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COMING HOME TO CONCRETEHOW MODERN CONCRETE CHOICES DELIVER STRENGTH, COMFORT AND BEAUTY
DVDENCLOSED
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CONTENTS
02 Do it once, do it right
10 Coming hometo warmth
04 Coming home toconcrete oors
11 Coming home toa complete fnish
06 Theres so much more toconcrete than you think
12 Coming home toan aordable uture
08 Coming home tosomething dierent
13 Concrete has the answers
Image: Patrick Reynolds Photography
Mercer and Mercer ArchitectsImage: Cranko Architects
Cover Image: North Face Construction
Image: Patrick Reynolds Photography
Mercer and Mercer Architects
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A MOMENT IN HISTORY
GREAT STRENGTH COMBINED WITH GREAT BEAUTY CAN EMERGE FROM
EVEN THE WORST OF HUMAN TRAGEDIES.
The people o Napier showed this when they rebuilt their city in the
Art Deco and Spanish Mission style ollowing the devastating 1931
earthquae.
The people o Christchurch will also rebuild with strength and vision,using the latest and best materials and design. Concrete in all its
many orms will be the oundation and the heart o the majority o
both residential and commercial properties that are built in
Christchurch and throughout New Zealand in the coming years.
The reason or this is simple: concrete oers strength, comort and
beauty that has no rival in modern construction.
This boolet and the Coming Home to Concrete DVD are designed
to help you understand why concrete is the tough, elegant, cost-
eective solution to the challenges o building quality homes and
businesses in New Zealand.
Rob Gaimster
Chie Executive
Cement & Concrete Association o New Zealand (CCANZ)
Image: Golden Bay Cement Image: Litecrete NZ Ltd
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Concrete has been around or over 5,000 years and some o the earliest structures built in concrete
such as the Pantheon in Rome are still with us today. The past 20 years have seen major
developments in concrete that have extended its design potential and given concrete new loos and
new textures, while still retaining its unbeatable durability.
DO IT ONCE, DO IT RIgHT
Whether you are building your rst home or rebuilding a city, the essential starting point is to lay a
oundation that will stand the tests o time and nature. Concrete is that oundation, enabling the
creation o aordable, comortable, stylish, durable and energy-ecient homes.
Concrete is no-nonsense. Do it once, do it right and it will loo ater you or the rest o your lie.
In this boolet and the Coming Home to Concrete DVD, youll discover why there really is no substitute
or concrete.
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Prior to any concrete being
poured on site, the council
inspects to make sure the
reinorcing is in place and to
make sure the waterproo
membrane has been put down
underneath the slab. The newlicensing is ensuring the quality
o workmanship. Builders will be
held personally responsible or
the lie o that job.
Jared Torrinton, buider.
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Eight out o 10 new homes in New Zealand have a concrete slab foor.
Perhaps thats not surprising. Whats harder to explain, given
concretes overwhelming advantages, is why dont 10 out 10 new
homes have a concrete slab foor?
WHY DO 8 OUT OF 10 NEW HOMES HAVE A CONCRETE FLOOR?
Areinforcedconcreteslab,designedandconstructedwith
New Zealand made seismic grade reinorcing steel, will oer
enhanced perormance throughout its lie, including during
earthquaes.
Concreteslabsdonotrequirethesameextensivesiteexcavation
and ground clearance as alternative fooring materials, and
thereore oer advantages in both meeting town planning height
restrictions and reducing labour costs.
Combinedwithitsabilit ytohelpreduceahomesheatingand
cooling requirements, a concrete foors durability, re resistance,
sound insulation, value or money, and huge variety o decorative
nishes are second to none.
This range o benets, explored throughout this boolet, will see
concrete slabs remain the preerred fooring option or new homes
across New Zealand.
COMING HOME TO CONCRETE lOORS
WHAT DO HOMEOWNERS
AND pROFESSiONALS SAY
AbOUT CONCRETE FLOORS?
Having kids, I love concrete oors.
Its easy to clean up. On a wet day
they can scoot around inside. Its
durable. You should have seen the
carpet when we moved out o our
previous houses!
Juie Madams, home owner.
Both Winired and I suer rom
hay ever so we like a low-dust
environment. Weve got a lovelypolished oor. It looks good and
its easy to keep clean.
David Bu, home owner.
