7 Amazing Benefits Of Addressing Roof Repairs In Autumn

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As the temperatures cool and the colours of summer fade into orange and brown hues, homeowners across the country should be turning their attention to essential maintenance tasks, including roof repairs. 

Although maintenance and repairs are a year-round priority, if you have any building work that needs addressing then autumn can be a great time to get the builders in.

In this blog post, we’ll explain why autumn can be a good time for roof repairs and why you should consider scheduling yours now in preparation for the colder months ahead.

Ideal Weather Conditions

One of the main reasons autumn is ideal for repairing a roof is the weather. The hot sunny days are now in the rearview mirror, but the harsh cold of winter has yet to arrive. 

Autumn offers a mild middleground that provides the ideal climate for outdoor work. This means roofers can perform repairs without the discomfort of extreme temperatures, ensuring a smoother, quicker and more efficient repair process.

Preventing Winter Damage

Addressing roof issues in autumn is a proactive step to prevent potential damage ahead of the harsh winter months. Leaky roofs, damaged shingles or compromised flashing can worsen when exposed to rain, snow and ice-cold temperatures. 

By tackling repairs in the autumn before the mercury plummets, you fortify your roof’s integrity and safeguard your home against winter’s elements just before the cold snap takes hold.

Maximising Energy Efficiency

With energy bills still at astronomic highs, most of us are doing all we can to minimise the amount of energy we use. But if your roof is in need of repair, your efforts could be in vain as chances are your heat is literally slipping through the cracks!

A well-maintained roof contributes to energy efficiency as damaged or deteriorating roofing materials can lead to heat loss during the colder months. This causes your energy bills to skyrocket as you need to heat your home continuously to stay warm.

By repairing your roof in autumn, you can ensure that it’s in top condition to keep your home warm and cosy throughout the winter without overpaying on your bills.

Preventing Water Damage

Although it’s getting more and more difficult to predict the weather these days, autumn usually brings increased rainfall, and clogged gutters or damaged roofing can lead to water pooling or leaking into your home. 

Timely repairs help mitigate the risk of water damage, protecting your interior from costly and inconvenient repairs.

Preserving kerb Appeal

Damaged or deteriorating roofing can seriously harm your property’s kerb appeal as your roof is a prominent feature of your home’s exterior. 

Autumn repairs not only enhance your home’s aesthetics but also maintain its value and desirability in the housing market, which is experiencing a downturn at the minute, making it even more important to keep up appearances!

Increased Availability

Roofing contractors tend to have more availability in autumn compared to the busy spring and summer seasons. 

By scheduling repairs at this time of the year, you’re more likely to secure a convenient appointment that fits your schedule and you won’t be waiting for months at a time to get the work done. 

Avoiding Last-Minute Rush 

Waiting until the last minute to address roof issues can lead to a rush for repairs before winter sets in. This can result in longer wait times for roofing professionals and potential delays due to adverse weather conditions, especially if your roofing repair experiences any unforeseen issues.

By being proactive and tackling repairs in autumn, you avoid the stress of any last-minute fixes, providing peace of mind that you’re fully prepared for the winter months.

So those are the main reasons to have your roof fixed up this autumn. If you have any repairs that need addressing, as you can see, there are multiple reasons that make autumn a great time to get them sorted. 

From avoiding the additional damage caused by colder temperatures and water leaks, to increased availability for builders and enhanced kerb appeal, there are various reasons to arrange that roof repair this autumn.

How Worried Should You Be If Floors Are Uneven?

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Quite a few homeowners, particularly those who have bought or inherited an older building will sometimes notice that when they walk around, they can feel divots, lumps or even a slanted underfoot. In some cases, you can even see that something is not right let alone feel it.

There are a lot of different factors that can cause a floor to feel uneven, some of which are the relatively innocuous result of decades of constant floor traffic, however others are a sign of a much bigger, more significant potential problem with the foundations.

Exactly how worried you should be will depend on the circumstances, but if it is bothering you at all, then calling experienced builders and structural experts will either diagnose the issue or give you peace of mind.

