Diy Conservatory Garden

Garden Rooms, Sun Lounges and Gazebos

There is some mileage in looking to solid or at least partly solid conservatory roof coverings in lieu of glass on historic homes. You can’t make glazing look rustic or out of line and so a transition between the two is needed. The intersecting roof of your garden room can be cut, pitched and tiled to match in with the old and at the same time create a visual buffer that will be more capable of accepting the glasswork. If the conservatory roof is more than 25 per cent unglazed, people refer to it as a garden room or sun lounge rather than a conservatory.

For smaller garden room additions and bay windows you might want to choose lead as an appropriate roof covering as it has the distinct advantage of shape; rolls can be formed over rounded timber battens running down the roof to allow the lead sheeting to be sized accordingly in bays and jointed. Lead for roof coverings like this is often of a greater thickness (and hence weight) than the lead used in gutters and flashings and Code 6 or 7 is normally specified.

GAZEBOS

If your garden needs a focal point that a deck or patio alone can’t provide, a gazebo could be the answer. Apart from adding height and structure to the garden it can serve in summer as a functional building that can be used for eating outdoors, playing or simply as a place to sit and enjoy the garden. Gazebos are often sold as DIY kits that are easy to assemble in a matter of hours, essentially an open-sided timber deck floor with posts supporting a solid roof. They can be square but are frequently polygonal in plan.

Timber is the primary choice for gazebos with cedar shingles for the pitched roof covering but wrought iron in architectural swirls and Victorian elegance can make for a grand and lasting building. In the case of the latter, aluminium pressed and profiled sheets are frequently used to give the impression of a greened copper roof. Other gazebo roofs may be thatched in Old English style for a country cottage appearance or in African style for a more tropical beach feel.

By far the most economic gazebo roof finish is feather-edged boarding laid horizontally with the feathered edge uppermost and lapped as the boards progress up the roof to the apex. This is surprisingly effective and if redwood or cedar is used it could last for some considerable time, particularly if the wood is kiln-dried. Even softwood, if it is factory treated with preservative and of reasonable thickness, could last for many years.

Gazebos really only need a level site to set the base upon but forming a concrete base is recommended. Not only will this guarantee a permanently level base but it will also help to spread the weight of the structure, reducing the risk of subsidence.

As with all garden buildings, gazebos don’t normally require permission of any kind, provided they aren’t too tall: 4 m for a pitched roof and 3 m for a flat-roofed building are the limits: any taller and you will have to seek Planning Consent. You should always check with your local planning department particularly if you suspect that there is a public highway within 20 m as this also has a bearing on its exemption.

Which materials
The choice for any garden building is between buying it as a kit or whole from a specialist manufacturer, or having it purpose-built on site to your requirements. The suppliers often provide the labour to erect their products on site as an optional extra and as they are experienced with the product, they are often quick and efficient. Garden buildings from DIY or garden stores remain of very low quality and can be overpriced; for a little more outlay you can have something solidly built in timber frame that will last much longer.

It is possible to purchase quarried stone and have it carved into Corinthian columns, pilasters, copings and corbels. But most of us tend not to and even when a stone orangery is required, what is mostly used today is parts made out of artificial “reconstructed stone”. These mould-formed architectural stone products are limestone-based, enabling a wide range of standard pieces to be catalogued. They aren’t structural, but are intended to dress the front of a structure. Because of this they are perfect, variation-free, smooth-finished and completely absent of blemishes or imperfections – and because of this they look a little too perfect to have the true appearance of stone.

They are, however, a fraction of the price of stone and the range of off-the-shelf and purpose-made products available is extensive. You could easily build an orangery from concrete blocks and add a stone balustraded parapet wall, stone window and door surrounds and a couple of entrance pillars beside the French windows. With the walls rendered, it would look every inch authentic. That said, natural stone is pretty much reserved for flagstones and not much else in the 21 st century, but an orangery or even a conservatory designed with these products creates an impressive and beautiful building.