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KNOWLEDGE

 

ARTICLES

BUILDING PERFORMANCE

DESIGN DIRECTION

INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION

Rigid vs Flexible Air Barrier Systems

The first layer of protection is the seal around your home, then you’ve got your cavity system and then you’ve got the deflection layer.  The seal around your home is the Air Barrier System which is critical.  To help you understand…

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The Importance of Pressure Balanced Cavity Systems

Cavity construction was introduced with the change in the Building Code in 2004.  Two of the 4 Ds are covered with these Pressure Balanced Cavity Systems, that is ‘Drainage’ and ‘Drying’. The idea with a Pressure Balanced Cavity System…

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Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) Systems

ICFs are basically very large format polystyrene blocks, comparable to traditional masonry blocks.  However, for one ICF block you would need 4-6 traditional masonry blocks (due to the size of most ICFs).  The ICF is laid (like…

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Why Critical Junctions are Critical

Critical junctions are areas of a building where construction materials and construction methods intersect. They are the areas of construction that most designers turn a blind eye to and they are also the areas that will make your…

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Introducing Laminam - Large Format Tiles

It's not that often that we get excited about a new material or construction technique - not since ICF systems, at least. Primarily we want to be sure of anything we recommend before we shout about it here. Laminam is another story. We…

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Preventing Leaky Home Issues Starts with Basic Home Maintenance

Ask any builder, designer or building inspector, and they will all confirm that keeping your home well maintained is the best way you can prevent leaky home issues.  While we are all doing everything we can in the industry to prevent…

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Why use synthetic plaster systems?

The typical exterior plaster system for most NZ homes has been cementitious or cement-based plaster. These plaster systems are fine for simple homes associated with a low ‘design complexity’. However, when more complicated homes are…

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Understanding Why - Great Design Creates Great Value

When investing large sums of money into your future by way of building new or renovating, the biggest opportunity to create more value than you are spending is through good design. We know that ‘great design creates great value’ and…

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The Modern Take on Privacy Screens

With the availability of lightweight alumium and access to laser cutting technology, privacy screens are no longer limited to the basic wooden slats of recent times. These days you can add that real 'Wow' factor to your home, in a…

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Insulated Concrete Forms - How do they work?

Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) are very large format polystyrene blocks with a hollow core in which concrete is poured to form the wall structure. The polystyrene walls of the blocks then provide an additional barrier system which adds…

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