Testimonials

Comments from Andrew de Weerd

• Member of the Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV)
• Member of the Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS).
• Accredited Thermal Performance Assessor of the Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA).
• Accredited Thermal Performance Assessor of the Building Designers Association of Victoria (BDAV).
• Bachelor of Commerce Degree (BCom)
• Diploma of Building Surveying (DipBS)
• Associate Degree of Building Surveying (Exptd).
• Certificate IV in Building and Construction (CertIV).
• I have held senior positions at Metricon Homes, Simonds Homes, Devine Limited, Boutique Homes and Welcome Homes and worked in the domestic building industry since 1996.
  

1. I really like the blended look you can achieve. It is not a typical blend where you get 2 different bricks and call that a "blend". Your blend is full of shades and different hues. We really under appreciate aesthetic the beauty of the humble brick in my view. It has texture, colour, and constitutes the overwhelming surface area of the building. I have seen some really wonderful blends using reclaimed bricks and this has been used in a lot of houses I know. Places like Edgeware in the Delfin Estate in Maribyrnong, and even here in Pakenham in the Heritage Springs Estate.

2. We spend thousands of dollars on the floor coverings. We import porcelain floor tiles from the other side of the world for God sake, and then we spend a fortune laying them. Tell me, how long do you continue to look at the floor when someone tells you how fantastic their Italian floor tile is? 30 seconds? In contrast, brick is at eye level and you see it directly and it forms the overwhelming impression of the house.

3. From a design point of view, we have experimented with different materials for the roof coverings, the external cladding and the floors. We have tried just about everything. There is one element left in the house that has been overlooked. The internal walls. Are you not sick of looking at white plaster board walls? I am. Its everywhere. Its in almost every modern house you go through. I like the idea of having a wall in the house made of brick. This is typical of 1970s style houses and I believe its time we reclaimed this idea and put brick walls back into houses. Walking into a 1970s style house feels good for reason. Walking into a house built in 2011 with plasterboard feels sterile. A feature brick wall is a terrific option and I think people would go for it.

4. From a thermal energy efficiency point of view, brick is a very important structural element in the building. It acts as a thermal mass. What is this? Heat energy, whether it be from the sun or even a mechanical heating device, is absorbed by the brick wall. As the temperature drops at night, the brick wall attempts to equalise with the cooler surrounding environment and leaches the stored warmth in the wall. That means, the heat captured during the day and released at night keeps the house warm without mechanical heating. Thermal mass is excellent in cold environments like ours and keeps your heating bills down. An internal brick thermal mass is an excellent idea.

5. Geobrick is a "fine" grained brick. I think you achieve this by a system of sieves. It is also a dense brick. It feels heavier, more solid. I bet it achieves an exceptional fire rating and greater than a 60/60/60 FRL (Such as 90/90/90 or even 120/120/120). This has application in fire rated walls between buildings, as well as homes built in Flame Zones. You would have to get this tested with the CSIRO to confirm.

6. I believe the market loves brick. In WA, they refuse to have a home built without it. In Victoria, we love it as well. Weatherboard houses are not common. They feel 'cold'. Brick is warmth. Your brick is the ultimate. It is a "top of the range" brick. You use it for feature walls externally and internally. You can use it to build your whole house. When it comes to social status, a home built out of geobrick puts you above the rest. Do you know what I mean?

 

This job was the first time we had used Geo Bricks and i was impressed. They are uniform in length and width and are square, unlike other bricks we get these days.

Also they are easy to clean with a dry sponge as you go. From my point of view they are a good brick.