|
contents | technologies | |||||||||
| Custom-Painted CertainTeed WeatherBoards FiberCement Siding  While planning the design of Spice, a new loft-style condominium development in Halifax, N.S., residential developer POLYCORP and architectural firm Michael Napier Architecture explored a variety of exterior cladding materials. Looking for a durable product that would both complement the vibrant custom colors they had planned for the exterior and stand up to the extreme winter weather of the Northwest Atlantic coast, they chose CertainTeed WeatherBoards Fiber Cement Stucco Vertical Panels and Cedar Lap Siding."We wanted to use an affordable, low-maintenance material that we could paint and create a more colorful look than a traditional brick or masonry exterior," says Peter Polley, president of POLYCORP. "We liked the look of stucco, but with the consistently high numbers of freeze-thaw cycles annually, stucco would not hold up well. The WeatherBoards fiber cement panels allowed us to have the appearance of painted stucco with much better weather resistance." POLYCORP hired Halifax contractor Worr Construction Inc., of Halifax, to install 110 squares of 4-foot x 10-foot WeatherBoards Stucco Vertical Panels, 61 squares of 4-foot x 8-foot WeatherBoards Stucco Vertical Panels and 88 squares of 6-1/4-foot x 12-foot WeatherBoards Cedar Lap Siding on the 7-story, 100,000 square-foot building. The siding products were purchased from The Roofing Connection, a building products distributor in Dartmouth, N.S. The contractor worked with a small crew, completing the installation in six months. The siding was then painted with a mix of bright yellow, bright green and two different shades of red, each custom-designed to match the color of specific spices. The vibrancy of these colors mixed with the stucco- and cedar-style finishes of the fiber cement siding have truly "spiced up" the Halifax skyline, which consists largely of buildings covered with very traditional claddings and colors. "We're very pleased with the look of the siding and the mix of colors," says Michael Napier, principal of Michael Napier Architecture. "This project was a wonderful opportunity to create a fresh residential development in an urban core and re-inject the neighborhood with some of its colorful roots that have sadly disappeared into a sea of beige-colored buildings in recent years." In addition to creating an eclectic, colorful exterior for Spice, Michael Napier Architecture and POLYCORP also set their sights on designing a sustainable building, with such features as energy-efficient ICF exterior walls; in-floor hot water radiant heat with on-demand electric boilers and off-peak electrical metering; and a central Halifax location to encourage pedestrian travel. With 50 percent recycled content, WeatherBoards offers an environmentally friendly product with the most authentic-looking grains and textures of any fiber cement siding on the market. It is noncombustible, impervious to wood-boring insects, resists damaging effects of salt spray and UV rays and will not rot. Available in a variety of classic wood and stucco cladding profiles, WeatherBoards provides an excellent alternative to these traditional materials. As with any product application, building industry professionals should consult applicable code and regulations in their area prior to installation. "The work done by Michael Napier Architecture at Spice is a wonderful example of the design flexibility offered by CertainTeed's fiber cement siding products," says Phyllis Vail, director of marketing communications for CertainTeed's Siding Products Group. "Architects and builders can choose from a variety of siding profiles with factory-applied finishes or create a custom color with their own paints. CertainTeed fiber cement siding products offer long-lasting durability and many of the sustainable attributes required for today's green building projects." Spice takes its name from Halifax's heritage as a major port city for the British and French spice trade in colonial-era Canada. The development was built on the site of a former spice trading company that was prominent in Halifax in the 1600s. "Spice is the talk of the town now," Polley says. "It has such a unique exterior and is really attracting attention. It has a lot of character." write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |