First impressions count and you only get one chance to make a good first impression, which is important if you’re looking to sell your home or simply increase its value. You need to pay as much attention to the kerb appeal of your home as you would your interior finishes.
We spend a fortune painting, replacing floorings and fixtures, and renovating our kitchens and bathrooms, with scant consideration to the exterior. We often think if the lawn is mowed and the garden beds weed-free, a spot of external paint is all it needs.
Unfortunately, it isn’t only books that are judged by their cover, and you should think of your home exterior much like a book cover.
To start with, you should have a designated external entertainment area and most Australian houses have pergolas or ‘Bali huts’ for this reason. You can lay a composite timber deck or incorporate composite screening and cladding to save you money and maintenance, such as NewTechWood composite timber products. It comes with a 25-year warranty, is UV, water, stain and termite resistant and looks like real timber. However, unlike real timber, it requires no maintenance – no sanding, no oiling or sealing. Ever.
Use NewTechWood Composite Timber Products
If your outdoor entertainment area is concrete, but its appearance is aged or lacklustre, you can give it a new lease of life by painting it or construct a composite timber deck over it. In our harsh Australian climate your outside entertainment area must be covered.
You can add a real touch of class by cladding your patio ceiling, and again, you can avoid the maintenance issue of real timber by using a composite timber product, like NewTechWood.
No outdoor living space is ever complete without some form of greenery. Hanging baskets always add green appeal but when it comes to garden beds if you weren’t blessed with green thumbs and your plants always die, consider succulents which come in all shapes and sizes and different varieties flower at various times of the year. It is quite hard to kill a succulent!
The use of synthetic turf is also becoming more common place for small pockets of front yard where you’d like to grow grass if you didn’t have to water and maintain it, but you want the appeal, colour and look of a healthy lawn.
Add Instant Appeal with NewTechWood Wall Cladding
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On a functional level, whether you want to build a fence or just divide your backyard, you can use cladding in a variety of ways. For example, to hide ugly pool or air-conditioning equipment, to offer you privacy from prying neighbours, or to provide shade from the afternoon sun.
The real beauty of wall cladding is it doesn’t have to be functional…it can be purely decorative. If you want to add some pizzazz to your home you can clad parts of the external walls to make a special feature, such as 
Whether you are going for beach-hut chic, rustic appeal, or a modern contemporary touch, strategically placed external cladding in the right colour can really set the mood. Think about the ‘look’ you want to achieve. With wall cladding, you can maintain a modern look choosing a grey-clad in a shadow-line profile, or choose walnut or teak for a more traditional timber look.
Wall cladding can also be suitable for older properties from the fifties and sixties to replace fibro or add a touch of class to otherwise plain exteriors, whereas houses from the Victorian era are already ornate. If you have a Victorian home, NewTechWood cladding can be used very successfully to tie in the old home with a new extension. Cladding can also disguise an existing ugly extension and new bricks that don’t match the colour of the old. And it’s perfect for coastal homes as the composite material is durable and withstands the hard-wearing pounding from sun, sea and sand.
Environmentally Friendly, Maintenance Free Home Improvements
Whatever product you go with to spice up the exterior of your home, you’ll need to consider your budget. Consider the costs and your labour time involved in future upkeep and maintenance. Sometimes the cheapest product is not your best option. Be eco-conscious and use products that come from sustainable sources. Think about quality and how long you want it to last. Do you mind spending a lot of time and money maintaining real timber? Would you prefer a product that is long lasting and requires no maintenance?
NewTechWood wall cladding is perfect for decorative use externally or for internal lining on alfresco area walls or ceilings. It utilises a patented aluminium clip system to install the cladding. The system allows for air circulation between the cladding and joists, keeping the inside dry and isolating water from the outside.
You can install it then forget about it, but the real difference it can make to your home will last forever.