Archify Live: Aluminium Building Products for effortless, beautiful living

Archify Live is our new web series that responds to an increasing demand for virtual learning and networking. Our first session was held on the 8th of April 2021 and was presented by DECO Australia. Below is a transcription of the presentation.

Stuart:

Welcome, everybody. Thank you very much for joining us and for taking time out of what I'm sure is you're very, very busy day! And so we'll jump right into it.

Deco has been around for around 17 years. We have started from very humble beginnings in a small factory in Mittagong. We're currently at Minto (suburb of Sydney) and we occupy about 5000 square meters. Over the years, we've started sublimating several native finishes, predominantly the DecoWood finish. That's what we're known for. And that's what we did. We started out coding other people's material specifically for window and door companies. And we have grown the business since to now encompass some of our own products and systems. And so we march on, in terms of innovation and, coming up with new ideas and new products all the time. Over to the left, (on the above image) we have our fearless leader and managing director, Mr. Ross Doonan. He is sitting in their brand new innovation center which we'll broach a little bit later. He likes to be hands on so quite often, you'll see him in the showroom talking to customers and having a bit of a chat.

Our product range now encompasses cladding battens, panels, slats, decking, DecoFloor for internal commercial floor systems and DecoSplash backs. You guys might be familiar with that, where we can apply the sublimated finish of any image onto an aluminium sheet up to 3.6 x 1.5. Some really large images can be achieved, permanent images, if you require, with that process.

We'll start off with the DecoBattens. They're available in many sizes. There are 1000s of profiles we can apply the timber look finishes to or any of the architectural finishes for that matter. Basically anything in the catalog, so not only the HS and SHS battens for example, but also things like flat bar angle channels. The sky's the limit on applying these finishes to your projects. If you do choose DecoBattens, they're finished exactly the same way as the primary material is with color matched end caps. So you will get an exact color match every time. We do have black plastic end caps as well but the more popular choice certainly is the color matched.

This is just one example of a project I did in Burwood. This is the only timber look on this particular building. It's a foyer, and it really does add an element of style and pizzazz to that area which would otherwise look very stark and very sterile. It really does add something, particularly with the lighting as well. These are 40 x 40 battens in Curly Birch. They have been attached to the wall via a flat bar, they put a number of these things together and mount them on the wall through the gaps in between the battens. We colour match the flat bars to the wall so they look relatively invisible. It also hides the services there with the battens on the surface of the cupboard as well.

Another area where the battens might be used is this situation here (image above) where you're trying to jazz up an existing building. They have added some extra render features where they had some windows which weren't quite running linear. So there's a smaller window at the top and another large couple of windows down the bottom and they wanted to make that wall look more uniform. And I'm sure you'll agree with me that this was achieved in this particular case. You can still get your light and your ventilation through and you can still open those window. If you have an awning or a casement window for example, you could pack out the battens, so you will be able to get access or open the windows so you can get that ventilation through. So you've really got a number of options with the fixing of these battens.

Moving on to some of our own propriety systems: The QuickClick Two-Piece battens. There are two series available currently, there are the 50 series and they go up in increments of 50mm and always have a face width of 50mm. It's important to point out that all of our finishes on all of our products are 100% non-combustible. We've been fully tested and certified by the CSIRO to 15 30.1 to 15 30.3. 

The Two-Piece battens have the added advantage of allowing you to do a concealed fixing. Everything we do is in 6.5 meter lengths. So, nice long lengths, you can potentially drop these battens a couple of stories and you could achieve quite a long sort of look on your facades. This is a no visible fixings and color match or black end caps are available. And woodgrain and we'll quite happily do plain colors as well. We have our own horizontal powder line, where we can do many specialist colors, like Dulux or Intercon. We can certainly do this as an alternative to the timber clad. In addition to the 50 series battens we also have the 25 series which has a facelift of 25mm. And there's three different depths to that. We have the 25, 50 and 75 at this particular moment.

