Completed Orangery Extension Build – Barnet Hertfordshire
Finished Orangery Extension Build by Kingsholme Conservatories
Conservatory Plastering in Progress
Orangery Roof Construction
The plasterboard has gone up and it’s ready for skimming. The central boss is there in preparation for a chandelier, the rafters have special channels routed in to allow us to hide the cables for the lights and electric roof vents.
The roof glass is Pilkington Active Neutral – Self Cleaning. This has a slight tint for heat control purposes, but as you can see it’s barely noticeable.
This lantern is a really interesting shape, can’t wait to see the finished result.
Orangery Roof Construction.
Orangery Roof Insulation Bedfordshire
The guys are fitting the perimeter insulation into the roof before the decorative fascia is fitted.
The orangery flat roof area is covered with Sarnafil and we utilised a “warm roof” design. This means that the insulation is in top off the roof, so there is no cold void that requires ventilation. This does mean that a vapour barrier is needed to prevent any moisture from the room penetrating the insulation from inside and condensing on the cold, internal face of the roof membrane.
We typically use 140mm of rigid PIR insulation, 100mm on the outside and 40mm internally. The roof drain pipe can be seen, this will be fitted with an aluminium hopper and replica cast downpipe at a later stage.
A timber trim will be scribed against the side of the house to cover the join to the wildly undulating render!
Conservatory Construction Steel column
The steel column is now in place and the guys are working on altering the tiled roof to the left of the picture.
As often is the case, we did not want a large brick nib in the opening between kitchen and conservatory. However, when removing the brickwork right back to the corner of the existing building, the structure is weakened as it is the corner of the bulding that give it lateral strength. To compensate for this, we have used a steel column that is connected with resin-bonded steel studs to the existing wall.
In some cases, it is possible to lose the steel column within the wall cavity, but on this job there is a solid nine inch wall so the steel column will have to fit inside it. However, it is still far more preferable to have an eight inch steel than a two foot brick nib.
Interestingly, structural engineers alway tend to specify beams butted up to columns, rather than beams sitting on columns. This type of connection may appear illogical, but it is the accepted method.
Conservatory Construction Steel column
Brickwork finished
The base in finished and the steps partially built. We’ve used reclaimed bricks laid in a Flemish Bond. These are extortionately expensive, so we’ve not wasted any on the section of the conservatory wall that will be covered by the steps.
Conservatory foundations excavated
Conservatory foundations excavated. The foundations have been excavated, the average depth is 1.5metres. There is quite a bit of drainage to alter at the front of the conservatory and a pipe to bridge over at the side, as can be seen in the photo. There will be a new kitchen fitted, so we have to provide drainage for the new sink and dishwasher positions at this stage.
The ground is fairly solid and shouldn’t be too susceptible to collapse, but we want to get the footings filled with concrete as soon as possible. Access on this site is a bit tricky, so it’s been a hand dig and the concrete will be mixed on site rather than readymix.