Orangery maintenance

Maintenance of timber orangeries

A timber orangery is a major investment; so long term durability with minimal maintenance is of paramount importance.

Maintenance of paintwork on timber orangeries 

• Keep the paintwork of your orangery clean.  Wash a few times a year with a mild detergent and rinse with clean water.

Why?  Rather like a clean car, if the paintwork is clean, water will bead up and run off, drying as soon as rain stops.  Paintwork that is dirty with accumulated dust will remain wet for a long time. 

• Ensure gutters and down pipes are not clogged or joints leaking. 
• Cut back any plant growth that covers joinery. 
• Check for any surface splitting or paintwork damaged by knocks.  Sand back and repair any localised damage before water can penetrate.
• Do not wait until the coating has broken down before applying a maintenance coat.

Hardware maintenance

• Window friction stays: oil with light grade machine oil (WD40 works well) every year. 
• Check fit of window locking to ensure the multipoint lock compresses the draught seal correctly and adjust if necessary.  Oil the lock and handle. 
• Doors: oil the hinges lightly.  Check operation of the multipoint lock, adjust compression if necessary.  Oil the lock, handles and euro cylinder as necessary.

The durability of paintwork on orangeries starts with the design of the joinery

In order to ensure that joinery performs and looks good throughout its service life, a great deal of attention to detail is required throughout the complete process, from the design of the joinery in an orangery, each stage of the manufacturing process, through to the fine details of the installation.

Key features for the long term performance of a Burberry Harris Moon orangery

Material specification

Rather than use the same timber throughout, we manufacture our orangeries with a number of different materials best suited for each purpose.

• Iroko hardwood is used for all external framework.  This is a naturally very durable timber with a lifespan exceeding thirty years, even untreated. 
• Tulipwood is used for internal roof lantern parts and inside mouldings.  This is a very strong fine grained hardwood, perfect for parts which are not exposed to weather. 
• Capital blocks and fascia: these are manufactured from Duropolymer®, a fully water resistant high-density polymer blend.  These are cut and painted in the same way as solid timber. 
• Plant-on glazing bars: these are made in composite foam board, a totally rot-proof and waterproof material that we machine and paint in the same way as solid timber. 
• Rot-proof capping bars: these are aluminium and fitted with stainless steel screws.
• All external beads are fitted with stainless steel pins.

Joinery design

All of our joinery is carefully designed so that there are no sharp edges, and non-vertical surfaces have the correct watershed angles.  We are careful to avoid design features that trap and retain water.

Manufacture

At each stage of the manufacturing process, we ensure that the end grain joints are carefully painted with end grain sealer.

Factory finishing

All of the joinery is factory sprayed using an air assisted pump system.  High pressure causes the high viscosity paint to atomise. 

Every window, door frame, corner post, cill and all other trims are all sprayed as separate parts and fully coated on all edges, ends and faces.  No part is left unpainted.  This means that in the finished orangery there is no surface visible or hidden that moisture can reach.