Our step-by-step product selection guide

CSR is a leader in providing building solutions from the roof down, bringing the best of both ingenuity and quality to residential homes.

CSR can guide you through design and product selection to make sure you choose the best products and materials for your home and lifestyle.

1. Your home design

Start your build journey by gathering inspiration and ideas. Think about the way you live, uncover your style, and then explore the home design that best suits you.

From Contemporary to Classic, Barnhouse to Coastal, Modernist to Industrial, there are a variety of styles to help inspire your own home.

Why not take our CSR Style Quiz online to discover the home design that might suit you best, then overlay any (or all) of our material colour palettes to bring your home to life.

2. Consider your location

Your location is important when considering your style. Lighter shades and airy designs often work better in warmer and coastal climates, while dark palettes are often suited to cooler or urban areas. These colour choices may also influence the overall energy assessment of the home and there may be benefit in considering colour when building to a 7-Star rating.

The distance from your home to the coast or the bush, especially in bushfire-prone areas, will also influence the choice of materials as different zones may be required to use materials with different fire ratings.

Climate also plays a large part in material choices, as tropical zones have different requirements to more temperate climes. It’s a good idea to identify your climate zone up front, to see whether you need to focus on orientating your home to keep it warm, or cool.

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The positioning of your home on your block can affect how the home performs from an energy perspective. It can influence how light comes into the home, and how you can maintain a comfortable temperature throughout the seasons. The path of the sun in Australia is to the north, so most homeowners choose to have their living spaces facing north so they receive sun for the longest period of the day in their most-used rooms, and many will limit the size and number of windows on west-facing walls.

Deciduous trees can provide shade during the hotter months, while allowing natural light during winter. Plants native to your area tend to be more resilient and can also help to attract birds and other local wildlife.

3. What materials to use

There are a multitude of CSR products to choose from, starting from the exterior to the interior, and even hidden within your home. The CSR Style Guide showcases the ranges available – and the material colour palettes you can use to bring your home to life.

Choose from classic or streamlined profiles in roof tiles and bricks, through to modern (and low maintenance) fibre cement products and stylish rendered Hebel, which is made from Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC), along with technology-led, energy-efficient ventilation, insulation, wall wraps and sarking.

All CSR products are available in a variety of colours, sizes, profiles and textures, allowing you to build the style you want, from the outside in.

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4. From design to detail

Once you have decided on your home design and material colour palette, it’s time get into the details, beginning with the roof down.

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ROOF

When choosing tiles for your roof you will need to decide whether you want tiles with a flat or classic profile as well as the style of ridge capping.

Classic roof tiles, such as Nouveau, work well on home designs such as Classic, Industrial or Coastal, with their time-honoured style that echoes traditional terracotta designs from Europe. A flat-profile tile, such as Urban Shingle, is perfect for the clean lines of a Contemporary or Barnhouse style.

You will also need to select the tile material you wish to choose. Roof tiles can either be terracotta or concrete. Terracotta tiles are a premium product, with a 50-year warranty and colour that never fades. Monier Terracotta Luxe collection is crafted in Australia using raw materials from the Australian landscape. Monier’s Luxe collection comes in a stunning palette of timeless colours to suit any style of home. Explore our range to find your style.

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Monier Concrete tiles are the most economical roofing material on the market. Just like concrete bridges and the structural elements of buildings, concrete tiles get stronger with age. Tested to withstand the harsh Australian weather, concrete tiles come in a wide selection of colours and profiles to suit any style of home. And, if you choose Monier’s Premium collection, the concrete roof tiles have been coated with our exclusive C-LOC™ Colour Lock Technology that retains gloss for even longer.

When it comes to ridge capping, there are two options. The traditional method of capping overlaps and A-line Ridge capping that aligns the capping of the roof end-to-end in one clean, straight line, with no steps. Contemporary homes usually work well with the A-line Ridge, while a Classic or Industrial style of home design complements the traditional overlapping style.

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BRICKS

If you are thinking using bricks for your facade, consider how you might like them laid (known as the bond). The most common bond is a stretcher bond, where bricks are set in rows and then offset by a half brick. It’s easy to construct and produces minimal brick wastage due to the vertical joints being staggered each time by a half brick.

Flemish bonds (created by alternately laying headers and stretchers in a single course of brick) are also popular, or you can choose hit-and-miss brickwork (popular for screening, fences, or front porches), which allows natural light to shine through.

A stacked bond is made up of rows of stretchers (full-sized bricks) with each stretcher directly centred on the stretcher below it. All joints run vertically down the wall. However, a stacked bond is not a structural bond, and is usually used in interior settings (such as feature walls or splashbacks) for non-load-bearing walls. This style of bond adds a contemporary overlay, especially when used with a streamlined modern brick such as Morada – Nero Linear.

Mortar choices also play a part. Mortar is a bonding agent that hardens on building materials such as bricks. It binds the materials and forms the timeless brick wall that we are all so familiar with. Choose a contrasting mortar colour to create drama or match the brick to the mortar for a strong statement, which is especially useful on a fireplace or feature wall.

Mortar joints can also vary in style, from flushed to ironed, rolled, and raked.

