FINDING CRACKS IN YOUR HOME? – don’t stress, we have a few options for you…

• Invisible Invasive Inspections
• Invisible Crack Repairs
• leaky home reclad/repairs

- One of the most common causes of a leaky plaster home is plaster cracking, the heating and cooling of the plaster and paint products that have previously been used in our common building practice over the last two decades in many cases just don’t cut it.

There are a number of causes for plaster cracks to appear in leaky homes or potentially leaky homes. The most common is the fact that most plasterers, even today, do not use a reinforcing mesh. Consumers beware!  Another, is the fact that most plasterers also use porous plaster systems rather than a step by step waterproof plastering system, this leaves all faith in an external, weather exposed, super thin, water proof membrane… the paint.  Common sense will tell you that’s not a good idea, even if you’re not a tradesman, it’s like putting a plaster on your skin and hoping it won’t come off in the rain.  Once the water has penetrated the plaster it then is absorbed through the cladding (in most cases unsealed ‘porous’ Hardie board) if it has not been sealed. Once there, the timber becomes a sponge and capillary action sets in.  We have seen moisture travel up to 5 meters from the ‘leaks’ point of entry.  It does this by travelling through what was once the tree’s rings or veins in which the tree used to carry ‘sap’ to feed itself and is now carrying water to destroy your leaky homes structural integrity. Once the timber is soft and the decomposing has begun the cracks start to show externally on your building due to the movement of the decaying timber substrate under the cladding.

So you’re freaking out now, thinking, “surely those cracks on my house won’t be like that”…  In many cases you will be right, if you remedy the problem as quickly as possible. (Do not run outside with a silicone tube and fill them up, it only makes them worse as the silicone then traps the moisture) In other cases unfortunately you will be wrong. Be wary as many builder’s will try and blow the ‘cracked plaster’ accusation off with a ‘those are just settlement cracks’ response.  Now, you can buy that if you like, or you can get it checked out properly by Accurate Building and Maintenance and be 100% sure of your investigation.

“SO WHAT DO I DO NOW? I CAN’T BELIEVE IT, I HAVE ONE OF THESE NIGHTMARES TO REPAIR!!”

We have dealt with Leaky homes, plaster crack repairs and reclads from small houses to multiple apartment blocks and we understand how unsettling it can be discovering you could have a leaky home.

The first thing to do is give us a call, (do not get thermal imaging out, or buy a home with just a thermal imaging report. (If the thermal imaging inspection is carried out in a dry season or while the home is dry, you have NO WAY of telling whether or not it is an accurate report.) We’ll send one of our Licensed Building Practitioners out to meet with you at your home and have an in depth look at the possibilities you are faced with.  From there, based on our in-depth knowledge and past experience, we will recommend which ever step is going to cut to the chase and remedy your leaky home as quickly as possible for you,  back to the ‘market’ standard.

With our Invisible Crack Repairs, the process will be:

1. To grind out all of the cracks in the plaster work to a minimum of 150mm, enough to provide exposed cladding to install jointing mesh tape.
2. Once all cracks are prepped, the tape is cut and placed into new joints and the first coat of waterproof plaster is applied.
3. Given enough time to set (weather dependent) the second coat of waterproof plaster is applied to submerge the mesh, preventing any defects in the finish.
4. We then apply the Final coat of the waterproof plastering system, in which is a softer texture, allowing the plaster to be manipulated before drying to create an invisible repair by matching in to the existing plaster texture.
5. The final step is to then paint the fresh plaster to seal the texture and harden the finishing layer using a waterproof, breathable, Hydrophobic paint. (matching to any existing colour is available)

So if you have any suspect areas around your home, do not hesitate in getting them sorted out! Do it once, Do it right!

CALL US NOW! 09 630 ABML  Get it sorted out today.

For information on our products and systems please see our ‘leaky home reclad/repair guide’