Energy Efficient
Thermal efficiency: Many people know that the colour of your roof can make a difference to your cooling bill and no less than five of the colours in the COLORBOND® steel range qualify as solar reflective (light coloured) roofing under the Green Star Communities tool. But there’s another way that COLORBOND® steel can help make your home more energy efficient. Every colour (except Night Sky®) in the standard COLORBOND® steel range features Thermatech® solar reflectance technology. Thermatech® technology is designed to reflect more of the sun's heat on hot days, which can mean less dependence on air-conditioning, plus reduced heat stress for your roof. This makes COLORBOND® steel a good choice for your home, your wallet and our planet.
Sustainable Performance: COLORBOND® steel is durable and resilient to Australia's harsh climate and its long life helps conserve resources and energy that may otherwise be invested in products with a shorter life span. All COLORBOND® steel contains recycled content and is 100% recyclable. In some cases it can be reused without reprocessing, again saving on energy and resource use. It is a lightweight material which can mean a lower cost to transport to site and a lighter roof structure. And it is strong, which means it can help protect your home in stormy weather. Together, COLORBOND® steel's beauty, strength and environmental performance combine to make it a responsible choice for your future, and the environment.
Make sure it's genuine
Fifty years of Australian research and development has created a range of technologies that give genuine COLORBOND® steel its long lasting performance when subjected to some of the harshest Australian conditions. You can make sure you’re getting the genuine article by looking out for the COLORBOND® steel branding on the product, or its packaging.
For roofing and walling, check for the ink branding on the reverse side of the sheet. On fencing look for laser branding on either side of each panel; it appears at least three times in each 2.4 m section. For guttering, you can look on the inside for ink branding, and, in some Australian States, you will find the protective wrapping that your COLORBOND® steel arrives in, is branded too. Genuine COLORBOND® steel garage doors are ink branded. This is an edge brand on the reverse side of the sheeting with ‘COLORBOND® steel made by BlueScope’.
Whatever you are building with COLORBOND® steel, be it a new home, a shed or a fence, it pays to check that you are getting what you’ve paid for and that the materials used are going to live up to the task – especially if they are protecting your investment from the Australian elements, which put all building materials to the toughest of tests.
Fire Protection
Whether you live, or are planning to build in a bushfire prone area, or simply want to increase the bushfire protection afforded to your home, COLORBOND® steel may help protect your property. The CSIRO’s research and investigation into the performance of residential boundary fencing in bushfires (download here) found that "a steel fence offers greater protection to people's homes against bushfire than other alternative materials because of its non-combustibility"….Of the different materials tested, pre-painted and metallic coated sheet steel (in this case made from COLORBOND® steel) performed best under all exposure conditions and in particular when faced with a 30 minute flame immersion test used to stimulate potential effects of an adjacent house fire, which is common during bushfire events."
COLORBOND® steel roofing, walling, gutters and downpipes are also compliant for use in bushfire zones, including the most extreme, BAL-FZ (Bushfire Attack Level – Flame Zone) specified in AS3959-2009. In BAL-FZ “there is an extremely high risk of ember attack and burning debris ignited by windborne embers, and a likelihood of exposure to an extreme level of radiant heat and direct exposure to flames from the fire front.” (Ref. Australian Standard 3959-2009). If you would like more information, there is a fact sheet for homeowners, builders and designers who are looking to build or re-build homes on BAL-FZ sites here (download "Fact Sheet: COLORBOND® steel clad roofing system construction, details for bushfire-prone AS3959-2009 BAL-FZ sites").
Easy to maintain
Simple maintenance of COLORBOND® steel by regular washing with clean, fresh water will not only prolong its life but also maintain its attractiveness for longer periods thus protecting your asset. Applications where the paint finish is naturally washed by rainwater do not usually require this maintenance, e.g. roofing. However, some areas such as wall cladding under eaves, the top of garage doors and the underside of eave gutters are often not washed by rainwater, and so require some attention. Ensure these ‘unwashed’ areas are hosed down at least every six months and more frequently in coastal areas where marine salt spray is prevalent, and in areas where high levels of industrial fallout occur. It is also important to ensure that there is no build-up of debris, such as soil and mulch against COLORBOND® steel products.
If cared for in this way, your building components made from COLORBOND® steel should give many years of easy maintenance life.