1970s weatherboard house - problems with cladding

[Jem]

Has anyone had problems with a house built in the early 70's where rather than weatherboards, high density fibreboard was used. This is the case with one of my IP's and where water has got in under the paint, the board has gone soft and requires the cladding to be replaced - expensive! It looks like a number of the houses in the area have been built with this material although their owners don't seem to be doing anything about the problem. Anyone else had this problem, any suggestions?
Cheers.

[muppet]

Hi Jem

Alot of the cheaper houses were built of that stuff in the 70's.
A problem soon developed and Forest Products who made the stuff was taken to task and they replaced alot of it with a better quality covering.

However not all was replaced and that is the cladding which is now rotting away.

I looked at a house recently in Tokoroa where the back wall needed replacing. However my offer to purchase was turned down.

The only suggestion is to replace the wall with a modern equivalent.

Regards

[Jem]

I guess I need to get a quote for recladding the house and then try to work out whether this is a property worth fixing & hanging on to, or one to try to sell on asap. Unfortunately, when I bought the house this year I wasn't aware that the boards weren't proper weatherboards - which are usually low maintenance.

[muppet]

Hi Jem

I think the cladding is also called weatherside.

Regards

[Marcus]

I think the cladding is also called weatherside.

You are quite right there Muppet.
I recently had a contract on a property that had this exact same product used on an extension added some time ago. Luckily (for other reasons) I had a building inspection done that uncovered not only this fact, but also around another 80 odd points , but that’s another story...
Apparently NZFP recalled the product and offered cash settlements for those prepared to keep the product.

So, I guess the bottom line is that if your house still has weatherside, chances are someone took the money and ran.

When the product is painted and in "good nick", it is quite difficult to distinguish the difference between Hardiplank and Weatherside. The two methods I have heard of are,
1. Weatherside has a more bevelled edge than the Hardies product.
&
2. If you scratch the paint off of the hardies product you will see a grey fibre-cement material. If you see a brown wood based product (weatherside is oil impregnated wood fibres) its Weatherside. (Ironically this will cause the Weatherside to start decaying so be careful.)

Weatherside, if painted correctly and maintained, is a perfectly good product. If however the protective coating (Paint) is damaged and water is able to contact the wood fibres, the material will swell and rot.

Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Marcus.

[Jem]

Thanks guys, unfortunately the builder who looked at the house for me did it as a favour and didn't pick this up, so it's too late! I just don't know whether to keep it of try to sell...

[AustinWong]

I understand you can reclad an average 3 bedroom house for about $5000. I think this is for a product called Pallaside which is a plastic weatherboard substitute.

Consider cladding in brick also. You amy be surprised how competitive it may be.

All the best.

Lawrence

[Jem]

Thanks for that suggestion - I have made contact with the suppliers of Palliside and am going to get a quote.

[SAJ]

Re: 1970s weatherboard house - problems with cladding

Has anyone had problems with a house built in the early 70's where rather than weatherboards, high density fibreboard was used. This is the case with one of my IP's and where water has got in under the paint, the board has gone soft and requires the cladding to be replaced - expensive! It looks like a number of the houses in the area have been built with this material although their owners don't seem to be doing anything about the problem. Anyone else had this problem, any suggestions?
Cheers.

I have a problem relating to a product we are told is a vertical sheet form of "Weatherside" - untill a recent flooding problem we were unaware of the external cladding on part of our home being weatherside - we have now been told by our insurance company that they are not interested in reinstating it, due toi the fact that the product was withdrawn years ago - our contention is that it was quite OK untill the bottom 2 to 3 inches was immersed in water for 8 hours - Questions are:- where does one find NZ Forest Products, should the insurance company be expected to cover the cost, how was one supposed to know about the withdrawl, as first owners of the home why had we not been advised - can anyone help please SAJ

[Jem]

Sorry to hear you are also having problems. If you want to contact NZFPs, they are now Carter Holt Harvey. I contacted them but they were not having a bar of compensating me in any way. There view was that I should have had a building inspection which picked this up.

[drelly]

Hey Jem,

I guess that's a great (if unfortunate) example of why not to use friends for these types of things. An inspector you paid would have carried insurance that you could claim against him and in all likelihood would have picked it up anyway.

I went to a seminar recently that a building inspector gave and when you think about it, it really doesn't make sense to risk as much as we do on a house without a proper inspection! I have though!

