Leaky Homes, If You Thought It Was Just About Water Leaks, Think Again

There are 89,000 leaky homes out there at last count. How can you avoid owning one or, if you do own one, make the right decisions to minimise the cost of repairs?

Hi, I'm, Gavin Lord, and I naively thought everyone in New Zealand had heard about leaky homes by now. I was wrong. I forgot two important facts:-

New immigrants are coming into New Zealand to settle every single day and
Many home owners whose homes aren't showing any signs of leaking are assuming the problem doesn't affect them, despite their homes being built in the danger period of 1993-2004. There is still a widespread belief that houses in New Zealand don't fall to pieces due to faulty materials or workmanship. That time has passed!

I am still seeing first hand examples of these situations with new immigrant work colleagues, and family members. I was nearly caught out myself in early 2000 when I was planning to build a home. Due to a family crisis and procrastination I didn't get around to it. That bit of procrastination probably saved me $2-300,000! Shortly after, the proverbial hit the fan and the media got hold of the story. And what a story!

The First Warning Signs of Leaky Homes

In the late 1990s, early 2000s it started to become apparent that there was a problem with homes and buildings built during the previous decade. The media started reporting leaky homes with serious weatherproof issues and water damage. It 'didn't seem to affect only the lower priced end of the market. Multimillion dollar homes were becoming uninhabitable, if not downright dangerous to live in. A new word was invented, weathertightness.

What Caused The Proliferation of Leaky Homes?

In 1991 the Government of the day passed the Building Act which allowed builders and developers to cut corners in building construction. Many houses and buildings were built during the 1990s, early 2000s using methods that haven't withstood the test of time or weather. We have all heard about RTV silicon being used around window frames to seal them. These structures were doomed from the start by poor design, inappropriate materials being used and poor construction methods.
One of the more common issues has been water or moisture getting behind monolithic cladding. If there has been no cavity created between the cladding and the framework, the water becomes trapped and cannot easily escape or evaporate.

It Gets Worse!

In 1995, a change in the New Zealand standard for Timber Treatment (as referenced in Acceptable Solution B2/AS1) allowed the use of untreated kiln-dried timber in wall framing. If this untreated timber framing gets wet, it starts to rot...quickly!

Now put these two situations together, poor design and construction methods allowing water ingression on to untreated timber framing. This was the perfect recipe for leaky homes.

How big is this Problem?

With the Government, councils, architects, building inspectors and builders all running for cover, it isn't something that is going to be swept under the carpet any time soon.
The latest figures put the problem at $23 billion affecting 89,000 homes and buildings throughout New Zealand, depending on what report you are reading.

Leaky Homes Cause Health Issues

It has long been known that certain moulds and fungi can cause health issues. Stachybotrys mould (a type of fungi) produces spores that carry chemical toxins known as mycotoxins. These may cause influenza like symptoms. They are particularly dangerous to the young, old and those with weakened immune systems. People have been hospitalised because they failed to take adequate precautions when carrying out repairs on their houses.
Damp living conditions can worsen the symptoms of breathing disorders such as asthma and bronchitis.

What Has Been Done About the Leaky Homes Crisis?

In 2002 the Building Industry Authority, (now the Department of Building and Housing), appointed a Weathertightness Overview Group to investigate the weathertightness of buildings in New Zealand. The group visited a number of affected buildings and met with many representatives from different sectors of the building industry. In its final report, (commonly known as the Hunn Report) it identified the causes of leaky buildings and made many recommendations.
Since then there have been numerous changes to the Building Code and other Acts of parliament to try and mitigate this disaster.

Having the Right Information is Key

I have spent months trawling through official reports, newspaper articles and websites to get to the truth about leaky homes. What I discovered was frightening. I learnt that badly built homes quickly exhibited water damage, but if a home was well designed and built, it could take 15 years for any signs of damage to show externally. That means houses built in 1995/96 at the start of the danger period, may not be showing any signs of water damage...yet.

Buying a home is the largest investment you will make in your life. Thousands of owners of leaky homes have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars over this fiasco, some much more than they needed to. Don't be one of them!

I have packed all you need to know in a concise eBook called Leaky Homes a 23 Billion Dollar Disaster. It details:-

The historical events that led to leaky homes
The size of the problem and how to determine if a home falls under the leaky homes criteria
Know what to look for to Identify leaky homes before you need a building surveyor. Did you know weathertightness is specifically excluded from the pre-purchase inspections standard?
Learn why you need to know what framing has been used in a building
Learn about the health risks for people living in leaky homes
Learn what options are available for making a claim against responsible parties
Learn about the latest Government initiatives and Acts of Parliament that have been passed recently and how short the timeframe is becoming for claims to be made
Learn what impact the leaky homes crisis is having and going to have on certain types of houses and buildings whether they are leaky homes or not
Learn why LIM reports can't be relied upon
Leaky home owners are often making the wrong decisions, and it is costing them dearly!

Click here to order your leaky homes e-Book copy securely through PayPal

Money Back Guarantee

This is a no risk purchase because if for any reason you're not 100% happy with this eBook, you're protected by my 100% RISK-FREE money back guarantee.
If for whatever reason you don't feel that this eBook was worth many times your investment, simply let me know within 60 days and I'll issue you a full refund, no questions asked.
I would appreciate it if you do let me know why my ebook failed to meet your expectations. This is a very serious subject, and if I can help just one other person by making some changes to the eBook, I will do so.

Here is what to do now

Since this is an eBook (Electronic Book), you can download it to your computer within minutes.

That means you can get your hands on the latest information about leaky homes in less than 5 minutes. Time is running very very short for some home owners. Don't be like the leaky home owner who had owned his new home for 9 years only to find his home had been a display home for a year prior therefore it didn't qualify for any Government assistance packages.

(All you need is a credit card - no special Internet accounts or anything like that. And it's 100% safe and secure. Your credit card data is passed directly to the bank and no one but the bank has access to your sensitive information).

If nothing else, I hope that this website stirs home owners into taking action that could save them thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It seems that owners of leaky homes are going to wear the majority of the cost of fixing their homes with precious little help from the Government.

Good luck
Gavin Lord
Contact us at: info@leakyhomes.org.nz

All this knowledge for
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P.S.
Time is of the essence. How often do we hear that? In this case time will cost you plenty if you don't act quickly. Take the example above where the home owner thought his brand new home would qualify for Government assistance only to find the qualifying period extended to the time it was built, not when he bought it.
Just because your home isn't showing signs of being one of the 89,000 leaky homes right now, but it was built between 1993/2004, you can take appropriate steps to lessen damage early and save thousands.