Wide range of products

Press, 9 July 1980, Page 22

Wide range of products

Hardie’s building materials have an established place in the New Zealand building industry, and the range of products, particularly wall boards, produced in the Penrose, Auckland, works seems to increase year by year. One Christchurch supplier, Fletcher Merchants, has found that it is one of the larger outlets for Hardie’s materials and has developed a specially-de-signed and built storage system for ease of access and self-loading. On a drive anywhere in New Zealand today it would probably be hard not to find sme of Hardie’s products on commercial, industrial or home exteriors.

Hardiflex building board is both an exterior and interior cladding material

made of cellulose fibre, asbestos fibre, cement, silica and water. It has flexibility, is unaffected by steam, sunlight, vermin and insects and is chemically cured at manufacture so that it will not become brittle or change with age of exposure. One of Hardie’s brochures lists the following uses for Hardiflex: Internal and external wall cladding and lining, ceiling linings, soffit linings, gable end cladding, in-fill panels and facings for composite panels, fences and screens, specialist applications such as lift and cool room linings, a base material for decorative finishs, any cladding where fire risk is a special consideration, external lining to concrete block walls for thermal insulation, signsandhoard-

ings, special panels such as spandrels.

New Zealand homeowners have favoured weatherboard exteriors for many years, but the traditional materials have priced themselves off some home-builders’ budgets. Hardiplank, either woodgrain or smooth, has often provided the answer, giving a weatherboard appearance, although made of the same fibres as the wallboard sheets.

Smooth Hardiplank has a smooth matt surface, and the Woodgrain variety has a textured surface of natural timber. Both take acrylic paints and blend with other building materials. Another decorative surface is provided by Montana board, made in the rustic style of board and batten timber with

smooth, slim, raised batten moulded into a deep woodgrain-textured sheet base.

All the Hardie’s products mentioned can be used for fences and screens, and there are some fascinating possibilities. A 16-page brochure gives the home handyman some novel ideas on which to work, as well as standard fence types, and shows construction methods.

Each type of Hardie board has its own accompanying brochure giving advice for general fixing.