Hi,

I really like the Austral Urban range (Almond and Silver). I took a sample of each of these bricks along with some in the Whitsunday range and over the course of 3 months they have discoloured and the brick sides have disintegrated.

I took the Almond and Silver colors along with the closes colors in the Whitsunday range Hayman and Keswick to a color coordinator and she said not to go for the urban range because the coloring comes off and the sides break off and the overall quality of the brick was bad. She did not like the Hayman it turned bright orange cream and the keswick was the closest to silver and was a better finishing in terms of quality.

Well, I havent seen any Keswick homes and the other color in the range that was of a darker tone was Brampton. The only dark tone I like was the AshPhalt from the Symmetry range. If you notice the symmetry range they are a much better finish and the whole brick is in the colour as opposed to just a coating like Urban or Whitsunday range. I went to CSR monier to look at the titles and I came across PGH creama and I loved that colour. While that brick is also just a paint coating I noticed it hasnt discoloured or turned brittle. Unfortunately my builder doesnt do PGH and the price is dearer. So its just the Keswick or Brampton with the Colorbond roof Windspray.

I still prefer the Silver very much and I went to Austral again today and asked them about it and they gave me a totally different story its just a different finish, the colour wont fade. All the homes I have seen with the Urban Almond or Silver have bricks in between that have discoloured. Landcom have mandated that every house have two pillars (the porch) that is rendered and he has given me an option of more rendering with minimal brick visible on the front just 4 strips. Initially I wanted to keep the rendering to a minimal (just the front two post) but now I am thinking of going with his plan. Its a safer bet if Keswick doesnt turn to be to good, I can just colour the whole front. Has anyone had problems with the Urban range and has anyone gone with Keswick? Any advice or experience would be good. Unfortuntely there are no homes with the Keswick colour.

Interesting a few people here are using bricks out of the Urban range, we are using Nougat which is similar to Silver hope that it doesn't fade.

Haywgl built using the Nougat bricks I wonder how they are going for her.

Oh, I do hope that the Urban - Grange bricks we have used don't fade
Come to think of it I have 1 sample brick which I have had for atleast 6 months and its still intact but not sure on the fading bit. I'll have to check it in the morning.

Oh No!! I hope not too, it's too late for us as our Silver bricks are done .

Hi everyone,

When I say brittle I mean the sides crack up (chip off) as the grooves become deeper so I was told not to go for the racked option. Besides, the colour coordinator even the Architect agreed that these were bad quality bricks.

If you note the brick is grooved a lot more compared to other grooved bricks. The PGH crema and the Bowral grooved ones with paint coating like the Urban range were much better finish. I dont think there was a fault with the brick I had because it happened to both Almond and Silver. Also, when I went back to Austral bricks at Hosley Park I noticed that this was the case with almost 100% of the display bricks there.

I met a few people over there and when I told them about my experience they agreed after closer inspection and were looking for other ranges.

The finishing of Symmetry ones are really good but you have to like darker tones. The Metropolish have a good finish as well with a grain finish and darker tones. The Whitsunday range has got a much better finish than the Urban range and the colour doesnt come off that easily but the only display homes available to see are in Hyman and they are very far. Hyman is the equivalent of Almond but is far more bright and it turned orange cream. Keswich and Brampton are equivalent to Silver but darker tones.

Maybe this is all visible on closer inspection and will not make a difference from far but whichever Almond homes I saw there were patches of discoloration so I was not impressed. Also the Silver seems to a bit better than Almond in terms of how quickly it discolours. The PG&H crema by Eden Brae I saw was outstanding.

My builder uses the darker Symmetery range for most of his display homes. You cant go wrong with a darker brick you have to like them. The other option is to let the facade have minimal brick work and use rendering. I personally like a different contrast and think they look modern but many people dont like rendering because of the maintain ace.

The other option which my builder is giving me is an eco friendly home with Eco brick. I personally like them as you dont require an aircon and it is more effective than double brick. If brick is used on the outside (or concrete rendering) and eco brick on the inside the insulation is 57% more effective than double brick. Double brick is around 24K dearer.

Interesting how the builders and real estate agents have managed to convince people and change the trend of using double brick or going for an eco friendly home by trying to increase their profit margins and taking short cuts. Most people dont appreciate the value of double brick and the trend has been successfully changed. With the cost of electricity going up and salaries not going up I think it is possible for the trend to change just like when petrol went up to almost 2$ people went for LPG and other options. All the people I know with double brick have turned their aircons only 5 times (or never had too) that too when guest visited their homes or for parties.

We have both Urbane Pepper & Silver bricks on our new home, we have had a lot of problems with the silver as they are leaking out a yellow colour from the Ironstone in them.

We have had them cleaned 3 times & the Austral rep has been out to take a look at them, they have said that the bricks are made in Queensland & where the clay is coming from has a lot of Iron in it. If the bricks get a lot of water in them the iron comes out of them. Austral have sent out their brick cleaner & he has cleaned a 1mtr square patch, he will come back in a month to see if it has stayed away.

It looks promising at the moment as it has disappeared & hasn't come back as yet (let's touch wood on that statement).

