1 or 2. Skillion roofs look great and are easy to construct. Can you extend the skillion's as your veranda/carport as well? 3 looks too cheapy, like was mentioned before, 'a kit home'. Dare I say 'bland, ho-hum'. Quality Federation and pitched roof character type homes look great, the basic mock versions are sickening...... Flat roofed houses never date. Google modernism as a start, its not a new trend. Louise Thatcher, great pictures! Choose wall cladding carefully such as 'colorbond' custom orb as the sheets are cheap but the trims and flashings are quite expensive as they're custom made. The advantage is no painting but can scratch very easily and is then almost impossible to repair without replacing the whole sheet......... Have a look at 'EcoPly', 'ShadowClad', etc. as these give a great look without the expense of the custom made flashings. Scyon have a great looking 'weatherboard' called 'Linea'.

nothing worse than a leaking roof...first clean all the gutters and downpipes on the verandah and the house,check the space where the verandah attaches to the house is also clean (especially if the verandah roof is under the original eaves) make sure that all the places where there's a join in the gutters and downpipes are properly sealed, replace any missing roof screws with their attached rubber washers, make sure there's no gaps in the flashing and if you think the slope on the verandah roof is too shallow, consider replacing the verandah roofing (corrugated iron??) with a square profile sheeting that is more effective at lower angles ...there could also be a break in a tile or ridge capping where the rain is running down the inside of the roof and leaking inside the ceiling so the old tile roof needs to be checked and repointed ..a gutter cleaner and a roofing contractor and a plumber can do all this for you...not especially cheap but very worthwhile and hope you have a leak free new year.

When you are running through your thoughts, options, colours, designs, etc for your new outdoor living area, deck or patio cover; we will guide you through three areas of consideration. These are: Design, Materials & Accessories. By considering these three areas whilst you are investigating the options to enhance your home, it should mean that you will ultimately achieve an outdoor living area, deck or patio cover that is function (by functional I mean an area that I can use all year round), meets your budget & lastly looks great. Today, we are going to focus on the first area – ‘Getting the Best Design for your Patio Cover Outdoor Living Area’. So, what are your design options? Flat Sillion Traditional Gable Hipped Roof Dutch Gable Curved How do you choose the best design for your home? Consider the size of the area you want to cover Why? If the area is too small a gable might look out of place for the size of the area. How will it be connected back into your home? Do you have a high eave line or do you have to fix the patio cover above your existing roof line? As an example, you might not want to then install a gabled roof line if the connection point will already be high as then the patio cover will be too high, could look funny & won’t offer much protection. What’s your budget? A gable might not fit. As a very general rule of thumb, a gable can be double the cost of a flat roofed structure, as you have more material required & it takes longer to install. As an alternative you could still get height within your outdoor living area by using a skillion design. Gables: ‘Gables’ can come in a variety of forms – Hipped Roof, Dutch Gable, but the most common is the Traditional gable. One feature that you can include within your gable is to add down lights within the ridge line. This not only cleans up a often dirty or forgotten area but can also make the area more functional so you can use the area in the evening. Think about your accessories early when designing your outdoor living area or patio cover. TIP: If you are considering any form of gable, get the balance right. Sometimes a gable can look squashed if the area is too small or too flat if you don’t get the roof pitch right. Refer back to the existing roof pitch of your home & try to match it; this way your outdoor living area or patio cover will look more integrated rather than a ‘slap on’. Flat: Its flat – pretty simple. Sometimes, people try to make it all to fancy or complicated. Remember the KISS method (Keep it Simple Stupid), as sometimes simple can sometimes be better in your design. Ensure you have enough height to play with if you are leaning towards a flat roofed pergola. If its too low the area could feel claustrophobic & might not get enough air flow. Skillion: I think that a skillion design is sometimes forgotten but can often be the most effective. A skillion is where it is higher at one end & lower at the opposite & it can work really well on a double storey brick wall or even fixed above an existing roof line. A skillion can also give similar benefits of a gable – such as good height & thus air flow, without the cost or complexity of design that sometimes follows with a gable. Curved: Curved patio covers can be used with either a Colorbond or polycarbonate roofing material. We don’t offer a curved design option within our range simply as the amount of homes we just don’t see homes which already have a curved area. To install a curved roof we feel would make it look out of place. I hope this helps you get a better outdoor living area for your home. Remember that all of our material options (detailed below) can be used in any of these design styles. 'Premium Series' Colorbond Insulated Lined Ceilings Louvers Would you like to find out more? Can you entertain our relax outside all year round? Is your BBQ & outdoor furniture always covered? Contact Usto have a discussion about the options available for your home. We highly recommend that you share a coffee with us in our office so you can have a closer look at the products available in our display. We find that this helps our clients a lot as they can get a ‘hands on’ feel for each material option. Our display is by appointment only, so use the link below to book in a suitable time for us to meet one on one to casually discuss your outdoor lifestyle. Book a private consulation in our display - click here

@sirisukey. Yes my desk is under window as it is only a small room. It was running along wall under window but moved desk to right angles, facing north, so I could see door and out other window which did increase the problem with sun. I haven’t got around to buying a blind yet as it is a non Standard window size and I wasn’t sure if they were needed. Have windows on three sides and only need blind on the eastern window. Just moving some of my paintings to block the sun at present, It’s the old laundry we changed to study last year.