Facades and Veneers

The home improvement shows on Australian television focus heavily on adding facades and veneers, redecorating demonstration homes to make them look better. A bit of paint here, some wood laminate there, gold leaf, antiquing solutions, fake Greek columns, etc. Rarely do they show how to modify and improve the structure of a house. While I like my house to look good (and a lot of effort went into its looks), our culture's obsession with facades and veneers disturbs me.

For one, when people buy a house they subconsciously look for the same type of house they see on television, one littered with facades and veneers. If the media hasn't properly informed them about structure they won't examine the condition of the house's framing and foundation, nor do they even know what to look for. When walking through real estate, potential buyers do not perceive the quality and soundness of the house's structure and foundation, half the value of the house. Half the value also means at least half the potential repair cost for a lemon. A new paint job is relatively cheap. A new foundation can cost heaps.

Not only does the emphasis on veneers distract buyers from looking for structural issues, the veneers clutter up the buyer's mind so much that they obscure the basic design of the house. Think of the houses that you've visited and imagine them with entirely white walls, floors, ceilings, and exteriors. Mentally remove the furniture, knick knacks, all of the built-in shelving and cabinets, fake columns, etc. If the house doesn't have any cathedral ceilings you might as well remove the roof since it's shape is more or less a facade. Your mind is now picturing a house without facades and veneers, without color or texture, just the basic design. Removing the makeup exposes the true house. If the design is sound, the cosmetics are relatively easy to apply. The architecture of a house can only be altered with many handfuls of cash.

Can you tell that I don't like facades and veneers? Well, I have more issues...

In my experience, the portions of a house that need the most repairs are the bits with facades and veneers. Why? I wonder... probably because you don't cover up a quality material. Veneers are applied to cheap materials to make them look good; you don't see people gluing a marble laminate onto granite. Marble laminate covers MDF. Facades too are built out of cheap materials because building codes generally don't apply to them. If it's going to be fake, might as well make it a cheap fake.

The net result is that houses with facades and veneers cost more in the long run because owners end up repairing a marbled lemon that eventually rots. A kitchen built out of wood-grain covered MDF is half the price of a kitchen made from real wood, but lasts half as long, if that.

None of this discourse is really new. Even one hundred years ago some architectural movements specifically opposed facades; "arts and crafts" houses were specifically designed to show their structure so that the buyers would be able to see how strong the house was. The same movement included very heavy, durable furniture. Current housing trends take the opposite direction, looks over substance. The Arts and Crafts died out long ago (except for a few remnants). It seems that one cannot win against the veneers. Which brings up a deeper thought...

Facades and veneers are part of a larger beast. They're an attempt to make one building material appear like what it's not. To make MDF look like wood, concrete like stone, or lead like gold. But whom do the fool? Why the people living and visiting the house: Ourselves and our friends. I don't know which is worse, being self-deceptive or deceiving one's friends.