Ross Doonan was so convinced of the potential to change the way timber buildings were maintained that he travelled to Italy to study the concept with its masters.
The result was DECO Australia, a Sydney-based, family-run company founded by Doonan that gives timber properties an extended lifespan while minimising owner maintenance.
DECO specialises in powder-coated aluminium building products that result in a durable timber-alternative able to withstand Australia’s harsh weather conditions.
The products are also environmentally friendly, offering the sustainable benefits of aluminium that include low carbon composition, durability and longevity, and almost endless recyclability without quality loss.
In fact, 75 per cent of all the aluminium ever produced is still being used in some form today.
Recycling uses just 5 per cent of the energy used in the primary production of aluminium.
And Canada and Norway, two of the world’s largest aluminium producers, use 100 per cent hydro power, as do aluminium refineries in Launceston and Invercargill, New Zealand.
As well, emission savings from aluminium recycling are increasing—savings have doubled since 1990 and are expected to increase by further 50 per cent over the next decade.
But its DECO’s timber look with hidden protection that makes general manager Richard Hamber describe its innovative finishing technology as “a little bit special”.
“DECO allows you to get the aesthetic outcome of timber with those warm tones, but it removes a significant part of the maintenance that can be attributed to having a real timber system,” he said.
“Our range of DecoWood finishes have a very high resolution that creates a fantastic visual appeal. We use the highest quality ‘Class 2’ marine grade powders, which means our finishes offer optimal performance in coastal locations and under the harsh Aussie sun.
“For building owners, a key purchasing decision is always around the low-maintenance qualities of the products. Facades that perform without repainting and decks that never need staining—developers especially can really see the value in investing upfront to ensure the longevity and reduce costs down the track.”
And there’s more to DECO than meets the eye with the company producing its typical textured wood grain powder coating for everything from windows and doors as well as its DecoArt product that reproduces custom and Decorative images on powder-coated aluminium.
DECO building products are also available for battens, cladding, wall linings, decks and even business signs while wet area splashbacks are available in more than 100 glass, quartz or marble-look finishes.
Then there’s DecoVogue, which DECO has “designed for designers” with finishes in marble, granite, rust and concrete—and all for much cheaper and lighter than the real thing. Hamber’s personal DECO favourite is the DecoVogue concrete finish.
“It has a bit of a texture to it and a bit of a reflective fleck that makes it catch the light so I think it looks really good,” he said.
“And we’ve got a couple of different versions of the concrete that enable us to produce a darker charcoal-type concrete, like you’d get in a stained concrete.
“This dark charcoal also works really well with some of our timber grains as they pair up together very nicely.”
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