Image: North Face Construction Image: Signature Homes
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Our house has heating in the
concrete slab which weve only
put on twice. My mother who was
living in my house last year, just
kept insisting that the heating
was on, even in the winter,
because she could eel the heat
just radiating out rom that
concrete.Michae OBrien, architect.
I you combine the properties o
both concrete and steel, as you
do in a reinorced concrete oor,
you get the best o both worlds.
It makes the perect ooring
material.
Bruce Robert, Pacifc Stee.
Image: Peter Fell Limited
CONCRETE FLOOR SLAbS EARTHQUAKE pERFORMANCE
Appropriately designed and constructed reinorced concrete slabs
can be expected to per orm well during earthquaes. The
combination o concrete and steel in a reinorced slab provides the
three most important properties or earthquae resistance: stiness,
strength, and ductility.
Oering a urther level o reassurance is the act that the NZ
Building Code now stipulates that all new concrete slabs must be
reinorced with ductile steel.
Also available are a selection o concrete slab systems, such as
rat and wafe, that enhance the attributes o reinorced
concrete slabs to oer greater certainty during earthquaes.
or best practice advice on concrete sab construction
downoad a ree copy o Residentia Concrete Sab-On-ground
oors rom www.ccanz.or.nz
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DURABIlITY
Concrete endures and is incredibly long lasting. A well-designed
concrete structure can be expected to
exceed the minimum servicelie o
50-years as specifed in the NZ
Building Code.
lOW-MAINTENANCE
Based on the act that it does not rot, concretes
high resistance to wear means less maintenance, which is
o increasing importance as the leaky homes crisis shows
no signs o going away.
AORDABlE
Cost competitive at construction,
the lower ongoing
maintenance and energy
costs o concrete homes
make them truly aordable.
SECURE
Concretes robustness
creates a secure living
environment that can resist
extreme and unpredictable
weather patterns, along with
wilul damage.
THERES SO MUCHMORE TO CONCRETE THAN Designversatilityforoors,walls,
columns, beams and cladding Moulded shapes, textures and
patterns
Decorative surace nishes
(polished, coloured, dyed, etc).
Arangeofsystemscastin-situ,
precast, tilt-up and concrete masonry
Suitableforoors,walls,driveways
and paths/patios
Doesntrotorrust
Fireresistant
Landscapingoptions
Strengthanddurability
Low-maintenance Protectsagainstextremeweather
(food and wind resilience)
Impervioustowilfuldamage
Securityagainstintrusion
Safeinseismicevents
Massprovidesthermalcomfort
(as part o passive solar design)
Acousticinsulation
Locallyproduced
Costcompetitiveattimeof
construction and over lie
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SOUND CONTROl
Due to its high-density, concrete oers superior soundproofng compared to lightweight building materials,
reducing airborne noise transmission, reducing noise
rom exterior sources and providing sound separation
between adjoining rooms.
EARTHQUAKE PERORMANCE
Appropriately designed and built reinorced concrete and
concrete masonry homes, with their combination o concrete
and steel providing stiness, strength, and ductility, are
ideally suited to New Zealands seismic conditions.
lOCAllY PRODUCED
Comprised o cement and reinorcing steel
manuactured right here in New Zealand, along
with locally sourced aggregate, reinorced
concrete is New Zealand made.
YOU THINk
Illustration: Litecrete NZ Ltd
lightweight precast concrete house
designed by MRA Architecture.
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There is something solid and reassuring about concrete but it is also
a avourite with our leading architects when they see to create
stylish, award-winning homes.
Concrete is a license to get creative, allowing you to do things that
just cant be done in a standard timber-ramed home.
A polished concrete foor is only one o a huge number o surace
nishes that can now be achieved. With the use o treatments such as
stains, stamps, stencils, polishing, grinding and the addition o colour
pigments and custom aggregate (coloured stone, glass or shell) you
are only limited by your imagination when it comes to creating an
attractive concrete surace nish.
However, decorative concrete is or much more than just foors.
WHAT ARE SOME ExAMpLES OF CONCRETES VERSATiLiTY?
Versatile concrete elements (columns, beams and walls) can provide
the required structural capacity, help dene space, and also be used
to present a sculptural shape or decorative surace.
