Categories for Guttering
September 16, 2024 5:24 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Why replace worn timber cladding? The pitter-patter of tiny feet in the house is a welcome sound for anyone with young children or animals – but not if the sound is coming from inside the walls! There’s a real risk that birds, mice and even squirrels will get inside timber cladding if it’s not properly maintained. Fortunately, this hadn’t yet happened to our client from Caldecote, near Baldock in Hertfordshire, but it might have done if Summit Cladding hadn’t stepped in. Danger to electrics There’s always a chance of a vermin invasion when timber cladding starts to warp and peel away from the wall, and all timber will do this, given enough time. The biggest risk is to any electrical... View Article
August 20, 2024 7:57 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery Lindab steel rainwater systems When you look up at the roofline of a house do you even notice the gutters and downpipes? If you do, and they make you take a second look, it’s probably Lindab Guttering, a top-end steel rainwater system that we at Summit Cladding love to instal on customers’ homes. Summit was contacted by Neel, from Hadley Wood near Barnet, who was having a bit of trouble with his roof, which needed a bit more than mere cosmetic changes. The original scalloped timber barge boards were rotting, the decorative finule through the ridge tiles was beyond repair and the cement work in the roof valleys was unstable. Maintenance-free fascia boards With scaffolding in place, Summit... View Article
March 25, 2024 8:49 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery It’s all in the details For Summit Cladding, it’s all about the detail. We will always make sure that our replacement soffits, fascias and gutters are as true to the originals as possible. With this job in North London, our client’s brief was to follow the existing detail exactly, to match what the builders had fitted when the house was extended five years ago. The builders had made their own vented soffits under the roofline and fitted four different fascias on the front door canopy and front bay window. These ornate details were what Summit had to replicate. Matching the soffits and fascias The installation process started with the removal of all the existing wooden fascias and soffits,... 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
January 31, 2022 12:04 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
There’s no better recommendation for Summit Cladding than when clients say they are so happy with our work that they will present their house as a show home for other customers. That’s what happened after our visit to High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, where former inventor Renny asked us to find a solution to his cladding problems. Renny had spent his working life inventing household products designed to make our lives easier. But now it was his turn to ask for help, to reduce the stress of home maintenance. Timber boards had distorted We have written on this blog in the past about so-called waney edge timber cladding boards which look fine when first nailed on, but eventually twist and distort... View Article
May 17, 2021 12:56 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Here at Summit Cladding we pride ourselves on going the extra mile for our clients – not just in what we do for them but how far we travel as well! Out to the leafy lanes of Surrey for this latest job, where a charming lady was looking for our help and expertise. The client had recently moved into a delightful bungalow in Godalming. The setting was perfect and very picturesque, but some of the alterations to the property done by previous owners left a lot to be desired. The workmanship and detail showed that corners had been cut, so it was our job to sort it out for the new owner. Dark timber to be removed The main thing... View Article
January 18, 2021 12:07 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
If every picture tells a story the photograph of the wall of this house before work was started on our latest project speaks volumes. One glance at the damp brickwork underneath the large concrete gutter tells you all you need to know about so-called Finlock gutters. Actually, there’s a lot more to know about Finlock guttering, as we’ve discussed on this blog before. This style of concrete guttering was all the rage in the 1950s and 60s, when there was plenty of concrete available, but not much ironwork because so much had been used up in the war. Design flaws with Finlock guttering Summit Cladding was called in by our clients in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, to sort out the many... View Article
January 12, 2021 11:48 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Just imagine how nice it would be to get rid of all those dirty old paint brushes in the garage and never have to buy another tin of paint. With Summit Cladding, that becomes a reality. We were contacted by clients near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, who were fed up with the constant round of painting and renovating their wooden bargeboards, fascias and soffits. It’s a laborious job at the best of times, and not without danger standing at the top of a ladder. And if you hire a contractor every few years it doesn’t come cheap. Fit and Forget Our clients were renovating their substantial and attractive property and wanted to retain the period features, so Summit’s solution was to fit... View Article
September 19, 2020 11:07 am
Published by Summit Cladding
This was a very unusual project for Summit Cladding and one with its own unique set of challenges from the start. The targets were three superb penthouse flats in the heart of Chelsea, one of the most desirable parts of London. But they sat on the sixth floor of a residential block just off the Kings Road, and the question of how to get the materials up there caused a bit of head-scratching. Our initial inspection of the penthouses had revealed the problem that Summit was tasked to fix: fascias and soffits made of plywood that had been badly affected by the weather. Water penetration damage The big disadvantage of plywood is that, over time, water can start to penetrate... View Article
