Dr and Mrs Gill and their family live in a large stone house in Buxton, Derbyshire. They wanted to extend their living space, and approached Extend a Room to help. Now they have this stunning glazed roof upvc Edwardian conservatory at the rear of their home.
The challenge
A common challenge when designing any new conservatory is to make sure that the new sunroom will happily co-exist with the property, gardens and patio areas of the existing property. This beautiful stone house in Buxton, Derbyshire is a large property with wonderfully high ceilings. Any new room would have to match it in scale, to create that blended look which all conservatories should have in relation to the house. The company needed to plan for extra high frames on the 3 sides of the Edwardian conservatory. This in turn creates the technical difficulties associated with ensuring strength and stability. Once the huge glass roof is added to the conservatory, the weights on the base are considerable.
Traditional building methods of laying strip foundations with poured concrete would mean excavations required, mess created, and massive expense. Could Extend a Room come up with a modern, quick and reasonably priced option for this family in Buxton, Derbyshire?
Finally, attaching any Edwardian conservatory to the rough hewn stone of the house would be very difficult. The seals created would have to be water tight first time, especially given the height at which the fitters would be working.
The solution
Here’s where the unique Extend a Room steel base system really shows its class. A detailed site survey was done at the house in Matlock, Derbyshire. Back at the factory, the engineering department calculated how much steel to use in the sunroom, and which gauge. Once the drawings were ready, the steel base was manufactured and delivered to the site in bar lengths. The super strength of steel is just the job to guarantee the weight bearing capabilities and stability needed for Dr Gill’s Edwardian conservatory.
Because every single sunroom is built specifically for each customer, it was no problem to construct unusually large window frames. All singularly connected and fully reinforced with steel, they are further joined together with a 16mm aluminium connecting post which is upvc coated. All the glass in the new upvc conservatory wall frames are toughened to a grade “A” standard, even the small top openers.
Addressing the uneven back wall of the house, the company ensured a perfect seal by using their aluminium box gutter system, designed with this style of Edwardian conservatory in mind. The box gutter was lead flashed into the stone wall. This allowed the rain water to run straight into it, and out through the down pipe system into the gullies on the ground. All the glass in the sunroom roof is treated to reject heat trying to penetrate through the glazed area, creating a comfortable environment.
The result
Of the many Edwardian conservatories in Buxton, Doctor and Mrs Gill can rest assured that theirs is unique. Specially designed just for them, their sunroom really does blend with their old stone property. It has become the new family focal point, and there’s plenty of room for everyone to gather together to simply relax, or enjoy a family meal whilst enjoying the peace and quiet of their garden outside.