Tenant mystified after ‘ghost’ frame stains appear in near-new Rolleston home, then she was asked to help pay to fix it

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Thermal bridging occurs when materials that are poor insulators come into contact with the building envelope, creating a pathway for heat to escape.

A Canterbury woman was mystified after dark “ghosting” stains appeared in her near-new rental home.

She was more mystified when her candle-making was blamed for the house frame shadows, and her property manager asked her to contribute to wall-cleaning costs.

Abbey Jarvis first noticed the dark marks about nine months ago after her mother pointed them out. The staining has since appeared in the master bedroom, bathroom, dining room, kitchen and lounge.

Abbey Jarvis went to mediation with her property manager after widespread wall “ghosting” (thermal bridging) appeared in her rented near-new steel-framed home.

Jarvis and her husband are the only tenants to have lived in the three-year-old, steel-framed Rolleston property.

Wall ghosting is a dark stain caused by dust sticking to colder areas created by thermal bridging. A thermal bridge is material, like framing, that reduces thermal performance.

Jarvis said she notified the home builder, Golden Homes, which believes the candle making was “very likely” to have contributed to the ghosting and dust from nearby construction sites could also be a contributor.

However, a report prepared by Canterbury Property Reports in March found “no evidence” the ghosting was caused by moisture ingress and said the exact cause “cannot be definitely determined”.

Jarvis said she was confused by the suggestion her business was responsible, particularly as there was no ghosting in the room where she makes candles.

Jarvis said her property manager asked her to split the cost of cleaning the walls with the owners.

“I very rarely burn candles in the property. I primarily make [candles] for other people,[and] when I do, I use a wax melt burner, which does not involve combustion and does not produce soot or smoke, it is simply melting wax and fragrance oils, with no burning involved.”

The ‘ghosting’ has appeared in the master bedroom, bathroom, dining room, kitchen and lounge.

The matter has ended up in mediation.

Building Research Association of New Zealand senior scientist Stephen McNeil said wall ghosting was relatively common in New Zealand homes because of typical wall construction, and was usually caused by a combination of building factors and occupant behaviour.

“Occupant behaviour can make it worse, but ghosting generally requires colder surfaces created by the building as well as moisture and airborne particles,” he said.

Jarvis says she was asked to split the cost of cleaning the walls.

Tenant advocate Bruce Gordon, of Tenant Support Group, said thermal bridging was a “construction and insulation issue, not a behaviour issue”.

“Tenants can manage normal household moisture, but they can't fix cold walls, missing insulation, or structural design problems,” he said.

Golden Homes chief executive David Gould said the company’s construction manager had visited the property. Golden Homes Canterbury built hundreds of homes each year and received about one inquiry annually about ghosting, Gould said.

Jarvis says she was confused by the claim her candle-making business caused the stains, particularly as there’d been no ghosting in the room where she makes candles.

“The cause is always attributable to inadequate ventilation.

“Over 99% of our builds, built to the same specification, do not have an issue with ghosting.”

Jarvis said she had connected with other tenants experiencing wall ghosting through Facebook community pages and Reddit and hoped speaking publicly would help others avoid finding themselves in a similar situation.

The property manager declined to comment during the mediation process, but a recent message to Jarvis suggests the matter may be close to being resolved.

In the message, seen by The Press, the property manager said she was not concerned about the candle making as there was no evidence of wall or ceiling marking in that room.

“A separate issue is that of ghosting which is a phenomenon due to steel-framed homes.”

The property manager noted there was historical damage to one living room area due to candle burning, which Jarvis had accepted and asked for paint colours to rectify.