Li Li
October 30, 2025
🏡 Grateful for the Home That Shelters Us
— Thanksgiving Special: The Science and Comfort Behind EPS Pergolas
Thanksgiving is a season of gratitude — for family, friends, and the comfort of home itself.
In Australia, where summers can be scorching and winters windy and damp, a well-designed pergola can make outdoor living far more enjoyable.
More and more families are now choosing our EPS panels to build pergolas that are both beautiful and practical.
What Is an EPS Pergola?
EPS stands for Expanded Polystyrene Sandwich Panel. Its structure is similar to a “sandwich,” offering both strength and insulation:
- Core layer: High-density EPS foam for thermal insulation, sound absorption, and energy efficiency.
- Outer layers: Steel or aluminum sheets that provide strength, durability, and weather resistance.
Bighands EPS panels are FM Approved, ensuring proven performance and long-term safety.
Why Choose Bighands EPS Panels?
- Flexible Thickness Options: Available in 50mm and 75mm to suit different structural and insulation needs.
- Modern Color Choices: White and Monument — timeless, elegant, and compatible with most home styles.
- Precision Z-Lock Connection: Creates seamless joints between panels, preventing water and air leakage.
- Quick Installation: Lightweight structure allows for faster assembly, saving both time and labor costs.
- Summer Comfort: Reflective surface blocks heat, while the foam core prevents heat transfer — keeping your pergola noticeably cooler.
- Winter Durability: The panel’s layered design minimizes condensation, and its anti-corrosion coating resists rust, even in damp conditions.
- Acoustic Benefits: The internal air-cell structure absorbs sound, making your outdoor BBQs and gatherings more peaceful.
Comparison with Traditional Pergolas
- Timber Pergola: Beautiful and natural, but prone to cracking, warping, and termite damage — high maintenance required.
- Metal Pergola: Sturdy but can become unbearably hot in summer and freezing cold in winter.
- Our EPS Pergola: FM Certified, customizable in thickness and color, rust-resistant, leak-proof with Z-Lock joints, and virtually maintenance-free.
Real-Life Applications
- Family Gatherings: Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner outdoors — cool in summer, cozy in winter.
- Poolside Retreat: Provides shade and comfort while keeping leaves out of the pool.
- Carport Solution: Shields vehicles from harsh sunlight, rain, and hail.
Thanksgiving reminds us to appreciate not just our loved ones, but also the home that protects and comforts us every day.
A pergola built with our EPS panels creates a space that stays comfortable all year round — a place where family and warmth naturally gather.
This Thanksgiving, we’re most thankful for the peace, safety, and comfort that our homes bring.
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bhbadmin
February 15, 2022
Polycarbonate in Home Design
Polycarbonate is a thermoplastic polymer is lightweight, strong and cost-efficient. It is also versatile, offering
different grades of translucence (or light transmission) as well as heat transmission.
The contemporary look of the material has made it popular in the last few years in award winning architectural projects, especially in Europe.
Here, we share some of our favourite projects which have used polycarbonate in a stylish and clever way.
1. In what would have otherwise been a narrow staircase, Muka
Arquitectura’s
use of
polycarbonate panels turns this into an area filled with soft, diffused light and completely
transforming the space. It also creates a modern, minimalistic look, with the pale blue
polycarbonate sheeting balancing the warmth of the timber stairs.
2. Designed by Garces- De Seta- Bonet Architects, polycarbonate
sheeting is
used as both wall
and a section of roof to connect a living area and a workshop to create a sun-soaked
space. The
polycarbonate sheeting also retains the light and airy feel created by the white walls
and
stairs of the hybrid indoor-outdoor area.
3. We love the concept of this Japanese inspired moveable
room
divider
which
uses natural wood
and polycarbonate sheeting to create a light and airy effect. It effectively divides
the
space
without making it look and feel smaller, and utilises the timber planks to create a
unique,
minimalistic design to create an interesting backdrop.
4. Although the other examples on this list have used
polycarbonate
sheeting
for its light
transmission properties, Bunyesc Arquitectes have used layered polycarbonate
sheeting
here to
update the façade of an old Spanish house. The excellent thermal insulation
properties
have been
prized here, used to give the exterior wall a larger thermal mass, allowing the
façade
to slowly
release collected heat during the day when the wall was under direct sunlight.
Then,
during the
colder nights, the heat would slowly release into the home, improving the energy
efficiency of
the home.
bhbadmin
February 12, 2024
Why Polycarbonate is Perfect for Your Greenhouse
Whether as a small structure in your backyard, or on an industrial scale, polycarbonate sheeting has become a popular glazing material for greenhouses. When building a greenhouse, there are two decisions which the builder will need to be make: the framing material, and the glazing material.
The two most common framing materials are wood and metal, with wood excellent for smaller greenhouses, being a cheaper and easier material to work with. Commercial greenhouses however, will be made with galvanised steel, chosen for the longer life span and minimal maintenance.
However, glazing options are constantly evolving. Whereas glass was used in the past, the high cost, fragility, and poor insulating properties meant it became a less popular material when polycarbonate sheeting became a more common building material.
Polycarbonate sheeting is very lightweight, but durable. This means that it requires less framing materials to support the structure, reducing the cost of the project this way. Polycarbonate also offers both corrugated and flat surfaces, with both options offering interesting ways which greenhouse owners can maximise light penetration into the structure. Corrugated surfaces can optimise sunlight when the sun is at low on the horizon; up to 25% more than a flat surface. Polycarbonate also has excellent thermal insulation properties, and even within our product range, different colours can offer different heat and light transmission. This versatility is incredibility important in creating specific macroclimates, but also microclimates within the greenhouse.
Great for your wallet and great for your plants, give polycarbonate sheeting a go if you’re looking to build a greenhouse!
bhbadmin
October 28, 2024
Holiday Closure Announcement
As the festive season approaches, we would like to inform you in advance of the Bighands Building Supply closure
schedule for Christmas 2024.