[Jem]

Yes, I have certainly learnt a good lesson!
One good thing that came out of contacting Carter Holt that I should have mentioned is that they did send an inspector around who dealt with all the compensation claims in the 80s. He gave me a report detailing how long the weatherside would last and it turns out only one side of the house needs urgent attention, which was a relief to know.

[sandle]

i called Carter Holt about my house

they told me that they cant do anything, the only thing that happened was they told me the poeple who used to own my house didnt make a claim and now i dont have anything!!!!

[casacamo]

think this is for a product called Pallaside which is a plastic weatherboard substitute.

Palliside looks great when it is first insttalled, however
after a 5 years it starts to get a oxidised look which is due to
high uv conditions and need repainting.
The joints can get brittle & crack - then let in water.

I'm not sure what improvements have been made over the last
few years but it would pay to check warrantees etc. very closely.

Casacamo

[RonHoyFong]

Hi all forumites

I came across this problem a year ago Jan 2004, and it cost me a bucket of money plus the shirt on my back, and it was only because I was "Rent Reliant" using "No Doc Loans" (this problem is unlikely for newbie investors who have access to first tier lenders.)

The place was at West Auckland.

Not realizing what "Weatherside Weatherboard" was at the time (basically a brown hardboard that looks too much Hardiplank to the novice when painted) I went Cash Unconditional to beat the price down with a $20k deposit attached. Had a loan all pre-approved (subject to registered valuation report) for the balance $165K and because it was empty I managed to get early entry immediately. The beauty of this 3 bedroom IP was that it was a goer to build a minor dwelling on the back for $115k! (pre-July 2003 when there was no utility fees for drainage etc by Waitemata City.)

Total investment would have been a deposit of $20k plus reno and legal cost of around $10k. The Minor Dwelling would have been secured against the equity of the first house. Total investment cost would have been $$310 to $320k and rents around $610 pw.

Anyway having nearly finished my renos both inside and out, except for the carpet and Lino, problems started to hit the fan. The finance companies (including the pre-approved) that were second tier lenders all knocked me back.

The problem was the Weatherside Weatherboards showed some signs of deterioration (it didn’t look too good when the little bitty piece was photographed on a digital zoom lens by the Valuer). I went in and had it all repaired, and at the request of the finance company I had another valuer appointed by them (from Quotable Values NZ) plus a building inspector, (more cost.)

Incidentally the valuer advised Weatherside Weatherboard houses are worth $10k lesser in value when compared to similiar houses clad in Hardiplank which looks the same after painted. Back in the 80s there were claim settlements paid out by the manufacturing company, which is now out of time.

By now I was running well into late settlement penalty time by 6 weeks and had the 14-day notice served on me to settle.

Liberty Financials offered to bail me out, however the conditions attached was that they would hold back funds of $15k for re-cladding the place, interest rates floating at 10.8%, (now 11.8%) application fees around 2%, brokerage fee of 1.5%, and massive break-fees if repaid within 3 years.

Needles to say, I canned the deal and transferred it to a nephew who had pre-approval with his own first tier lender up to 90% finance and only 6.95% fixed interest at the time. He finished off the carpet, lino, plus curtains and got the place valued 1 month later for $225k, a nice $40k payday.

The alternative was losing my $20k deposit plus all the reno work and landscaping back to the Vendor. The vendors was also a property investor because the purchased ($165K) and settle on the property only 4 months earlier 5 Sept 2003)

The minor dwelling continues with a construction loan at 8.5% floating and is near completion. Already a neighboring tenant is waiting in line at Market Rent.

My nephew’s gain is about $70k over 16 months and a pretax 10% gross rental return on an IP now worth $380k.

My loss is the 2mths penalty Interest for delayed settlement $4.5k, loss of renovation cost $5k, loss of the interest on expenses $1.5k, valuation, building reports, and legal fees cost $2k, and loss of time, loss of potential gains $70k plus, (and as to the $20k deposit on the place, well that was a family thing to help a nephew get started into IPs)

Cheers Ron
Email: [email protected]

RONS TIP – BEWARE GOING CASH UNCONDITIONAL ON A PROPERTY THAT IS CLAD WITH WEATHERSIDE WEATHERBOARDS

RONS TIP - A GOOD BARGAINING POINT TO NEGOTIATE THE PRICE DOWN FURTHER BEFORE PUTTING IN THE OFFER.