Hi All,
Firstly my heart goes out to those who have lost family and all possessions in the QLD Floods.I have a couple of questions which I am hoping someone may be able to help me with as I have had conflicting reports.
My property is in Ipswich (I live in Melb). The water got to head height and was under water for 2 days give or take. It is a post war timber home.
Internal walls are made of a fibro like material. Would this need replacing? Even if it looks ok what would underneath be like?
Wiring? I know it will need a tick from a sparky to be turned back on. Will all the wiring be required to be replaced though?
Kitchen 4 years old. Im guessing this will have to go?
Bathroom has the sheeting style wall protection in wet areas? Will this need replacing along with tiles in other areas?
I have spoken to the tennant who said engineers came to the home and they said yes to the walls and wiring. However I spoke to a sparky and another tradie who said no to the walls and wiring….
So confusing.
Any help would be great guys.
From doing some research I think the walls are MDF.
Im a carpenter and I work for my father who owns an Insurance repair company, he is flying to brisbane on wednesday next week to look into setting up a base to work out of. With the floods from North QLD a couple of years ago wall linings (plaster board) were cut half way up the wall (or higher from flooding point) all skirting boards and architraves (usually made of mdf) all replaced. tiled floors get lifted and re tiled, timber floors get sanded and re polished, and new doors through out… Provided you are covered by flood insurance!
With regards to these new floods there is lots of talk of toxic water, houses may need to be stripped of all wall linings and decontaminated with an industrial cleaning product.
with regards to electrical i think they just get tested but generally the cables are fine.
Generally mdf & plasterboard do absorb water and will be damaged. Products like fibro, timber panelling or aqua-panel will absorb water but will dry out without damage.
Electrics will need a sparky to check.
Awesome thanks guys. Is MDF used anymore?? or is it replaced with plaster board. The insurance assessor who called but couldn't talk long mentioned quikly that the walls contained asbestos and removed arcordingly.
mdf is still used. You would replace asbestos sheets with fibre cement, just as hard wearing. Get a licensed contractor to remove the asbestos.
We've had some volunteers helping up there and there has been quite a few cases of people ripping out wall lining not realising that it is asbestos, especially in bathrooms and laundries. If you are not sure, get it tested and get it removed by a licencsed professional.
We have also been putting together a 'Flood Renovations – Quick Guide' together with the Reno Kings and Property Women. One of the things that Geoff emphasises is 'asbestos can handle exposure to water without damange. You can clean with just one side off or remove a section to clean'.
Basically, the worst thing you can do is start ripping it off in sections and worse, what we saw some people do is, then just throw those sections into the water lying around and piles of rubbish.
You also probably don't need to remove all the plaster, just the damaged sections and then replace those sections of plasterboard and stop (wet plaster) the joins..
For anyone interested, we will be releasing the Quick Guide in the next few days which goes through all different aspects of renovating during flooding, from how to deal with insurance, what you can salvage, heal and safety, etc
This is bound to become another '911' issue – heaps of volunteers rushing in to help with the rescue/rebuilding but with little regard to their own safety or likelihood of contracting the silent killer 'meso' from unwittingly exposing themselves to poor site planning and incorrect methods for the handling of asbestos products.
Class action – here we come. Save us from our own ignorance.
(PS Ana, I look forward to the guide).
Would the fibro then be sealed etc so it looks like plasterboard ie all smooth etc and without the strips running up and down the wall covering the gaps and the nails somewhat showing? I hope you know what I mean.
You have a few things to consider. 1. Water/mud etc behind the sheeting this should be removed and the timbers allowed to dry and the timbers cleaned so not to develop mould which may come back and cause you issues later. 2. The sparkie doing my works said he just replaces all powerpoints, switches, safety switches etc he says he then has no issues with faulty switches from corrossion later.
3. The bathroom how much is going to be behind or under the bath?
4. When and if you take the sheeting off the sheeting will most likely be asbestos, you can only legally remove 10sqm without having a lisence.
5. Moisture content of structural timbers this should be below 16 before resheeting is carried out.
6. Waterproofing will or should be checked.
7. Before sanding any floors these also will need to dry out and this can take a few months unless you can organise proper dryers.
8. If taking plasterboard off go at least 300mm above the water line and remove from there down, in some cases easier to remove all wall linings.
Go to either BSA web site or Master Builders Qld they have some good info on how to do flood repairs.
Brian
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