Sometimes a sloping or sagging floor is simply the result of improper installation, and in that case, it is simply a matter of taking up the carpet, parquet or flooring surface, reinstalling the floorboards or sub-floor correctly and putting everything back.

Sometimes an additional floor levelling compound is poured into the area to fix the issue, but in either event, it is a relatively simple and affordable task.

What is more of a potential issue, and typically is the case if the entire bottom floor has developed a slant, is that an uneven floor could potentially be the result of poorly constructed or poorly maintained foundations.

This would require more specialist solutions and a thorough inspection of the foundations by a structural expert.

There are ways to fix the foundations depending on how serious the damage is, which involve either filling space below the foundations or using hydraulic machines to essentially lift the foundation and build a stable platform below it.

Sometimes this can happen if the ground the house is built on top of shifts, although in most areas this is unlikely since the ground is heavily compacted before any foundations are laid.

How Do You Know If An Extension Is Right For You?

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Most parents will be forgiven for insisting on having a house extension in Telford as the end of the summer holidays approaches, wanting to have a larger living area so everyone in the family can have space from each other. 

But, how do you know if you really need a house extension even after the schools go back and you get your home to yourself again?

  • You need a place for work 

Since the pandemic, more people have continued to work from home. However, in order to have a good work/life balance, it is important to have a distinct space for office tasks. 

If you don’t have a study or a spare room, it could be worth having an extension so you can shut away work in the evenings. 

  • You need an extra bedroom 

Lots of children share bedrooms, but there comes a point when they want some privacy from their siblings. If your little ones are nearing their teens, you may find they want to have their own distinct space.

Having an extra bedroom put in the loft could let them have this independence, and could reduce sibling arguments in the house at the same time. 

  • You like social gatherings

Some houses have the right amount of square footage but the wrong layout. Those with properties from the turn of the 19th Century through to the 1990s, for instance, will have separate living, dining and family rooms, as well as kitchens. 

In fact, popular in 1950s interior design were room dividers, such as mirrored or glass block walls, aimed at keeping spaces separated.

However, the trend for the last couple of decades has been for open-plan spaces incorporating all these spaces into one large room. 

If you enjoy social gatherings or want to be close to your kids while cooking dinner, you might want to extend the downstairs to make a large kitchen-dining area. 

Why A Loft Conversion Could Be A Very Timely Step

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If you live in a town like Telford and want to upsize in your next house move, now may seem a tricky time to do so. House prices may have dipped a bit, but mortgage costs have soared after a series of base rate increases.

However, one of the biggest problems is that the number of new homes being constructed is low and falling, a problem not just in Shropshire but across the UK as the housing market slows.

New figures from the National House Building Council have shown that the number of new home registrations in England in the second quarter of 2023 was down 42 per cent on the same period in 2022. Every region except London saw falls, with the West Midlands plunging by 54 per cent with just 2,877 new properties.

This means the number of options for anyone seeking a bigger house is shrinking, making it harder to find one that is suitable. In such circumstances, it makes sense to consider the benefits of a loft conversion in Telford.

Not only could this give you the extra space you are looking for, but it brings further benefits too. You don’t have the upheaval of moving home, while the improvement can add significantly to the value of your home if and when you do sell up and move at some future date.

How the housing market will progress in the coming years is uncertain. Speaking at a housing development that is taking place in the West Midlands, prime minister Rishi Sunak signalled a possible watering down of current targets to get 300,000 new homes built per year by the mid-2020s.

Saying he was “proud” of the “progress” made in raising housebuilding numbers so far, he said: “But we’ve got to do it in the right way, I don’t want to concrete over the countryside, that’s something that is very special about Britain.”

That may not just mean lower numbers of homes being built, but a larger proportion that are constructed in regions like the West Midlands being built on brownfield in bigger urban areas such as Birmingham and the Black Country, rather than newer towns like Telford.

Garden Offices ‘Could Boost Home Value By £30k’

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Home offices have become increasingly popular since working from home took off during the pandemic, so much so that having a separate study could significantly increase the value of a property. 

Since national lockdown was announced in March 2020 and those who could work from home were forced to do so, office workers have been less than inclined to go back to the old way of doing things. 

