Downpipes on one level only
Water arriving with nowhere to go.
In short: Downpipes recorded incomplete at lock-up and at fixing stage in Austral.
What was recorded
Downpipes installed to the first floor only, at an Austral lock-up inspection, and a ground floor downpipe not installed at a fixing stage visit on another job.
Why it is more than an omission
A roof collects an enormous volume of water in a storm. Gutters that cannot discharge overflow, and the overflow lands beside the footing rather than in the stormwater system.
What that does to the ground
Water dumped repeatedly at one point beside a slab changes the soil moisture there. Reactive ground responds to moisture change by moving, which is what the slab was engineered to resist rather than absorb.
The related finding
Grading is required, recorded at both fixing stage and handover on Austral jobs. The two go together: water has to be led away, and the ground has to let it go.
What a buyer should do
Walk the perimeter in the rain if you get the chance, and otherwise look for where water has clearly been running.
Written by the Owner Inspections team from inspections carried out in Edmondson Park. Licensed building practitioners, NSW Fair Trading licence 366177C.
