E73. Weathertex Cladding with special guest Vanda from Weathertex

In this episode of the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, Amelia and Frank were on location at Wrest Point Convention Centre in Hobart at the Building Designers Association of Australia (BDAA) Festival of Design trade night. 

They invited special guest Vanda, from Weathertex, to talk about Weathertex products and talk about the importance of sustainable building materials in today’s construction industry. 

Weathertex is a leader in eco-friendly timber cladding, providing durable and stylish solutions for builders, designers, and homeowners. Vanda explains the unique features of Weathertex products, including their all-natural composition, carbon-positive certification, and low environmental impact. She highlights how these materials support sustainable building practices while offering long-lasting and low-maintenance benefits. 

This episode covers everything from the role of natural materials in future-proofing homes to the importance of choosing products that are free from harmful additives. If you’re interested in building greener, more sustainable homes, Vanda’s insights will inspire and inform your next project.

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About us
Prime Design is a building design company locally owned and operated in Tasmania since 2004.  Our goal is to share as much valuable information as possible about the process of building design, extensions, and more. We will talk about a different topic each week. To suggest a topic you would like us to talk about contact us at info@primedesigntas.com.au

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The information provided on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, individual circumstances, or remedy. We strongly suggest you consult a qualified professional before taking any action based on the information provided in this podcast. The views, opinions, and information provided in this podcast are those of the hosts do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer, or company. All content provided on this podcast is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, currentness, suitability, or validity of any information on this podcast and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, or damages arising from its use. We reserve the right to change content or delete any information provided on this podcast at any time without prior notice.

Transcript

E73. Weathertex Cladding with special guest Vanda from Weathertex

[INTRO] (0:09 - 0:24)

Welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast, focused on providing valuable information for anyone looking to undertake a new build or extension project. We'll share our tips, tricks and stories from a building designers perspective.

[Frank] (0:35 - 1:17)

Hey everyone, we've just prepared a few different types of podcasts. We're at the Building Design Association National Festival of Design and they had a trade night at the Wrestpoint Casino and we were lucky enough to be able to interview a number of interesting people there. The first interview you're going to hear is from Vanda from Weathertex.

If you don't know who Weathertex are, you need to go on Google. This is an amazing Australian company with an amazing product. I'll let Vanda share a little bit more of that.

By the way, we're not being endorsed by any of these guys. I've dealt with a number of these suppliers over the years, so this is just purely interdependent. No kickbacks, no nothing.

Hope you enjoy.

[Amelia] (1:17 - 1:25)

Hello and welcome to the Building Design, Prime Time podcast. I'm your host Amelia and once again we're joined by Frank Geskus.

[Frank] (1:25 - 1:26)

Hey Amelia, how are we?

[Amelia] (1:26 - 1:29)

I'm pretty excited. We're on location in Hobart.

[Frank] (1:29 - 1:33)

Again. 

[Amelia]

Again. 

[Frank]

Yes, this is good. We're trying to cram in a lot of podcasts.

[Amelia] (1:34 - 1:38)

We are, we are cramming in a few and we've got a special guest on the show today.

[Frank] (1:38 - 1:40)

I know. I'm excited. 

[Vanda] 

So am I.

[Amelia] (1:41 - 1:51)

Welcome Vanda from Weathertex. 

[Vanda] 

Hello. Hello. Thank you. Thanks for the invitation.

[Amelia]

Thanks for coming and chatting to us. I know Frank's a bit of a fan of Weathertex.

[Frank] (1:51 - 1:52)

I'm a huge fan.

[Vanda] (1:53 - 2:51)

We love Frank. 

[Amelia]

Everybody loves Frank. 

[Vanda]

I love it. Thank you and thanks for the invitation for the podcast. It's very exciting. 

[Amelia]

It is exciting. So tell us a little bit about Weathertex and the type of products that Weathertex offers. 

[Vanda]

Sure. So Weathertex is an Australian manufacturer of cladding. So we do architectural panels and weatherboards, but our product is 100% natural. So it's made out of hardwood and a bit of paraffin wax. So it doesn't have any resins or formaldehydes or silica or any glues and nasty chemicals, which is unreal.

So it's got that sustainability, but it's also has that quality and the durability that you're looking for when you're doing your cladding. Awesome. 

[Amelia]

And can you use it externally and internally?

[Vanda]

Sure. So all our products can be used externally, but more and more people are using it internally as feature walls and lining and ceilings. So yeah, for sure. Internally as well.

[Frank] (2:51 - 2:55)

Don't you find it amazing? It's just hardwood and paraffin wax.

