Latest Posts
January 20, 2020 1:40 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
We all know that the British weather takes no prisoners, so what better way to stay out of the rain and improve the look of your house than by installing a front door canopy? After one too many soakings on their doorstep, our clients in Woodford, Essex, came to Summit Cladding’s showroom at Crews Hill in Enfield, to see what we could offer. They had thought about building a complete porch, enclosed on both sides, but there just wasn’t enough room to build out on to the driveway. The answer: a bespoke canopy to blend in with the design of their house. Matching design Here at Summit Cladding we offer design suggestions as well as building the product, so after... View Article
January 10, 2020 2:38 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
The start of a new year can prompt many of us to think of renewal and improvement, or just doing something different — which is when Summit Cladding can offer some real choices. We were contacted by prospective clients, in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, who’d had a good hard look at the outside of their house and decided it was time for a makeover. The house was structurally sound, but the owners wanted our advice on how to improve its appearance and drainage efficiency using deep flow guttering. Building styles are just like all other passing trends that come in and out of fashion, and so it was with this property. The photographs taken before we undertook the work shows hanging tiles... View Article
October 23, 2019 12:03 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
If there’s one thing you can say with certainty about the Victorians it’s that they knew how to build houses. Good strong bricklaying with lovely thick woodwork around the roofline. But that means it’s quite a challenge to replace those old bargeboards while keeping the authentic Victorian look. Summit Cladding had been contacted by our client, Patricia, who was maintaining her sister’s property in Haringey, North London, which had been owned by the family for over 50 years. The house had served them well, but with Patricia’s sister due to return home after living in the Caribbean, it was time for a bit of a makeover. Fresh new look The paintwork on those Victorian bargeboards was in poor condition and... View Article
August 22, 2019 9:11 am
Published by Summit Cladding
There’s nothing quite like genuine cedarwood cladding to make a house stand out from the crowd. We’ve written before on here about the importance of getting the right materials, when there is such a wide choice available. Summit Cladding were called to a stunning property in the heart of Epping Forest, not far from Waltham Abbey, Essex. Our clients had employed general builders to do most of the conversion work, but they felt let down when the builders failed to deliver the finished quality demanded by their architect. As a company specialising in cladding, Summit were able to advise on the best choice of timber cladding to suit the look of the property. And, as with every other building material,... View Article
July 23, 2019 11:17 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Here’s a cautionary tale for anyone thinking of fitting seamless guttering on their house: make sure the fascia boards can take the weight! Seamless gutters can look great but supporting them properly is a challenging task. Summit Cladding was contacted by clients in Hadley Wood, who’d been living in their lovely home for over 20 years. They had a large extension built five years ago, when the seamless aluminium guttering was recommended by their builders. When we viewed the property, we saw that the single piece of guttering was over 12 metres long – or about 36 feet – and was hanging off the fascia board at one end, threatening to come right off. Summit’s solution The builders had also... View Article
July 3, 2019 2:03 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Here’s a great example of what Summit Cladding can do to transform not one, but a whole block of homes, to bring them up to date with their neighbours. Our client and her fellow committee members run their own property management company in this 1970s block in the leafy hidden part of Winchmore Hill in Enfield, North London. The building was looking tired and dated, while all around them modern flats were being built at almost double the price. Our clients’ answer was to break out of the 1970s “time warp” and order a thorough makeover to bring the block up to date. Door canopies constructed As an illustration of just how neglected the building had become, there used to... View Article
June 8, 2019 3:32 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
During the 1970s there was a trend for building houses with mock Tudor beams and dark mahogany window frames and soffits. That look has become very dated and for our clients Johan and Heidi it was a look that had to change! When I first met the couple at their home in Abbots Langley, just north of Watford in Hertfordshire, they had been thinking of getting the front of the house rendered to replace the mock Tudor beams. But when they saw how James Hardie Cladding could transform a house, they immediately changed their minds. Asbestos to remove Then we looked at the soffits, which we found were made of asbestos-covered in uPVC, so they had to go. And my... View Article
May 20, 2019 9:42 am
Published by Summit Cladding
Stunning transformation using Hardieplank cladding In this blog – how Summit Cladding transformed an ugly old garage into a smart new home office using hardieplank cladding. We were contacted by Karen and her husband who live in a 1930s semi-detached house in Greenwich, South London. They were renovating their property, but with space at a premium, they just couldn’t find the room for the home office they both wanted so much. The answer was outside the house! At the side of the property was a single garage built of white-painted concrete panels, standing on an unsightly brick plinth extending part way into the garden. And as Karen and her husband looked at the old building, containing all the odd bits... View Article
May 11, 2019 3:21 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
If there’s one lesson that we all have to learn about our homes, it’s that even the finest building materials will have to be repaired or replaced one day. This blog is the story of a 1970s house in Chigwell, Essex, which needed some urgent attention when Summit Cladding was called in. Our client, Clive, is in charge of maintaining a portfolio of properties in Loughton and Chigwell and he contacted us when he noticed that nature was taking its toll on the wooden bargeboards. After 40 years, the wood was beginning to rot and damp was getting into the soffits, partly because the gutters were full of debris and no longer working properly. Removing old woodwork Our first task... View Article
March 25, 2019 12:12 pm
Published by Summit Cladding
Our latest client, Marco, called in Summit Cladding when he decided the front of his house was looking “tired” and in need of some tender loving care. Not only was the paintwork peeling away, but the gutters were constantly leaking – and just to make things worse Marco had been let down by decorators who were put off by the extent of the rotten timber. Time for action There comes a time in the life of every property when the timber degrades to such an extent that further painting is no longer economical. With Summit Cladding called in to rescue the situation, we erected scaffolding and stripped off all the original timber at the front of the house, checking that... View Article
