Outdoor Maintenance:
Reclaiming a back yard -Aro Valley
The area above the owner’s house was overgrown with ivy and weeds and was never used. The owner saw potential for it to become a recreational area (party deck!). After carefully cutting back the plants, we levelled out the ground for later use as a lawn and installed small retaining walls to control any further soil incursion. Finally, we hid the unsightly foundation concrete around the fence posts by adding solid seating on top of them.
Repairs: Cracked tile... and maybe worse problems behind the wall - Kilbirnie
Prior to putting their house on the market, the owners got a building report done. It found elevated moisture readings where a tile was cracked next to the shower, which potentially meant serious (and costly) problems in the bathroom wall. We took a look and found moisture but no damage. The problem was an unsealed gap between the aluminium trim and the acrylic liner. Water would be channeled down through the gap, causing perpetual wetness, silicone failure and black mould. The crack in the tile was a red herring... the result of rough installation of the tile on the curved shower tray rim. The tile simply needed to be replaced and the shower properly sealed. Job done, beautiful again.
Repairs: Concrete deterioration – Island Bay
The owner of a 120-year old brick and concrete house had persistent black mould on the ceiling of two bay windows. Repeated attempts to seal from the inside had not worked – the plaster was flaking off, and they were struggling to get a tenant. At a glance, the bay window roofs looked OK, but a close inspection showed tiny pores in the paint. After removing the loose paint we found cracks which rain had seeped into. And, being situated so close to the sea, dried salt deposits meant that the water seeping in was salty – thus causing rust on the reinforcing steel. Southerleigh covered the entire bay window roofs with membrane, repainted outside, then replastered and repainted inside. Now the view inside is, again, as nice as the view outside.
Interior Painting: Water damage – Naenae
A leaking roof had caused significant damage to the textured ceiling underneath it, making the property impossible for the owner to rent out. Simply repainting was not an option; a bespoke texture had been used originally and this had to be matched. With some experimentation, we were able to recreate the same texture, returning the ceiling to a near-new look. Happy tenant, happy landlord.
Outdoor Maintenance: Drain installation - Paremata
The owner had noticed for years that water was pooling at the side of the house during heavy southerly rain. But thought it more of an annoyance than a major problem. They realised they had issues when carpet began to mould inside the house. Their attempts to seal the suspected leak failed and the mould worsened. It became a ‘must fix’ when time came to sell the property and the mould was noted on the building inspector’s report. Southerleigh installed a simple French drain, ensuring that any rainwater would travel away from the house, remediating the chronic damp that had caused the mould.
