Tucked away in many home arpund the country are some beautiful old greenhouses that often homeowners inherit which a house purchase. 

Some follow traditional form such as here with a conventional apex greenhouse on an unuual stone dwarf wall.

Others are larger and perhaps grander, harking back to a time when growing fruit and vegetables at home was an important part of life.

As all greenhouse owner know there are maintenance issues that need to be addressed. Also new owners who have 'inherited' older buildings may find them is less than perfect condition,either needing repair or perhaps a full restoration.

We are always happy to come out and discuss what can be done and this is always without obligation.

We always look to produce an accurate report and proposal for work that we feel should be undertaken and we provide a quotation after discussion, based on what you the client and we feel is the best solution.

We can repair or reproduce almost any style and design either in part or as a whole and we undertake all the work ourselves. 

This unique building was located in the front courtyard of an old stage house that previously was part of a large estate. Built when the stage house was sold off and converted to a residential property it dated to the 1920s and still had its original grape vine growing within.

There was extensive damage from rot in the frame and insect damage. The glass which included inserts of coloured glass was heavily stained due to poluution. So much so that it had etched into the glass and could not be cleaned off.

Bodged repairs over the years mean't that rotted timber had been filled with concrete or cut out and never replaced. Many windows had been nailed shut and pieces of plastic stuck over broken glass.

There was a decided lean to the building as the right hand side started to fall in on itself. This mean't the door couldn't be opened properly and so the building and the grape vine had been left to its own devices.

The building was carefully taken down so that the details could be replicated.

Parts were then transported back to the workshop and the restoration undertaken.

At this time a few changes such as the large single door to a set of double doors were incorporated

The client in this case had inherited with the purchase of their new home a very old greenhouse.

The original walls date back to the early 1900s but the timber framework was a later addition perhaps 1970s, replacing an older frame that had probably rotted away.

The crux of the issue was that the newer timber work was seperating from the wall and the glass especially on the roof was sliding off especially after a storm or high winds.

The client had tried several times to deal with the problem and had also engaged numerous trades people to stop the issue. 

Whenw e arrived we found the glass had layers of mastic bonded on to them, Nails everywhere and new capping strips all of which had failed.

The front wall section was also leaning forward at an alarming angle as the roof pulled away from the wall and pushed it forward.

Unlike the previous work little photagraphy was undertaken as a record of work progress, simply because the client was on site everyday to witness the work.

However we sripped the whole buildings roof off. and cleaned back all the glass.

The leaky roof had caused the rafters to rot and so new rafters and a completely new wall plate was installed throughout.

The wall plate is the link between the roof rafters and the brick wall.

All the timber was pressure teated and painted to match the exterior.

Before replacing the glass the interior including the walls were repainted and repaired. to complete a full refurbishment.

The front frame was pulled back upright and secured in place.

Doors and windows now opened again, new shingle was laid in the pathway and the terracotta tiles in the lower room were set back in place.

The brickwork was repaired and the glazing reinstalled using custom made secretly fixed stainless steel straps that attach the glass panes to the rafters. 

The intersection with the wall included new lead flashing and the rafter caps were cleaned and reused.

We also built a new potting bench which enclosed an animal water trough converted to store water (fed from the guttering) 

the bench was made from the old benches and timber salavged from the greenhouse and painted to match.