At Nu-Wall we frequently receive enquiries as to whether aluminium cladding will stand up to exposure to a coastal marine environment. In some cases those making the enquiry are under the impression that the use of aluminium should be avoided in situations of exposure to a salty environment. In fact aluminium is an ideal choice for such environments – you only have to think about an aluminium boat which may spend a good deal of its time in salt water. Aluminium without any protective or decorative finish applied will quite quickly form its own protective coating in the form of a layer of oxidisation; this is evident on an aluminium boat which will appear shiny silver when new, but after a period of use will turn to a dull grey colour. The powdercoat or anodised finishes which we apply to Nu-Wall Aluminium Cladding are mainly decorative, keeping the cladding looking smart and offering a range of colours – more pleasing than the effects of random oxidisation!

Comparing the durability of aluminium in a marine coastal environment with that of steel – look at the images in this post. These show an umbrella stand that was placed on the deck of a new beach house approximately four and a half years ago. The house is elevated, approximately 100M from the open sea and frequently takes a lashing from the elements.The umbrella stand was made from heavy-gauge steel with a powdercoat finish. The steel has corroded badly underneath the powdercoating and the post has rotted through completely at the base. Behind the umbrella stand can be seen an area of Nu-Wall Louvre120 cladding on the house which has been exposed to the same environment for a slightly longer period – it looks the same as the day it was installed. Granted, the quality of the materials used in the subject umbrella stand may not be the best, but these images do serve to illustrate why aluminium is a superior choice for exterior cladding in such environments.

Curing of powdercoat completed

Nu-Wall cladding is supplied to a project pre-finished to the specifications required by the customer or the designer. Some specifications call for anodising, which retains the metallic appearance of the aluminium, either in natural silver or with a bronze colouring. The majority of specifications we see, however, call for finishing with a powdercoat colour.

Powdercoating involves the application to the aluminium of the colour in a powder form – this is done electrostatically; the powder being attracted to the metal by an electrical charge. At this stage in the process, the appearance of the powder is almost like velvet as it has yet to be cured. The curing takes place in an oven at a temperature of around 180 – 200 degrees C, and it is this stage that turns the powder into the hard, durable finish with an appearance similar to sprayed paint.

Powdercoat colours are available from several manufacturers in New Zealand; each having a wide range of stock colours for which colour charts and swatches are available on request. Due to the different manufacturing processes involved, the range of “stock” powdercoat colours offered is nowhere near as extensive as with paints; however it is a fact that small batches of powder are able to be made to order, allowing the specifier to basically choose any colour they want. We do find, however, that in the vast majority of cases a satisfactory choice is able to be made from the manufacturers’ colour charts.

The durability of powdercoat finishes is extremely high – the Nu-Wall cladding will retain its appearance year after year with the only maintenance requirement being washing with water containing mild detergent. The adhesion of the cured powder to the aluminium is very strong and has great resistance to chipping. For applications located in environmentally harsh locations; e.g. coastal marine, manufacturers offer extra-durable formulations of their powdercoat products which are warranted to meet such performance requirements.

Damage can occur to powdercoat finishes – while they are much more durable than a normal paint finish, accidents sometimes happen, necessitating some localised remedial work. For such occurences touch-up products are available which have been colour-matched to the powdercoat manufacturers’ ranges. These are available on short lead-times, in either dab-stick or aerosol spray forms.

Another year ends – one in which we have seen much growth in Nu-Wall’s share of the New Zealand cladding market – both in new construction and in application on remediation of leaky buildings. Additionally we have delivered to numerous projects in Australia; some of them being of substantial size. We also despatched our first ever order to the other side of the world – to Glasgow, Scotland.

In 2010 our growth looks set to continue, with many projects in the pipeline on both sides of the Tasman. We also plan to research opportunities for Nu-Wall into other export markets, hopefully increasing our contribution to New Zealand’s export figures with this fantastic ”home-grown” product.

