiles are damp on the side, but that's not an issue. annoying part is small insects came during the rain as I have a toddler it's really not really safe to live. the builder from my insurance will come on Monday. will update the outcome. yesterday, two tradies came and have the same comment. it's a plastering defect the cause it to collapse. who should we engaged to check the incorrect roof trusses layout? Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 38Feb 11, 2011 8:55 am Hi, good to know that everything was alright at your end despite the rain. Yes, we too are getting those small insects from the exposed roof part. i have been vacuuming the house like crazy and spraying insect spray around windows and door, although I agree, it must be quite difficult for you with the toddler around. With the engineering assessment, the guy who came over advised that insrance co. will arranged for that and pay for the assessment. This way if there are any construction issues, insurance co. will chase the builder (although we'll lose our claim and still end up paying high premium). Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 39Feb 11, 2011 10:47 am Hi Denny Mr, when they said the plaster is the issue did they they make an assuption because they think it cant be anything else or did say perhaps there wasn't enough screws and glue and they used the wrong plaster board. Re: PD home - What happened on 14 months old house. 40Feb 11, 2011 11:42 am update: Boral is the supplier and contractor used by the builder. just came for inspection and write a report. they said, glue and screw on plasterboard is comply to Australian standard. me as a person who don't have building background can see very clearly that the glue is very minimal as suggested by other two tradies who came yesterday. I think this builder and their contractor just want to get away. 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 28312 Old Home Restoration / Renovation Hi, just discovered all these junks left behind under the floor. Could any of these be asbestos? Best to leave as it is or clean up? 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