magnesia alba

Bricks, they have been around forever. Used in roads, bridges and walls; sure we all know that but really in a house, typically brick veneer. They serve the role to clad the house, not keep the roof up. For me ive always wanted a material that served as cladding AND insulation. There is plenty of things on the market; and pending on what builder you go through, results in what gets used.

Five year's ago when i started planning for this house, the only 'common' construction walls were made from brick; and some builders hadn't heard of Hebel!/AAC. Its pretty common now to find a builder willing to use it as they see it as a reliable building source together with its acoustic properties and often fully rendered look.

Ive spent alot of time watching Grand Designs UK, seeing different products used and trialed. From straw bail to ICF (Insulated Concrete Form)  ahh how i wish i could afford ICF. But if i wanted any of that id have to build myself, or pay a premium for someone who's willing to risk building outside the square. ICF simply is the best formwork; its a concrete wall that's encased in foam to provide strength and insulation. Getting quotes of course, i came to sences and found something bit more affordable.

Ive chosen Magnesium Oxide Panels (Mgo Boards) its a medium weight board, similar to blue board with eps foam sandwiched in between. Mgo has proven its self world wide as a great product for its many qualities: fireproof, strength, ease of use, acoustic rating, mould proof, waterproof and contruction method. In the US its often used to replace all framing as a SiP (Structural Insulated Panel) increasing the speed of which a building is to lock-up.
Im not going that far; still wood frame construction but with the panels attached to the exterior of the house. This method has been used in Canada, NZ and now Australia. There is a number of different companies that sell the board here: Mgo Board, FAB Board, Modakboard  ill be going with the Mag Roc Panel

The end result should be a fully rendered house, with a very high R value


further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_oxide_wallboard
http://www.ecobuiltsystems.com/eco-materials/magnesium-oxide/
http://www.ata.org.au/forums/topic/11411
http://magnesiumoxideboard.eu/
http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=45111
http://www.magnesiacore.com/
http://www.magtechbs.com/MagClad.html

We have some soundproofing going in between some of the noisy spaces of the house, im hoping this should help substantially; did a bit of research and found these products work well together. Again using the MgO boards together with fyrchek plasterboard

We were very lucky to find a builder whom wasn't afraid to use something out of spec; we have a local supplier: Chaplin Industries whom gets the boards in from China and sticks it together here.