[Alan]

I have a few questions regarding houses using this type of build, and wondered if people knew the answers (I am sure you guys do!):

- How is the exterior plaster prevented from deteriorating in bad weather?
- Can you insulate the walls using foam etc like you can other houses?
- Can you change the windows like any other type of house i.e. for double glazed units?

Thanks again

Alan

[Familyofmonkeys]

I have a few questions regarding houses using this type of build, and wondered if people knew the answers (I am sure you guys do!):

- How is the exterior plaster prevented from deteriorating in bad weather?
- Can you insulate the walls using foam etc like you can other houses?
- Can you change the windows like any other type of house i.e. for double glazed units?

Thanks again

Alan

The house we are renting in Albany has a plaster sort of finish....a new type that doesn't have old problems with leaky buildings....something like Harditex? (or maybe I am muddling it up with something else). Anyway, underneath the plaster is polystyrene insulation stuff. You can't drill into the external walls as no strength so Sky dish etc all have to be roof mounted. It is beyond me why anyone would want to build a brand new house and not put double glazing in, but apparently some people do upgrade so it must be possible.

[benandclare]

We are in a "Rockcote " house , think pebbledash without the pebble :laugh. We 're putting double glazing in and are using existing frames, aluminium.

[mgbridges]

We are in a "Rockcote " house , think pebbledash without the pebble :laugh. We 're putting double glazing in and are using existing frames, aluminium.

Oooo... sorry to hijack the thread but I'd be very interested to hear about the double glazing. Given you are using the existing frames does that mean you are 'retro-fitting'? Any info you can give - company used, costs, time frames etc would be really useful. Please feel free to PM if you don't want to give details on open forum.

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese

[Familyofmonkeys]

Oooo... sorry to hijack the thread but I'd be very interested to hear about the double glazing. Given you are using the existing frames does that mean you are 'retro-fitting'? Any info you can give - company used, costs, time frames etc would be really useful. Please feel free to PM if you don't want to give details on open forum.

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese

Don't know if you are interested, but we are going to get UPVC windows when we build as we don't want aluminium frames and they are still cheaper than the wood/aluminium composite windows here in NZ. There are a few companies around Auckland who import...

http://www.eurowindows.co.nz/index.html

http://www.epcsheerframe.co.nz/7895/html/page.htm

[PeteS]

- How is the exterior plaster prevented from deteriorating in bad weather?


Are you thinking of plaster as pink gypsum based plaster? They don't do proper plastering here. In NZ they refer to Cement render as plaster..... There are many trade names for it here, but it's all the same stuff really.

- Can you insulate the walls using foam etc like you can other houses?


Yes. But in general the walls are not thick enough to hold sufficient insulation to do the job properly. Most house "walls" are just timber framing 4" thick. Or thin, depending upon your viewpoint. Modern ones may have 40mm of polystyrene included in the wall.

- Can you change the windows like any other type of house i.e. for double glazed units?

Yes. Wooden, aluminium, or uPVC framed DGU are all available. Wood and uPVC are fine, but aluminium suffers with condensation problems.

So in general, think polystyrene lined shed and you won't be far off! For an older property, delete the lining!!!!!

[benandclare]

Oooo... sorry to hijack the thread but I'd be very interested to hear about the double glazing. Given you are using the existing frames does that mean you are 'retro-fitting'? Any info you can give - company used, costs, time frames etc would be really useful. Please feel free to PM if you don't want to give details on open forum.

Thanks in advance,
Anneliese

Hey no worries, we are using Christchurch Glass and basically they take away the old glass and wack in the double glazed units in the existing frame, so yes retro fitting, when the guy did the final measuring up he was excited that we'd got deep frames so the final job would look "sweet as" :D

He would say that as he is getting $12,000 but as a % of our property value well worth it.

Ordered in mid june to be fitted in first week in Aug .