COOL CUSTOM BUILDING FEATURES

by Dwell Building Services | August 2020 | Custom Building/Design

We love “collecting” building design ideas from the places we visit, something I’m sure a lot of people do!

We often take mini-breaks to North Stradbroke Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Coffs Coast. Every time we go away, we enjoy all the beautiful things on offer, the beach, the scenery and the peacefulness. We also enjoy the architecture – you always see something new, or something old done in a new way. There is something about the holiday beach setting that frames architecture differently.

One of the most relaxed-look things we’ve spotted is a timber slat driveway buried in the sand with grass growing through the slats – perfect for drainage in sandy soil.   This type of driveway isn’t new, but very effective both in its attractiveness and functionality. It’s also a funny thing for us to admire because in almost all of our building inspection reports, we comment on “timbers being in contact with the ground” – a defect only noted because it usually attracts timber pest activity.

This type of driveway represents the ultimate timber in contact with ground. In this case, the timbers aren’t connected to the house…but they do lead directly to it, straight into the carport!  Anyway.  We think this style of driveway looks awesome and really adds to the relaxed vibe of a beach shack.

This type of driveway also solves that somewhat boring but routine problem of a concrete slab driveway that inevitably cracks. Almost all concrete slabs ever poured end up with hairline cracking throughout and this is an easy, more attractive and cheaper option – albeit one that degrades pretty quickly - 5-10 years max.

We look forward to our next trip away - and the design quirks we spot when we’re there!