Hi all, I’ve generally only purchased brick homes. I’m in Brisbane right now looking at some homes and one I saw has a little bit of brick on outside but appears that remainder of most of outside of house is some type of timber cladding - is anyone familiar with this type of material, and is it solid and reliable like brick or best to avoid? House was built around 2013. Thank you.
Double brick houses are rare in Queensland. Mostly timber (or steel) frame, then externally clad with timber or single thickness brick (brick veneer).
Are you sure it's actually timber? There is a lot of claddings that look like timber but are actually fibre cement.
Depends on the timber and quality of workmanship, and how well the exterior has been maintained. Allow for external painting at least every 10 years. There are many weatherboard houses built post war in the 1950s and 1960s that are still in very good condition. As @Westminster said, check the actual exterior cladding material used.
Also many pre-war homes built in the 1800's with cladding in good condition.. with a fresh paint they can look brand new
Cladding can also be artificial eg cement sheet, plastics with insulation etc One near me is a double brick two storey. They just rendered whole lower half, battened and boarded the top half. IMO it now looks worse than when it was brick veneer. And requires the lower and top halves to be repainted at intervals.
Thanks all.. Can you provide your thoughts on the following house based on observation and experience? 51 Tribeca Circuit, North Lakes, Qld 4509 - House for Sale - realestate.com.au Just wanted to clarify how much maintenance I would need to do (e.g. painting etc) and whatever else, and if the material 'looks' reliable. Of course I'll go through building inspection and all the standard checks but as this was first time I'd be buying something that's not pure brick, I was curious.
I am pretty sure that's not wood. If it's been constructed in 2013 and it's that house in the link then I am 99% sure it's painted Fibre Cement. It's very reliable but will need painting every now and then - could be every 10-15 years depending on the quality of the paint and the colour (darker colours will fade). It most likely will have a timber frame (which you're probably used to), and appears to have some feature brick exterior with the rest being fibre cement sheeting. On Streetview it appears that it used to be a pleasant grey and has now been painted a not so pleasant brown.
And I checked Google maps - the property I'm looking at is actually the one on the right hand side of the pleasant grey one you were looking at.
