Mould clean-up in renovations: protecting your crew
Most mould jobs are caught after the crew has already started pulling material down. This is how to contain the room, protect the people in it and leave the house clean.
12 min read
Topic
Moisture
Articles and news about Moisture for Australian builders.
Mould clean-up in renovations: protecting your crew
Most mould jobs are caught after the crew has already started pulling material down. This is how to contain the room, protect the people in it and leave the house clean.
12 min read
Subsoil drainage around footings and slabs: when it is needed and how to build it properly
Subsoil drainage keeps water away from footings and the slab edge, but only when the line is set, graded and connected correctly. This guide covers when it is needed and how to build it.
12 min read
Drying out new construction: sequencing and the whole-of-build moisture plan
Every build introduces water and every build has to get rid of it. The difference between a job that dries out and one that does not is usually sequencing, not luck.
11 min read
Substrate flatness and moisture checks before floor coverings
Floor coverings fail from underneath. This is how to verify flatness and moisture before you hand over a slab or sheet substrate to the flooring trade.
14 min read
Wet frames and shrinking timber: the moisture defects behind cracks, nail pops and sticking doors
Timber moves as it gains and loses moisture, mostly across the grain. Enclose a wet frame and the shrinkage shows up in the linings months later. How to manage moisture from delivery to handover.
7 min read
Smart sensors on site: concrete maturity, slab moisture and humidity monitoring explained
Small wireless sensors can tell you when a slab is strong enough to load, when it is dry enough for flooring, and whether a frame is too wet to line. Where they save time and callbacks, and where a meter and common sense will do.
8 min read
Rangehood and exhaust fan ducting: getting local exhaust out of the building
A rangehood or exhaust fan is only as good as the duct behind it. If the duct stops in the roof space, the moisture it collects is discharged straight into the coldest, least ventilated part of the building.
11 min read
Winter condensation in new homes: why it happens, how to diagnose it, and how to build it out
Every winter, builders get the same call: “there’s water on the windows and mould in the wardrobe.” Here is how to work out whether it is the house or how it is being lived in, and the details that stop it happening.
10 min read
Masonry flashing and weep holes: where water is meant to leave the wall
Water will get into a cavity wall. The detail that decides whether the building performs is where that water leaves. This article covers the drainage path from the outer leaf to the outside face.
12 min read
Render and texture coat failure: diagnosing cracking, delamination and efflorescence
Render failures rarely begin in the render. Read the crack pattern, the drummy map and the salt bloom together and they point to the substrate, the mix or the water that is still getting in.
13 min read
Heat pump dryers and laundry ventilation in NSW homes
A heat pump dryer is not a vented dryer. It releases moisture into the laundry, and if the room is not designed to deal with it, the consequences show up in the building fabric. This article covers what to do on site.
14 min read
Roof sarking and underlay: getting laps, drapes and penetrations right
Sarking is the layer that catches what the roof covering lets through, and it only works if it is lapped, draped and sealed in the right direction. Most failures are not product failures — they are installation failures at laps, valleys and penetrations.
11 min read