What Are The Best Cladding Ideas For An Australian House?
Do you want to give your property an impressive visual appeal to stand out on that street? Or wish to add an extra layer of insulation? Then, you will have to choose a professional cladding installation for your house. Gone are the days when you had to depend on primarily two cladding options for a home – weatherboard or brick.
Today, whether you want to construct a new home or renovate the existing one, you have a customisation option to suit your need, taste, and budget. You can begin your project with a range of fabulous exterior cladding options. Above all, kerb appeal is all about positive first impressions that can last long.
Be it new construction or a renovation of a tired old building, cladding for the house exterior requires suitable material and design advice. It helps you have a visually stunning home that complements your personality, character, and individual style. However, your home’s exterior is not just about streel appeal or the first impressions.
Cladding for the outside of the house involves using a high-performance material that can serve as a protective layer for its exterior and the interior environment. Hence, a premium quality cladding shields the built structure of your property against the harsh sun, wind, rain, fire, moisture, and other temperature extremes of Australia. It also safeguards your property from pests, noise, and pollutants.
Hence, wall cladding is a versatile solution that acts as an excellent insulator. It makes the interiors more energy-efficient and protects your property from structural deterioration. In addition, it enhances the tolerance of your environment and creates resistance to external influences. It can transform your home’s aesthetic, boosting its durability and functionality.
What Is The Best Cladding For A House?
Today’s market is full of various external wall cladding products that offer you numerous choices in terms of material, colour, style, finish, durability, and performance. You may prefer exterior cladding over weatherboards during your house makeover project because it is relatively easy and simple to install. But, with the different options available, how can you be sure that your cladding choice is most suitable for your environment?
Your budget is an essential factor while deciding on a wall cladding product. However, it’s necessary to consider other vital factors in your decision-making process. For instance, your local environment is an important factor. It helps in determining what type of material you must choose for the exterior cladding of your property. In addition, it must be able to withstand extreme heat or cold and other circumstances like exposure to a corrosive marine atmosphere, seismic effects, and heavy wind loads.
A suitable cladding product reduces the environmental impact of the house through optimal thermal performance. It also meets compliance requirements for fire resistance and ensures the complete safety of your property.
In Australia, you can find many material options for external wall cladding or recladding. Some frequently used options include natural stone, brick, timber, vinyl, steel, aluminium, concrete, ceramic, fibreboard, fibre cement, glass, and metal with varying prices.
Brick Wall Cladding
Brick wall cladding is one of the oldest external wall cladding options with excellent sound insulation properties. It combines a striking finish with structural advantages and quality performance. In addition, they are known for durability, fire-resistant, thermally efficient, non-toxic and weatherproof characteristic that requires low maintenance.
Bricks are available in various sizes, colours, textures, and finishes enhancing design flexibility. Although they are quick to install, brick slips provide an expensive house cladding option.
Timber Wall Cladding
Many builders and house owners prefer hardwood timber as an outer cladding material for residential and commercial building segments. The exterior cladding made from natural hardwood enhances the beauty of Australian property. In addition, it offers long-term durability and bushfire resistance.
Vinyl Wall Cladding
Vinyl cladding is the most popular choice among Australian residents and businesses due to its exceptionally high durability. Duratuff Select is a renowned modern vinyl wall cladding system that uses revolutionary lamination technology. Its enduring colour retention and fade resistance property make it a preferred choice of many modern homes and commercial buildings. In addition, it is known for delivering thermal and acoustic efficiency while cladding a brick house.
PVCu House Cladding
PVCu wall cladding provides the cheapest options compared to other materials. However, some of the top-quality versions of this cladding may cost you no less than timber. It is made from cellular PVC and comes in coloured, white, and timber effect versions. It generally consists of two layers. The outer layer consists of UV-resistant titanium dioxide providing high durability and long life to your cladding system. In addition, it is easy to install and requires minimal maintenance.
Stone Cladding
If you are after a warm, classical appearance, stone house cladding is an ideal option for you. However, depending on the stone used, it can also create a contemporary look for your property. In addition, stone cladding is relatively cheaper than the use of solid stone for house construction. The stone varieties suitable for cladding include slate, bluestone, sandstone, limestone and much more.
Moreover, stone tiles add impactful appeal to your modern home and increase its value. It acts as an excellent insulator showing resistance against harsh weather. It is highly durable and withstands scratches and abrasions.
How Much Is Cladding For House?
House cladding costs can’t be exact for all projects. It varies from property to property depending on the size of your house, the materials you choose, labour cost, location, experience and reputation of the professional contractor and many more factors.
The cheapest option may be untreated softwoods, such as pine, though you will have to factor in your own maintenance and finishing costs. PVCu cladding also forms the cheaper option. However, at the top end of the price scale lies hardwood, stone, through-coloured renders, handmade hanging tiles and much more.
The cheap price option may entice you, but it’s important to note that the cheapest option cannot always be the best. It is the material quality that defines the aesthetic appearance of your property and shields it from the elements. Therefore, it is vital that you go for the best quality material while planning for cladding installation.
Final Thought
Building a new cladding system or adding to the existing cladding of a house is a big job. Many companies prefer to display samples of cladding products and advice you to choose the most suitable options depending on your circumstances and budget. Hence, before going ahead, you must consult a professional cladding specialist in your area. That is where Vicrender comes to the scene. We are a leading cladding specialist in Melbourne.
We are renowned for offering house rendering, acrylic rendering, heritage cement rendering, cement oxide finish and much more. If you plan to clad or recladding your home, you must speak to our house rendering and cladding specialist for detailed information on all aspects of the project.