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CLADDING

Fibre Cement

Fibre cement cladding is a hard wearing material that is easy to maintain. Capable of withstanding impact, harsh weather conditions and general wear and tear, it lasts longer and requires less maintenance than many other cladding types.

Cemintel Weatherboards collection are the perfect material for the harsh Australian environment. Although the panels look like traditional timber weatherboards, they are far more robust. Unlike wood, they won’t rot, swell or crack, are resistant to termites and other pests, and will retain their shape over time. They are also pre-primed and ready to paint, so you can customise the colour to your taste.

Some fibre cement panels are prefinished, which means they have their own colour and texture and can be installed without the need for painting or finishing.

Cemintel Barestone Original is inspired by the look of raw concrete and the external panels incorporate our unique Ceminseal® water block technology for added weather resistance. The Cemintel Territory collection is another example of pre-finished fibre cement, finished with a high-quality paint and UV coating for maximum durability.

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Cemintel can be installed in a myriad of ways, from an overlapping, or ship-lapped joint system, for traditional styles of homes, to streamlined joints for a more contemporary aesthetic.

Most exterior cladding systems can be installed in different orientations; vertical grooved panels will help to elongate a home, while horizontal panels will make a building seem wider.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete

Hebel PowerPanelXL, another favoured cladding material, is popular with those seeking a streamlined appearance, and often works well as part of a mixed material facade.

Hebel’s Designer Range includes two products, PowerProfile and PowerPattern.

PowerProfile external wall system replicates the look of traditional standing seam, metal cladding systems. Two profiles in three colours are available to customise your home design.

PowerPattern provides a contemporary option for facades with routed vertical lines into the face of the panel providing flexibility to elevate the look of your facade.

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GUTTERS AND FASCIA

These elements will frame your new house and should be chosen with care. If your overall material colour palette is quite uniform and monochromatic it’s best to keep gutters and fascia in the same or similar colour as your roof to ensure a cohesive look.

If you are looking for a stronger design statement, consider either matching the gutter to the roof and the fascia to the main tones of the cladding or, alternatively, select one colour for both the gutter and fascia and contrast it to the colour used on your roof. This works especially well if you choose a material palette using varied or contrasting materials and colours.

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LANDSCAPING

Street appeal is key and goes beyond your building facade materials. A well-designed garden can add value to your home and give it a more finished appearance, complementing your facade. Plan a garden to match your home design. Classically designed homes benefit from a more traditional style, such as a cottage garden, while contemporary homes work well with structured and formal garden beds.

Frame your exterior to complement your chosen house design by using the same exterior materials in landscaping elements such as the front fence, pathway and porch.

Brick fences are as long-lasting as a brick facade, and are best chosen to complement the house’s exterior, using the same materials when possible and referencing any details, such as awnings or timber trims. A brick path can provide a finishing touch.

If you have chosen a fibre-cement cladding for your facade, consider using the same material in the fencing and any sheds, garages or carports.

Hebel can provide a solid yet streamlined look to landscaping elements. With an ease of installation and the ability to be rendered in a variety of colours and textural finishes, Hebel is versatile and can be adapted for many house design styles.

Choosing natives for your plantings can also encourage local birdlife and promote shade, as most Australian natives are evergreen.

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5. What you can’t see

CSR is helping Australians choose energy-efficient and sustainable materials in their build, designed for the Australian lifestyle and climate.

Creating a more energy-efficient home is both easier and more affordable at the build stage.

Bradford Insulation helps keep your home cooler in summer and minimises the demands on heating during winter. Bradford roof, wall and underfloor products help to stabilise temperature and improve efficiency.

Bradford wall wraps and roof sarking products assist in managing condensation risk and protect the building frame from the weather. Combined with Bradford roof and sub-floor ventilation, these products help to manage excessive heat load in summer and the risk of condensation in winter.

When looking at insulation options, go above and beyond the mandatory 7 Star energy assessment, with additional material choices to improve the performance of your new home. While some product choices will be made as part of the energy assessment, there are still opportunities to improve the performance of your build.

It’s important to consider benefits such as acoustics, condensation control and even additional thermal performance. Achieving improvements in these areas is easy when you build, but difficult to retrofit.

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Reducing unwanted noise transfer through walls and between floors to create peace and quiet, Bradford Soundscreen acoustic insulation can be a worthwhile investment to your internal walls and between floors. As well as absorbing sound, Bradford is the only approved insulation partner of the National Asthma Council Australia’s Sensitive Choice®, so it is the ideal choice for the homes of asthma and allergy sufferers.

A higher performing home consumes less energy for its entire life, which means that paying a little more upfront is a good decision for both your budget and the environment.

Another area of your home worth upgrading are your internal walls. Consider opting for high-performance Gyprock HD when specifying plasterboard. The ultimate lining for homes, Superchek is the highest specification plasterboard in the Gyprock residential range. Its high density and board strength delivers exceptional impact resistance and noise control. When installed in ceilings of multi-storey homes, Superchek can also help to reduce noise levels between floors.

Other specialist plaster boards include Soundchek, a high-density gypsum plasterboard with improved sound transmission properties, and Aquachek, which is designed for wet areas such as bathrooms.

Effective in a variety of design settings, complete the look with your choice of Gyprock’s decorative cornices, particularly effective in Classic homes, for a finishing touch.