[Vanda] (2:56 - 3:01)

Yeah. Two ingredients. 

[Amelia]

That's awesome. And it's Australian 

[Vanda]

and family owned.

[Frank] (3:01 - 3:06)

So no nasty stuff in the products, no toxic weird shit in there.

[Amelia] (3:06 - 4:27)

That's awesome. 

[Vanda]

Yeah. And it can be cut with standard carpentry tools. You don't need to, you know… 

[Frank]

Use diamond blades. 

[Vanda]

Yeah. Which is awesome. Yeah. 

[Amelia]

Yeah. I had a look actually at your website and it's actually quite in depth. It even had videos on how to install it and yeah, it was very cool. 

[Vanda]

Yeah, no, for sure. Like we, we provide our customers with more like the versatility of educating our customers on how easy it is to install it.

So we've got obviously our manuals, but more and more we incorporating the QR codes within our installation manuals that gives them visuals as well, because some people are visual, so it's good to give them that sort of versatility. 

[Amelia]

So what sort of finishes can you have with Weathertex? I imagine you can have like a stain or you can paint it or have it natural.

[Vanda]

Yeah. So we've got architectural wall panels and weatherboards and within those two ranges, we've got the pre-primed and within the pre-primed, we've got a woodsman, which has got that wood grain feel, a smooth texture and a rough sawn that looks to me like a crocodile skin kind of texture. And then we've got our natural range, which is raw and you can leave it unstained and you still have 10 year warranty for the natural.

[Frank]

I love this stuff. Yeah. 

[Amelia]

You love the finish, don't you?

[Frank] (4:27 - 4:33)

I love the finish and just when it's just raw and it can just grey off. I love that natural finish.

[Vanda] (4:33 - 4:37)

Well, you were saying that you're using it for your home, the natural?

[Frank] (4:37 - 4:38)

Yeah, I'm using it.

[Vanda] (4:38 - 4:44)

Yeah, that's awesome. And natural, it's amazing even as a feature, but as an overall.

[Frank] (4:44 - 4:49)

Yeah. I want it to kind of blend into the hillside. 

[Vanda] (4:49 - 4:54)

Exactly. It looks amazing, especially where we are like today in Tasmania, like blends in with the environment.

[Frank] (4:54 - 4:55)

Yeah, it does. 

[Amelia] (4:55 - 5:02)

It does, doesn't it? Actually, you look around at buildings and I think people like timber more and more to use it in their homes.

[Frank] (5:03 - 5:22)

But a lot of the timber they choose is super high maintenance. 

[Amelia]

Yeah, that's very true. 

[Frank]

And our UV down here isn't real kind on anything, including us. So when you have this product, it's natural. And the cool thing is you have a solution that you can put over the product, over the weathertex to bring it back to the natural colour again.

[Vanda] (5:22 - 5:23)

Yeah.

[Frank] (5:23 - 5:23)

It's bonkers.

[Vanda] (5:24 - 5:58)

So you can leave it to age naturally and it'll silver off or otherwise you can stain it. If you want down the track to actually bring it back to life, you can do that. So it's got that versatility, which is good.

And then also we're the only really timber product that provides a 10 year warranty not to rot, crack or split. So your solid timber usually doesn't give you any warranty at all. 

[Amelia]

Yeah.

[Vanda]

The pre-primed that's got a 25 year warranty. And the only reason we only give 10 year warranty on the natural is because it hasn't been in the market as long as the pre-primed.

[Frank] (5:58 - 5:59)

So every year it goes up a year?

[Vanda] (6:00 - 6:12)

Well, actually, we'll have to talk to Paul about that. But yeah, but there is, there's nothing wrong with it. And also another thing, it's a timber product, but we're termite resistant as well.

[Frank] (6:12 - 6:16)

Yeah. And down Tassie, our termites are a bit dopey, so they're not getting in. So they're safe here.

[Vanda] (6:16 - 6:18)

So you're okay.

[Amelia] (6:18 - 6:31)

They're okay here. 

[Frank]

So what's your favourite product in the range? And I know it's a tough one because when you go to your website, all the different designs and creative thinking, how they've used it.

[Vanda] (6:32 - 7:10)

Yeah. It is a tough one. Like personally, I do like, I think my 75 Weather Groove is quite trendy.

It's quite cool. And it looks fantastic, both internally as a feature, externally as you know, whole cladding. But then we've got like our Fusion as well, which we, it's a sort of like a recent panel one.

And that's got that random grooves, and that's taking off enormously as well. So we've got it available in the natural and the smooth at the moment. So that's really good.

And we just launched the V-Groove, the self-lock V-Groove Smooth. So we had the V-Groove in the natural.

