Too many Wellington homes in need of serious repair
Many of the houses may have potential health and safety implications.
One in eight Wellington houses on the market has major maintenance problems and more than half are dangerously damp, an analysis by Victoria University shows.
The research analysed a sample from 12 years of data from building inspections carried out on stand-alone houses in Wellington by Buildsure Associates.
“What is worrying is that houses are in general a person’s most expensive asset, yet at best only one in five houses for sale is showing up in good repair,” the report’s co-author and senior lecturer at the university’s School of Architecture Nigel Isaacs says.
“One in eight of the houses was considered to have major maintenance problems that exceed general wear and tear.”
Dr Isaacs says the project complements the work of the house condition survey by building research agency BRANZ. “It has boosted our knowledge in this area and will help to inform homeowners and the industry of the main issues facing our houses.”
Data for the study was taken from a random sample of 70 inspection reports and 10 common problems were identified – asbestos, concrete spalling, corrosion, decay of timber, electrics, external water management, movement, subfloor moisture, subfloor structure and wall moisture.
Thirty-six percent of houses in the sample were likely to have asbestos present in either the roof or wall cladding, 35% had high moisture levels, and 53% had insufficient subfloor ventilation with the potential to lead to decay and corrosion.
“Many of these may have potential health and safety implications for the house owners or tenants,” Dr Isaacs says.
The problems found are not unique to Wellington or New Zealand but are issues that can be commonly seen in standalone timber housing, he says.
“Half the houses analysed had dangerously high moisture loads in a number of places. A lot of the issues relate to water being in the wrong place or the houses being poorly designed or constructed.”
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Sally Lindsay
Fri, 01 Jul 2016
Fri, 01 Jul 2016
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Too many Wellington homes in need of serious repair
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