In fact, most people have set up an office space in their house one way or another. Having a distinct room for working has its obvious advantages, including helping to create a better work-life balance. 

That is why lots of homeowners have opted to build extensions or transform garages into offices.

The Express reported that David Wilson Homes said there has been growing demand for garden buildings recently, as a result of high interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis. 

Consequently, this has meant homeowners are unable to afford to purchase bigger homes and are choosing to add to their existing property instead. 

Curchods estate agents in Weybridge agreed, with its managing partner Grant Letts saying having a small garden studio can add £30,000 to a property.

He also noted these extra buildings “may help your property sell faster”, which is appealing to sellers in this difficult market. 

There are many ways homeowners can add offices to their homes, from building a garden study to extending into the loft. 

For more information about loft conversions in the West Midlands, give us a call today. 

Most Infamous Design Flaw In British Construction History

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Designing and building a new project, whether it is a standard home, some kind of elaborate architectural project or a community building, is a long and involved process involving a large number of different people and careful ideas.

It involves architects, planning officers and builders in Wolverhampton who know their stuff and the local area.

This makes it baffling that a farce such as 20 Fenchurch Street could ever have occurred.

Initially proposed as London’s highest public park, 20 Fenchurch Street and its top floor “sky garden” were designed by Rafael Vinoly, an Uruguayan architect known for daring and typically very effective designs such as the Curve Theatre in Leicester and the Tokyo International Forum.

Its initial design had an unusually bulbous shape that was wider at the top than it was at the bottom, resembling the look of a two-way radio, quickly garnering it the nickname “Walkie-Talkie”.

There were concerns that it would affect nearby St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower Of London, although it was ultimately approved.

However, besides being considered amongst the ugliest buildings in the capital, it was found that for two hours each day, the curved glass facade focuses light onto the streets south of the building.

The result is a death ray effect and street-level temperatures of over 90 degrees Celsius, enough to fry eggs on the pavement, melt cars and set a doormat on fire.

This led to the building becoming known as “Walkie-Scorchie” or even the “Fryscaper”, and it was a particular point of embarrassment until the temporary screens were installed to stop this happening.

Whilst this was later fixed with a brise soleil and installing non-reflective film, it did not help the reputation of a building that was considered to be amongst the ugliest in the country and with a selling point that visitors argued did not live up to expectations.

Why Loft Conversions Are Better Than Buying New Homes

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There are many times when homeowners will feel they need more living space. It might be because they have a growing family. It could be because they want a room for more storage, or it might be that they want to have extra space to host visitors.

A couple of options exist. One is to upsize, moving home to a new place that gives you the space you need and perhaps has some other attributes your current home lacks, such as a bigger garden. Alternatively, you can extend your existing home or convert a space such as the loft to create more space that way.

Right now, there are particularly good reasons to get a loft conversion in the West Midlands, which are connected to the property market. These are both national and regional.

The latest house price survey by the property website Zoopla has shown prices are now moving into negative territory. Although the annual average price was still up 1.2 per cent in the year to June, this was down from 1.9 per cent in the year to May and the site believes the point where mortgage rates rose above five per cent is a ‘tipping point’ for the market.

Consequently, Zoopla expects prices to drop five per cent over the course of 2023 and while that may sound like good news for bargain hunters, it also means your own home will command a lower price.

Moreover, the analysis has noted there are regional variations at play, with more expensive areas set to see greater falls. So if your home is in a higher-priced area of the West Midlands, such as Solihull or Sutton Coldfield, the drop could be greater.

On top of all this is the higher cost of taking out a new mortgage. The Bank of England’s decision to hike the base rate to five per cent may not be the last, as inflation remains stubbornly elevated, so this could soon be even costlier.

Because of these market conditions, now may be a good time to upgrade your home with a loft conversion, giving you the extra space you need as well as boosting its value, which would otherwise fall.

What Is Mimetic Architecture & Can You Build What You Love?

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Whilst not always a common question, something builders in Codsall are sometimes asked is about whether it would be okay to personalise their homes or places of business and design them in a way that reflects their personality, interests, history or some combination.

The answer is complicated and it is always worth asking architects, builders and your local planning authority, but there are plenty of cases where people have taken personalisation to the next level.