[Frank] (7:10 - 7:10)

Yeah.

[Vanda] (7:10 - 7:32)

So now it's the smooth as well. That's taken off. Like we've launched that at the beginning of this year.

And that's really taken off both internally as well as externally as well. So people are using it in their bedrooms as feature walls. 

[Frank]

Oh, right.

[Amelia]

Actually, if you have a chat to Tahleah, I'm sure she'll tell you that she's done quite a lot of those sort of feature walls. I think they're quite popular.

[Frank] (7:32 - 7:36)

Yeah, Tahleah's our interior designer. She's working at my house as well.

[Amelia] (7:37 - 7:39)

Yeah. I wonder if you have one of those walls?

[Frank] (7:39 - 7:39)

I do.

[Amelia] (7:40 - 7:40)

You do? There you go.

[Frank] (7:40 - 7:46)

I have nothing to do with it though. I want to let my wife and Tahleah work together because I'm just going to be a nightmare client.

[Amelia] (7:46 - 7:48)

A nightmare client?

[Frank] (7:48 - 7:52)

I am. 

[Amelia]

Oh, no. 

[Frank]

All I wanted was my secret whiskey cupboard and I was happy.

[Amelia] (7:52 - 7:53)

Well, you got that.

[Frank] (7:53 - 7:54)

I got that.

[Amelia] (7:54 - 8:05)

You did get that. 

[Vanda]

That's it, tick.

[Amelia]
So what sort of maintenance is required for weathertex? Like you mentioned before the natural finish and you let it sort of go grey.

[Vanda] (8:06 - 8:06)

Yeah.

[Amelia] (8:06 - 8:30)

But what about for painted finishes? 

[Vanda]

Well, it really depends on the kind of paint you use and the environment you're in. If you're near the coastal waters or it really depends. Have a look at, I guess, you know, with the natural, if you're staining it, you know, just look at the brand. If you go to the website, our website, we've got like all the different specs for the paints and the stains that we recommend.

[Frank] (8:30 - 8:31)

And you guys have tested all these?

[Vanda] (8:31 - 9:05)

We've tested together with the suppliers. So we've got Intergrain, we've got Dulux, we've got Grimes & Sons. So we've got a variety.

Taubman's as well. And they've worked with us using our products. So the good thing about our product it is very consistent with our ingredients and so on.

So we're able to actually, you know, do a lot of testing with that. So I would recommend for the customer to go to our website, look at the aesthetics that they're after and then go through Dulux or Taubman's or wherever they want to, depending on what they want to achieve. 

[Amelia]

Cool.

[Frank] (9:06 - 9:08)

And I've seen a couple of your photos on there and they've got black.

[Vanda] (9:09 - 9:10)

Oh yeah.

[Frank] (9:10 - 9:11)

It looks amazing.

[Vanda] (9:11 - 9:11)

It's huge.

[Frank] (9:12 - 9:21)

But I've got to ask, because when I was starting my career and going through it, dark colours, dark paints on timber, not a great idea.

[Vanda] (9:21 - 9:21)

Yeah.

[Frank] (9:22 - 9:23)

Because it can blister and whatnot. How have you guys found it?

[Vanda] (9:23 - 9:31)

Yeah, the VOC, you've got to really be careful with that. It really depends on the climate as well, where you're at and so on.

[Frank] (9:31 - 9:33)

Well, in Tassie our UV is brutal.

[Vanda] (9:33 - 9:40)

Yeah, yeah. So you've got to really look into those, but yeah, more and more people are using it and it looks fantastic.

[Frank] (9:40 - 9:41)

It does.

[Amelia] (9:41 - 10:07)

It does look very cool. 

[Vanda]

Yeah, it does. It does.

[Amelia]

I also read that your factory opened back in 1939. That's incredible. 

[Vanda]

I know. And it's so funny because you look at the photos, some of those old photos, the factory has been there since 1939, but Weathertex itself was created in 1964. So since 1964, nothing really has much changed in the product.

[Frank] (10:07 - 10:09)

It's essentially the same product, isn't it?

[Vanda] (10:09 - 10:10)

It's exactly the same.

[Frank] (10:10 - 10:13)

Because we used to call it, you know, in a different form, Burnie Board. Was it? Is that one of them?

[Vanda] (10:13 - 10:15)

Yeah, I'm not sure. I'm not sure at the time.

[Frank] (10:15 - 10:20)

Because I remember seeing it in younger days, demolition and things like that. And you had this brown board.

[Vanda] (10:20 - 10:21)

Yeah.

