Jerry had always liked New England style houses so this is what he and his wife envisioned for the renovation, a sharp looking house with clean lines. They felt this would be achievable through an extension of the house and a cladded facade.
It was their contractor who pointed Jerry in the direction of
Hardie® Plank fibre cement cladding, which he felt would be the ideal solution for the project. Even though the contractor had not worked with the product before, he had seen it on other properties and was keen to start working with the cladding.
‘We
also looked at wood cladding”, Jerry explains, “but by the time you have painted it, treated it and everything else, Hardie® Plank cladding worked out cheaper and was extremely low maintenance so it was a no-brainer really’.
The contractor read extensively about how the product should be installed and bought specialist tools and by the time the product was up Jerry was very pleased with the result.
The complete renovation was finished in March 2010, and in Jerry’s view he has not been disappointed with the product’s performance: ‘Occasionally you might get a bit of bird mess on it, but then there will be a rainy day and this clears it. I don’t think I have ever had to clear or clean anything on the outside and to my eyes it hasn’t changed since the day it was put on. It’s a really, really good product’.
According to Jerry the curb appeal of the house has definitely increased: ‘Before it was a fairly modest, unattractive 1930s bungalow, whereas now Hardie® Plank cladding has completely changed the look of it. One of our friends commented that if the other houses on the street all had the same product on it would completely transform the neighbourhood.’
Since the renovation, the family has received lots of compliments on the house and there have even been several people pulling up from the street knocking on the door to ask about the product, colour and where they can get it from.