Home owners expose saga of problems

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

As the cracks in an outside wall of Darryl Halloran's West Auckland home widened, the mouldy black spots spread on the inside.

Mr Halloran and his partner, Katherine Snell, believe rainwater was seeping through the acrylic coating which had been sprayed on to the construction-board cladding.

He is one of several terrace house owners in the 97-unit Tuscany Towers development in New Lynn who have spoken out about their leaky homes.

The Weekend Herald revealed that thousands of new homes are now believed to contain serious leaks and rotting timber frames.

They pose a health threat from toxic mould and the repair costs are estimated to be $1 billion.

The problems have been attributed to design changes such as having no eaves, new types of cladding, untreated timber and declining building standards.

Tuscany Towers units, in Ambrico Place, started selling in 1998 for $250,000 to $330,000. Its developer, Ambrico Apartments, and builder, United Homes, went into liquidation last year.

"Nearly all the buildings have got cracks in the cladding," said the chairman of a Tuscany Towers home-owners' group, Howard Dickie, one of the first to move in.

They were obtaining legal advice about enforcing their rights under the Consumer Guarantees Act.

Mr Halloran said he bought his three-bedroom, two-storey unit in 1999.

The mould on its north-western wall became noticeable after 18 months and six months later was widespread. Long cracks in the external cladding had opened to more than 2mm-wide.

Many cracks, less than 1mm-wide, were visible on a neighbouring block yesterday.

Mr Halloran said Texturite - a company which sprays acrylic coatings on to fibre-cement board and polystyrene window surrounds - resprayed the external wall and the internal wallpaper was replaced.

But the mould has reappeared, cracks are appearing on another wall and window surround, and he now intends approaching Texturite and the wall-board manufacturer for more repairs.

He said that when Texturite cut out a 30cm by 60cm inspection hole in internal wall board, it exposed timber framing blackened with what he believed was mould. A company representative assured him there was no internal damage and the timber was painted white.

A Texturite representative last night denied company liability for leaks at Tuscany Towers.

"I'm aware of the fact that the buildings are parting at construction lines ...

"There's no water that's leaking through the coating if the coating holds together, but the coating can't hold the building together," he said in a brief telephone interview before the connection failed.

He did not return later calls.

The Herald was unable to contact the wallboard and acrylic coating manufacturers last night.

Barbara Finch said she had no difficulty having a section of upstairs carpet and wallpaper fixed at her unit following leaks in 1999, six months after she moved in.

But now that leaks were recurring downstairs, it was "a bit of a problem" that she could not find anyone to take responsibility for fixing them.

A section of wallpaper under a window repeatedly bubbled up after rain, but dried out again during fine weather.

Alan Chambers said the wallpaper of his unit had become mouldy from leaks and the external wallboard manufacturer was investigating.

Readers have their say on new homes building woes

I have court proceedings against the vendor of a house I bought five years ago, which is in need of a major rebuild due to this problem.

Of greater interest to me is the severe respiratory problems I have suffered for the past six months since I started ripping off internal wall and exposing the mould, and I am currently undergoing specialist investigation for the cause. Your article may have just given the answer.

Gail La Grouw

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Twelve years ago we commissioned a respected Auckland architect to design our house. The house features a tiled deck off an upstairs bedroom. Soon after it was built it had to be taken up and relaid due to membrane failure. Then it began to leak.

Last year a serious leak developed, and it was found that a major structural beam had decayed together with much of the surrounding woodwork. We now have a gaping hole in the roof beneath.

Paul Beck, West Harbour Auckland

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Preoccupation with rot problems in new houses has concealed what is potentially just as big a problem. Untreated timber is vulnerable to borer attack. When "Boric" treatment was made compulsory many years ago borer became very rare, but these new houses are no longer protected from borer infestation.

Peter Jackson, Pakuranga

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We have a house in Remuera with a leaky garage. A conservatory also leaks.

Steve Chung

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I bought a flat in Sumner, Christchurch in an award-winning complex. Five other flats have leaks, my flat leaks, the underground carpark leaks.

Steven Walker

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We have been involved in a dispute with our contractor - a Master Building Association member who has not been able to rectify leaking problems in our building.

Alan Tam

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When they were building the house I could see water was coming through the walls. But they gibbed over anyway. I have an independent report about the shoddy workmanship of two different companies.

Dwar von Sommaruga, Ellerslie

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Forestry owners are cutting the timber down too young when the density is too low. The wood then shrinks very quickly.

Rob Orchiston

* If you have more information on leaking buildings, please contact us.

Email: newsdesk@nzherald.co.nz

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