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All else being equal, Hebel should mean better insulation & quicker installation & an ability to patch over the final finish, with face bricks once it's done it's done.
Additionally, does Hebel require acid washing like bricks do? Because the builder is less likely to munt the finish on your aluminium windows if that acid washing isn't needed (I sadly speak from experience).
We'd probably have gone with Hebel and put up with the 10-yearly need to re-render (or at least paint), if the builder had been set-up to use Hebel. They offered it, but because it was a rare exception for them, it was considerably more expensive so we went with the low-maintenance face-brick instead. In a way I was glad, because rendered houses look very 1997 to me, and Sydney probably doesn't "need" the extra insulation (ie. it'd have made little difference to me). But … if the Hebel doesn't need acid washing, then in conditional hindsight I wish we'd paid the extra for the Hebel!
youre right, but with hebel you will put a 10mm coating of acrylic render over it which is super tough.
If you use a Rockcote colour in the render you should get 20 years out of it
20 years ago had a few spare aerated concrete blocks which were then used as part of an outdoor landscaping project - OK, shouldn't do that - last time I saw those unpainted, untreated , much rained upon blocks they were a bit rounded off on the edges but remained completely intact. Wouldn't use them in a house though. Buyers still don't like the material.
Awesome to see Alex's mum has joined the forum to defend him
When he comes out of the basement for dinner, can you please tell him to apologise to the other lovely people on the forum whom he has offended with his uninformed comments and especially to the lovely lady who's thread he has been banned from. He knows which one I am talking about.
And if you think his comment that brick veneer houses will only last 20 years is a sensible one, then that says more about you then me.
20 years ago had a few spare aerated concrete blocks which were then used as part of an outdoor landscaping project - OK, shouldn't do that - last time I saw those unpainted, untreated , much rained upon blocks they were a bit rounded off on the edges but remained completely intact. Wouldn't use them in a house though. Buyers still don't like the material.
Awesome to see Alex's mum has joined the forum to defend him
When he comes out of the basement for dinner, can you please tell him to apologise to the other lovely people on the forum whom he has offended with his uninformed comments and especially to the lovely lady who's thread he has been banned from. He knows which one I am talking about.
And if you think his comment that brick veneer houses will only last 20 years is a sensible one, then that says more about you then me.
I will continue to stand my ground here - newly built typical brick veneer/timber frame house will have more than 50% odds of serious structural repairs needed within first 20 years in order to keep it habitable. And it is not only my opinion, a lot of people on that forum would confirm that the quality of building esp. in Sydney is very low.
Waffle pod slabs on highly reactive soils, drainage issues, termites, poor ventilation and mould problems (long exposure to weather), poor resistance to strong winds (esp. when it gets to debris damage), seasonal temperature cycles, even freezing cycles (where applicable) - all those are going to significantly impact the longevity of the house structure, but the effects of the poor designs will be multiplied with the effects of poor build quality and build process implementation.
When we add other "features" such as EPS insulation/cladding with poisonous fire agents (or even without them!), vapour impermeable weather barriers (or lack of), mineral insulation, PVC flooring, wrong approach to insulation and passive solar, obsession with gyprock, etc. - we might easily even end up with a house which will be dangerous or highly uncomfortable to live in from the very beginning.
Timber framed homes built 60-70-80 years ago were so much better built and most of them are much more healthier.
Also, let me remind that yours was pretty much a candidate for knock down even before your framing has been completed.
With regards to the "lovely lady" - she pretty much stopped posting on her progress and it was her own decision, no one is banned from that topic.
What a total Rodger, this Sej bloke is certainly proving himself to be. One moment praising old Alex, next getting stuck into Alex's Mum 'cos Sej doesn't agree with Alex's ideas. And this coming from Sej, a character who can't even control his own build. He certainly can't control himself when it comes to insulting Alex in a way that crosses the accepted Australian norm of good forum behaviour in leaving family out of insults.
