Attended lots of trade evenings and Master Builder presentations over the years, and Hiandri packers would be the best idea I have heard of, at one of these events. I left the meeting, knowing I will be installing HIANDRI on every job I did in future.

On my current job at Omaha, it is not uncommon to get half a metre of sand blown onto the floors over a weekend; we can now just get a blower to remove the sand and any puddled water that has not already escaped, solving a real problem for us.

I’m the first builder in the area to install HIANDRI, and a number of builders I know have called into the site; first comment. – ‘great idea’ – they are now all installing HIANDRI. The owner is also wrapped as he gets the long-term benefits of the product.

I will be using them all year round, having that airflow under the plates is so important. I said to my normal pre-cutter, ‘if you do not install Hiandri bottom plate packers on my frames, I go somewhere else’ that’s how much this innovation means to me – he installed them! I can highly recommend this system to all builders.

There has always been an issue with wet timber in the building industry, particularly bottom plates, and when I saw Hiandri bottom plate packers being advertised in Build Magazine, my immediate reaction was, ‘about time someone solved this problem’ and the fact that the system was ‘Codemarked’ meant it was fully approved, so I jumped on the phone and ordered a bag immediately.

Most of our work is alterations and renovations, and putting Hiandri bottom plate packers on site built frames is effortless. It does not seem to matter how old the wall we are replacing is, if it is on a particle board floor, there always seems to be dampness under the plate and rotting flooring – Hiandri solves that problem for sure.

This product has not disappointed, we have already used it on more than one job, and just knowing your timber frames can now drain and dry, is peace of mind for any builder. In fact, we contract to a housing company who, since observing Hiandri on our jobs, is now specifying on all their homes – it’s just a no brainer!

When I first saw HIANDRI bottom plates in use, my immediate thought was ‘clever idea!’ The way we have been building is a major concern in the fact that, water is trapped between the bottom plate, the d.p.c and the floor, it just takes forever to dry, having that airflow around the plate is so important. It’s not just the plates; where you have several studs together, the moisture also saturates this block of timber and they also take an extremely long time to dry.

The first thing the Building Inspector is going to do, is drive his moisture meter into the bottom plate, who wants to be told, it could be weeks before they can install linings – it’s just a no brainer to use this system!

We used to fire up the heaters and dehumidifiers, and run them at great cost, not to mention the time it took to then straighten the warped frames – those days are now gone. This is our first HIANDRI job, the pre-cutter did not do the top floor – madness; that won’t be happening again, it’s going on every frame we erect from now on, I can assure you of that – great system!

In 2006, I designed and built a 392m² single level dwelling, at 8 San Marco Lane in Hamilton.

At the time of construction, I had to engage the services of John Oliver, who is a building consultant, regarding the masonry veneer on this house. John spoke to me about his invention, the HIANDRI bottom plate packer, which I immediately thought was a great idea and decided to install them under my own timber frames, which I did.

Over the past 8 years, John’s HIANDRI system has proved excellent and the system and frames have both performed and met all expectations. In fact, I have had a leaky shower tray that is proving difficult to locate and resolve; the fact that my timber framing is raised 12mm above my concrete floor is proving great insurance as any water will run under the plates and into the brick veneer cavity – in other words, I do not have to worry about my timber frames rotting.

I now understand, that the HIANDRI bottom plate system has been CODEMARKED and I wish HIANDRI Solutions Ltd every success in the future, it comes highly recommended.

My Manukau Mitre10 rep, Johan Kuypers, first introduced me to HIANDRI bottom plate packers, as he knew what a nightmare of a winter I had been through, with wet timber, especially saturated bottom plates.

Costly heaters and dehumidifiers, that don’t really do the job, re-inspection fees and costly delays, there is no way I want to repeat that experience, now there is a great solution in HIANDRI bottom plate packers. The ideas mint, and so easy to either put on yourself, or have installed; I can assure you, it will be installed on all future jobs I’m involved in.