more from lemon cottage

[meg]

Hi guys,

first of all thanks for all the advice so far, you've been great.

Latest woe is that the siding of lemon cottage is cracking! It is made from hardiflex, according to the plans atleast, and there are cracks in it that I feel would let water in when it rains. Those of you that have been following my posts would know that rising water is one of the issues I have been having. Now, the siding looks pretty crappy anyway and I am thinking of cladding it in hardyplank eventually. But only when I can afford to. Meanwhile, to get my through the next winter (if it ever rains again) is it okay to fill the cracks with some sort of filler? What sort do you recommend. Where the hardiflex has cracked, the siding feels very wobbly so I don't like to put too much pressure on it. Honestly, one big gust of wind and the whole thing will blow away!

Cheers boys and thanks again. I await your sage advice with anticipation!

Meg

[OBBob]

Hi Meg, How big are the eves and which side of the house is it on and how wide are the cracks? if it were melbourne, with reasonable sized eves and not on the West side of the house I would have said it would rarely get too much water in (the rain seems to drive from the West a lot here).

Maybe post a pic?

[journeyman Mick]

Meg,
you need to investigate the cause of the cracking. Some movement must be taking place as sheets won't crack, no matter how brittle they become over the years, unless the framing is moving. Possible causes include:
footings moving because the ground is drying out (or getting very wet, unlikely I know), subsidence due to tunneling, mining, underground springs or water courses, gutters discharging on the ground next to the building, or building on uncompacted ground.
Water damage to timber framing.
Termite damage to timber framing.
Undersized members in the frame
etc etc etc:(

Mick

[meg]

The cause is probably all of the above:

I have had the white ant experience (nasty evidence of in wall frames).

Before I fixed it, I had storm water gushing out adjacent to back corner of the cottage, sinking straight into the gravel path, and because the driveway slopes to the road, the water probably swished past and soaked in the side of the house. I had the storm water redirected with pipes to go out to road drains, so the area surrounding the walls is now very dry.

There is probably not enough framing as the whole structure was done on the cheap.

And the whole thing faces west with no eaves.

Do you reckon a reclad would solve the problem?

Meg

[journeyman Mick]

Meg,
Istill reckon you should be looking at legal action to recover the costs of repairs from the building surveyor. In Qld, at any rate, they're required to carry proffesional indemnity insurance just for this reason.

Mick