Corleison Beach House

Owner and builder, Elliot Corleison, shares his thoughts on the project.

* What initially drew you to Austral Plywoods' products? I found about Austral Plywoods while searching for unique plywood online. It was the finish on the samples that we were sent and the Ariaply fixing system that drew me to using it.  

* Did Ariaply immediately meet your project requirements, or did it cause you to reconsider your material choices? It had to meet our requirements, because it had travelled a long way to get here in NZ. 

* Were you always planning to use timber paneling extensively throughout your home, or did Ariaply encourage this? We were always planning on using plywood panelling throughout. The Ariaply looked so much nicer than anything else available in NZ. 

* How much of a factor was ShadowFIX in your decision to use Ariaply? A big factor. The Architect - Ben Gilpin designed the house around the set out of the Ariaply ShadowFIX system.  

* Your home showcases impressive attention to detail. Was this a priority from the outset? Yes. This beach house is for my extended family to share, and it has a special meaning to us all. I knew we would all be spending a lot of time here in the future, so the details needed to be given a lot of attention. I probably underestimated how many details there were going to be though. 

* The mitred external edges are stunning. Did the finish of Ariaply influence this design choice? I had a backup plan if the mitres didn't work - negative details on all the corners. But the Ariaply cut and mitred so nicely that after the first one, I knew the whole house was getting mitred.  

* What were your first impressions when you saw a full sheet of Ariaply? A wee bit daunted to be honest, there were 13 stacks of Ariaply weighing 1 tonne each that I needed to get through. The first full sheet I took off looked amazing, but there was a long way to go.  

* At what point did you realize how well the project would turn out? Ha, I guess I always had a feeling it was going to look great, but once the mitres started coming together and all the negatives started lining up, it took on a whole new look of its own. Interesting fact - there isn't a single lick of paint inside or outside, and not a single piece of GiB-board either, so other than tiles in the bathrooms, it's all Ariaply.  

* How did Austral Plywoods' products, service and staff interactions meet your expectations? Pretty good, I dealt mostly with Pam via emails. It was a bit of tricky job getting the order right, knowing we wouldn't be able to pop down the road for extra sheets or glue. The glue supplier  was extremely helpful. In the end, we had less than half a sheet of ply leftover, and a box of glue. Plenty of the black tongues though. That's one comment I have, the black tongues take nearly as much time and attention as the plywood does, but they don't get a lot of recognition. In a way, the tongues hold the whole job together.