Author Archives for Summit Cladding
January 10, 2024 10:22 am
Published by Summit Cladding
In our last blog we introduced you to Ecoscape, the latest exciting chapter in the development of building cladding. And here’s another example of how this new, vertical slatted cladding can transform what would otherwise be a very ordinary building. We’ve explained before about all the advantages of composite cladding, which is designed to look like timber, but is made of materials that never rot and need no painting or maintenance, apart from an occasional clean. And so it is with this Ecoscape slatted cladding which, like its cousin James Hardie horizontal cladding, does not warp or splinter and its colour doesn’t fade in the British weather! Ethical cladding material But perhaps the best feature of Ecoscape is its green... View Article
November 13, 2023 12:22 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Summit Cladding has been at the forefront of the cladding industry for over 30 years and has played an active role in bringing new ideas to the market. In this blog we are introducing an exciting development. It’s called Ecoscape Slatted Cladding, which brings a whole new look to our range of cladding options. Wind back those 30+ years to when Summit was getting started and you’ll find there wasn’t much on offer if you wanted maintenance-free cladding on your house. In fact, all you could get was white shiplap PVC and it was some years before different colours became available. These days, for those who want the beauty and texture of timber but without the hassle of maintenance, composite... View Article
October 12, 2023 8:21 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Here at Summit Cladding we are always keen to take on a challenge, especially when the property is a bit unconventional. This latest cladding installation job was in Loughton, Essex, and involved what’s known as a BISF house. The letters stand for British Iron and Steel Federation and, as the name suggests, the house has a steel frame, not conventional brickwork. Tens of thousands of BISF houses were built in the 1940s and 50s to cope with the shortage of housing facing returning servicemen and their families who’d been bombed out of their homes during World War 2. A simple and quick solution They were designed to be simple and cheap to build, as a quick solution to an urgent... View Article
July 19, 2023 9:36 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Replacing Hanging Tiles Here at Summit we are proud to continue a fine tradition of cladding people’s homes that began many centuries ago, but the difference is that we are using the most up to date and efficient materials. As the pictures show, this client’s house in Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire used to have a tile-hung upper storey. That is when clay roof tiles are hung on vertical walls as a cladding option. It’s a tradition that began mainly in the south-east corner of England back in the 1600s as a superior form of weatherproofing, when many houses were built of timber, daub and wattle. Nowadays, on modern homes, it’s more of a decorative feature. When it is done properly it... View Article
July 9, 2023 7:33 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Maintenance-free and Weather-proof It’s important to bear in mind that fitting cladding to the walls of your house is about more than just making it look better. It’s also about protecting those walls and making them weatherproof. Our client, Alice, from Brentwood in Essex, is an interior designer and decorator with an obvious eye for detail. When she moved into her mid-terrace cottage her surveyor highlighted areas that would need attention, including the brickwork. The cement was deteriorating in several places and would need re-pointing, so Alice had a choice: re-point the whole back wall and keep the brick façade or cover it with maintenance-free James Hardie cladding. As with many of our clients, Alice had seen another house nearby... View Article
June 14, 2023 2:55 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Maintenance-free uPVC fascias and bargeboards If you live in a house that boasts attractive architectural features wouldn’t you hesitate before getting any remedial work done? After all, you might think, how can I be sure that replacement parts will match the originals? This can be a dilemma unless you know where to look and who to engage to do the work. Here at Summit Cladding, we are well used to reassuring our clients that we can and will reproduce the “look” that they want, with all the benefits of up-to-date maintenance-free uPVC materials. Fed up with painting timber? Our latest client, Clare, has lived in this handsome Edwardian property in a London suburb for about 30 years, but the constant... View Article
May 27, 2023 12:30 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Stunning roofline transformation When Summit Cladding gives your property a makeover there are several key stages, all of them important, to guarantee a successful transformation. There is the main cladding itself of course, but we never overlook the need to replace soffits and fascias. The smaller stuff is equally crucial if we want to be sure of a really nice finish. Our client, Mr Gulabadas, has lived in his home in North London for some 40 years and is very happy there. It’s an elegant Edwardian house, solidly built and with generous sized rooms. But as with many of our clients, the constant maintenance of the property’s timber features was taking its toll. Soffits and fascias hard to reach This... View Article
May 4, 2023 5:53 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Our latest client, Donna, knew something had to be done when she found squatters living upstairs. A family of pigeons had taken up residence in the roof space over the front door, leaving their messy “calling cards” all over the porch roof tiles. The house, in Waltham Cross on the North London and Hertfordshire borders, was only 15 years old, but the timber fascias had already started to rot, allowing unwanted access for Donna’s feathered visitors. As Donna was wondering what to do about it, she came across Summit Cladding’s showroom while visiting Springtime Nurseries garden centre at Crews Hill, Enfield. It’s how many of our clients find us, and when Donna saw the range of maintenance-free products that we... View Article
April 14, 2023 9:01 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Hardieplank weatherproof cladding If Darwin’s Theory of Evolution applied to the materials used for building cladding there’d be a clear line to follow. First came timber, followed by uPVC, and now we have the fully evolved Hardieplank composite cladding, a real game-changer in the world of construction. Take this cosy home in Chigwell, Essex for example. The owner, Lee, has lived there for 20 years. When he moved in, the house still had its original timber cladding which was showing its age. Timber is lovely and natural, but it doesn’t last indefinitely and needs constant painting or staining to preserve its looks. Evolution in action So, one of Lee’s first projects was to replace the wood cladding with white uPVC,... View Article
March 9, 2023 5:55 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Summit Cladding ventured out to South Ockendon in Essex for this latest task, where our client, Steve, was looking forward to seeing how we could give his home the makeover it deserved. Steve was one of the many householders who bought their former council homes under the Right to Buy legislation brought in by the government of Margaret Thatcher back in the 1980s. It’s a good, solid semi-detached brick-built house which had pebbledash render around the first floor and boasts a large sunroom extension at the back – although it wasn’t very sunny when we saw the house around Christmas! When Steve and his wife bought their house off the council they knew it would be many years until they... View Article
