Case Study: Umbris to a Hertfordshire Home

“The Umbris’s contemporary design and tailor-made capabilities made it outshine the other options available.”

• Perfectly Bespoke
• Impeccable finish
• Contemporary design
• Quality materials
• One piece composition

Graham’s Desire for a contemporary garden space

Graham decided he wanted a new addition to his garden to create an outdoor living area that could be used throughout the year, no matter what the weather was like. He came across the Umbris product online and got in touch with us.

“I thought that the idea of a garden louvre roof was very interesting,” explained Graham. “It seemed like a much better alternative to traditional and unsightly awnings and would allow the outdoor space to be used throughout the year.”

The Umbris allows the user to control the climate of their own garden areas. In the summer the slats can be angled to create shade. In adverse weather (rain) the louvres can be completely closed and interlocked, creating a watertight roof over the garden.

Bespoke individuality

Another reason the Umbris was favoured by Graham was the fact that the product is perfectly bespoke. It is not picked off the shelf and every installation is designed and specified to a specific building.

“I specifically wanted the outdoor space in the corner of the garden so that it could be used as a small outdoor retreat,” Graham told us. “I also loved the idea of elongating the supporting legs where the water drained so that the water from the roof could be drained directly into some flower boxes.”

And that is exactly what we did. You can easily see the elongated nature of the supporting legs of the Umbris louvre roof. The water from the louvre roof is drained down these legs into the flower bed, keeping the planting watered and maintaining a clean design to the garden structure.

Professional job process

“The whole project from start to finish was handled with the utmost professional standard,” said Graham.

After finding the Umbris product online Graham decided to further investigate this product and came to view it at the IQ Outdoor Living showroom at Sky House Design Centre.

“The outdoor living environment at Sky House Design Centre is really where I got my inspiration from. I was met by a very friendly member of the team. We actually sat underneath the Umbris outside and did the meeting out there. Actually sitting underneath the patio roof, talking and looking through the plans made me think about what it would be like to have this at home. Even when there was a rain shower during the meeting we simply closed the louvres and carried on!”

Graham also took advantage of our collaboration with award-winning garden designers Decorum to get a full set of garden drawings and an artist’s render of what the proposed patio roof would look like.

“The drawings really gave me a feel as to what this structure would look like in my garden against my own house and my neighbours.”

Decision made

When the decision was made to go ahead with the installation of the Umbris patio roof all the installation work was carried out by IQ’s team of expert in-house installers.

“The guys that came to site were great,” Graham said. “Really professional, clean, quick and efficient. You couldn’t really ask for more.”

As the Umbris louvre roofs are preconstructed in the factory the installation process is really straightforward for our highly trained teams. The entire structure was installed and completed within a day.

The finished article

Once the installation had been completed Graham was fully satisfied and was left reassured that if he had any problems that he knew who and where to get advice and help.

“I work in the building trade so know that there are unexpected things that can go wrong with any project. Luckily there were no issues in the install or delivery of the structure which is great! Even if there had been problems with the install I would have felt really comfortable that IQ would have solved them quickly. Their service has really been second to none.”

In the end, Graham has been left with a fantastic outdoor living space that can be used all year around.

“I chose to use the Umbris in order to create an outdoor space that would be usable all year round which is exactly what we have now. Even with the days becoming shorter and colder we can still sit outside in the evening. With the possibility to change the roof within a moment’s notice to suit the English weather it means that we can enjoy the outdoors all year around.”

If you would like to talk to us about including your own patio roof or Umbris louvre roof onto your own project, or if you would like to experience our Outdoor Living showroom for yourself just contact the team on 01494 722 880 or email hello@iqoutdoorliving.co.uk.

Originally published at www.iqoutdoorliving.co.uk on November 1, 2017.