December 2000
Good Afternoon
Have You Ever Seen A Plumber Dancing On A Hot
Tin Roof -
That Was Just After He Had Set The House On Fire
Modern building materials help prevent fires
This is a story I was too embarrassed to talk about, until now.
As time has passed we (the owner, the plumber & myself) can
look back and laugh about it. The most valuable thing to come
out of it was a change in design and materials.
About three years ago we sold a showhome, and it was moved to
one of the most beautiful sites we've ever built on, just out
of Masterton, overlooking the Tararua ranges and surrounded by
mature totara trees. The ideal setting for the other style of
home we specialise in - our Frontier series, which have a very
rustic look using rough sawn timbers and chunky beams with round
tree-like veranda posts.
As it was a showhome, the house was transported to the property
fully finished and lowered down on to the foundation overlooking
a small bluff. Because of its location it was quite exposed to
strong winds. After completion and hand-over, but before the owners
had had a chance to move in, the surrounding area of the house
experienced some extreme north-west winds. During the blow a piece
of spouting was torn off the side of the house facing the bluff,
so after the storm had died down the plumber was sent back to
repair and replace it. The wind had been so strong that the section
of spouting had been dislodged from one side of the house, blown
over the roof and landed 200m away in another paddock.
As the plumber was fitting the replacement spouting he looked
up and noticed that the copper exhaust pipe to the hot water cylinder
had been bent over. The plumber assumed that it must have taken
a blow from the section of spouting as it passed across the roof
during the storm, and decided that once he had repaired the spouting
he'd get up on the roof and repair that too.
He took a few hand tools up on to the roof, including a hacksaw,
gas bottle and welding equipment. The pipe had bent just above
the roofing iron so he cut the pipe, cleaned up the ends and proceeded
to weld the pipes back together. As he was welding a flame or
spark must have got through the hole in the roof where the pipe
came through, and the building paper caught fire under the roof
and in the attic space.
The building paper which was tar based, spread right across the
house in the attic space, and soon the roof framing caught fire.
Anyway, here was the plumber doing a panic on the roof as it got
hotter and hotter under his feet. Fortunately he had his cell
phone in his pocket and quickly called the fire brigade. Thankfully
the fire was restricted to only smoke and water damage, but I
had a very red-faced plumber on one side and a very angry owner
on the other.
Although the owner was angry, and had every right to be, according
to the local plumbing inspector the plumber's technique was considered
trade practice (setting the house on fire wasn't trade practice
but his workmanship was). We learnt a valuable lesson there too.
Never use standard tar-based building paper. Back then we changed
to relatively new flame-proof building papers, but these days
there are quite a few brands to choose from. All up, flame-proof
papers only add about $400 to the cost of building a new house.
A wise investment wouldn't you think. After our experience (and
I'm sure others have met the same fate), I'm surprised that tar-based
building paper is still an acceptable building product to use
in New Zealand construction.
So if you are having a new house built and about to choose your
builder based on price, make sure you know what materials they
are using. Over the years you've probably heard me say or sick
of me saying - it's not the size of a house that determines the
end cost, it's the fittings, fixtures and finishings that are
used, ie: the materials.
LIMs vs PIMs
The PIM or LIM may seem boring but they can be vital to the successful
planning of your proposed building project and purchase of land.
So you maybe slightly better informed, I reprinted the article
out of the New Zealand Build magazine. The New Zealand Build magazine
has been mostly put together by BRANZ and often has very interesting
or vital pieces of information inside for builders and designers.
My wife, Jackie was reading it and commented to me that if she
were building, the article on LIMs vs PIMs would be of value to
her, something I had overlooked as being just builders stuff.
Too often we suffer from the curse-of-assumption.
An article from the New Zealand Build magazine.
Building controls LIMs vs PIMs
Those who are dealing with real estate and the building process
on a regular basis will be familiar with the terms 'LIM' and
'PIM'. But many are not exactly sure of the differences between
them.
