WINDOWS :: DOORS :: CONSERVATORIES :: FACIAS AND SOFFITS :: DIY

Traditional Hardwood Conservatories:

 



Why Choose Hardwood?

 

  • Traditional looks
  • Appearance - Heavy duty roof rafters
  • Renewable source of material
  • Detailed Finish
  • Range of colours
  • Strength and durability
  • To meets the needs of a conservation area or listed property

 

What ever your reasons for choosing hardwood for your home, hardwood remains the most desired material for the construction of a new conservatory or the installation of windows and doors despite the additional cost involved. You can see from the pictures in our gallery that hardwood has been specified in range of sizes and styles to suit the design requirements of each individual customer. One of the main differences in hardwood conservatories is the roof glazing, this is almost always glass rather than polycarbonate glazing. Glass is a more attractive glazing solution and with the added expense of hardwood already being specified glass is the natural choice for the roof glazing. You can see from our solar control glazing page the options available for conservatories that will get a lot of sun, our Celcius range of performance glazing offers the complete solution for conservatory glazing cutting out 74% of solar heat through the roof glazing and 58% of solar heat through the windows and doors, combined with the argon gas filled option and self cleaning coatings Celcius provides a glazing solution to make your conservatory warmer in the winter and cooler in summer.

 

All our standard options are available with hardwood including plastering, electrics, tiling, under-floor heating, plumbing and air conditioning and as per our standard practice you will receive a detailed written estimate with the build cost of the proposed conservatory and the options detailed individually.

 

We are now able to offer you Bi-Folding / Concertina doors as either an option on the conservatory or as an entrance door into your house. This type of door has the flexibility to cover a large aperture but when in its open position leave a large opening for that feeling of space between rooms or bringing the outside inside.

 

Timber is obviously an extremely versatile material so whatever look you desire can be recreated from fluted corner posts to decorative stepped ring beams.


The Natural Beauty of Wood

There are many reasons why wood is an excellent material for making windows and doors. The hardwood we use is classified as a durable material with high structural strength. As a 'natural insulator' wood adds considerably to the overall insulating performance of a window and door, and it requires energy in its processing than other materials It is also recognized that hardwood windows improve a buildings aesthetics. Mitre Master offer a choice of durable, West African Utile hardwood and Sapele.


The Made-to-Measure Benefits of Mitre Master
Mitre master windows are high performance, engineered wooden windows made to a customer's exact requirements. Windows are built locally, from specially moulded sections, using Mitre Master's own unique state of the art mitre technology. Mitre Master ltd is approves by TRADA Certification to ISO9001 for the supply of materials and systems used in the manufacture of these windows. All windows and doors are treated with modern, microporous stains, to the colour of your choice. This enhances natural beauty of the wood and gives long lasting weather protection and elasticity, allowing it to breath and eliminating any risk of distortion which can occur with conventional treatments.


Casement window / Sliding Sash / Tilt & Turn / Single door / French door
No matter how unusual the design or size and weather you require arched, or traditional frames, with or without Georgian bars, Mitre Master offers a product to meet your needs.
Every detail has been carefully considered from the grading of the timber to its final coat of stain. Hardware, weather seal, glazing units, security.. all have been developed to enhance the performance and appearance of the Mitre master system.


The Specification of the Mitre Master System:

Timber: Grade A West African Hardwood - BS1186
Utile or Sapele
67mm Frame thickness
All internal edges of the timber have a routed finish

Colour: The Teknos full range of colours are available
All factory finished with three coats of paint

Finish: Microporous ‘Teknos’ Stain
Factory finished frames (Not painted on site)
This finish will allow the timber to breathe preventing it from distorting which can occur with conventional treatments
Five - Seven year life expectancy

Manufacture: All frames are designed and tested to meet both the requirements of BS6375 Part 1: 1983 (For air permeability, Water tightness and Wind resistance) and BS6375 Part2: for Operation and strength

Mitre Master System: All frames are mitred with steel inserts to provide a strong and high quality 45 degree mitred finish – this eliminates the premature deterioration of the timbre through exposed end grain

Manufacturing: All frames come complete with manufacturer’s 10 year guarantee covering the timber and fabrication

Drainage: Concealed drainage in a larger lower glazing bead not via a hole routed under each glass unit – drainage is essential to any glazed frame

Installation: Frames have locating groove to locate onto sill and adjoining frames for an improved finish
Solid 145mm external sill providing a structurally better conservatory than chambered PVCU external sills


