Design. Style. Comfort.

Wedi waterproofing, and why we got certified

The grey board going up in this bathroom is wedi, a German wet area system, and the board itself is waterproof. The core is extruded polystyrene with a cement coating and fibreglass mesh over it, so the waterproofing runs the full thickness of the sheet instead of being a coat painted on afterwards.

That matters because the usual way a wet area fails is the membrane. A liquid membrane is only as good as the coverage the applicator achieved on the day — a little thin in a corner, a pinhole behind the tap — and nothing shows up until there is damage to the room next door. With wedi there is no film to get thin. The boards are screwed off with washers, the joints and screw heads are sealed with wedi’s own sealant, and the tiles go straight onto the face.

It is a certified system, so we sat the training and became certified installers before we could use it. It also holds CodeMark certification in Australia, the scheme building surveyors are required to accept as proof of compliance. It costs more than a sheet of villaboard and a bucket of membrane. A bathroom is the wrong place to save that money.

Floor-to-ceiling glass, and the wall opposite it

Glass that runs floor to ceiling is a framing decision, not a window decision. The head height has to be set while the frame is going up and the structure over the opening sized to carry it, because nobody is raising a window later. Do it at the right moment and the living room opens to the alfresco with nothing but a sill line between the two.

The frames are thermally broken. Plain aluminium conducts heat straight through the metal, which is why those frames feel cold in winter and run with condensation on a July morning. A thermally broken frame has an insulating barrier set inside the section so the inside face is separated from the outside face. On top of that we offer triple glazed units with argon between the panes — argon is denser than air and slows the heat moving across the gap.

Opposite the glass is the TV wall. The stone-look panel wraps a recessed cavity for the screen with a linear fireplace set in below, and the whole thing is set out before the plasterer arrives rather than being a cabinet pushed up against a finished wall. That is what lets the screen sit flush, the cabling disappear, and the joinery line run square from floor to ceiling.

Whirlpool appliances, with five years on them

The appliance package we put in is Whirlpool, and it carries a five year parts and labour warranty. Most builders hand over with two. Three extra years does not sound like much on the day you move in, but it covers the window where things actually start to fail.

The oven is a 90cm wide multi-function. It has an air fry setting, which circulates hot air hard enough to crisp without a benchtop fryer taking up space, and a Smart Clean cycle that uses steam at low temperature to soften baked-on grease so the cavity wipes out instead of being scrubbed.

The cooktop is a five burner gas with cast iron trivets, including a wok burner. Five burners means a full dinner service without juggling pots, and the trivets sit flat so a pan slides across the whole top rather than being lifted between rings.

Shingle roofs, and why we bother with them

Most new homes around Melbourne go up with concrete tile or Colorbond. We also build in asphalt shingles, which you see far less of here. This one is being laid now — architectural grade shingles over structural plywood and a synthetic underlay, rather than tiles sitting on battens.

What we like about them is the way they handle a complicated roof. Hips, valleys and changes of pitch are where a tiled roof gets fussy, because every tile along the line has to be cut, and those cut edges are what you end up looking at from the ground. Shingles are lapped and trimmed to follow the line instead, so a hip runs as one clean ridge the whole way up. You can see it in the photo.

They are also a fraction of the weight of tile or slate, so there is less load carried down through the frame, and they can be walked on while they are going down without anything cracking. The laminated profile gives the roof depth and shadow through the day, which a flat sheet never does.

Pools, and the openings that look onto them

The pool at 7 Kinross Street, Hampton East went in as part of the build rather than as somebody else’s job once we had finished. Running it with the house means the excavation, the plumbing, the paving levels and the finished floor heights are all set together, so the coping finishes flush with the surround and the water sits where it should against the building.

The glazing is the other half of it. Openings this size have to be planned into the structure early — structural steel over the wide spans, and head and sill heights worked out so that what you see from the kitchen and the living room is the water, not a run of frame. From inside, the pool reads as part of the room.

This is the end of the market we enjoy most. Bigger openings, longer sightlines, and finishes with nowhere to hide.

Steel battens and steel-framed bulkheads

Every ceiling we build is framed out in steel battens, on every job. They leave the factory dead straight and they stay dead straight, so the plasterboard sits flat and you never end up reading the frame through the finished ceiling.

Bulkheads get the same treatment. The usual approach is to build them out of pine, and pine moves — it twists and cups as it dries, and months later that shows up as a wavy shadow line or a cracked corner. We fabricate ours from light gauge steel instead. It holds a sharp, square edge, it stays exactly where we set it, and it weighs a fraction of the equivalent timber, so there is less load sitting on the structure.

It is more work up front, because every bulkhead is measured and made to suit the room it is going in. But it is the difference between an edge that still looks crisp in ten years and one that does not.

Timber bulkheads and custom appliance towers

One of the details we can build into a kitchen is a timber-lined bulkhead over the cooking and island area. The warm timber sets the kitchen apart from the rest of the open-plan space, and the downlights set into it add light where you work.

We can also build a full-height appliance tower into the joinery. It has a dedicated spot for the appliances you use every day, open shelving for display, and storage above. Everything sits in one run, so the benchtops stay clear.

Together, the timber ceiling and dark joinery against white cabinetry, a waterfall island and large-format tiles give the room some depth and character that a standard kitchen doesn't have.

Waterfall islands and Category 2 stone as standard

A waterfall end is one of the details clients ask for most, so we include it as standard. The stone runs from the benchtop straight down to the floor in one continuous line, with no visible seam or end panel to break it up. It turns the island into a feature, and it protects the ends of the cabinetry from daily wear.

We also use Category 2 stone as standard, a step up from the entry-level range that many builders default to.

Where the plan allows, we can widen the island to 1100mm. That gives you more bench space for prepping, serving and sitting around.

Taller overhead cupboards, with glass doors if you want them

Most builders stick with standard 750mm overhead cupboards. On our builds we use 900mm as standard. The extra height gives you more storage and takes the cabinetry closer to the ceiling, so there's no dead space above them that collects dust. It also makes the kitchen look more intentional.

We can also fit glass doors in place of solid ones, in clear or reeded glass. Reeded glass looks great against warm oak-look joinery. It softens whatever is inside while still adding some texture and light to the run of cabinets.

Mitred corners and large-format tiles

Most bathrooms are finished with metal or plastic trim strips on the outside corners. On our sites, we mitre the tiles instead. Each tile edge is cut at 45° so the two faces meet in one clean line, and the pattern of the stone-look porcelain wraps around the corner without a break.

We also use large-format tiles wherever the design allows. Fewer grout lines make the walls look calmer and more spacious, and the floor and walls read as one surface. Larger tiles are harder to install, so we use levelling clips to keep the faces flush while the adhesive cures. You can see them in the photo. The tape marks the tiles we're checking before grouting.

It takes more time and more skilled tiling, but it's the sort of detail our clients notice every time they use the room.

Kitchen fit-out complete at 4 Bloom Street, Clyde North

Waffle-style wine storage either side of the island, dark timber uppers against a marble-look benchtop and splashback — this kitchen ties the whole build together.

7 Kinross Street, Hampton East — handed over

Landscaping in, lights on, and that black batten cladding against crisp white render looking exactly as it should at dusk. Another Ekonkaar build ready for its new owners.