Just because these documents appear to do basically the same
thing and are both isuused by a territorial authority (TA),
it does not mean they are the same. For a start, only the
PIM has anything to do with the Building Act. The LIM is tucked
away in lesser known legislation called the Local Government
Information and Meeting Act.
Because the PIM is covered by the Building Act, it is specific
to a proposed project where a building consent is required.
That is why it is called Project Information Memorandum (PIM).
A Land Information Memorandum (LIM), on the other hand, gives
information on land and buildings as they exist, and it can
be applied for at any time without the need for a building
consent. So although they both deal with land and buildings
(see Table 1), they nevertheless deal with that information
from different points of view.
Table 1. Contents of LIMs and PIMS compared
| PIM - Project Information Memorandum |
LIM - Land Information Memorandum |
1. Inclusion of special land features, such as potential
erosion, subsidence, flooding and such as erosion, subsidence,
flooring and hazardous contaminants, which are known to
the TA and likely to be relevant to the proposed building
project. |
1. Inclusion of special and
features of the site, such as erosion, subsidence, flooring
and hazardous contaminants. |
2. Inclusion of the land or
building on registers or classification lists held by
other statutory bodies, such as the Historic Places Trust.
|
2. Inclusion of the land or
building on registers or classification lists held by
other statutory bodies, such as the Historic Places Trust. |
| 3. Relevant details of waste
- or storm-water systems on the site or adjoining land. |
3. Information on public or
private waste -and storm-water systems on the site. |
| 4. Authorisations required
for the project, either by the TA or other network utility
operators*, the requirements to be met under those authorisations
and the conditions such authorisations are subject to.
(* Only information supplied by any network utility a
TA is required to be included.) |
4. Any rates owing on the land. |
5. Confirm work which may or
may not be undertaken, and any conditions attached to
the Work.
|
5. Permits, consents, requisitions
or other certificates issued by the TA, or building certifier,
for the land or buildings. |
| |
6. Use to which the land may
be put and any conditions attached to the conditions applying. |
Who can apply?
Any person can apply for a LIM at any time, and for any reason
(not necessarily related to the building project). So a prospective
purchase may use a LIM for information on rates owing, or
building consents that have or have not been issued for work
on the site.
An application for a PIM, on the other hand, would only be
applied for by someone with a scheme for a building project
on the land. the scheme will need to describe the intended
project as fully as possible, albeit in preliminary outline
form, to enable the TA to provide all relevant information
in its possession which it considers will be relevant to the
project.
A PIM report will do one of two things. Either:
1. confirm that the work may proceed, subject to other stated
provisions being met,
or
2. notify why the project cannot proceed. The reasons for
this may be outside the scope of the Building Act.
It is better that the PIM is obtained early - by making an
application during preliminary design of the project - rather
than waiting until building consent stage when a nasty shock
may be in store. The cost of the PIM is included as part of
a building consent fee in any case, and a building consent
application is deemed to included a PIM application. So there
is much to gain and little to lose with early applications.
LIMs and PIMs are both required to provide information which
cannot otherwise be obtained from a District Scheme under
the Town and Country Planning Act 1977, or a District Plan
under the Resource Management Act 1991. While each must contain
certain prescribed information (see Table 1), they are also
required to provide such other information concerning the
land (for a LIM) or the land and scheme (for a PIM) which
the TA, at its discretion, considers relevant. It is in this
that the benefits of a PIM over a LIM for a building project
really become apparent. An examination of Table 1 will explain
further their similarities and differences.
Article by John Harper
A BRANZ technical writer.
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Until next time, here's wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas.
Just for the record and the purest, the new millennium starts on
January 1 2001. Enjoy your end of year break.
Regards
Julian Moss
Oh PS: More and more inquires and sales are from beyond the toll
free area of our office. Because of this, for your convenience I
have installed an 0800 Free-Help phone line to our office. So if
you have any questions or queries you can contact me (that's Julian
Moss) on:
0800 MOSS BROS (6677-2767)
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