Author Archives for Summit Cladding
May 12, 2025 8:27 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery Bespoke Edwardian door canopy replacement Let’s start this blog story with a teaser: what does a nice Edwardian house in North London have in common with one of the most iconic buildings in the country? We’ll give the answer in a moment! The Edwardian house in question is an attractive terraced property on the borders of Crouch End and Highgate, where the owner, Sarah, had asked Summit Cladding to have a look at her front door canopy, which was badly in need of repair. Sarah knew it was important that the restored canopy, with its authentic metal supporting straps, should continue to match the period detail of her home. This is a requirement that Summit is well used... View Article
May 6, 2025 4:47 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery Weatherproof composite cladding Summit Cladding has often found itself cast in the role of Knight in Shining Armour, riding to the rescue of a householder who’s been let down by another builder, and this job in London E4 is another example. Our client, Hari had a loft extension built a few years ago but soon noticed water leaking in through the side wall when it rained. Naturally, he went back to the builders for help. Hari told us he got no support nor remedy from them and after two years of fruitless legal arguments he approached Summit for a solution. Horror story in the wall! Once we put the scaffolding up to investigate the problem the full horror... View Article
April 28, 2025 12:38 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery UPVC fascias, soffits and guttering We have written before on these blogs about the potential danger of asbestos as a building material, which was widely used from around the 1950s. Prolonged exposure can lead to asbestosis, a disease caused by inhaling tiny fibres which can lodge in the lungs, creating severe breathing problems and even cancer. However, the material is only dangerous when broken up and disturbed, causing the fibres to float around as a fine dust. Asbestos was banned as a building material over 25 years ago, following many cases of workers contracting the disease, but Summit Cladding often comes across older properties where it is still in situ, as with this end-of-terrace house in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.... View Article
April 9, 2025 8:24 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery The importance of fire-resistant cladding The devastating fire in Grenfell Tower in 2017, which claimed over 70 lives, has led to a nationwide scramble to identify buildings at risk and the importance of fire-resistant cladding. Summit is proud to have been part of this recent project to enhance the appearance and safety of a block of flats in East London. The building, in a leafy part of Woodford Green, was built before the Grenfell disaster, but like so many properties throughout the country, the owners and leaseholders were unsure whether the installed cladding – and what lay behind it – was fully fireproof. Advantages of cement board cladding Summit has long experience in fitting fibre cement board cladding... View Article
March 27, 2025 1:02 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery Replacement Timber ‘Accoya’ Cladding The pundits say that football is a game of two halves – well how about this for a house of two halves? At the front, a traditional Edwardian-style property. At the back, something altogether more modern and futuristic. Summit was called to this house in Croydon, south London, where the owner introduced us to Accoya Timber Cladding, a product we confess we hadn’t heard of before – and what a lovely new look it is! Our client had the cladding fitted some time ago but asked us to come round and carry out some vital replacement and adjustments to the way it had been installed, including improvements to ventilation. Traditional and adventurous designs The... View Article
March 10, 2025 3:15 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery Maintenance free cement cladding One of the great advantages of cement board cladding as a building material is its versatility. It looks just as good and works just as effectively on a new build house as it does on a very old property. Take this 300-year-old former bakery in Hertfordshire as an example. Our client, a London property developer, had owned the building for some years and was gradually restoring it to its former glory. But he had come up against a snag with the external render, which was not only making the house look tired and defective but, more crucially, was letting in the damp. Uneven render causing problems Now as everyone will understand, wet walls in... View Article
February 19, 2025 10:42 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery New cladding installation in Ongar Are you proud of how your house looks from the street, or is it a bit of an eyesore letting down the neighbourhood? Our recent client, who lives in the picture postcard village of Stanford Rivers, near Ongar in Essex, felt that his home fell into that latter category and he needed to do something about it. Many of our prospective clients come to us with a vague idea of how to smarten up their homes but look to our experts for detailed guidance and recommendations – and this was just such a case. Call in the experts The job was certainly urgent, as the gutters were leaking and – worse than that... View Article
December 17, 2024 10:55 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Marely cedral cladding installation gallery Marley cedral / weatherboard cladding Here at Summit Cladding we have always been big fans of James Hardie composite cladding, a versatile and reliable weatherboard in a wide range of styles and colours. But there’s another kid on the block that has made a big impression on us. It’s called Marley Cedral cladding and, as the name suggests, it’s from the same stable as the Marley Tile Company which was founded a hundred years ago – so they’ve had a long time to get things right! Our client, Howard, from Ongar in Essex, was planning to give his home a complete exterior makeover and had obtained a sample of the Cedral cladding to see if... View Article
December 2, 2024 5:14 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Installation Gallery The history and problems with hanging-tiles Fitting cladding to exterior house walls has a very long history – over 300 years in fact. But in those far off days the cladding consisted of vertically hung tiles to keep out the weather. Tile hung houses first appeared in the south of England around 1700, a design feature that spread from The Netherlands. At that time many houses had walls made of wattle and daub within a timber frame, not brickwork, so the tiles helped with insulation and weather proofing. Tile hanging was adopted throughout the following centuries in a variety of styles, shapes and colours and it was especially popular during the Arts and Crafts period. In more recent... View Article
November 15, 2024 11:22 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Stunning looks and maximum energy efficiency Giving your home a makeover these days has got to be about more than just making it look good. With climate change in the news, it’s also an ideal opportunity to maximise energy efficiency. Saving money on fuel and reducing your carbon footprint at the same time is a win-win all round. Our latest client, Laurence, from Cobham in Surrey, who already had solar panels on his roof, had taken this principle a stage further. He had called in a specialist surveyor to identify areas around his house where heat was escaping, so that we could ensure there was maximum insulation when we carried out our renovation. Heat loss identified The specialist found that... View Article
