Thread: Building your own hut...

Originally Posted by XR500

This stupidity drove us insane, as the quality of the crap coming off the Mitre10 racks was way inferior to the slow growth doug fir 6x2s we had stashed. But no, it doesn't have the pink wiggly line on it. Then came the argument about our Universal beam portals. 30 year old Aussie made universal beams with no rust, but no...can only use cheap chinese steel beams where you can almost see the backed bean cans in the metal..... Grrrr!

Stupidity reigns supreme!

Yep. The quality of the SG8 I got during Covid was an embarrassment. It was so wet that when you hit a nail it sprayed at you. I had to leave it for about 7 weeks to dry off, and then pick my cuts to get a relatively straight bit with no knots in it! When I drove home with it on the trailer I had a bunch of sparrows chasing me to fight me to get their house back. One piece I dropped and it broke at a knot. A bloody joke!

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Technically you can't use any second hand materials if you are building to the Code

Because second hand materials can't meet the requirement for lasting 50 years

Not entirely correct, you can still meet minimum durability requirements with secondhand materials, but expect to jump through hoops with your local consenting authority.

It doesn't sound as though this project needs to be consented and suggest you probably don't anyway. For example, the recent changes to H1 standards will add tens of thousands of dollars to an average build. I.E windows are roughly twice the price they were prior to the change, then you need a minimum 6-inch stud thickness in most cases to get enough insulation into the walls regardless of structural considerations, etc, etc.

Besides the IRD the biggest gang in NZ is undoubtably BRANZ.

Yeah I've heard that it's a crock. Arguably the changes won't actually have that greater effect in a lot of areas, as we found with topping up the insulation in our place - it's costing us more power each year as we are using the fireplace less so without the wetback we are using more power for water heating. Go figure... We also now have a problem that we aren't using the wood we are generating each year!!!

For the 'hut' I'm kinda thinking at the moment that the plan will be to make 'modules' that fit the tandem trailer, and roll them down to site fully ready to drop onto whatever it needs. A couple for bedrooms, one ablutions and a kitchen and then connect with a space for eating, resting and storing stuff.

Originally Posted by No.3

Yeah I've heard that it's a crock. Arguably the changes won't actually have that greater effect in a lot of areas, as we found with topping up the insulation in our place - it's costing us more power each year as we are using the fireplace less so without the wetback we are using more power for water heating. Go figure... We also now have a problem that we aren't using the wood we are generating each year!!!

For the 'hut' I'm kinda thinking at the moment that the plan will be to make 'modules' that fit the tandem trailer, and roll them down to site fully ready to drop onto whatever it needs. A couple for bedrooms, one ablutions and a kitchen and then connect with a space for eating, resting and storing stuff.

sounds like a good plan big verandah and outside fire place cooking area a must have nothing like sitting back with a beer while the snags cook

The 50 year life expectancy thing still cracks me up to this day.
One of the last jobs i did back in blighty was on a building that was one of Henry the 8ths hunting lodges, and still standing in mostly its original form.
50 years is the blink of an eye in real terms

Originally Posted by Pengy

The 50 year life expectancy thing still cracks me up to this day.
One of the last jobs i did back in blighty was on a building that was one of Henry the 8ths hunting lodges, and still standing in mostly its original form.
50 years is the blink of an eye in real terms

I'm restoring an 1873 house in Akaroa at the moment and most of what I'm redoing are repairs from 2000 !

Yes the 50 years and Branz are a total joke.
But as an LBP it's the joke we have too live with.
The cost and agrivation in trying to use second hand and non approved materials in a compliant build is out of proportion to the potential savings

The 50 years is a design requirement relating to the structural integrity, it does not necessarily mean that all materials used must last the 50-year life span.

Ply cladding for example only has to meet a 15-year life expectantly.

We're getting a bit of topic here though.

Originally Posted by Hayden C

The 50 years is a design requirement relating to the structural integrity, it does not necessarily mean that all materials used must last the 50-year life span.

Ply cladding for example only has to meet a 15-year life expectantly.

We're getting a bit of topic here though.

Yeah, but an interesting diversion nonetheless. The interesting one is the SG8 framing as I mentioned earlier - if you were being anal about it you'd have to open each packet at the yard, comb through it piece by piece and I'm sure you'd fail 50% out of some packets. The chunk I dropped and it snapped in half at the knot, the knot was about 80% of the area of the timber. No way in hell that that meets SG8 structural framing requirements, even with a blind deaf mute amputee doing the QC'ing.

I should add to this that BRANZ is the single controlling authority in NZ when it comes to 'approving' building materials in this country.

In my view they actually exacerbate the problem of being able to provide affordable housing in this country.

A classic example is GIB, there are no feasible or cost effective alternatives and the current building code is heavily geared towards its use as a bracing element. When you have monopoly on the market and competitors are restricted due to the cost prohibitive nature of the BRANZ approval process guess what happens to the price.....

Now we are way off topic lol

80%= fire work offcuts.

Originally Posted by Hayden C

A classic example is GIB, there are no feasible or cost effective alternatives and the current building code is heavily geared towards its use as a bracing element.

GIB as a bracing element - yeah um ok to that. I dropped a sheet of braceline a while back accidentally, it performed the same as gib standard when dropped. Buggered if I know what it would add to anything if it had the shite shaken out of it, the one I dropped crumpled nicely (fortunately we still got the roughly half a sheet out of it we needed to complete the little pricky bit we had to fill in - ran out of standard haha). 12mm ply with a facing of some sort would far outperform it and probably allow you to reduce the framing amount going in behind it.

Originally Posted by No.3

GIB as a bracing element - yeah um ok to that. I dropped a sheet of braceline a while back accidentally, it performed the same as gib standard when dropped. Buggered if I know what it would add to anything if it had the shite shaken out of it, the one I dropped crumpled nicely (fortunately we still got the roughly half a sheet out of it we needed to complete the little pricky bit we had to fill in - ran out of standard haha). 12mm ply with a facing of some sort would far outperform it and probably allow you to reduce the framing amount going in behind it.

Very very briefly, if your building 'to code' then your bracing is achieved by the internal linings, exterior cladding etc is not considered to contribute towards bracing elements. GIB is basically the starting point, if you can't get the required bracing then you'd swap it out for GIB Braceline, then Ply. After that then you're beyond the realm of the NZBC and need an Engineer as it becomes specific design.

P.S GIB behaves very differently when fixed correctly as opposed to being dropped on the floor....

Have a good read of 3604 for stud spacing requirements etc and how they are calculated.

Back on topic.

https://www.kenneallytimber.co.nz/

These guys are good for materials. They often have nonstructural timber and/or reject ply at reasonable prices if you go that way.