Darley House - Sydney, Australia
The home features a palette of brick, metal and Vulcan timber cladding, which was coated in a super low maintenance finish.
Completed in December 2019, this new-build home on the edge of Centennial Park in Sydney, was designed by highly respected architect Andy Macdonald of MiArchitects.
The home features a reduced palette of brick, metal and our Vulcan timber cladding (WB10 tongue and groove), which was coated in the super low maintenance Sioo:x treatment.
“We were immediately drawn to the fine band-sawn face and texture of the Abodo Vulcan range and the warmth in the range of colours/finishes. But ultimately we selected the Sioo:x finish because of the weathered grey look it develops way quicker and more evenly than an oiled hardwood alternative would.” says Architect, Andy Macdonald.
The clients, a young family with busy schedules, wanted the natural materiality of a timber but were concerned about the ongoing maintenance associated with timber; even on a 3 or 4 yearly basis.
They also preferred that any timber on the project came from a sustainable source. Being a thermally modified Radiata Pine from plantation forests, the Vulcan Cladding answered the sustainability criteria straight off the bat, as it comes FSC® certified.
“Because Vulcan Cladding is thermally modified (‘pre-shrunk’) it is proven to be more stable. And our understanding of the thermal modification is that it effectively transforms a softwood to something closer to a hardwood. The crispness of the boards with next to no blemishes assisted with achieving the fine detailing and crisp lines we were trying to achieve.” continues Andy Macdonald.
The timber cladding was originally only specified on the main house. However the scope was expanded to the mansard roof of the secondary dwelling when the clients saw the product installed, and understood that the Sioo:x on Vulcan would weather evenly across all facades within months, and that it wouldn’t need to be washed down and recoated for up to 7 years.
In speaking to builder, Sam Grosser of Grosser Constructions, he said: “We’d never worked with the Vulcan timber product before, however we found it easy and fast to work with. The product is lightweight, stays straight, and being able to order it pre-coated saved a lot of hassle on site. The long lengths also meant less joins on the facade which the client and architect were happy about.”
Further Reading:
Extraordinary timber stability allowed the designer to span the 42x42 timber battens, allowing an uninterrupted verticality.
