Home, Garden & DIY
Featured topic
DIY alert: when you do and don't need a building consent
From Absolutely Positively Wellington, December 2008 Issue. Reprinted with the permission of APW.
Fixing up your house is a hallowed Kiwi pastime
and summer's the time many people charge up
the power tools and carry out much-needed
home renovations.
Council Manager of Consents and Licensing John Scott says changes have been made to Schedule 1 of the Building Act 2004, meaning more types of building work now don't need a building consent.
"With these changes to the Building Act, Wellington's DIYers may not need to get a building consent for their summer project. However you can still apply for a building consent if you want a Code Compliance Certificate from the Council for the building work, which may be required by some insurance companies or mortgagors," says John.
It is important to remind property owners that all work must still comply with other requirements such as the Building Code, the Council's District Plan, the Resource Management Act and other legislation. If you are uncertain about whether or not your project needs a building consent, talk to a builder or designer before starting work.
(To read the rest of this article, click here and scroll down the page.)
Can You build It?
Free lunchtime seminar series in October
A series of free lunchtime seminars. Learn all there is to know about building consents, resource consents and LIM reports.
Wednesdays in October
12noon - 1pm
All welcome!
For a complete schedule of talk subjects, visit our Event Calendar
Recent items
MyLibrary:
Have a look at the libraries' Home and Garden Recent Picks and Cooking Recent Picks for more new books.
MyLibrary is a free service which allows you to set up your own portal page to collect lists of new books, CDs and DVDs in the library. Our librarians compile these lists on a monthly basis across the different subject areas in the library's collection, and for many subjects these monthly lists are available going back a number of years.
Magazines in print
Where do I find the magazines?
The Central and branch libraries hold a range of magazines on home, gardening, DIY and related topics. In the Central Library the magazines can be found in the magazines section on the first floor, and in the branches on the magazine stands.
Popular titles:
Here are links into the catalogue for just a few of our most popular home, gardening and DIY magazines (ordered by subject and with an option to find all magazines in a particular subject). Enjoy!
Architecture
Food & Wine
Gardening
Homes & Interior design
- Country Living
- Good Housekeeping
- Ideal Home
- NZ House & Garden
- Your Home & Garden
- Search for all Homes & Interior design magazines
Sewing & Craft
Sustainable living
Woodwork & DIY
Online databases & articles
The library has several online subscriptions. Remember you will need to enter your library card to access these links. In mygateway.info, read the addictive The Oxford Companion to the Garden.
Full-text versions of several magazines are available through the EBSCO database, including:
(If you are accessing this page from a non-library computer you will need to login with your library card details before these links will work for you.)
Shelf Help
Home & DIY:
| Subject: | Dewey number: |
|---|---|
| Architecture | 720 |
| Architecture, NZ Domestic History | 728.3709931 |
| Bathrooms | 643.52 |
| Bathrooms design | 747.78 |
| Brick, paver, tile laying | 693 |
| Colour in interior decoration | 747.94 |
| Construction | 694 |
| Cooking | 641 |
| Cost & Standard of Living | 332.024 |
| Curtains and Blinds | 646.21 |
| Decks & Patios | 721.84, 690.184 & 690.89 |
| Do-it-yourself work | 643.7 |
| Fences & Gates | 717 |
| Garden Design & Landscaping | 712.6 |
| Home economics | 640 |
| Home maintenance | 643.7 |
| Home organisation & decluttering | 648.8 |
| House buying & selling NZ | 643.12 |
| Home insulation | 693.832 |
| Kitchens | 747.797 & 643.3 |
| Mosaics (technique) | 738.52 |
| Plumbing | 696.1 |
| Renewable energy in homes | 621.042 |
| Sustainable architecture | 728.047 |
| Sustainable living | 333.72, 363.7, 640 (Or try this Sustainable Living Catalgoue Search) |
| Tiles in interior decoration | 698.9 |
Gardening:
The majority of Gardening books are located 635 but some books are found in other areas.
| Subject: | Dewey number: |
|---|---|
| Flowers | 635.9 |
| Orchards & fruits | 634 |
| Organic gardening | 635.0484 |
| Perennials | 635.932 |
| Pests & diseases | 632 & 635.049 |
| Shrubs | 635.976 |
| Soil | 631.4 |
| Trees | 635.977 & 582.16 |
| Vegetables | 635 |
Gardening Encyclopedias & Dictionaries
The library holds a number of gardening encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Useful Websites
- Building Plan search
- WCC building Services overview
The Council's Building Services team can help you with a range of building needs and requirements. Have a look here for an overview. - Building Research Association of New Zealand
BRANZ is an independent and impartial research, testing, consulting and information company providing resources for the building industry. - New Zealand Legislation
This site contains New Zealand Acts, Bills, and Regulations. You can read and download any of these free of charge. - Resource Consents
Any development, subdivision or other proposed use of a site must be assessed against the Council's District Plan. The District Plan contains rules about different types of activities in different parts of the city. Anything not permitted by the Plan requires a resource consent, which will be for either a land-use consent or a subdivision consent. Find out more information here. - Sustainable Building Guidelines
Wellington City Council has developed sustainable building guidelines to help homeowners, tenants, commercial property owners, architects, developers and builders make Wellington's buildings more sustainable. - WCC archives overview, including family history, rates books, publications, rating and valuation records
- Updates recent changes to the Building Act 2004.
Contact us
This page is written and maintained by Maria. My aim is to keep you informed about the home and garden collection at the library and to highlight parts of the collection which may interest you. I'd be pleased to hear from you about this page - you can email me with any feedback.
