Submit Your Article We are inviting you to submit your very own uniqueHome Owner story to us on this website There are various ways you can do this, for instance it might be a description of your experience or it could be a design or even a product. All you have to do is submit…
The PAJA: The SA Law that Protects Your Rights We get questions daily about buildings blocking views, balconies overlooking neighbours’ bedrooms, building approval without neighbours’ consent, developers not putting in correct storm-water drains; complaints that the neighbours wall is on “my” property; the list goes on and on. People also want to know who they…
What to do when you have Blocked Drains Do your drains sometimes look like this, with smelly overflowing waste-water running into the street? Well a few days ago we had this problem. After a few tries with the plunger I gave it up as a bad job. If you think that this is going to…
A Small House in the Dunes – Dune House Jetty and Maarten Min have lived for more than twenty years in a small bungalow with magnificent views that they promised themselves that they would do something stunning with “later”. The bungalow was situated on the sand dunes in Bergen-aan-Zee in North Holland (Dune House). Then…
Creative Home Design This imposing house was designed by well-known international architect Giovanni D’Ambrosio and is set in the popular winter skiing region of Australia in the State of Victoria’s mountain countryside near Mount Hotham. To integrate the house with its surroundings the architect has used organic materials. Wood, stone, metal and glass are all…
SANS 10400XA – A Guide and Best Questions New Energy Regulations SANS 10400XA and SANS 10400X are what we get quite a few queries about on our website. Here are a few: Q: Hi,I have read through the regulations, but need clarification on whether an application is required when changing existing steel framed windows into…
Alterations and Additions to Your Home There are so many changes that have been made to the National Building Regulations in recent years that homeowners may be forgiven for wondering what is and what is not allowed in terms of altering and making home additions. Some of the greatest concerns relate to the new energy…
Is Flood Damage an “Act of God” or a Result of Bad Planning & Shoddy Construction? By Penny Swift, November 16, 2013 As much of the greater Cape Town area and other parts of the Western Cape are still reeling after a night of flash flooding and continued rain, thousands of people are facing the…
Picture Above: Stage two, where you maybe put in a pool and other areas for entertaining Landscaping Part2 – Your Garden in Stages As we suggested in Landscaping Part1, it is usually not going to be possible to build in all the plants, features or utilities into a garden when you initially start to build…
Landscaping Part1 – Your Garden in Stages Picture Above: A bed of Iceberg standard roses with an Australian tufted violet groundcover filling the bed. It is not usually possible to incorporate all the plants, features or facilities into landscaping your garden when you first build a house. These are items that will normally be completed…
Landscaping Your Garden We have divided this article into two sections: > Landscaping Your Garden in Stages – Part 1 & Landscaping Your Garden in Stages – Part 2 The reason for this is because when you build a new house, starting to landscape your garden from scratch is an enormous task. Plants need to…
We Rely on National Building Regulations Why National Building regulations is a question asked many times. Both international and national standards and Building Regulations are fundamental to successful building and construction projects, both big and small.It doesn’t matter whether you are building a garden shed out of timber, a modest family home from bricks and…
About the NHBRC The National Home Builders Registration Council (The NHBRC) was established in 1998 as a regulatory body for the home building industry. Their mandate is to protect house-building consumers and to make sure that building industry standards and regulations are followed. Their stated aim is to protect housing consumers who use contractors who…
Build a House With Old Containers Mads Møller of Arcgency is an Architectural office situated in Copenhagen, Denmark. Has come up with a container house concept as he says is using “Old shipping containers used as the structural framework for the WFH-Huse. This is not just recycling; This is upcycling!” The WFH concept is a modular…
Picture Above: A wide open kitchen in contrasting light and dark colors. All photographs by Janek Szymanowski © Great Kitchen Layout and Design Ideas The kitchen, say the experts, will sell the house: an axiom that can’t be proved but which nevertheless rings very true. It is part of today’s house that, more than any…
The Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act 95 of 1998 Updated 2008 – EXPLAINED 1. Purpose of the HCPA 1. The main purpose of the Housing Consumers Protection Act is to give protection to housing consumers. At the same time it created the NATIONAL HOME BUILDERS REGISTRATION COUNCIL (NHBRC), whose objective is to stand for the…
By-Law Definitions for Planning, Building and Zoning These definitions are mainly, but not exclusively, extracted from the Greater Metropolitan Area of Cape Town’s By-Laws Planning and Zoning definitions and explanations. They do and can relate to terms and phrases used nationally by other Municipalities and planning departments. We will be adding to them on an…
Definitions that are used in the Home Building Industry Words and definitions that are used in the home building industry are sometimes a little difficult to understand what is meant. Here we have a list of some terms that are used with an explanation of what it is the person using it means. Some of…
The Town Planning Scheme for the Tshwane Region 2008 Make the right decisions We have included these Tshwane Town Planning Scheme Regulations to assist you with accessing the correct information so that you can make the right decisions. When it comes to planning any construction, building, and renovation or the purchase of property with developments in…
The Assessment of Alternate Building Technologies This article from the latest issue of AKHANI, the quarterly magazine of the NHBRC, addresses the use of alternate building materials and the legal process as well as the pending changes to their manuals. It is well worth a read. Assessment of ABT (Alternate Building Technologies) Any house to…
An A to Z list of Environmental phrases and words Thanks to the City of Cape Town for providing the basis for this list to which we have added more entries. We will expand the list as and when we find more interesting and useful words and phrases. There is a link to the City…
Alterations and Additions to Existing Buildings
Building drywall system is not environmentally friendly The American timber and drywall construction method is brought under the spotlight in a Wikipedia entry “Drywall”. You just have to look at the sulfur dioxide emission figures never mind the mercury released during manufacture. It appears that this method is NOT good for our environment and Americans…
Building Regulations Part 3: Part R to Part X & XA As there are a total of 23 parts to the SANS 10400 Building Regulations we have divided them into three sections to improve the ease of navigation, here below is Building Regulations Part 3 The order in which the different parts of the regulations…
Temporary Buildings Must be Authorizedby the Local Authority People often talk about temporary buildings in terms of structures that can be erected quickly and without plans. Some people go so far as to opt for what is advertised as a “temporary building” because they think it will provide a cheap, quick, and easy solution to…