Product Range

COLORBOND® steel is not available in a low gloss finish. When addressing this question, it's important to understand that all materials are reflective to some degree. Reflectivity limits tend to restrict the opportunity to use light colours - which is at odds with good thermal efficiency design principles. Building owners should therefore be encouraged, rather than discouraged, to use products made from lighter COLORBOND® steel colours. Notwithstanding, we recognise these choices can occasionally cause concern to neighbours. But if homes and buildings are designed appropriately and considered on a case-by-case basis, there is room to use materials that ensure the building is thermally efficient and, at the same time, nobody is inconvenienced.

Note that if you are required to use a darker colour, you can have confidence in specifying COLORBOND® steel knowing that the chosen colour has been thermally optimised by the inclusion of Thermatech®.

For more information Download Technical Bulletin TB 28 - Building Materials and Reflectivity (233 kb).

The solar absorbtance of COLORBOND® steel colours have been rated for the BCA and Basix classifications, see Classification of COLORBOND® steel Colours for BCA.

A whole range of products are manufactured by a number of rollformers using our COLORBOND®, ZINCALUME®, GALVASPAN® and DECKFORM® steels. You can find technical details and CAD files for the major rollformers from SteelSelect.com. SteelSelect.com provides technical information on a wide range of steel building products from major manufacturers such as Stramit, Metroll, Steeline, Fielders and BlueScope Lysaght. Products include roofing, walling, purlins, girts and structural decking made from COLORBOND®, ZINCALUME®, GALVASPAN® and DECKFORM® steels.

The thickness of sheeting is normally measured as its BMT (base metal thickness). For steel of the same grade and profile, a higher BMT generally means the sheet can span further between supports.

Care should be taken when referencing thickness because some manufacturers will quote Total Coated Thickness (TCT). This is the thickness of the total sheet and will be higher than its BMT (which measures only the thickness of the steel beneath any coatings). eg. 0.42mm BMT is the same as 0.47mm TCT.

Increased thickness will not increase the life of a product, and direct comparisons of BMT between profiles or steel grades cannot be made. The profile manufacturer should be able to provide you with spanning information for the profile and BMT you are using.

Soft (or lower strength) steels will generally be thicker than hard, high strength (or hi-tensile) steels, and are commonly used in applications where tight curving is required.

Cladding is a collective term for any sheeting that covers a building, whether it be on the roof of the building, or on the walls. Roof cladding is made from thicker steel and is rolled to a profile capable of supporting roof traffic*. In most cases, these roof claddings can also be used for walling as well. Wall cladding is made from thinner steel, rolled to a less rigid profile. They are generally not capable of supporting roof traffic, prohibiting their use as roofing.

*Some roofing is designed to be non-trafficable. Please consult the span and capacity tables of the cladding for further details.

Standard COLORBOND® steel is the product you're most likely to see on the majority of applications and locations across Australia. However, there are some environments and applications for which it isn't suited, and for these BlueScope Steel has developed specialised products. COLORBOND® Ultra steel and COLORBOND® Stainless steel grades are made for more severe environments, such as those exposed to industrial emissions or close to the sea. COLORBOND® Metallic steel has a unique metallic paint finish and is commonly used for prestige projects. You can find out more by viewing our pages: Effect of Location and Look Your Best: COLORBOND® Metallic steel.

A number of builders have display homes across Australia featuring COLORBOND® steel. You can find your closest from our display home locator.

While Bluescope Steel makes COLORBOND® steel, it's our rollforming customers who turn it into the various steel products you're familiar with, such as roof cladding, guttering and fencing panels. There are many rollformers out there, each supplying different products with different product specifications. You can use our supplier locator to find a rollformer in your area who will be able to help you with the types of profiles they have available and other product information.