What a Rodger! ! One can smell one from a hundred metres in the building game. Bit of a troll too, one would suspect with his spattering of comment to every H1 post he comes across, to coin a useful phrase. No wonder informed writers have ceased to contribute here with the calibre of Sej's input and his rudeness.
Hay, Alex...don't always agree with you but goodonya for having wide-ranging ideas.
ah, never mind kks. No insult was taken from my side, he, obviously, had a bad beat that day and he was on tilt (see his response on his own topic, looks like clouds are darkening even further over his build
).
20 years ago had a few spare aerated concrete blocks which were then used as part of an outdoor landscaping project - OK, shouldn't do that - last time I saw those unpainted, untreated , much rained upon blocks they were a bit rounded off on the edges but remained completely intact. Wouldn't use them in a house though. Buyers still don't like the material.
Awesome to see Alex's mum has joined the forum to defend him
When he comes out of the basement for dinner, can you please tell him to apologise to the other lovely people on the forum whom he has offended with his uninformed comments and especially to the lovely lady who's thread he has been banned from. He knows which one I am talking about.
And if you think his comment that brick veneer houses will only last 20 years is a sensible one, then that says more about you then me.
I will continue to stand my ground here - newly built typical brick veneer/timber frame house will have more than 50% odds of serious structural repairs needed within first 20 years in order to keep it habitable. And it is not only my opinion, a lot of people on that forum would confirm that the quality of building esp. in Sydney is very low.
Waffle pod slabs on highly reactive soils, drainage issues, termites, poor ventilation and mould problems (long exposure to weather), poor resistance to strong winds (esp. when it gets to debris damage), seasonal temperature cycles, even freezing cycles (where applicable) - all those are going to significantly impact the longevity of the house structure, but the effects of the poor designs will be multiplied with the effects of poor build quality and build process implementation.
When we add other "features" such as EPS insulation/cladding with poisonous fire agents (or even without them!), vapour impermeable weather barriers (or lack of), mineral insulation, PVC flooring, wrong approach to insulation and passive solar, obsession with gyprock, etc. - we might easily even end up with a house which will be dangerous or highly uncomfortable to live in from the very beginning.
Timber framed homes built 60-70-80 years ago were so much better built and most of them are much more healthier.
Also, let me remind that yours was pretty much a candidate for knock down even before your framing has been completed.
With regards to the "lovely lady" - she pretty much stopped posting on her progress and it was her own decision, no one is banned from that topic.
Alex
The lovely lady has been posting in other threads that she doesnt feel comfortable posting anymore because everytime she did you would tell her she is wrong. You were even trying to tell her builder she was wong
Yes I defended you to the point that you were having an argument with a lawyer on this forum telling him he was wrong on a point of law.
I actually run major builds and developments across sydney, some of them are icon ones that you would know and yet you tell me that i am wrong constantly which is hilarious.
Tell us, what you do for a living so we can all have a go at you and tell you that you are doing your job incorrectly.
If you and your mum live in Sydney, you are more than welcome to come by my house and see how it isnt under control.
And whilst you are criticising modern building materials which are so bad and toxic, let me point out that 70 years ago most homes were constructed out of absestos. That wasnt toxic at all was it!
It would be nice for you to provide references and context specifically where I was telling people mentioned above that they were wrong (esp. lawyer and yourself). Not stipulating that there are other options to consider or using confusing terminology, but specifically telling them that they are wrong.
With regards to asbestos, yes, a lot of older AU homes used asbestos tiles for their ceilings instead of plaster.
Asbestos gets only dangerous when it is disturbed (during processing), so represents danger to the construction workers rather than the occupants as it does not off-gas (while, in comparison, EPS insulation with bromines does off-gas and represents danger to residents). How many of us were raised in homes with asbestos tiles or roofing?
Interestingly, asbestos is not completely banned in the US as yet, while HBCD-based EPS insulation is banned in several states as well as in Europe.
