If you are lucky enough to live in an art deco house you will know how important it is to maintain and protect the period features.
I was amazed and delighted, therefore, to come across not one house, but a whole cul-de-sac full of art deco houses, all with their original windows intact.
Summit cladding was visiting our new client, Antonius and his wife, who have been living in their period art deco house in East Twickenham for over 30 years.
Antonius didn’t want the house to look any different, but he had major problems with all the guttering and fascia boards, which needed attention. He had also built a beautiful gazebo to the rear of the house that made access challenging.
Metal Crittal windows
The main features of an art deco house are the metal Crittal windows, which are side-opening with a unique hinge mechanism. These can cause problems and require careful maintenance to ensure smooth opening and closing.
Summit carefully removed all the existing guttering, wooden fascias and soffits and inspected the rafter feet, carefully trimming them back so that the windows would open fully.
We then fitted a tongue and groove soffit to the front elevation, identical to the dimensions of the soffit we had removed.
Extra details added
After that, we fitted a black ash fascia board with concealed over-fascia vents, to ensure the roof structure was well ventilated. This was a detail that wasn’t thought of in the 1930s when this house was built.
We also decided to fit a round deep flow guttering that looks just like the original but with double the flow capacity.
We have restored the house to its former glory, but now it is completely maintenance-free; no more leaking gutters and no more rotting timber! Antonius and his wife are delighted with the result, which was completed in four days.