Clearview National November 2016 - Issue 180 | Page 53
CONSERVATORIES
FROM A STRUCTURAL POINT OF VIEW
»»LEADING TILED ROOF
manufacturer, Supalite, is issuing all
potential customers with a copy of
the LABC produced ‘Viewpoint’
home-owner advice leaflet to ensure
they are aware of potential dangers
when buying a replacement roof for
their conservatory.
Operations Director for
Supalite, Steve Hacking, explains:
“Replacement tiled roofs for
conservatories are a reasonably
new product. As such, there is a
limit to the amount of information
available to homeowners looking to
replace their existing conservatory
roof with a new tiled roof and they
need to be aware that there are
product types in the market that do
not necessarily meet all the criteria
they should.
“I am particularly talking about
‘wrap-over’ roofs, where an installer
will simply wrap a new tiled roof
over an existing conservatory roof
installation. They look for all the
world as good as a full replacement,
but there are inherent potential
faults in the installation from day
one.
“The original conservatory
will have been designed and
manufactured to carry a certain
weight-loading for the roof. A
‘wrap-over’ roof installation adds
to that weight and it was never
designed to withstand that from a
structural point of view.
“Under Building Regulation
guidelines, all solid replacement
roofs need to be submitted for
approval by the appropriate
council authorities and this
entails the provision of structural
calculations to ensure that the
new roof takes into the account
the strength of the original
conservatory.
“To simply fit a new roof on
top of an existing structure is
fraught with danger and is the
roof solution most likely to cause
over-stressing of the existing walls
and, in extreme circumstances,
can lead to issues such as
collapse.
“It is important that suppliers,
such as ourselves, help to get the
message out to homeowners who
are potentially considering going
down this route. It is not about
Supalite, it is about the consumer,
and using an independent third
party home-owner leaflet to
provide the information gives it
total credibility.
“LABC has responsibility for
ensuring that building regulations
are met at all times with regards
to replacement solid roofs and it
is important we give homeowners
access to the information they
provide,” Steve concludes.
www.labc.co.uk;
www.supaliteroof.co.uk
Image courtesy of Lancashire Conservatory Roofs Ltd.
SUPALITE REQUIRE COMPANIES
TO BECOME FABRICATORS OR
APPROVED INSTALLERS
Fully LABC Approved Replacement Roof System
we require companies
IN YOUR AREA
We at Supalite are receiving an
ever increasing amount of retail
enquiries for replacement
conservatory roofs.
Therefore we are looking for
companies to become SupaLite
Fabricators or Approved
Installers for your area.
All of our SupaLite Roofs are now available with Full Building Regulation Approval
why choose SupaLite
WHAT WE OFFER
Retail Enquiries & Lead Generation
Marketing & Showroom Support
Training Both On & Off Site
Dedicated Customer Service
Your Own Exclusive Areas
National Advertising
01772 82 80 60
[email protected]
www.supaliteroof.co.uk
C L E A RV I E W-U K . C O M » N OV 2016 » 53