Showhomes > Linea Stars in 2004

Linea Stars in 2004

When many of the country's most successful group home-builders are building homes featuring Linea® Weatherboards, you can be sure it's for one very good reason – it sells houses!

When top architects and designers are also specifying Linea Weatherboards you can be sure it's for another very good reason – it has a design edge.

And, when people building homes around the country are specifically asking their architects and designers for home designs using Linea weatherboards, it's not just because it looks good, and has a design edge, but also because it's low maintenance.

Put that lot together and it's not hard to see why in 2004 Linea Weatherboards are making a big impact on the look and design of new New Zealand homes. And when you also consider that Linea Weatherboard homes have been awarded a number of top awards during 2004, it stands to reason that this is a new product with a big future in the New Zealand architectural landscape.

One of the most notable aspects of the Linea homes we've seen featured on TV Showhomes during the year is the sheer diversity of home designs. This is most certainly not a product that is restricted to a certain ‘look' or style. Linea Weatherboards have starred in homes both traditional, and modern, urban and rural, from mansions to simple holiday homes and painted in colours ranging from white to black. Linea has been used as the sole cladding product and in combination with a wide variety of other claddings and building materials including Monotek Sheet®, Titan® Facade Panel, Hardiflex® Sheets, stone, concrete and solid plaster.

Perhaps one of the most interesting home stories we featured this year was the great ‘Retro Renovation' of the Boyte Family home in Tauranga. This home started life as a brick and tile box only seven years before the new owners, Gary and Nathalie Boyte bought it. They loved the land, but hated the house. The renovation was a huge undertaking, transforming this non-descript house into an award-winning traditionally-styled family home, clad in Linea Weatherboard. “When I saw Linea, I was impressed,” says owner, Gary Boyte. “When people come to the home they naturally assume it's traditional weatherboard – you can't tell the difference.”

Of course, one of the big differences between Linea Weatherboard and traditional timber Weatherboard is the question of maintenance. Because Linea is a stable, inert product, it doesn't shrink or swell, warp, crack or rot. Paint life is extended and maintenance is minimal.

For more details of Linea's extended paint warranty, click here.

Another home with an interesting story behind it is the Hedge family home at Te Puna. This home was inspired by TV Showhomes. The Hedges found out about Linea Weatherboards via the TV Showhomes TV spots. They visited this website, read more about it and decided that it was exactly what they'd been looking for. “We dallied with a plaster finish, but it just didn't appeal,” says Wendy Hedge “Linea came along at just the right time for us says her husband, Alan. “The fact that Linea is such a stable product made it very appealing and the extended guarantee on paint life speaks volumes.”

The Hedge home also features wide HardieGroove™ Lining over the decks. It's a product that is popular for use both inside and out and it combines well with Linea to create an authentic villa-style.

Another stunning home that made great use of the Linea and HardieGroove combination was the beautifully crafted lagoon-side home at Omaha. Here, Hardigroove was used both inside and out. Inside, it was used to great effect on the cathedral ceiling in the grand entrance way and the upstairs office. Outside, it was used to line the wide verandah roof over the decks – creating a timeless, authentic Tongue & Groove look.

Linea has also been making quite an impact on coastal architecture – particularly at Omaha, north of Auckland, where Enduring Homes, has been responsible for a growing number of stunning Linea Weatherboard beach homes. Enduring Homes are built undercover in a South Auckland factory, then transported onto site, where they are finished. The three homes we've featured are all variations on the same house-plan, yet all three are distinctly different. One is clad in White-painted Linea and Zincalume, another in Linea and Monotek and the third, a two-storied version, is clad in Linea and Titan panel.

Linea is also being used to create sharp, urban, award-winning architecture – the finest example of this being achieved by builder, Peter Blackie, of Tauranga with the award-winning home he built on the Tauranga waterfront. The home, which won the Registered Master Builders House of the Year award in the $550,000 - $1million category, is clad in Linea Weatherboard, painted black. It's a great example of how architects are using the strong shadow lines of Linea to create stunning sculptural effects.