Other activities  for the New Year include our relocation to new showroom/office premises at 750B Great South Road, Penrose, Auckland at the end of January. Around the same time we expect to be able to implement use of our new estimating & quoting software, currently in final stages of development by SoftTech, based upon their “V6″ product which is widely used in the aluminium joinery industry. As well as enabling us to produce materials estimates and quotations much more efficiently, Nu-Wall V6 will produce comprehensive documentation, designed to facilitate the work of the cladding installer when cutting material on site. It will also provide us with the ability to respond quickly to requests for re-quoting in cases where there have been changes to the project’s design.

Look out for further updates from us in the New Year. Until then, we at Nu-Wall wish all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Developed in New Zealand primarily for our domestic market, over the years Nu-Wall has been exported far and wide, with regular sales around the Pacific region. Since 2005 we have seen our Australian business grow steadily, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our Melbourne-based Business Partner, Cladding Systems. We have delivered to numerous large commercial and institutional projects, including a large Aged Care facility in Canberra early this year, which featured approximately 3,600 sq M of our Shiplap profile. Additionally the product has been specified on a variety of prestigious residential developments throughout the Eastern States.

Further afield, Nu-Wall has been installed on several medium-rise apartment developments by Rainbow Aluminium, our Business Partner in the Republic of Maldives, and last year we delivered approximately 1,000 sq M of our Ripple150 profile to a customer in Saudi Arabia for installation on a new hospital.

But wait – there’s more! Nu-Wall attracts attention around the world, thanks largely to the internet. The product is pretty much unique in its field and we constantly receive enquiries from around the world. In many cases the cost and lead-time involved in shipping tonnes of aluminium around the world result in these enquiries progressing no further. However, we are currently processing an order for 180 sqM of Shiplap for despatch to Glasgow, Scotland – where it will be used to clad a new Childcare Centre currently under construction. To quote our customer – “I very much like your system and the way it goes together. It looks more engineered than some of the competitors.” This is the first stage of the project and we look forward to delivering a similar sized order in the new year.

Contemporary "bunker"

Weatherboard house

Nu-Wall was developed around twenty years ago and offered to the New Zealand market as a low-maintenance alternative to painted timber weatherboards. Two profiles were offered which both had traditional weatherboard profiles. A house clad in one of these profiles, finished in a conservative solid powdercoat colour, would indeed have been almost indistinguishable from a timber weatherboard-clad house, when viewed from across the street, for example.

Mediterranean-style houses were in vogue around the time of Nu-Wall’s introduction; hence, there was not much excitement generated by low-maintenance weatherboards as the new “monolithic” type of claddings, mostly consisting of fibre board or polystyrene with a textured coating, were better suited to the prevalent designs.

Weathertightness problems, which manifested themselves in numerous buildings using ”monolithic” claddings, have resulted in the commonly known “leaky building” saga, with many owners having faced the necessity of major remedial repairs – and with many more yet to come.

Major amendments to the New Zealand Building Code, particularly relating to weathertightness, prevent many of the practices which resulted in “leaky buildings” from being repeated, and the problems have been widely covered in the Press. The outcome is a “swing” back towards weatherboard-type claddings, which generally make for an easier Building Consent process; additionally these claddings are regarded as being more trustworthy, having served New Zealand buildings well for a hundred years and more.

Maintenance of timber weatherboards was an accepted necessity in the past; repainting the single-storey home being  one of those chores to be completed during the finer months every few years. These days the majority of new homes being built are two storeys or more, rendering a DIY repaint problematic. Also, people these days are much busier; most preferring to devote their free time to leisure activities, rather than maintenance.

A truly low-maintenance weatherboard cladding would seem to present the ideal choice for anybody embarking upon the process of building a new home. Nu-Wall offers this concept entirely – the highly-durable aluminium weatherboards will outlast the life of the building and the factory-applied finishes will stay looking smart with periodic washing. The cladding has been tested by BRANZ, who have issued three Appraisals, covering all applicable installation methods. Furthermore, the wide range of Nu-Wall profiles now available means that a house clad with the product no longer needs to look like a weatherboard house, though it can if that’s what the owner wants – it all depends on the Nu-Wall profile selected.

Design for a Weathertight Future with Nu-Wall