A 2 Storey Oak Atrium And Oak Pergola Required To Create A Sun Lounge And Guest Suite With Fabulous Views

When Christopher Lonsdale was looking to carry out a large renovation on his family home, friends at Raisthorpe Manor recommended Oak By Design

Christopher sent various plans he had for the improvements to his period, brick built home in a village, near Stokesley, a market town in North Yorkshire. The plans were for a 2 storey oak atrium and a couple of options for the position of doors leading to the outside areas around the oak atrium.

During the early exchange of emails, Jamie and Christopher were introduced to each other at the The Raisthorpe Flyers charity clay day in June, where Oak By Design were one of the sponsors. The Raisthorpe Flyers annual fundraising event raised a marvellous £37,000 for MND Association that year.

The approved plans were for a 2 storey oak atrium, with inward opening French doors on the front elevation of both storeys.

On the lower floor, bi fold doors would open on each side elevation onto a seating area. On the right-hand side elevation, the seating area would be covered. This area would be oak framed, open to the front and side, and the back would be built up to the existing house.

Jamie arranged a drawing for approval showing 2 glazed units within the roof of the covered seating area.

Christopher was delighted with the drawings Jamie supplied, as well as images showing the oak frameworks on other properties.

The quotation was agreed in August and begun shortly after.

The front of the building was to be built on a brick retaining wall, and stone cills were designed for the framework to sit on.

In front of the walls is to be the tennis court area, to benefit from the views of the courts, and Roseberry Topping (a distinctive and iconic hill which from the top has fine views across North Yorkshire and Cleveland) in the distance, the French doors would be inwards opening with a glazed balustrade across the opening, for safety reasons.

Photos below show the doors before and after the installation of the glass balustrade.

The frameworks and all the doors and frames were ready for delivery to site in November.

Once delivered, the installation team headed up the A19 to start the installation process.

A steel framework had been installed for the lower storey and the 2 storey atrium was built onto and around this using 140mm x 140mm air dried oak timbers and 30mm thick kiln dried oak covers.

The overall height of the atrium is just over 6 metres, is nearly 5.5 metres wide and 3.5 metres deep. The roof has a 40° pitch.

The ground floor area is to be used as a sun lounge, and the room on the first floor is a guest bedroom.

The open, flat-roofed, seating area, which is accessed via the sliding door from the sun lounge, is 6 metres long and just over 3 metres deep. This benefits from 2 glazed roof lights in the roof, and the roof is painted in Farrow and Ball’s All White. Yorkshire stone flags finish off the area.

The top of the roof has been finished in a GRP resin to create an all over seal.

The left-hand side door opens onto an uncovered seating area, which can also be accessed from the games room in the main building.

Curved brackets feature on the ground floor sun lounge framework and outside on the seating area framework.

In the first floor guest room, the front of the glazed atrium is all glass but the sides are oak framework with brick slips in between. The roof of the atrium is made from softwood, however once the room was plastered, kiln dried oak timbers were screwed to the underside of the roof to give an oak roof feel to the open room.

The oak atrium roof has been built out approx. 800mm over the front of the atrium to create an overhang, and this can be seen on the photos below.

All the oak has been finished with Osmo Protection Oil 420-Clear

The beauty of all these different rooms and seating areas is, of course, the view. The house looks across the garden, and the area where the tennis courts will be to the surrounding countryside and far-reaching views. These can be appreciated from this side of the house now the oak atrium is built and the seating areas complete.

Christopher still has some landscaping to finish, but he is thrilled with the oak atrium, commenting on how smart it now looks.

We are sure his friends can't wait to stay in the new guest suite with the fabulous views.