Selecting and fixing finishes
(Part 1: Roofing Materials)
Copywriter: Steve Connard

This part of the building process lists the choices for finishes and describes the manner in which they are fixed or constructed.

These choices need to be made in the early stages of design, and can be included in a finishes schedule attached to the specification document. The finishes selected will determine the house construction described previously in Understanding House Structures.

When the roof, windows and doors are installed, the exterior wall and roof is clad, and the building can be secured, you reach what is referred to as the 'lock-up stage'. When the building has reached lock-up the interior wall cladding can be installed.

For many design choices, the "rule of threes" is a good starting point; i.e. never have more than a maximum of three materials, three textures or three colours in one field of view at the same time.

1. Roofing Materials

The style of the roof is often dictated by the style of the house. However the colour of the roof needs careful consideration because there are conflicting influences at play.

The lighter the roof, the greater the heat reflection. However very light coloured roofs can destroy the look of a house and make the roof stand out unnecessarily.

The best colours for roofs are likely to be mid range to light colours than compliment, say the window frames, e.g. dark grey window frames and a light grey roof, or maybe compliment the brick work, e.g. light beige bricks and a dark beige roof. Alternatively there might be a feature wall of light terra cotta colour and the roof is a similar but slightly darker colour. Whatever the approach, the roof colour in some way needs to be connected to, or compliment, the rest of the house colour.

Roof Tiles

Terracotta tiles

Terracotta tiles are the most popular roofing tiles in Australia and many consider they cannot be beaten for their good looks and durability, however they are more expensive than 'Colorbond' sheeting or cement tiles.

Terracotta tiles are available in many different profiles and colours. They are well suited to the hot Australian climate - at least in areas where there are no cyclonic winds or snow. CSR make a range of Wunderlich tiles as do Boral and Bristile.

Cement Tiles

All the terracotta manufacturers make the cheaper concrete tiles that have similar profiles to terracotta tiles but are more porous and don't quite look as good a terracotta. Cement tiles tend to fade relatively quickly in comparison to terracotta tiles because the paint application is not impregnated but surface painted.

Slate Tiles

Natural slate tiles retain their classy appearance over their exceptionally long life (120 years) and can be easily and neatly cut, re-nailed and repaired. Natural slate tiles are available in shades of grey, green/grey and blue. While slate has been used in traditional style residential housing (e.g. Federation), it can also look very good in contemporary designs where it works well with rendered masonry, smooth, slim line brick and exposed Cor-ten steel or galvanized iron.

There are also patented slate roofing systems such as, NuLoK which look great, are light and easy to install on a galvanized iron frame; one type has built in solar panelling.

Fibre Cement Tiles

Eternit slate tiles are a synthetic, fibre-cement form of roof tile that is reversible and available in different rectangular sizes as well as a diamond shape. It is cheaper and lighter than natural slate.

Shingles

Bitumen shingles are another option for a different look and can look classy, timeless and the product is exteremely durable. See this article/blog on American Shingles.

Metal Roof sheets

Roofs sheets are a good choice for light weight houses, especially in regional or beach side environments. They are also used a lot in earthquake areas and distant locations where transport impacts significantly on costs.

Corrosion resistant metal sheets are available in:

• Galvanized iron, copper and zinc (works well with contemporary or lightweight house)
• Steel composites such as Zincalume (works well with contemporary or lightweight house)
• Painted polyester coated steel such as Colorbond (works well with contemporary or lightweight house)
• Metal tiles such as CoRoofs (which have polyester coated surfaces). Being a tile shape, these sheets work with brick. They are strong, lightweight and can often be installed over an existing roof.
• Sheets of copper or zinc that look like large tiles are also interesting, durable materials for contemporary buildings (see: Euroclad's website).

All of the roof sheets mentioned above are all available in long lengths. Colorbond and CoRoofs' metal tiles are available in a variety of coloured polyester coatings.

Corrugated steel sheeting is the only type of roof sheeting that can be curved and the best cladding for low pitches roofs. Roofs sheets are the best material for catching water run-off, however sheet metal roofing is noisier during rain and requires more acoustic insulation. It also needs special fixing and possibly special profiles for cyclonic areas. See this blog/article on Corrugated Iron for more information.

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