Mrs McIver lives in a new build house in Devon. She wanted to create an extra room at the back. She contacted Extend a Room, and soon was able to discuss her ideas with one of their surveyors. Early last year, this beautiful Edwardian conservatory was installed at her home.
The challenge
Often, new build houses are on reclaimed land, landfill, or brown field land. This can mean that the yard or garden areas are not particularly stable, usually uneven and bumpy. Using the old fashioned conservatory building methods, the solution was to dig very deep foundations and fill them with tons of concrete. The amount of mess created and time taken is equalled only by the high cost of paying for it all. Hopefully Extend a Room had a solution that would simply make that scenario disappear!
Mrs McIver’s new house in Devon had a higher floor level inside than outside in the garden. Obviously any floor levels have to be consistent from house to sunroom. Even a few millimetres of difference between floor levels is enough to make someone trip up. The surveyor had to measure very carefully to make sure this was taken care of.
There were some man holes right in the area where the new sunroom was to go. Costly to move and re-site! Again, Extend a Room had a modern solution to make that problem disappear, too.
Rain water drainage needed to be looked at carefully, as it can be a problem with Edwardian conservatories. Natural tree debris such as leaves and twigs can sometimes build up and over flow inside the conservatory.
The solution
To combat these ground conditions, the company’s unique steel base system comes into play. Every Extend a Room conservatory has its own made to measure steel base, which removes the need for old fashioned foundations. Manufactured in the factory to the precise measurements of the site, it is dismantled and delivered to the customer where the fitters are waiting to affix it to the steel plates on top of concrete pads placed on the ground. Using the super strength of steel, the base is more than strong enough to support the sunroom frames and glass when they are fitted.
But there are other major benefits to the steel base system. Because it’s constructed in a gridlike pattern, if at any time the floor needed to be raised to access pipes, drains or the like, it’s easy to do. In this case, trap doors are easily fitted into the floor to reveal the original manholes if required.
Raising the floor level of the Edwardian conservatory at this house in Devon to match the existing floor level of the property is just simplicity itself. The legs of the steel base are adjusted to the precise height required by the fitters on site.
Deep flow gutters were installed on the new sunroom to drain even the heaviest possible rainwater. The fitters connected to the down pipe of the existing property with a “Y” branch pipe from the Edwardian conservatory. This kept everywhere looking neat and tidy, as well providing a reliable drainage system.
The result
Mrs McIver is delighted with her finished Edwardian conservatory at her home in Devon. Her new build property has now been given the extra space it really needed down stairs. An unused area of the garden has now become the focal point of the house.
Sitting bathed in natural sunlight in their attractive new Edwardian conservatory, Mrs McIver and her family can all enjoy each other’s company, whatever the weather, all year round.
Another completed sunroom and another happy customer for Extend a Room!