The Project

In 1878, Frenchman Leonce Fre’re established the St. Hilaire Vineyard near Albury. Named after a province in southern France, the vineyard became famous as Australia’s first champagne producer.

The winery operated until the late 1930s, and the site is now part of the Albury suburb of Thurgoona. However, while it is now home to new housing development, some of the original winery buildings still remain.

Having recently completed a new house on a block that used to be the winery entrance, local owner/builder Peter Graves now counts these heritage-listed buildings as neighbours. Finished early in 2018, the home overlooks the old wine vats, as well as a park and grounds owned by a nearby church.

The Solution

Peter designed the home himself and built it with the help of friend and fellow builder, Ashley Habermann. A real fan of LYSAGHT® steel building products, Peter had wanted to use LYSAGHT ENSEAM™ cladding ever since he first became aware of it. As he explained, for him, the most attractive things about the product were its appearance, durability and cost.

As it turned out, he became the first person in Albury to specify the product. Add to that the fact that it involved building his own house, the project was extra special for Peter. He enjoyed the build and was delighted with the final outcome.

Specifically, he used about 200m² of LYSAGHT ENSEAM™ cladding in COLORBOND® steel Matt in the colour Monument® on the house’s external walls. In addition, on the roof he used LYSAGHT CUSTOM ORB® roofing in COLORBOND® steel colour in Shale Grey™ and LYSAGHT KLIP-LOK® roofing in the COLORBOND® steel colour Shale Grey™.

The front of the block is flat, but drops down towards the rear of the one-level house. As such, there is space at the back for a partial lower level, which along with all the foundations, is brick. Apart from that, all the ground level external walls are covered in ENSEAM™ cladding.

The Process

Peter was happy to admit that, given this was the first time he or Ashley had installed ENSEAM™ cladding, they required a fair bit of education, particularly in terms of how to handle the flashings. Still, with the help of online and hard copy reference materials provided by Lysaght, the installation went well and they finished the overall project on schedule.

Peter was very happy with the assistance offered by the company. He said they were always available for in-depth phone conversations and made trips to the site to help in any way they could.

He said he was delighted with the final outcome and would definitely use LYSAGHT ENSEAM™ cladding again in the future. He looks forward to trying out other colours in the range.

Located just six minutes from the centre of Albury, the new house is a welcome addition to a beautiful part of the world.