Hey Danma, we had the same thing happen already and we haven't even moved in yet. Our SS got them cleaned again (for the second time) and they seem ok now. But from your comment it sounds like maybe it's because it's coming up to summer and there is less precipitation. In that case, I am not looking forward to winter.

Goodluck with yours, let me know how you go with them .

Hey Danma, we had the same thing happen already and we haven't even moved in yet. Our SS got them cleaned again (for the second time) and they seem ok now. But from your comment it sounds like maybe it's because it's coming up to summer and there is less precipitation. In that case, I am not looking forward to winter.

Goodluck with yours, let me know how you go with them .[/quote]

Will let you know how we go it's a wait & see at the moment.

I just called PGH for a quote on the Crema and Sand Dune. They said 986$ and 1100$ (because Sand Dune is from queensland). I asked them if I could get a discount if I could get 2 people to use the same brick they said yes and they would negotiate with my builder. Unfortunately my builder doesnt use PGH but Austral as he is definitely getting a much cheaper rate for using Austral exclusively. The Urban range is 830$ retail not the wholesale or builders price. I have no problems with Austral they have a wide selection than PGH and Boral but very limited lighter tones and that too most of them have problems. This could be a problem with lighter tones in general. I did an experiment with PGH crema and used my hand and rubbed against it and the color did come off. However, for the Austral Urban and Silver I did not have to even do that it came off on its own and Almond had patches of yucky yellow and Hayman turned yucky bright orange.

It is good to know Austral took some action and provided some treatment. People adviced me to use a brick that is not coated but that has the full brick in the colour. Hopefully, they will rectify the problem for others in future but i will take a miss on their Urban range. Keswich/Brampton will be the one for me if he doesnt agree to do PGH creama for the same price.

Hi All,

Yesterday I spoke to my builder and without me saying anything he said dont go for the Urban range as it is crap. He said the Silver bricks chip off and the colour comes off. He said the urban range is to be discontinued as there were too many problems with them. Not sure if he is discontinuing them from his side or Austral are. He has now switched to expression and symmetry range. He said the Whitsudnay range should be fine. Anybody here had any experience with them? I am planning to go for Keswick otherwise my only dark color preference is Asphalt.

Since this is a quality problem people who have not yet built can still change I reckon even if some locations require an exterior color scheme approval. I am 100% confident if it is a genuine case you should be able to change. For those who have already built hope it does not happen or Austral rectifies the problem. The other alternative is to render to it.

Yep we used Austral Nougat from the urban range and have been in the house for about 4 months now. I haven't seen any signs of fading/damage, bricks look the same as the day they were put up.

Hi,

Just called up Austral and they confirmed Urban range is to be discontinued as they had too many problems with them. Please feel free to verify the story. Not sure about Whitsundays because it is pretty new also. The Hayman turned a yucky creamy orange. The finish of the Brampton was not as good as Keswick. Now I am questioning the Whitsunday range too. Maybe just go with a darker safer range, keep minimum brick exposure on the front and embedded some rendering in. The council anyway insist on certain rendering

I have called Austral in Adelaide and they have advised that they are not discontinuing the urban one range.

Hi Guys!
We opted for the Urban One - Almond too. Because we wanted a lighter colored brick + we were using off-white mortar with flush joints .. it would look like a bagged finish from distance ..

I do agree that the quality isn't too great but seriously, its better than some really @%^# bricks at Austral... At the end of the day, bricks are outside, they can discolor or go nuts in the sun and rain, can't get them to stay brand new .. I guess I'll do a moroka/paint/bagged finish to the house in a few years and give it a new look anyways ..

This is how the Urban One- Almond looks like on our home ..
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I believe the Urban Range has different colors/styles of bricks in every state.

The ones you guys have mentioned (Silver, Hayman, Pepper) with problems do not appear in the Urban Range in Melbourne.

I'm going Nougat - I have heard in other threads of someone having a problem where there were green splotches after the acid wash, but this was rectified with a good scrub. I've seen two houses with Urban Nougat (display and other) and could'nt notice any coloration or chipping issues... but I guess only time will tell!

Where abouts are you?

Over here in WA, the majority of homes are built *double brick* and I can tell you that aircons get turned on a lot more than only 5 times during Summer

Oh yesssss aint that the truth!

I only have ducted evap ( Double brick plus insulation )but I probably dont turn mine on more than five times a year. But I guess turning it on somewhere around mid to late November and the next time it gets turned off is April might just count for a few more times than once.

I called up Austral bricks in Sydney. This is what they told me. The colours on display at Horsley park are whats visible at their web site. I keep hearing of colours not in the range on display. Maybe they are discontinued or different colours are available in different states. The customer service said they have been discountinued. I asked him about the Whit Sunday range and he said no problems but then when I told him I had some doubts he said dont go for a range that you dont feel safe. The Whitsunday is pretty new too. He suggested the Expression or Symmetry.

I called up Austral bricks in Sydney. This is what they told me. The colours on display at Horsley park are whats visible at their web site. I keep hearing of colours not in the range on display. Maybe they are discontinued or different colours are available in different states. The customer service said they have been discountinued. I asked him about the Whit Sunday range and he said no problems but then when I told him I had some doubts he said dont go for a range that you dont feel safe. The Whitsunday is pretty new too. He suggested the Expression or Symmetry.