Revised timber-framed buildings Standard NZS 3604 – postal ballot

Standards New Zealand is preparing the final draft of the revised Timber-framed buildings Standard NZS 3604 for postal ballot. NZS 3604 is the foremost Standard in New Zealand for the building and construction industry. Publication of the revised NZS 3604 is scheduled for late 2010/early 2011.

Public comment on the draft of the revised NZS 3604 has been completed. The technical committee and working groups have reviewed the public comments and the draft is being updated. Once postal ballot is completed in September 2010 the revised NZS 3604 will be prepared for publication.

Making sure you have safety glass

The Department of Building and Housing is reminding building officials of the importance of verifying that safety glass is used in areas where it is required.

Safety glass reduces the likelihood of cutting or piercing injuries resulting from human impact with the glass. For this reason safety glass is commonly used to meet the requirements of Building Code Clause F2 Hazardous Building Materials. Building consent applicants who use Acceptable Solution F2/AS1 to show compliance with Building Code Clause F2 are required to use safety glass in certain building locations, such as doors, balustrades, and bathrooms. Therefore, when inspecting building work building officials should satisfy themselves that safety glass has been used.

New industry body – PrefabNZ

Newly formed PrefabNZ's mission is to double the uptake of prefabrication in New Zealand by 2020. It believes an increased uptake of prefabrication is for the good of New Zealand's wider design and construction industry. BRANZ has measured the current amount of prefabrication in the New Zealand building industry as 17% (by comparing the cost of the prefabricated components of residential and non-residential buildings as a percentage of the total cost). A key aim of PrefabNZ is to increase this to 40% by 2020.

Insulating glass units – installation

Issue 19 – August 2010

For setting block positions for IGUs, see AS/NZS 4666:2000 Insulating glass units, which has positions and the numbers required for various configurations of window types. It also covers edge clearances, edge cover, rebate depths, and rebate drainage.

Summarised from BRANZ Guideline, July 2010.

→ Buy AS/NZS 4666:2000 Insulating glass units

Stair design

The performance requirements of New Zealand Building Code D1 Access routes related to stairs is given in clause D1.3.3. Stair treads must:

Access routes and slip resistance

Issue 19 – August 2010

The performance requirements of New Zealand Building Code clause D1 Access routes requires walking surfaces to have adequate slip resistance under all conditions of use but gives no specific performance requirement. For designs following the non-mandatory Acceptable Solution D1/AS1, section 2.1.1 states that 'Level access routes to which the public has access, including level accessible routes, shall have a mean coefficient of friction μ, of not less than 0.4 when tested in accordance with AS/NZS 3661.1'. Therefore, for a dwelling where the public does not have access to the access routes within the building, BRANZ believes the minimum slip resistance requirements of 0.4 cannot be mandatorily applied. There is no specific slip resistance requirement for spaces within the building such as bathrooms and kitchens where the risk of slipping is much higher. We reiterate that BRANZ has always recommended that any walk-on surface – whether an access route or not – should have sufficient slip resistance to make it safe for occupants to walk on.

Reproduced from BRANZ Guideline, July 2010.

Selecting proprietary bottom plate fixings to slab on ground

When specifying proprietary bottom plate fixings to slab on ground construction:

• What is the rating of the fixing proposed? Does it have the required rating for (a) the bottom plates (see NZS 3604:1999 clause 7.5.12) or (b) the proposed proprietary bracing system.
• What depth of concrete does the fastener require?
• Can the edge distance requirement for the fastener be achieved?
• Does it meet the durability requirement? In concrete, 50 mm cover is required in all zones. Permanent concrete masonry formwork requires cover of 60 mm in the sea spray zone, which may not be achievable with 90 mm framing. Both concrete and masonry foundations require a minimum of 25 MPa concrete in the sea spray zone. Lesser cover may be allowable in other zones but these lesser covers could be overridden by the structural edge distance requirements for proprietary fasteners.

ForestWood 2010 conference – October 2010

Registration is open for the ForestWood 2010 Conference, Tuesday 12 October 2010 at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.

ForestWood 2010 is a pan-industry conference being jointly hosted by Forest Owners Association, Wood Processors Association, Pine Manufacturers Association, Forest Industry Contractors Association, and supported by Woodco, NZ Farm Forestry Association, and Frame & Truss Manufacturers Association.

Wood Processors Association – New CEO

Issue 19 – August 2010

The Wood Processors Association of New Zealand (WPA) announced in July 2010 that Dr Jon Tanner has accepted the role of Chief Executive Officer commencing 17 August 2010.

Visit the WPA website to read the media release.

NEW PUBLICATION

AS/NZS 3679.1:2010 Part 1: Hot-rolled bars and sections

Specifies requirements for the production and supply of hot-rolled structural steel bars and sections for general structural and engineering applications.
Supersedes AS/NZS 3679.1:1996 Structural steel – Hot-rolled bars and sections

→ Buy this Standard

DRAFT STANDARDS FOR COMMENT

DR2537.1 Mechanical jointing fittings for use with crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X) for pressure applications Part 1: Plastics piping systems for hot and cold water installations – Crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X) – General

An adoption with national modifications and has been reproduced from ISO 15875-1:2003, Plastics piping systems for hot and cold water installations – Crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X), Part 1: General and its Amendment 1 (2007) which is added at the end of the source text. The modifications and additional requirements for application of ISO 15875-1 in Australia and New Zealand are set out in Appendix ZZ.
Draft comment for this Standard closes on 10 September 2010

→ View or download this draft Standard for comment

DR2537.2 Mechanical jointing fittings for use with crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X) for pressure applications Part 2: Plastics piping systems for hot and cold water installations – Crosslinked polyethylene (PE-X) – Fittings

STANDARDS IN DEVELOPMENT

DZ 3122 A1 Specification for Portland and blended cements (General and special purpose)

Committee: P3122
Project Manager: Sonia van Ree
Estimated Publication Date: September 2010
The aim of this amendment is to align NZS 3122:2009 with a worldwide initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete by reducing carbon dioxide emissions associated with the process of cement manufacture. This amendment also takes into consideration the results from tests on New Zealand concretes and cements.
Public comment on this draft concluded on 19 July 2010. The committee is now considering public comments.

Amendment 2 to NZS 4229:1999 Concrete masonry buildings not requiring specific engineering design