Experience Colours Tradesman’s Home Design

Location:	Dubbo, New South Wales
Country:	Australia
Project Size:	60 squares
Client:	Matt and Kim Diamond
Builder:	Brad Acheson
Fixer:	Matt Diamond
Products Used:	LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® LYSAGHT MINI ORB®

Plumber and roofer Matt Diamond had seen enough of other people's homes to have some definite ideas on what he wanted for his own when he decided to build.

"I've lived in Dubbo most of my life and my work takes me all over the district, out as far as Cobar," Matt said.

The majority of the roofing handled by Matt Diamond Plumbing is new cottage work, although the company also does the occasional re-roofing job.

"Already this year our work has included 14 new homes and all but one of those has had a roof clad in LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® steel profile," he said.

"That popularity has been there for some time. The preference for colours changes, but the profile and the material remains a favourite."

There was never any doubt that the house designed by Matt Diamond and his wife Kim would have LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® roof cladding, but the couple also decided to use the material for external wall cladding.

"I'd done the wall cladding on another house which used the LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® profile and Kim and I had seen a couple of others," Matt said.

"We liked the result, so when we started to draw up our own plans we saw it as a way to give the house a style of its own."

The Diamonds' house covers nearly 60 squares and includes massive shady, enclosed verandahs with external walls consisting of a combination of LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® cladding and insect mesh.

"We selected the COLORBOND® steel colours Dune® for the roof and Deep Ocean® for the walls," Matt said. "The house hasn't had a cold winter test, but the walls and roof are completely insulated and our experience in summer has been that it's a very cool house."

Unlike the majority of houses built with CUSTOM ORB® wall cladding, the Diamonds' residence has the sheets fixed with corrugations running vertically rather than horizontally.

"The sheeting is a low maintenance material in any situation and doesn't require painting, but when you fix it vertically there's less chance of dust settling on it," Matt said. "Cleaning can be done with a hose down or a wipe over."

The majority of the house was constructed by Dubbo builder Brad Acheson, with Matt Diamond concentrating on fixing the cladding.

"Brad had a number of people out to look at the house when it was just about finished," Matt Diamond said. "We've since had a lot of good feedback from people who like its appearance and the individual style created by the cladding."

"Fixing the cladding for the walls and roof was really straight forward. I just organised my time to fit in with other work. The house took 25 weeks from start to finish, but the cladding took just four weeks, even though that was only part time."

"When you use steel cladding for walls it is important to get a good result with the flashing around the windows. It not only ensures that the walls are watertight, but improves their appearance as well."

Matt Diamond sourced the LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® cladding and the flashing requirements for his home from BlueScope Lysaght's Dubbo branch.

"They provide a good service," he said. "I'd just draw up the flashings that I needed and they would fabricate them for me. It's not a major job for them. It's fiddly, but they do it well."

"BlueScope Lysaght supplied the LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® cladding cut to size, so that helped to minimise the amount of rubbish generated by the building activity. We even used some LYSAGHT MINI ORB® cladding in ZINCALUME® steel, as a feature on the lower sections of the rumpus room walls. "

Matt Diamond points out that although it might seem obvious for a roofer to make such wide use of building materials with which he was very familiar, there was a more basic reason for the choice.

"We're very happy with the appearance of the home," he said. "It's achieved exactly the look we wanted."