28
APRIL 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Let in light and open-up
space with sliding doors
UK homes are being built
smaller than ever and homeowners are demanding new
ways to optimise the space
available. However, trade
professionals can help to
maximise space in a property with careful planning and
a little creativity.
Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director of the UK’s largest
online supplier of ironmongery
products, IronmongeryDirect
discusses how sliding doors can
be used to open-up homes and
create space.
Recent research has found
that UK homes are some of the
smallest in the whole of Europe
with the average home measuring a meagre 85 square metres
compared to 115 square metres in
Holland and 137 in Denmark. The
UK is the only EU country not to
have minimum-space standards
for its homes suggesting this
current trend of modestly-sized
houses is unlikely to change any
time soon.
There are, however, ways to
think outside the box and recommend ways for homeowners
to optimise the space available.
By looking at a house from the
inside out it is possible to find
ways to increase its functionality.
Wide-open floor plans are a great
way to open up rooms and remove any visual clutter. This can
be achieved by removing walls
and traditional hinge doors and
replacing them with sleek sliding
doors that conserve space and are
a more sophisticated choice.
For instance, sliding doors can
enable two separate rooms to be
turned into one large space. A
compact kitchen can instantly become part of a much larger living
room while a small dining room
can be transformed by opening
up access to the garden.
As well as in doorways, sliding
doors can also be used on cloakrooms, kitchen and bathroom
cupboards and wardrobes to
create streamlined storage space.
These fittings help to integrate
the storage units into the design
of the rest of the house and help
to create overall fluidity.
Sliding door systems have many
benefits as not only do they help
to maximise space they are great
at injecting more light into a
property, are easy to assemble
and can work for various rooms
in the house. There are a number
of designs available on the market in different sizes and options,
with glass designs proving to be
particularly popular at the moment as they are great at creating
the perception of space.
For example, the Klug Vero Gero
Glass Sliding Door Gear; a top
hung glass sliding door kit for
glass doors up to 100kg, 8-12mm
thick. Its unique construction of
the clamps eliminates the need
to cut troublesome holes in glass
panels, allowing the door to be
held in place securely and neatly
without using any bolts. The runners in this kit are made from high
quality nylon with superior ball
bearings for a smooth and quiet
operation. Another benefit of this
kit is that it includes a soft close
mechanism for slow and easy closing of the door.
When a soft close mechanism is
incorporated in a sliding door kit,
it allows users to simply slide the
door towards the close position
and at a certain point the door
takes over and closes itself. This is
particularly useful for households
with young children as the mechanism increases safety by reducing
the risk of trapped fingers - The
Vitris Portavant 60 Soft Close &
Soft Open Sliding Door Kit is one
of the best for this purpose thanks
to its built-in self-closing mechanism. Fitting on a 8-10mm thick
and up to 60kg glass door, it fully
closes the door in both directions
once the door has been gently
and quietly slowed down by the
innovative cushioning system.
What’s more, this Made-in-Germany mechanism keeps the door
in position and prevents the door
from opening by itself or bouncing back offering comfort, silence,
pleasant warmth and privacy as
required. It’s also easy to install
without glass cutout.
Sliding door systems can be
placed in a variety of areas around
the house and are a modern
space-saving solution. They provide a much-needed element of
flexibility and offer a contemporary design choice. For installers
looking for an affordable solution
there is a wide selection of very
reasonably priced products that
will help to keep building costs
down. Whatever the budget and
brief there is a varied selection of
products in a range of materials
and finishes that will look great in
any home.
Shaking up the UK home
improvement market
www.Solvari.co.uk is a
new home improvement
social website set up
to give homeowners a
chance to review not
only new products,
services and designs,
but puts them in touch
with the tradespeople
who can give them the
exact look they’re looking for.
The unique website was
launched in March and
offers homeowners the
chance to be inspired by
reading the sites news articles, adding their comments
or opinions to the blog area
and viewing images before
seeking a quotation from a
specialist tradesperson. All
homeowner enquiries are
then matched to the criteria
set by the registered tradesperson, who receives the
enquiry free of charge.
Companies and tradepeople can sign up to appear
on the website, getting their
own fully comprehensive
profile page which includes
their company description,
a list of all their products,
a library of images and a
customer rating and review
area.
Registering with the website allows users to find the
a company through either
the Solvari platform or
through google search. The
site offers tradespeople an
option to recieve homeowner enquires as they come
through or to disable this
feature in busier periods.
Dutch co-founder Dennis
van den Bos commented:
“We expect our service
to revolutionise the UK
home improvement market,
because unlike our competitors, we connect the
homeowners to businesses
providing sales leads for
free.
The Dutch based business
saw its first website launch
five years ago in 2009, and
quickly became a successful
independent company and
market leader in the Netherlands and Belgium.
UK Country Manager, Ian
Hanton explains: “Solvari
provides homeowners the
motivation and information
they need to request a quotation. Solvari’s aim to provide UK homeowners with
relevant information ratings
and reviews on a database
of tradespeople but also
to help tradespeople grow
their business, for free.”
For further information
visit www.solvari.co.uk