This can be achieved because concrete is unique amongst
contemporary building materials in that its pre-set plastic state allows
it to tae the shape o the orm into which it is cast.
Intricate o-orm shapes, patterns and textures, along with a range o
colours and eects, enable concrete to oer almost unlimited
aesthetic potential, and or home owners to enjoy true customisation
that is as unique and dierent as they are.
COMING HOME TO SOMETHINg DIERENT
We have a brushed block wall,
we have the polished concrete on
the oor, and we also have a
stippled fnish. One o the
beauties o this house is that you
can look around the architectureand every wall has a dierent
concrete fnish.
guy Madams, home owner.
Once the clients awareness o
the exibility o concrete
becomes more established, that
will enable us as architects to
create new and interesting
residential orms in
New Zealand.
Andrew Simpson, architect.Image: Glencoe Construction Ltd
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This building is going to be here
or 200 years. Its certainly been
designed or that. That gives some
satisaction because its durable
and other people will come in and
enjoy this building into the uture.
David Bu, homeowner.
Images: Firth Industries
Image: Buck Architects + Associates
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Concrete provides thermal mass that traps, stores and releases solar
energy. As part o a system o design and construction that uses the
intelligent application o insulation, glazing, ventilation and buildingorientation, concrete delivers superb perormance.
pASSiVE SOLAR DESigN: A HARMONiOUS SYSTEM
COMING HOME TO WARMTHORIENTATION. North-acing glass provides the best access to solar
gain. It is thereore preerable to orientate the house and its windows
with the long axis in the east-west direction.
Anyone interested in gaining a deeper understanding o the use o
concrete, its thermal properties or its wider construction and design
benets, can download a ree copy o Designing Comortable Homes
rom www.ccanz.org.nz.
Architect Roer Buck doesnt
mince words when it comes to
New Zeaands traditionay
poor standards o insuation:
It just seems ridiculous to have
all these cold houses in
New Zealand when we should
use all this ree energy that
comes rom the sun. Its got to
have a mechanism that can hold
it and then release it later.
Wooden houses dont do that.
Concrete does. The trick is to get
your glazing right, your
orientation right and at the very
least have a concrete oor.
People walk in and say: Youve
got no carpet. It must be cold.
Thats not actually the case.Weve got a naked ame gas
freplace which, along with the
concrete, just radiates the heat.
Once the concrete is warm, it
stays that way. Its a beautiul
place to live.
guy Madams, homeowner.
Done right, you can plug into the sun or power instead o draining
your wallet and the national grid.
THERMAL MASS. Use heavyweight materials (mass) to soa up heat
rom the sun and release it slowly into the house when temperatures
drop. A house with appropriate mass will maintain more comortable
temperatures it will overheat less oten and not get as cold overnight.
INSULATE. Use insulation to slow the fow o heat in and out o the
house heat rom the sun is used more eectively in houses that are
well-insulated, and its windows, doors and other construc tion joints
sealed. Insulation helps to maintain more constant internal temperatures
and reduces the need or heating in winter and cooling in summer.
GLAZE. Use glazing to bring heat rom the sun into the house
though glass must be selected, placed and sized careully as it is a
poor insulator (windows should be double glazed as a minimum to
reduce heat loss).Image: Cranko Architects
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Concrete provides a near complete nish and requires remarably little
maintenance. Houses that need to be painted or re-textured ever y ew
years soa up huge amounts o money in contrast to concrete housesthat maintain a quality exterior nish or generations.
LEAKY HOMES AND ExTREME WEATHER
It is estimated that more than 80,000 New Zealanders are living in leay
homes. In the greater Aucland region alone, the total number o leay
homes is predicted to reach the 15,000 mar. Concrete does not rot (or
rust). That maes it the ideal building material or New Zealand homes
as we see to move on rom the leay homes crisis.
Concretes robustness under stress is also ideal or resisting the impact
o extreme weather conditions, such as fooding and hurricanes, whichseem more requent.
FiRE RESiSTANCE
Sprinler systems remain beyond the reach o most New Zealand
home owners, yet house res appear more common than ever. As a
non-combustible material, concrete will preserve lie and minimise
damage by not burning or producing harmul emissions, while also
preventing re spread.
COMING HOME TO A COMPlETE INISH
Images: Litecrete NZ Ltd /Clive White Construction Ltd
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Concrete has a strong uture in the design and construction o
aordable, easy-to-build homes. There are a growing number o
design-and-build options being developed right now.
