General Maintenance Advice | Lockwood Homes

General Maintenance Advice

Lockwood homes have a wonderful reputation for being low maintenance and easy to clean. There are a few simple steps below you can take to care for your Lockwood, as you would with any home. and especially such a large investment.

Download our free full maintenance guide here

Exterior Cleaning

Regular washing and cleaning down of exterior walls and joinery is essential to remove pollutants such as moss, mould, sea salt spray, and industrial contaminants.

We recommend that you wash all exterior surfaces of your building twice a year to wash away any contaminants, more frequently if your home is in a marine or geothermal environment. Use a hose and soft brush with a solution of mild soap detergent and rinse walls thoroughly after cleaning.

Never use a pressure water blaster when cleaning exterior wall surfaces.

When you clean the exterior aluminium, do not forget window and door frames and the corner profiles of the home or building.

Mould Growth on Natural Timber surfaces

Mould growth will be more obvious in damp localities and will occur more often than not on the shady side of the home. Regular washing down with Janola and water or Resene Moss & Mould Killer can prevent mould growth.

Ventilation

Moisture is the greatest potential cause of damage to the interior timber surfaces of a home and it is important that you make sure that your home is properly ventilated. Obviously, the most important areas to ventilate are those where you use water: kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, and the toilet.

To avoid condensation, pay particular attention to allowing steam to easily escape in the kitchen, shower, bathroom and laundry. Open windows slightly were possible and ensure your extractor fans are properly vented to the outside.

Make sure that your clothes drier has correct and adequate ventilation to the outside of the building.

The moisture content of the timber in the Lockwood components of the building should be no lower than 10% and no higher than 16%

For information on installing ventilation systems in older Lockwood homes with no roof cavity please visit- www.homeventilation.co.nz/no_roof.htm

Building Protection

Only galvanised, stainless steel, or aluminium nails or screws should ever come into contact with the aluminium cladding. Other types, such as brass or copper nails and screws must never be used because they can cause corrosion of the aluminium.

Foundation ventilation must be kept clear of rocks, timber, plants and other obstructions.

The aluminium sheathing must never be punctured in any way as this can allow water to enter the timber.

Tie Rod Maintenance (for homes built prior to 2013)

Vertical Tie rods should have been tightened shortly after the building was completed. Although uncommon, you may find that you need to tighten the tie rods. Tightening tie rods is not a difficult procedure and something you can carry out yourself. If your home is sitting on timber piles, you can easily locate tie rods from underneath the house. Once located you will need to do the following;

1. Grease or spray rod/nut

2. Tighten to reach a point of firm tension then back half a turn

3. Do not over tighten

4. Repeat as required or every 24 months (rule of thumb only)

If your home sits on a concrete subfloor you will need to remove the flashing baseboard to locate the tie rods this way. Once located, follow the recommendations above. If your Lockwood was built after 2013, the tie rods have a spring to ensure they are correctly tensioned and will not need tightening. For further advice on this procedure please contact us.

Timber Finish

It is recognised that exposed exterior timber will naturally tend to move. Splits and cracks may appear and there may be gum leakage.

We suggest an application of biocide and protective coating should be applied to reduce deterioration. However, it may require twice yearly maintenance for this treatment to stay effective.

Any distortion, fungal or mould growth is purely cosmetic and should not adversely affect the structural nature of the product provided the surface is adequately maintained.

Dark painted colours on timber exterior surfaces can result in excessive heat absorption causing undesirable timber movement. This can be significantly reduced by the use of light or neutral colours and stains.

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