How's it Overhanging?

We recently did a job near Bristol where the garden room was planned to face directly south.

This can cause problems if not taken into account, since even though this is what the customer wanted and insisted on, too much sun directly into a relatively small space can be a real issue. Luckily there are ways to compensate and there are quite a few choices.

The choices are blinds, tinting, solar glass, or an extended roof overhang/parapet roof, and each has its own pros and cons.

We are the suppliers of these buildings to the end user so we often have to bear in mind that when something fails, even something as minor as a blind, it could cause us grief, since even though our guarantee does not cover minor cosmetic issues it still reflects on us. So we plan to avoid these things happening as much as we possibly can.

We don't do blinds any more, tinting was ok most of the time, but it can get a bit dusty in our factory (any woodworking area has some dust!) and if we managed to get a bit of dust trapped behind a couple of window panes on a job at the far end of the country, we'd be going back to sort it out. So what is the most foolproof solution?

When directly facing the sun, the best, most permanent and least problematic approach, is a large roof overhang, a built-in 'canopy' if you will. Shade all the time when the sun is fierce and high up in the sky, but allowing that lovely early morning and late evening sun, at a sharp angle from the east in the morning and the west in the evening. 

That was our answer on this occasion, and exactly what was required for this particular building, oriented as it was.

Every customer is different and every building we do is different, so it's essential we give it some forethought to make sure that the customer's extra room, not only looks presentable, but works too!

Author: David Fowler