Officially known as mimetic architecture, it is a design principle built in response to the common building motto that form follows function, by having buildings where the form is the function itself, typically resulting in, for example, shop buildings shaped to resemble the products they sell or part of the brand’s identity.

An example of this would be the Tonneau Bistro & Bar in Okinawa which is built to resemble the look of a beer barrel, complete with a pouring tap.

Other examples include the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, which resembled the hat of the same name, the High-Heel Wedding Church in Taiwan, the Wolfartsweier Cat in Germany and the Longaberger Basket headquarters in Ohio.

Because these buildings are unusually designed and typically require some more unusual materials to construct and clad, they can be trickier to get planning permission for but are often worth it if you want to stand out.

However, there is one exceptionally notable exception to this in Ireland, with the mimetic architecture concept being adapted not to stand out but to blend in.
The Mimetic House is built in rural Dromaheir, County Leitrim, and uses a mirrored facade to reflect the changing countryside around it, taking the concept of reflecting the external world that mimetic architecture was constructed around and flipping it around entirely to build closer to nature.

How To Increase Your Home’s Value While Mortgages Remain High

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It is a challenging time for anyone hoping to sell their property at the moment, as sky-high mortgage rates are deterring lots of buyers. That is why many homeowners are doing what they can do to add value to their home. 

One of the best ways to boost a home’s asking price is to make it bigger, as homebuyers will be more tempted to make the leap if they are able to get a larger property than they first thought. 

President and co-founder of real estate investment marketplace New Western Kurt Carlton told Yahoo! Finance: “Anything that adds square footage or increases the bed / bath count instantly raises the value of a home.”

Property owners with unfinished basements, room for a loft conversion, or enough space to extend into the garden should take the leap if it means they can increase the number of bedrooms or bathrooms, add a study, or make the living space bigger.

Other ways to increase the value is to install a new kitchen. Realtor at Sotheby’s International-Montecito said even modernising countertops and cabinetry “can provide significant ROI”. 

This is also true for making cosmetic updates in the bathroom, as it makes the property look more attractive than if it appears outdated and in need of repair. 

A renovation job that is not worth doing, however, is building a conservatory. Vince Courtney, chief sales officer at Purple Bricks, said conservatories look dated, are not energy-efficient, and not appealing to homebuyers who want open-plan spaces. 

Instead of fitting a conservatory, consider a house extension in Telford, such as opening up the kitchen-diner into the garden or going into the loft.

The Building That Needed To Be Repaired In Secret

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When it comes to complex construction work, it is always best to work with professionals from design to completion.

Part of this is to avoid any headaches, as architects and builders in Wolverhampton know about local planning regulations and work with local planning authorities to ensure that your work is safe, legal and gets the proper permissions.

Another part of it is that the more expertise and greater care you have over a design, the less likely you will need to undertake expensive repairs later on, as was the somewhat infamous case of the Citicorp Centre. 

Completed in 1977 and designed by William LeMessurier, the Citicorp (now Citigroup) Centre had several rather unusual design features, including diagonal steel bracing to resist strong winds and a base that was raised on four stilts.

Typically the building would not be troubled by strong winds due to the mass damper system that absorbs vibrations, but in the case of a power cut, its ability to resist gale-force winds was reduced far more significantly than was originally thought.

An engineering student at Princeton University, Diane Hartley, was the first to raise concerns that in the event of a power outage that could be possible in hurricane conditions, which started a chain of events that led to a much bigger problem being discovered.

Ms Hartley’s discrepancy was combined with the revelation that the welded building joints had been substituted for bolts which was not a feature in 

his original design.

After a call with architecture student Lee DeCarolis, Mr LeMessurier decided to recalculate the wind loads and found out to his horror that a 70 mph wind could potentially knock the skyscraper down, causing untold casualties.

After contemplating hiding the issue or much worse, he ultimately decided to fix the problem in secret, setting up emergency generators for the damper and arranging for welded panels to be fitted at night to avoid causing panic, scandal and reputation damage.

As it happened, all three local newspapers were on strike at the time, and the story was only published in 1995, nearly three decades later.