[Frank] (10:21 - 10:23)

And the rest of the house is stuffed. This stuff's still fine.

[Vanda] (10:24 - 10:32)

It's still, yeah. Like the funniest thing, well, it's not funny, but you know, like, sustainable even before sustainable was sexy.

[Frank] (10:32 - 10:33)

Yeah, it was a thing, yeah.

[Vanda] (10:34 - 10:53)

I know. So that's, so 1964, that's when Weathertex was founded. And then in the late 90s, that's when it became a family owned business.

So now it's owned by two brothers. And yeah, they've been around for quite a while. 

[Amelia]

Wow.

[Vanda]

25 years.

[Frank] (10:53 - 10:58)

I was just going to ask, you source your timber within the surrounding factory too.

[Vanda] (10:58 - 11:56)

That's exactly right. So our product itself, it's got a better than zero carbon footprint because we use second grade timber. So we don't need the first grade.

So it's actually more sustainable to put our product up in the home than it is to actually leave it to rot, you know, in the forest. And we try to scope our hardwood around our perimeter. So then there's less, you know, trucks and logistics and so on to bring it in.

Even like the waste product. Actually, we just launched a sustainability report recently. And I encourage everyone to go and check it out because it just shows that our next goal is to make it carbon neutral for from an operations point of view.

So waste product, we hardly have no waste product. So we use any waste product to keep the manufacturing going. Even the water, we recycle our water, keep recycling so no water gets wasted. So we're very big in sustainability.

[Frank] (11:56 - 12:04)

And it's not greenwashing. What you guys are doing, because I've seen it. We've had chats, I've spoken to Jason and it's got to be what you guys have done.

[Vanda] (12:04 - 12:35)

We knew we had a better than zero carbon footprint, but at the same time, you know, like we wanted to basically have third party accreditations that actually, you know, go through the life cycle analysis and look at the lifespan of our product and so on. So we've got platinum certification for our natural board with for the global green tag. And so and we're the first manufactured product in the world to get platinum certification for their health rate.

[Amelia]

That's impressive. 

[Vanda] (12:35 - 12:53)

Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is. So we're the first manufactured product. And then also, we're part of the declare program as well. Because again, we're, it's basically like you said, Frank, you know, it's basically two ingredients. That's it. Minus 97% hardwood to 3% wax. That's it.

[Frank] (12:53 - 13:01)

You know, you've been around a long time, yet I'm still amazed where I share it with customers or builders in particular have never heard of.

[Amelia] (13:02 - 13:02)

Yeah, really?

[Frank] (13:02 - 13:05)

Yeah, I'm not joking. It blows my mind.

[Vanda] (13:05 - 13:05)

Yeah.

[Frank] (13:05 - 13:09)

You know, and also the maintenance side of it as well. People don't understand it.

[Vanda] (13:10 - 13:10)

Yeah.

[Frank] (13:10 - 13:26)

Because people have also been sort of brainwashed. They're just used to what they're using all the time, then you're trying to change their mind. 

[Vanda]

Exactly.

[Frank]

And I think you guys are doing a great job. All the stuff you put online. Yeah, the install videos. Yeah, that's what builders need and whatnot.

[Vanda] (13:27 - 14:20)

Yeah, no, exactly. Even mums and dads and consumers, you know, we're a lot more savvy of a lot, you know, people are making their own decisions. They want a healthier environments and homes and planets and you know, all the good things.

So people are doing a lot of the research. So we do get a lot of most of our online sample requests are from DIY is and home builders, which is good. It actually shows that people are taking the time and actually figuring out that not only our product is sustainable, it's affordable, but then it's also durable.

You know, you can throw a cricket ball at our product, and it would not dent or split or crack. 

[Amelia]

Wow. 

[Vanda]

Yeah, it's really durable.

It's got very dense. Plus, also, it's got that because it's timber, it's got that flexibility so curved walls is huge at the moment.

[Amelia] (14:21 - 14:22)

Oh, isn't it? Yeah.

[Vanda] (14:26 - 14:54)

So that is so good. And actually, this year, we went through our panels, and looked at our different profiles and looked at saying, okay, we were quite strict within our warranties before to say, how much can you actually curve to be within our warranty. But we've actually reassessed.

So now we can you've got the 75 mil grooves, the weather groove, you can go I think 1500 Yeah, 1500 radius.

[Frank] (14:54 - 14:56)

Radius without snapping it?

[Vanda] (14:56 - 15:18)

Yeah. No, no, you've got to cut it. So go online and actually check out we've got actually a table and so on.

But it was always within the building code. But us internally, we would waived our warranty where now we feel obviously comfortable enough. We've tested it. We've done our research.