Glazing: 24mm Double Glazed Units
Safety glass will be installed to building regulations
All units are manufactured with a low “E” coating - S3 Neutral LowE
All glass units are manufactured to British Standards and carry a 10 year manufacturers warranty
The benefits are:
‘U’ Value of 1.4
‘U’ Value of 1.1 Argon Gas Filled
Better ‘U’ values than Pilkington “K” glass
(Pilkington “K” Glass ‘U’ Value 1.5)
Completely Neutral / Clear Finish

Security: All glass is fixed in position using security tape

Roof Construction: Hardwood roof rafters fitted with external low maintenance polyester powder coated aluminium cappings

Ventilation: Espagnolette locking with night vent facility
All fitted on friction hinges

Doors: Double draught sealed
Double handle French doors
Three heavy duty adjustable hinges to each door
90 degree over head restrictors

Internal Cill: Hardwood internal window boards with finish to match the conservatory frames
Al internal window boards are set onto a DPC to prevent the timber from soaking up any moisture from the brickwork until the conservatory has completely dried out

Rainwater System: Ogee Rainwater System

Fittings: Gold handles are fitted to the windows and doors as standard
(Silver handles are available )

Climate Control: Argon gas filled glass units to provide better ‘U’ value – installed to both roof and the side wall frames

Optional Timber Extras:

We have the facility to provide a full range of decorative timber extras from Georgian top lights, decorative dentil moulding, heavy duty grooved corner posts, sash horns and decorative ring beam extensions

Maintenance:

Your Lifestyle conservatory will be fully protected by an Teknos coating system, called “Aquatop” which is applied in the factory. This gives a life expectancy to the finished coating of 7/8 years depending on the elevation of the conservatory and position.

This means maintenance is very simple, thoroughly wash down with warm water and detergent, rinse with clean water and allow to dry.

Remember don’t wait for the coating to start breaking down before re-coating, the “Aquatop” coating can be obtained from us via contacting TEKNOS (UK) Ltd. 01608 683 494.

All the ironmongery should be kept clean of paint, stain or lacquer and should be sprayed with a silicone spray or WD40 every six months to maintain a smooth operation.


Double Glazed Units:

Our glass units are supplied in accordance with our suppliers manufacturing tolerances, which follow the guidelines, set out by the Glass and Glazing Federation. Any imperfections in the glass must be visible from 2 meters away from the glass and not viewed in direct sun light.


“U”- Values for various glass combinations

(28mm Double Glazed Units)

Standard Glazing: Clear Float / air / Clear Float 2.70
Clear Float / argon / Clear Float 2.55

What you should expect: Clear Float / air / K Glass 1.70
Clear Float / argon / K Glass 1.50

Lifestyle Glazing: Clear Float / air / S3 Neutral LowE 1.40
Lifestyle Glazing + Argon: Clear Float / argon / S3 Neutral LowE 1.10

(The lower the “U” Value the less heat escapes through the glass)


Conservatory Check List:

Are the conservatory frames made from hardwood?


Are the frames factory finished with a “long term coating” or finished on site with a normal stain??


Is the hardwood part of an actual conservatory /window and door system such as “Mitre Master”?


Are all the edges on the hardwood finished with a decorative finished edge?

 

Consider internal size of the conservatory, this is often much less than the external base dimensions due to the width of any dwarf walls – in our experience the biggest mistake when considering a conservatory is not allowing enough floor space – our conservatory designers will be happy to produce a quotation based on different sizes for you to compare

 

The best position of the doors is often on the side of the conservatory to allow for more usable floor space

 

Does the conservatory have suitable roof glazing and ventilation for its position on the house?

 

Have you seen detailed drawing including a photo cad drawing of the proposed design and does your quotation clearly cover all aspects of the proposal

 

Consider the glazing for the side wall frames, our laminated glass with soft coat option provides protection for furniture and fabric’s, better ‘U’ values than Pilkington “K” glass and high security

 

Do the building teams work full time for the conservatory installer and have you seen examples of their work?

 

Does the electrical company used comply with the new building regulation Part “P” from January 2005?

 

One of our top tip’s is to leave the doors open between the house and the conservatory to keep constant circulation of air – this will help maintain a constant room temperature in the conservatory – and with our laminated security glass you have total piece of mind

 

Does the conservatory come complete with a full 10 Year insurance backed guarantee?