Gal will go grey (mid to dark grey) over 12 - 18 months. Initially VERY bright. The energy absorbed changes accordingly, from sub 5% absorbed to ~35%. Zinc maintains brightness for longer, though still suffers some dulling. Say 5% to 15% over time. This can be avoided by coating with a product called 'Sharkhide' metal protectant, used to stop aluminium boats oxidising. For there reasons many councils will not allow zinc or gal roofing (visual amenity, reflection issues), while making the houses more prone to requiring summer aircon at the same time. Surfmist Colorbond starts around 9% absorbed. If purely for energy reasons, a light colour might be the only option. If going dark, I would suggest at least doing the 'less aesthetically important' sides and rear in a light colour. Your call. If you go all dark, ensure you have good roof space ventilation for the summer that can be closed in the winter, and lots of well installed ceiling level insulation. Spray foam is more reliable over time than batts, see Spray It Solutions or similar (they have the Formaldahyde free Canadian Icenene foam).

Q7) Louise - I live in a small federation single fronted cottage in an inner west suburb of Sydney and would like to freshen the façade to modernise it and improve on the street appeal. Within the next month I am planning on replacing the bullnose awning to one that is flat but angled, paint the exterior of the house and lay tiles in the porch and step areas (carport and planting to soften the façade will come later). The tiles that will be laid in the porch are artisan style ones shown in the pics below, steps will be marble. The house is north facing and I am going for the Hamptons look. I would like to know (a) if you think this colour scheme will work and if there is a better colour scheme that you can please recommend - Dulux tranquil retreat for the exterior, trims will be crisp white, surfmist for the awning and momentum for gutters, (b) should the awning have a corrugated or trimdek profile and (c) the tradie will be removing the timber post and replacing this will aluminium ones white in colour - is aluminium a terrible idea? The houses on the street are a mix of federation, bungalows and modern ones. Some are as-is in pretty much original condition and others freshened up with render and paint in pretty neutral colours.

Yep, it sure adds up doesn't it! It's a lot of money for perhaps not an equivalent amount of value gain. But it's not necessarily the builder's fault or issue here. Their pricing here is not surprising, but to clarify not sure how you can isolate the kitchen or what exactly does 30K mean? Is it joinery only, is it including fittings? Is the balcony upper or main level. The question is, is this actually the best way to spend your money? Considering how much you're spending, should you be considering getting proper value for the money and getting more for your money with potentially a different design?. Are you happy with the design? It's going to be super? Is it worth $400K to you for what you're going to get? If the answer's no then a design rethink is possibly in order. Where are you at in the design/doc process? have you used a drafty, designer, architect to help you with the process? What people often get quite wrong with renovation projects is the distribution of budget in regards to HOW it's being spent (you WILL spend it one way or the other), and it always comes back to the design/layout as to how well or not it's spent. Really need to see actual plans to be able to assess and comment further with more accuracy otherwise just speculating on in all. Depending upon your finishing decisions this sort if thing could easily nudge the $450K mark.

Hi, firstly congratulations on your decision to renovate. How exciting. We are nearing the end of a major renovation and choosing the exterior colours was a real sticking point. Most of the houses around us were built in the 1990's and my renovation had the potential to not quite fit in. I had to use a timber cladding to match the existing cedar but the original had been poorly stained and I was never going to get a cohesive match between old and new. I was left pondering my choices. The solution was to paint both but what colour? In the end, I looked at what of the existing was going to be left unchanged. It turned out to be the Karaka Green window frames - not my favourite colour - but in order to work with it I had to pray I didn't offend the neighbourhood. I didn't want the old dirty brown shade and a thousand testpots later, left me with only one really obvious answer. As you can see from the photo, I chose [quite radically] to paint the entire extention in Half Karaka green. It's still a work in progress and in the coming weeks, the rest of the house will be painted to match. I waited for the neighbours - particularly, the old people from the Rest Home at the end of the street - to tell me off for my choice but have been blown away by their reactions. Every last comment has been a major thumbs up. Even the painter - who was highly skeptical - apologised for his doubt, Don't automatically assume your neighbours are going to hate seeing the changes you are about to bring to the area. Which brings me to your planned renovations. I am assuming that your window frames are also going to remain the white colour in the photo. Rather than get all confused about greys etc. Start with them as the basis for the rest of the house and work out from there. If you do that, then I don't think it will be as difficult as it currently seems for you to pick what the rest of the house will be. Don't be afraid to spend money on purchasing test pots. They are around $4 or $5 each and I believe that I probably spent $200. It was worth every penny to me to get a few small off cuts of cedar painted and sit and look at them alongside the existing windows in order to make an informed decision. Good luck. I look forward to seeing some finished photos. I hope to post my finished renovation photos here soon.