A simple, common sense solution

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By Hiandri Solutions Ltd marketing manager John Oliver 

We have had a great summer, and some parts of the country have been close to drought conditions, but the stats paint a different picture of the New Zealand climate. Put simply, as most builders know, we get a lot of rain.

Even I was surprised when I looked at the average rainfall between 1981 and 2010 covering 29 locations in New Zealand.

For example, from Taupo north, it rains on average every second day for eight months of the year, and every third day for the remaining four months. The other surprising stat was that the volume of rainfall only drops 20% in the summer months.

The moisture content in bottom plates cannot be higher than 20% prior to walls being lined — in many cases it is well over 40%, leaving builders with little alternative than to rush out and hire expensive heaters and dehumidifiers.

This is costing them and their clients a fortune — we estimate in the order of $1500 to $3000 per week per dwelling.

This includes hireage costs for heaters and scaffolding, running costs, time spent straightening warped studs, holding costs, extra rent or mortgage payments for your client, and a delayed sale. It sure adds up quickly!

In my travels I have even heard of builders completely replacing the bottom plates on all their installed frames at a huge cost, just so they can pass the moisture framing test and get on with the job.

Installing Hiandri bottom plate packers is a simple, economic, common sense solution that allows frames to dry naturally. Air can circulate around the bottom plate, and the frame is not saturated so can drain and dry. Plus, you don’t need H3.2 timber and the normal dpc which, in fact, prevents the timber and slab drying.

For more information visit www.hiandri.com.

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