Concrete lends itsel to very ecient construction techniques such as
entire homes being made rom preabricated panels and concrete
masonry. Alternatively, concrete can be used selectively in individual
components such as walls, beams, foors, columns, panels and stairs.
Both precast concrete and concrete masonry enable easy,
surprisingly quic installation that can transorm a building site into a
home in record time. This is perect or getting the job done,
particularly during bad weather. Put those benets together and the
cost savings can be signicant.
COMING HOME TO AN AORDABlE UTURE
Simplicity o design doesnt
limit or restrict the comort or the
unctionality o the house. Im
really, really confdent that our
research work and design
concepts will change the way
New Zealanders think about
residential homes.
Ra Kesse, CCANZ Architect (EU)
Images: Falcon Construction
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The Cement and Concrete Association o New Zealand (CCANZ)
provides answers or homeowners, builders, as well as architects and
designers. Just pic up the phone or visit our website because ConcreteHas The Answers.
We hope this short introduction has been helpul in giving you a better
understanding o concrete. There is so much more to learn about the
growing range o choices when building with concrete.
FiND OUT MORE
The best next step is to visit the CCANZ website (www.ccanz.org.nz)
where you can view the Coming Home to
Concrete short-lm, and also nd an extensive
range o inormation, including thesedownloadable titles:
DESigNiNg COMFORTAbLE HOMES
This revised edition, endorsed by the Energy
Eciency and Conservation Authority (EECA), is a
guide to the basic principles o passive solar
design as a means to ensure homes stay cool in
summer and warm in winter.
CCANZ CODE OF pRACTiCE FOR
WEATHERTigHT CONCRETE AND
CONCRETE MASONRY CONSTRUCTiON
Developed by CCANZ in partnership with the
wider building industry, this code o practice
provides a means o compliance with the NZ
Building Code, Clause E2 - External Moisture. It
maes concrete easier to use or those wishing to
benet rom its weathertight credentials.
RESiDENTiAL CONCRETE SLAb-ON-gROUND FLOORS
This recently updated guide provides advice or builders on producing
a quality concrete slab-on-ground. It answers some o the morecommonly ased questions and gives good practice inormation or
achieving a residential concrete slab that is built to last.
CONCRETE MAgAZiNE
CCANZs quarterly magazine provides solutions and inspiration or a wide
cross-section o building proessionals. Architects,
engineers, builders and those in the concrete
sector turn to Concrete magazine or
practical, technical and design
inormation on how to maximise
the potential o the worlds most
widely used construction material.
CONCRETE HAS THE ANSWERS
Designing Comfortable HomesGuidelines on the use of GlAss, MAss
And insulAtion for enerGy efficiency
2ndEdition
Cement&ConcreteAssociationofNewZealand 2011 www.ccanz.org.nz
CodeofPracticefor WeathertightConcreteandConcreteMasonryConstruction
Cement&ConcreteAssociationofNewZealandJune 2011
WeathertightConcreteandConcreteMasonryConstruction
CCANZCP01:2011
VOLUME 54ISSUE4 DECEMBER2010/JANUARY2011
concrete
TopMarksfor A+ HomeA CONCEPTDESIGN FORAFFORDABLE,
COMFORTABLEAND ENERGYEFFICIENTLIVING
PrefabricatedLivingIMPROVED QUALITYWITHREDUCED
COSTS AND TIMEFRAMES
PoweredThroughPassive DesignWAIKATO HOUSEACHIEVES 60%
REDUCTION IN ENERGYCONSUMPTION
1
SLAB-ON-GROUND FLOORS
Producing a quality concrete slab-on-ground is easy i some
basic rules are ollowed. This leafetis intended to assist
builders to produce a quality slab. The costorework is
very high, so ollow the suggestions in this leafet to
save time and money.
IN A S S O CIA T IO N W IT H
RESIDENTIAL
CONCRETE
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Cement & Concrete Association o New Zealand (CCANZ), PO Box 448, Wellington 6140
0 8 0 0 2 2 2 7 18
www.ccanz.org.nz www.aqa.org.nz www.pacicsteel.co.nz www.sustainableconcrete.org.nz
Image: North Face Construction