[Frank] (15:19 - 15:19)

Yeah.

[Vanda] (15:19 - 15:29)

But then with our planks, our planks are 3.6 meters long. So curving those, it's amazing. And so it's quite easy to do.

[Amelia]

Wow, that's impressive.

[Frank] (15:29 - 15:30)

Yeah, very cool.

[Amelia] (15:31 - 15:34)

Yeah, I love how creative the industry has gotten.

[Frank] (15:35 - 15:35)

Oh, yeah.

[Amelia] (15:35 - 15:40)

I feel like there's just so much to choose from and so many possibilities.

[Vanda](15:41 - 16:02)

Yeah, yeah. And then our product, I could go on forever so stop me. It's also light as well. So people use it in garage doors.

So for that seamless effect. People use us even for cabinets as well. Island benches just to give that texture.

So yeah, it's quite it's quite interesting.

[Frank] (16:03 - 16:04)

And you got your BAL rating.

[Vanda] (16:04 - 17:22)

And we got the BAL rating 19. So yeah, so we've got, you know, we're timber. 

[Amelia]

I was gonna say for a timber product. Yeah, that's very good. 

[Vanda]

Yeah, that's right. So yeah, so it's quite it's got a lot of versatility as well. So every year, we bring out our own design trends magazine as well, to give our customers ideas and inspirations from you know, mums and dads right through to designers and builders and whatever. And it's a good way of also promoting and highlighting our customers that have built and specified you know, our product as well. 

[Amelia]

So where can people find that magazine?

[Vanda]

Is it on your website? It's on our website. So if you go to the website under brochures, there's the product catalogue that actually has all our products and ranges.

It's also got the design trends for previous years as well. The sustainability report that gives you a little bit about our commitment and our team and our sustainability goals. And then also we provide free online samples as well.

So mums and dads or builders. Also, if you're a builder, or even mum and dad, or if they're not mum and dad, but predominantly like an owner builder. If you've got like a big project, yeah, we do all the takeoffs, all the bill of quantities, especially with the accessories.

[Frank] (17:23 - 17:29)

Yeah, the accessories is probably some of the biggest challenge, but then you've got all those accessories and now we're going to vent the cavity.

[Vanda] (17:30 - 17:30)

Exactly.

[Frank] (17:31 - 17:39)

I've gone through, yeah, your products thoroughly to look at all the different fixtures, fittings, yeah, especially down the bottom. So you can vent the cavity.

[Vanda] (17:39 - 17:51)

Exactly. Yeah, yeah, that's for sure. Yeah, exactly.

And then even now we're providing the takeoffs, the ability for the customer to tell us if they're using a horizontal batten system or, you know.

[Frank] (17:51 - 17:52)

Yeah, horizontal, vertical.

[Vanda] (17:52 - 17:54)

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. So we connect…

[Frank] (17:54 - 17:56)

Which I think the vertical is a better way to go.

[Vanda] (17:56 - 18:29)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but you've got that option as well. So, yeah.

[Amelia]

So do you think for anyone looking to learn more about Weathertex, that the website is the best place to start with those resources? 

[Vanda]

Yes, definitely. Yeah, definitely the website, you know, follow us on social media as well. You know, we've got a big following on Instagram. I think we've got up to, I think, 30 or 40,000 followers on Insta. But we're obviously on LinkedIn and Facebook and TikTok.

[Amelia] (18:30 - 18:30)

TikTok as well. Wow.

[Vanda] (18:31 - 18:45)

We're dabbling, we're dabbling. 

[Amelia]

That's impressive. We're not even on TikTok.

[Frank]

I'm not going there. 

[Amelia]

Okay, fair enough. 

[Frank]

It will be like a performing monkey.

[Amelia]

We just wanted to see Frank dancing.

[Frank] (18:45 - 18:46)

No, it's not going to happen.

[Vanda] (18:47 - 18:48)

Come on, come on. 

[Frank] (18:48 - 18:50)

There's not enough Dutch courage to do that.

[Vanda] (18:50 - 19:16)

We'll do a collaboration. I love it. 

[Amelia]

All right, we might wrap it up there.

Thank you so much for coming in, Vanda, and talking to us about Weathertex. It's been awesome to get to know a little bit more about the product and how it got started. And enjoy the rest of the trade show.

[Vanda]

Oh, thank you. Thanks, Amelia and Frank. 

[Amelia]

Thanks for listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.

[Frank] (19:16 - 19:17)

Catch you later.

[OUTRO] (19:26 - 19:30)

You're listening to the Building Design, Prime Time Podcast.