Publication

Amendment

BRANZ works published before April 2011

All BRANZ works published before April 2011 may not fully incorporate the E2/AS1 Amendment 5 revisions.

Building Basics Building Code Compliance

Download 2019 update supplement

Building Basics Building Controls

First edition withdrawn. 

Building Basics Your Business

Download 2017 update supplement

Bulletin 481 Timber windows

Download Bulletin 481 supplement.

Bulletin 485 Domestic on-site wastewater systems

Bulletin 498 Preparation for concrete floor slabs

Paragraph 12.0.2 of this bulletin refers to shrinkage control joints and states that: "Mesh reinforcing to the slab must stop each side of the joint." This is not correct - stopping the reinforcement each side of the joint creates a ‘free joint', not a shrinkage control joint. The mesh in a reinforced concrete slab on ground should not be cut when cutting/forming a shrinkage control joint. See Build 84 Oct/Nov 2004 p35 for more information.

This bulletin refers to NZBC clause B2 Durability, and states in paragraph 4.1.2 that: "The main roof components must be provided with a durability of not less than 50 years." Where a green roof system is designed so that it is considered moderately easy to repair/replace the waterproofing system (by removing the growing medium), it is believed that a durability that is equal to the serviceable life of the garden system, but not less than 15 years, would be appropriate for the waterproofing system. A durability of not less than 50 years would still apply to the supporting structure.
A durability of not less than 50 years is, we believe, appropriate for a waterproofing system that is difficult to access for repair and/or maintenance. Factors that would influence this include ease of access on to the roof, height of the roof and the depth of the growing medium.

Bulletin 541 Concrete floor slabs

Amendment 11 to compliance document B1/AS1 requires the use of grade 500E mesh for concrete slab-on-ground reinforcing. This change applies to slabs on ground being built to NZS 3604:2011, NZS 4229 and NZS 4299. Bars within the foundation must also be ‘E' type steel to ensure they have sufficient ductility but may be either grade 300E or grade 500E. Paragraph 4.6.1 of Bulletin 541 incorrectly asserts that all steel bars within the foundation wall must be grade 500E.

• Clause 3.2.3 of this bulletin correctly specifies the requirement for slab reinforcing to be tied to foundation wall reinforcing with R10 stirrups at 600 mm centres to meet the requirements of NZS 3604:2011 Timber-framed buildings. Unfortunately, this was not reflected in Figure 1 referred to in the text and the note at the bottom of the drawing should be amended to read R10 stirrups. Download amended Figure 1. 
• Fire rating of boundary walls: In general, garage walls within 1 m of the boundary require a 30/30/30 fire rating. That is a wall system that has been tested or assessed to provide a minimum of 30/30/30 fire rating by a recognised authority. There is no specific requirement within the new NZBC clause C Protection from fire Acceptable Solutions with respect to either risk of roof collapse or direction of wall collapse as stated in paragraph 4.4.1 of Bulletin 557 Timber-framed garages. Also B1/VM1 paragraph 2.2.4 modifies clause 4.2.4 of AS/NZS 1170 for specific design by stating that ‘after a fire, a wall must be designed to withstand the most critical of the two situations listed in b(ii) and b(iii) - typically this is b(iii) a uniformly distributed horizontal face load of 0.5 kPa in any direction.
• Structural design: The focus of Bulletin 557 Timber-framed garages is on using NZS 3604 as the design standard. As such, the solution is conservative because NZS 3604 is for the design of importance level 2 (IL2) structures, and stand-alone unoccupied garages are IL1 structures. The design loads for IL1 structures are less than those for IL2 structures. Designers always have the option of using specific engineering design.

On 20 May 2016, Figure 6 was amended to show a shower caddy system. Download the amended figure.

Versions of this publication downloaded from the BRANZ website prior to 6 June 2014 had the following errors:

• An incorrect heading for chapter 11. This should read 'NZS 3604 SECTION 15: 1.5 AND 2.0 KPA SNOW LOADING'.
• Table 5. Elastic properties of floor joists - the modulus of elasticity of SG10 (dry) is incorrectly stated as 1.0 GPa. This should be stated as 10.0 GPa.

Versions of this publication downloaded from the BRANZ website between 6 June 2014 and 26 January 2015 had the following error: 

• On page 85, C_pi = 0.9 should read C_pi = 0

Versions of this publication downloaded from the BRANZ website between 26 January 2015 and 31 March 2016 had the following error: 

• On page 20, 48 metres/second should read 45 metres/second. 

Download the corrected version.

Good Repair Guide Horizontal Timber Weatherboards

In Figure 3, the annotations on the boards and the end grains have been transposed (the annotations on the circular cross-section of log are correct). The board and end grain on the left should say flat-sawn, and the board and end grain on the right should say quarter sawn.

Level Sustainable Building
Series Coatings

Level Sustainable Building
Series Passive Design

Level Sustainable Building
Series Wet Areas

Selecting Timber (3rd edition)