Finishing Off Cavity Battens & Prepping Opening For Meter Box

Had to finish off the last of the vertical cavity battens today.  These run along the length of every full length stud on the building.  When attaching, these battens can be no greater than 600mm apart with their spacings.  Where full length studs fell further than 600mm in spacing, additional nogging had to be added to support another length of battens.

 When nailing the fixings on, it was important that these were put in a zig zag pattern with 300mm spacings - not only is this a requirement for passing the inspection, but it also helps in the future when you are attaching the weatherboards as it creates a clear space in the middle of the batten to drive nails into.  When attaching the battens, they need to run the length of the stud & sit inside the vermin trap along the boundary joist of the building.  In order to achieve this, a section is cut out at the end of the timber so it is the thickness of the vermin trap (otherwise it would bulge out).

On the corners, the battens need to be planed down thinner, in order to support a flashing.  If this wasn't done it would cause this section of the wall to no longer be flush with the rest of the battens.  This would result in the weatherboards not sitting properly when attached later on.
One of the final steps with the cavity battens, is to attach small blocks at the bottom of all of the openings.  These must be no less than 100mm in length and be a maximum of 50mm apart.  When fixed on they are put at an angle, which will act as an effective means as a water run off.


Today we also cut out a space in the wall for the meter box of the house.  Additional nogging had to be inserted in to support it, with a minimum clearance of 5mm calculated in.  This is to account for the metal flashing that will be inserted for the meter box.  Once done, the opening is prepped by cutting & stapling back the building wrap & then attaching alu band (as done with all the other openings.