All good product's! Linea is a fibre cement type of product and a 'traditional' looking weatherboard as it's quite thick like a timber weatherboard. The Weathertex and the CHH are a thinner product. I like the Linea as it has a chunky horizontal shadow line. It is more expensive however (usually). Go with what designer has said because they're the one's seeing the big picture that a builder (or yourself) may miss. Or, run it by the designer and see if they believe the other product's will not harm the appeal.

nothing wrong with a mixed but balanced materials palette.....we regularly mix weatherboard cladding with rendered sections, but it comes down to how it's configured and the form articulated....the problem is when say only the lower level is render and then you have a lightweight upper form articulation - it screams obvious upper level add on, rather than seamless extension.......... It's always about balance and texture - on your home the tiles provide a nice complimentary textural contrast to the render.....you pull this out and replace with a more streamlined contemporary material you'll get a different look - it could well work, but as always when we deal with these types of project we try to respect, preserve and derive the solution form the original character as much as possible........ If you are using an architect specialising in this type of work then it sounds like you are in good experienced hands and rather than confuse the process for yourself you'd be best to work through the options with them privately - it can be almost too confusing and overwhelming the you get multiple opinions, particularly say from here where your context and the project subtlety/details are not fully understood... Best of luck with it Cheers PD :)

The issue is not so much the cladding material, but rather the articulation of the extended building form. This could be a simultaneously exciting, interesting and sympathetic extension utilising shingle cladding that wouldn't necessarily reference Hampton's. If there's anything too Hamptons going on here it's the small proportioned windows with the external shutters that give it a bit of a "dollhouse"popped on the top look. You've got a stunning beautiful home frontage, but the extension form is kind of sticking out/up the back and the fenestration looks out of balance by being perfectly symmetrical. Federation architecture is not symmetrical like the Victorian era predecessors, rather it is an asymmetric compositional balance that in your case should be recognised and countered appropriately with the design of the extension. When selecting appropriate extended cladding material it should be working towards texturally balancing the building and being complimentary overall. Professional recommendation you revisit the articulation of the upper extension, at the very least loosening up the fenestration with more glazing and potentially a more complex roof form with a smaller projecting gable (offset) as a reference to the frontage. The cladding choice becomes less critical, and shingle texture that ties in the roofing texture could work well. Weatherboard is bringing something new in, and if you go flush panel without a more contemporary design and articulation it will look wrong Good luck PD :) www.pauldistefanodesign.com

Hi Anton and Dr Retro thanks for the comments. Anton that is really great advice, you've exceeded the explanation on the seller's websites and also you've provided a deeper understanding of the materials. What you say makes perfect sense, and it sounds like you have much experience with these tiles. I like the idea of applying wax over a sealer, this makes sense to me. Anton, would it just be a standard floorwax, such as this one for example (based on beeswax). And once you've applied wax over the sealer, then do you keep applying beeswax, or do you then reapply a sealer? https://www.ebay.com.au/i/292592220249?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=705-139619-5960-0&mkcid=2&itemid=292592220249&targetid=480462538786&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9071957&poi=&campaignid=1490767175&mkgroupid=63057291572&rlsatarget=pla-480462538786&abcId=1139416&merchantid=119185944&gclid=CjwKCAjw1rnqBRAAEiwAr29II20USj1b2llPlQ4eqngD-Paf9nrbms5ILxdyKEGnKhVKAErlLGCE0BoCSKYQAvD_BwE