Hi All, I built 2 houses and a large extension in the Adelaide Hills in the 90's and early noughties from Hebel - 2 with block and one with Powerpanel over timber frame. I was the classic mug owner builder in my mid 30's and 40's and learnt what I needed to know from the book "House Building The Easy Hebel Way" (my bible) and asking questions. I love the stuff (particularly block) and would never build from anything else, particularly when using recycled windows and doors (sadly getting harder to find these days) - you just leave the right sized hole, like building Lego.
One thing that I have never understood is the idea that it absolutely requires acrylic render - I suspect helped along by some clever Dulux, etc marketing. My genius Irish plasterers Tim and Gus had worked with Hebel for decades in the UK and did my places in good old red sand, lime and cement render - and 25+ years later have never looked better (the houses, not the blokes), with zero painting and zero structural cracking. I did the first two with internal gyprock (number one was block, number two was Powerpanel over timber frame with Powerwall garage (35+ squares) and the third was block rendered externally and internally with zero issues to this day. A good concreter and a quality slab (and some not too super reactive clay soil) and away you go.
The price (like everything else) has of course moved somewhat since those days, but for the insulation, fire rating and ease of custom building I stand by the stuff 100%. Coming up on 60 I'm still sorely tempted to knock up one more wee block jobby just because it's just so bloody gratifying - and quick.
Hi PSHebelFan,
Thank you very much for a reply to this. I have decided to use hebel panels to build my 2 houses. When you mentioned about the acrylic render. I have come to know that they apply acrylic render to not to have crack on the walls or on the corners in a long run. As you said you built houses from two Irish plasterers and it definitely depends upon who the plasterer is when building houses with hebel panels. Just a question that who do you prefer to build houses with hebel panels from your experience?
Hi PSHebelFan,
Thank you very much for a reply to this. I have decided to use hebel panels to build my 2 houses. When you mentioned about the acrylic render. I have come to know that they apply acrylic render to not to have crack on the walls or on the corners in a long run. As you said you built houses from two Irish plasterers and it definitely depends upon who the plasterer is when building houses with hebel panels. Just a question that who do you prefer to build houses with hebel panels from your experience?
I did all the Hebel panel (and the timber framing) and Hebel block work myself, so I didn't use any contractors for the Hebel install work on the 3 houses. It was quite a while ago now so I wouldn't know who the good contractors are these days. They really should all be able to do it well, it's really not hard at all, just takes a bit of planning and care. Very true about the plasterers; I don't know anyone else who dared to ignore the dire warnings from Dulux about using anything but Acratex - but what I do know is my old houses still look great after 25 years. Likely a combination of a good slab concreter and good plasterers, and very little to do with me!
Hi PSHebelFan,
Thank you very much for a reply to this. I have decided to use hebel panels to build my 2 houses. When you mentioned about the acrylic render. I have come to know that they apply acrylic render to not to have crack on the walls or on the corners in a long run. As you said you built houses from two Irish plasterers and it definitely depends upon who the plasterer is when building houses with hebel panels. Just a question that who do you prefer to build houses with hebel panels from your experience?
I did all the Hebel panel (and the timber framing) and Hebel block work myself, so I didn't use any contractors for the Hebel install work on the 3 houses. It was quite a while ago now so I wouldn't know who the good contractors are these days. They really should all be able to do it well, it's really not hard at all, just takes a bit of planning and care. Very true about the plasterers; I don't know anyone else who dared to ignore the dire warnings from Dulux about using anything but Acratex - but what I do know is my old houses still look great after 25 years. Likely a combination of a good slab concreter and good plasterers, and very little to do with me!
Since I have now decided to build houses with hebel panels I will have to look if I can hire someone to build it good with the panels. I was worried and nervous about using hebel panels before but now as you said you already had built a few with hebel panels and had good experience so far, it has convinced me to use them with less worries. I did all the research online before taking decision to go with hebel panels as this is the big investment in life after all. That is the reason I have come to homeone forum board for all the advises.
Hi
rameshbhai... how' your experience with Hebel been? Would love to hear pros and cons you experienced so far
Thanks
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