Another option we have is the alternative base. The Two-Piece Battens consists of a base and a cover. There's a standard base which is on the left hand side (image above) and on the right hand side is what we call a space base. Available for both the 50 series and the 25 series. A lot of the time we get asked, What do you do to the background? Well, you can either paint it of course, or you can add an aluminium sheet which has been plain powder coated and then attach the two piece buttons to it. Or you can use what we call a space base which has the standard base with a little wing off the side that will cover the gap. These need to lock together to form a seamless integration of battens. They are set sizes however, so the 50mm has a 50mm gap and the 25mm has a 25mm gap. So you don't have quite the variation that you would with the standard base. It is a great option if you're looking for a maintenance free solution where you don't have to go back and refinish it every two to three years.

This is an example of one of the two piece battens we did recently. This was Golden Oak and they were the two piece 50 series 150 x 50s and really did add something to this particular Anaconda store. It's probably one of the nicest Anaconda stores I've seen. The colors tend to be a little bit washed out, but this really did add a nice depth to this storefront.

Moving on to the cladding. So again, as I mentioned, all of our products are fully tested and certified to 15 30.3 10 and 15 30.1 as non-combustible. We have a number of profiles for the cladding system. There are five profiles in total but six different sizes. Starting with the shadow line which is a 200 wide board in 6.5m lengths. The finish that we apply is a marine grade, class 2 powder coat. It's UV resistant and it has a good durable finish.

We warranty our finish for 12 years, provided you apply for the warranty straight up. We like to produce warranty panels for your projects. Your cladding boards, as I say, starting with the shadow line, which is a 200mm wide board, right down to the narrow line which is a 135mm board. And then we have things like your traditional weatherboard, both 180 and 160 wide board fixings. There is a traditional splay on those, we also have a micro splay board, or we call it Croatia, all of these planning boards can be installed vertically or horizontally. And we have a host of accessories for them. So you're not just purchasing the boards themselves, you're also purchasing the entire system. And of course, as always, we like those to be color matched. And we like the fixing to be as concealed as possible. So all of those things are invisible, behind the cladding.

We've also experimented with doing concrete rust finishes. We're expanding our range all the time, and the rust finish is a good alternative to your core 10 finishes, without the leaching. There are four different colors to choose from and that can be applied to the entire range.

This is an example of the cladding in the narrow line,135mm board. This is a job that's just been finished recently in the Southern Highlands. This is the Zen Oasis project, a function center. We spent many hours with the developer finding the best solution and it's turned out very well and the client was very pleased.

We can also do flat sheet cladding. We can either attach your cladding to the facade via colour match screw caps, or we offer a DC fix to the substrate of your choice. We can also have the edges folded, so if you wanted a more cassette panel fixing style, we can arrange to have that done, or alternatively, if you would like to get that done elsewhere, we can finish those panels for you. We've just done a number of large jobs recently where that's happened. They've had them made elsewhere, and we just simply finished the panels for them. Other options include custom laser cut sheets as you can see in this particular case. (image above) This was done for a display home by Better Built Homes. This had a spider web sort of effect. We rust finished the 200 x 100 beams and he had a fold applied to the side of these panels which gave them the opportunity be able to fix these off to the posts and be relatively concealed. I'm sure you'll agree that that looks absolutely sensational.

Another one that we finished recently. This is number one Denison street in North Sydney, the new channel nine headquarters. The subcontractor had a situation where they previously worked with a combustible cladding solution that was no longer feasible. And so we were asked to try and match the color that they has originally chosen for this building. We looked at a range of finishes. While we have 30 standard timber look finishes, we can mix and match the finishes and come up with as many as 150 possible solutions. So we were able to get very close to the finish we were trying to match. We provided a flat sheet solution which was face fixed to the building façade. The flat sheets were non-combustible and they were able to flex them around corners. And so a very good solution and a very good outcome for this particular project.

This is a building foyer in North Sydney. This is an example of another way of installation. This was an adhesive fix. We provided the sheets with the timber look in smoked ash. And what they did was had them laid up on MDF boards and installed those as complete panels onto this wall. We get asked a lot how the swirls and the figures look on the grain and how often it repeats and this is a great example. We're just replicating the look of a veneered board and it certainly worked very well in this particular case and made a very nice pattern.

