Admiral Homespace, the region's leading conservatory specialists, are warning homeowners to beware of rogue traders installing non-compliant tiled roofing systems.
The latest trend of replacing conservatory roofs with lightweight tiles can be extremely damaging to your health and wealth.
A conservatory is not subject to building regulations due to its classification as a temporary or lightweight structure but many people are unaware that this changes if you replace a glazed roof with a tiled one. The room is then classed as a full extension and subject to regulations regarding structural integrity, insulation and even fire risk.
It is believed that Admiral Homespace are the first company in the UK to partner with their local authority in achieving a method approval for the installation of tiled roofs on to what used to be conservatory structures. The company warns that many unscrupulous conservatory installers are describing their roof system as LABC approved and ignoring the suitability of the existing structure to take the load of the considerably heavier roof.
Steve Thorogood the Managing Director of Admiral states ‘ PVC frames are not designed to take the load imposed by such additions as solid roofs. Most of the lightweight tiles weigh as much as three times the weight of glazed roofing. We are concerned that extremes of weather or snow loading could cause some of these rogue buildings to collapse. If it happens let us hope that nobody is seriously hurt or worse.’
Admiral has been attempting to publish these concerns to the industry via Twitter and the internet but the warnings appear to be falling on deaf ears.
‘In addition to the safety concerns,’ states Steve, no building regulation approval certificate causes very great difficulty in selling a property in the future. It really does pay off to do this sort of thing the right way ‘
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Admiral are launching a new website www.newconservatoryroof.com in the new year to demonstrate the correct way to convert your conservatory into a garden room legally, with full structural calculations as well as energy reports and proper building control certification.
For further details or advice you can contact steve on steve@admiralhomespace.com or by calling him on 01480 456789