In Elsdorf, a town with a population of 21,000 in the north of the Rhine-Erft-District between Cologne and Aachen, the Berg family moved into their new home on a plot of 800 square metres. The two-storey building offers 210 square metres of living area. The outer walls were built massively using Poroton bricks, the interior walls with KS stones. The facade was plastered in brush stroke in two colours, white and grey, to match the window profiles and the balcony rails. The modern family home with its angular geometry looks like several cubes that are combined and connected to one another. A special emphasis is created by the building part that stands out from the plastered facade due to its colour and material typical characteristics. This is where the building family chose a curtain wall facade made of wood composite material as a counterpoint to the prevalent grey-white plastered surfaces. For this they chose NATURinFORM’s ‚Creative‘ in the warm wood shade amber brown.
Family home in Elsdorf
facade and patio decks
Creative XL in amber brown
Natureline in amber brown
Type of construction
Family home
Construction year
2018-2019
Location
Elsdorf, NRW
‚We had decided right from the start to cover part of the house using a wooden facade,‘ explains Detlef Berg. ‚It was important for us that we shouldn’t have to put in too much maintenance work in the coming years, as would be necessary with a wooden cover,‘ says the 49-year-old, who works as a production leader in the packaging industry. In the end, the facade material made of wood composite material ‚won‘.
Information from the internet – ordered from a specialist dealer
When looking for wood composite material curtain wall facades on the internet, Detlef Berg found Naturinform, where he discovered all the advantages and different options for colour shades and surfaces. The family found support during planning and execution from family and friends: Torben Wirtz, a project architect, delivered professional input to streamline design and room concept and implement these expertly. ‚After we had first ordered a sample from the producer and had had a close look at the material, we decided on Naturinfom’s wood composite material that our building supplies dealer had in his range,‘ says Heike Berg. A part of the facade was covered using 60 square metres of ‚Creative‘. So to speak as a corresponding connector on the ground, a part of the patio was also covered using wood composite material, amber brown ‚Natureline‘.
Facade work from one source
Scheumar Baumanufaktur from Cologne was responsible for mounting the wood composite material facade cladding, the heat insulation system, as well as doing the interior plaster work. The outer walls were covered with a heat insulation system and, on top of that, a brush stroke plaster was applied. To achieve an especially high energy efficiency rate for the building, a solar-reflect-coating for very dark colours was applied. When covering parts of the facade with the wood composite ‚Creative‘ material by Naturinform, the corners were cut as mitre joints. ‚We enjoy working with wood composite material and often do so, as we can see very clear advantages in comparison to wood elements, in regards to durability and maintenance,‘ says Wiorel Scheumer. As we were mixing three completely different materials, this project required especially careful and visionary planning. The care that was taken in planning was continued during work on site, too. Everything was built with great attention to detail and a special focus was on the colours and technical implementation of material transitions.
Curtain wall rear-ventilated facade made of wood composite material
‚Creative‘ is a facade system in an attractive wooden look. Made of a natural, weatherproof wood composite material, the elegant cladding is suitable as a curtain wall facade for old and new buildings. When mounting the curtain wall rear-ventilated facade made of wood composite material, ‚Creative‘ rhombus strips are laid interlocking with a groove and tongue connection onto an underlying wood construction. There is a bracket set in the delivery scope to attach the strips on the wooden grid. There are three different cover measures, giving you unlimited design options. The massive rhombus strips ‚small‘, 66 millimetres in dimension, ‚xl‘, 99 millimetres and ‚xxl‘ at a width of 148, can be laid both horizontally and vertically. A combination of both sizes opens up a range of design options for interesting facades. The high-quality profile decks are available in standard lengths of four and six metres, as well as in special lengths on request. With their individual wooden grain and a naturally looking colour shading, they are available in the exclusive colours graphite grey, oak, amber and chestnut brown. The surface is slightly brushed to enhance the structure elegantly.
Mounted expertly, ‚Creative‘ protects the outer wall construction safely and economically from weathering and damage. Additionally, Naturinform’s extensive range offers easily attachable stainless-steel corners to create optically clean and elegant transitions to the strips. Corners made of stainless-steel strips provide protection from any impact and also save material (ca. 5 cm per strip).
Climate neutral, sustainable production
Naturinform produces its decks according to strict ecological principles. Only wood fibres from domestic and sustainable forestry (PEFC-certfified wood suppliers) are used in wood composite material production, and that has been certified by the TÜV NORD as climate neutral since November. No additional trees are felled, as the wood fibres are a byproduct of the woodprocessing industry. The company categorically refuses to use tropical timber. The organic component of the composite material is an environmentally-friendly polyethylen. Unlike standard wood, there is no need to use environmentally harming chemicals to take care of the material, and no fungicides or pesticides are used in production. This makes the material incredibly enviornmentally- and climate friendly, which is, in addition, also 100 percent recyclable. When the decks are no longer in use they are taken back by the company, if possible, and fed back into the production process.
Download: Press release
Product information: creative; natureline