Moving on to the timber look decking. We do offer a decking solution for those situations where you're in a fire zone for example. We're one of the very few products that can be offered in fire zone situations. So again, 6.5m lengths, two different widths (94 and 134) and always 25mm thick. Being 25mm thick, it means you can increase your joist spacing to the old 600 size rather than 450s. They can be applied on to sub floor structures which are either steel or timber look. The screw fixings are self tapping. So it's one quick fixed motion and they are fixed between the batten between the cladding boards. And that allows for a complete fixing free surface of your deck. The powder coated finish in this particular case is a rubberized polyurethane that gives you a P4 slip resistant rating. And so it's great for around swimming pools and spas and offers you an end to end solution.

We get asked a lot whether the decking is hot to walk on in full sun because it's made of aluminium. Aluminium, as you've noticed is a good transmitter of heat. It doesn't spot meaning the sun hits it and it dissipates within the length of the material very quickly so it doesn't stay hot in full sun. But if anybody asked me what temperature it can get to, my answer to that would be it, it will only get a couple of degrees above ambient temperature. So if it's a 40 degree day, it's going to be a 40 degree deck.

This is an example (image above) of a project in the Blue Mountains region by Steel Floor Solutions who specialise in making steel floors. He does the framework underneath for fire zone areas. And this example here is quite elevated and this particular client wanted to store some material underneath his deck, which is certainly possible. The advantage of our deck is that it's prefinished on both sides, so when you look up you will see a finished deck as well. In this particular case, it was a fire zone area and around the post we inserted some fire zone strips. In the fire zone area we have to cover those gaps so we offer the slide in solution which allows that whilst still maintaining a traditional deck aesthetic, which is most important to us. Steel Floor Solutions also engineered a tread situation, where he had all of his risers and treads made to suit our planks where they worked out the plank width exactly. This is just some of the things that are possible with our decking.

Running through our range of finishes now, which has become quite substantial. Traditionally, as I mentioned, there is the DecoWood finish, which is our bread and butter. It's what this company is built on. But we recognize there are other requirements out there that people ask. Things like Deco Art, which is art and signage. Deco Vogue, which is the concrete and the rustic finishes. DecoCoat, which is a range of plain powder coated finishes, and a brand new one- Deco Ultra, which is our industrial range of finishes such as your anodised and your hard anodised solutions.

Deco Ultra is a range of anodised finishes. There are three finishes in four different grades of anodising. You've got your standard residential anodising, then you have one which is slightly higher for your more commercial application. And then we've got your hard anodising for those situations where you want a very tough and durable anodised finish (ZD as we nominate it) Then you can do other things like brushing the aluminium to create different effects. We've just introduced this one, it's a chemical resistant, and graffiti resistant finish.

And last but not least, a DECO Innovation Center, it's a brand new area, this is an area for you, essentially where you can come and talk about solutions. You can have a look at our products and see how it's applied onto floors and walls. There's a whole host of finishes available to view and there's an area where we can sit and have a chat about the latest project and find a solution. At the back of this area we can take you on a tour through our factory and show you how the product is made.

Here is a video that we've put together for you - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em6oVw16KBA

Thank you all for taking time out of your very busy day to listen to what we have to say and what we have to offer to the market. Please, if you have any requests for samples, or you'd like me to come and have a chat about our products, you're very welcome.

Questions

Are your products cyclone compliant?

Cyclone compliance is not as straightforward. You need to send us what your categories are and what situation it’s being installed into. There are a lot of variables when you're talking about cyclone compliance, but certainly, we have been tested to some level. Our cladding has been tested and our products have performed very well.

Do you have curved cladding?

No, but some of the cladding will allow you, if used vertically, to clad around a curve. I have done it a number of times, particularly the narrow line cladding. Because it's only 135mm you can curve that if you use it vertically, you can segment it around probably a three or four meter radius.

Would you consider producing structural aluminium?

We don't produce structural aluminium ourselves, our products are mainly aesthetic. Any structural element we can clad or we can provide a solution that would cover or hide that particular frame. Now that having been said, Capryl do a number of load bearing elements and profiles, but they are 5 or 6mm thick and they're limited as to the profiles that are available. There's probably only six or eight profiles from memory.