Tech21

Looking through the houses for sale, can someone please translate these materials into "normal" (UK) materials or give me a description of what they are please.

Joinery = Aluminium (to my mind joinery means using wood)

Exterior material = Hardiplank
Exterior material = Roughcast
Exterior material = Weatherboard

Roof material = Colorsteel
Roof material = Corrugated Iron (I would expect to find this on a cheap UK shed so I hope it is something different)

Interior material = Gib Board

What ever happened to bricks, wood and slate?

Herm

Some I can help with - At least I think I can....

Weatherboard = wooden slats - could be any sort of wood -
Hardiplank - A plastic version of weatherboard - good because it does not need painting.
Roughcast = Like a rough plaster coating
Corrugated Iron = Corrugated Iron - lotsof houses have these roofs and many have corrugated iron external walls.
Colorsteel - Corrugated Iron thats coloured.
Gib board = Plaster board.

As an aside - when we moved here the biggest problem I had was coming to terms with the construction and structure of NZ houses. Most look as if they will blow away at the slightest wind.

Ended up buying a brick clad house.

Cheers
Martin

chay and kerrie

Bricks and earthquakes bad mix?

Herm

No earthquakes as yet - fingers crossed. Though would not build of brick if I was on the east coast.

NZ Climber

Joinery in this case means what the external windows and doors are made of - in most cases, Aluminium.

Hardiplank is a new type of plastic weatherboard that doesn't need painting.
Weatherboard is (usually) horizontally overlapping wooden planking, usually seen on old villas and older style houses. very good, very weathertight.

Colorsteel is a corrugated iron (or in fact, steel) roofing material that has had a plasticised coating applied, to make it last longer and not rust. Basically the modern version of corrugated iron.

Corrugated iron is exactly what you think it is and no, it's not just used on sheds here.

Gib = Plasterboard. Comes in a variety of thicknesses etc etc same as plasterboard.

And as for bricks, you'll see them all over the place but they are claddings in a lot of cases and not structural at all. Most houses are wooden-framed. You can get timber joinery but it's either older (if out of a villa) or bloody expensive. For some reason the Kiwis (stupidly IMHO) trust aluminium more than wood. Which is ridiculous really when you consider the condensation aspects.

Tech21

Thanks for all the replies and info, much appreciated, I now have a much better idea what I am looking at in the house descriptions.

The UK house I live in at present is wood frame (4"x4" section) with internal plasterboard walls with brick cladding up to the bottom of the upstairs windows and external vertical wood planking (6” T&G) from the bottom of the bedroom windowsill line to the gutter-line with 18"x18" tiles on the roof so apart from the corrugated iron roof, sounds kind of similar.
Isn’t it noisy when it rains on a corrugated tin roof?

Does any one have a rough idea of long these materials last? Especially the tin roof.
Can’t believe that for a house roof they would use a material that would be more suited to a barn!!

The external wood on our house is still the original which is 23 years old now and is still in good nick mainly because I coat it with Sikkens (think that’s how you spell it) wood preserver every 4 years, it does cost £70 for a 4 lit tin, but out of the 40 houses that were built at the same time as ours we have the only original wood that isn’t warped, split or been replaced, most have gone over to a plastic wool look-alike stuff presumably the same as Hardiplank.

Errr….what was that bit about bricks earthquakes and the east coast then?

Gill and Rob

[QUOTE=Tech21]The UK house I live in at present is wood frame (4"x4" section) with internal plasterboard walls with brick cladding up to the bottom of the upstairs windows and external vertical wood planking (6” T&G) from the bottom of the bedroom windowsill line to the gutter-line with 18"x18" tiles QUOTE]


Sounds like our old "Barratt" house back in the UK

No it's not noisy when it rains. Friends of ours actually DO live in a house that is a barn building with a curved roof !!!


Gill

Herm

Errr….what was that bit about bricks earthquakes and the east coast then?[/QUOTE]

NZ is prone to earthquakes. There are more earthquakes on the east coast than anywhere else, brick houses knocked out by earthquakes are more expensive to fix than wooden.

Re your how long do they last question - NZ building regs state that a house must be sound for 50 years. Thats it.

Cheers
Martin

Stevemw

NZ is prone to earthquakes. There are more earthquakes on the east coast than anywhere else, brick houses knocked out by earthquakes are more expensive to fix than wooden.

Re your how long do they last question - NZ building regs state that a house must be sound for 50 years. Thats it.

Cheers
Martin[/QUOTE]

Is earthquake insurance available / affordable or a standard part of house insurance?
Regards,
Steve

shepslady

NZ is prone to earthquakes. There are more earthquakes on the east coast than anywhere else, brick houses knocked out by earthquakes are more expensive to fix than wooden.

Re your how long do they last question - NZ building regs state that a house must be sound for 50 years. Thats it.

Cheers
Martin[/QUOTE]

From personal experience of living on the east coast of the South Island most of my life the very rare earthquake we experienced were nothing more than little jolts that were over & done with before most people even knew what was happening. The west coast of the south island did have more than the east coast. Am sure most that were felt on the east coast actually occurred more towards the centre of the island.eg Arthurs pass area is notorious for the odd good shake up & think thats something to do with being close to the mountain divide.
The last home we had built in NZ was made of brick (not cladding that required a bricklayer to install) & our roof was a concrete tile. Nothing wrong with a tin roof in certain areas & not noisey either, in fact many people like to hear the sound of rain & find it quite soothing. On my last visit home I did notice a lot of new homes being built with steel frames & many new homes now include under floor heating & double glazed windows which help with the heating problems so its not all doom & gloom as many of you think.

Cheers
Cindy

theduke

We use most of these materials back in the UK for building.

I would also suggest that Joinery=Aluminium would actually mean the frame construction and not just the windows, we use this construction in the UK also it is used in lieu of timber stud, and is called metal stud in the UK, this is an American concept and is easier to work with and therefore is more economical to putup.

We are also using all the other types of construction now in the UK, a house being clad in brick is just a feature and does not really offer a better structure, like wearing different coloured clothes if you like.

I believe it or not live in Scotland (a present) and was told by a friend of mine on another building site in Glasgow (housing) that the roof was metal, this is oneof the first I have heard of in Scotland but I know of it in England.

These materials are all good building materials, however it is like everything else you pay for the quality of how it is put together, you get what you pay for.

NZ Climber

No, it isn't. It refers only to the doors and windows.

Using galvanised steel construction instead of wood for all the framing hasn't made it here yet.

shepslady

Oh YES it has just not all that common yet. Ive seen several homes in Christchurch constructed with steel framing Might want to check out some of the homes built in The Limes Housing Estate as this was where i got to see my first steel framed home & found it real interesting! Hubby is a builder so I like to keep up with these things.

Cheers
Cindy

NZ Climber

Sorry, I obviously wasn't being clear. I was saying that the word "joinery" when you see it here, does not refer to the framing in 99.999% of cases, rather to just the doors and windows.

And i haven't seen any steel-framed houses here yet but if you've seen them then i believe you

Jeeper

When commenting on how houses are different to UK construction please remember you're in a different environment.

Earthquakes are one factor yes but also consider availability of materials.

UK i'm sure has ready access to large quantities of steel in comparison to NZ.
NZ has ready access to large quantites of timber in comparison to UK

Hence the different construction materials used - availability and therefore relative cost.

...and if the discussion hasn't been settled yet...when kiwi's refer to joinery - they are talking about the window and door surrounds. Aluminum is popular at moment I think mainly because people like the look of it and the maintenance free aspect of it as compared with timber.