Breathing new life into an old home

Retreating to the family bach is an all-time favourite activity for Kiwis. Most of us have fond childhood memories of long summer holidays spent playing beach cricket, going fishing or digging for pipis, and getting bitten by mozzies and sandflies.

While large, fully equipped holiday homes are becoming popular, the Kiwi bach – albeit slightly upgraded from those modest dwellings of the ’60s and ’70s – is still a favourite for young families.

Having spent many wonderful family holidays at Waihi Beach near the Bay of Plenty, Karen and Lance Managh loved the location and were keen to find a property there to call their own. Together with Lance’s brother, Paul, and sister-in-law, Esther, they recently purchased a rundown bach three streets back from the beach. While the location was great, the four-bedroom house was in desperate need of renovation to make it suitable for the two couples and their children.

‘The bach is about 45 years old and it had had very little done to it,’ says Lance. ‘We knew the exterior needed some tending to, but we weren’t really in a position to do anything to it immediately.’ As luck would have it, Karen decided to visit James Hardie’s TVShowhomes website to get some product information and a little design inspiration. While on the website, she entered a competition that was running and ended up winning a houselot of Linea™ Weatherboard – the perfect cladding product for their home’s beachside location.

The windfall allowed them to carry out the much-needed upgrade to the bach’s exterior, so the Managhs contracted builder Dave Sorensen – who they found through the James Hardie Builder and Architect Directory – to do the re-cladding. He removed the old panels and replaced them with Linea Weatherboard fixed with stainless steel nails.

Much of the aluminium joinery and the windows were also replaced and, as part of the process, the exterior walls were insulated to make the bach a more comfortable and healthy place for family holidays. Underfloor insulation was subsequently installed. ‘We’re really rapt with the results,’ says Lance. ‘Going from the flat sheet to the weatherboard look has completely modernized the look of the bach.’

In addition to the new visual appeal the house now has, the families are delighted with the practical benefits the re-clad as brought. ‘We use the bach year round and it was really freezing during the winter. Now it’s warm, and the Linea weatherboard, together with the insulation, has cut down the noise from outside and made it much quieter, especially when someone’s having a party nearby.

‘It’s so solid now and we should be right for quite some time. We didn’t want to have to be painting every few years or fixing things up. It’s stress-free when we go there. All that needs to be done is a little tidying up of the section.’ Re-doing the kitchen and bathrooms is the next job on their renovating list. But for now, with the recent addition of a large deck to the back of the house, the Managhs are just enjoying relaxing by the beach.

PRODUCTS USED

Linea Weatherboard by James Hardie