Rapide response

LAST year Anne Burgess decided to downsize from bricks’n’mortar to a seven year old 37x12 Tingdene park home at Bartington Hall Park in Cheshire. But the park home had been neglected and she couldn’t decipher the jargon in the surveyor’s report, so she was concerned that too much work would be required to bring such a worn out home back to life.

Anne then turned to Rapide Services, a Staffordshire company, run by Denis Stanton, with 25 years experience of refurbishing park homes. When Denis ex-plained how the home could be brought back to its original standards and how much she would need to budget for, Anne decided to go ahead and buy the home.

A price was agreed for complete interior and exterior refurbishment, right down to soft furnishings and work started in late November, with Christmas the end target.

First steps

The first task was the kitchen. Old fashioned fittings and freestanding appliances were taken out and replaced with modern worktop, cabinets, a new sink and new built under appliances.

Next came the bathroom, with a new pedestal sink and WC and the old square shower replaced with a modern corner unit, which also increased the floor space. Part of the floor was rotting, so it was com-pletely replaced with WBP exterior grade plywood rather than inferior chip board, which doesn’t cope with water ingress.

Then the bedroom wardrobes were modernized and glass-fronted sliding doors installed, saving valuable space.

Anne had decided she wanted a maintenance-free finish to the exterior walls of the home, and Denis suggested that due to the harder winters we have experienced over the last few years, extra wall insulation would also be beneficial.

Maintenance free

She opted for a totally non-maintenance, energy-efficient, thermally-enhanced wall renovation, which included doubling the wall thickness by screwing tanalised timbers onto the original structure. Unlike simply screwing insulation to the outer walls, this not only provides a cavity to install further insulation but increases the structural strength of the home.

Thermax PIR insulation board was fitted inside the new wall structure on top of the existing quilt insulation and Vinytherm Pvcu cladding board with its stone chip maintenance free surface was installed on to the new structure using stainless steel screws. Vinytherm has an integral cavity creating a continuous air circulation between the additional insulation/structure and Vinytherm’s outer wall surface. The resulting maintenance-free outer wall finish and enhanced, thermally efficient wall structure keeps the home free from condensation and rot, makes it warmer in winter and cooler in summer and reduces external noise levels within the home.

Christmas present

A window and hall door had to be fixed, so a new door and window were fabri-cated with an odd leg outer frame purpose built for park homes, a secure multi-point locking system and cantilever hinges allowing cleaning from inside the home. The door was even fitted with a cat flap!

Once the outside had been finished Rapide re-painted all the interior walls, ceilings, doors and woodwork, installed new lights,curtain tracks and poles and conservatory blinds and rehung and rectified faulty doors to the conservatory.

Finally, the day before Christmas Eve, new carpets and lino were fitted throughout the home and Anne could finally move in properly!

CONTACT

Rapide Services, Tansmead, Cross Heads, Colwich, Staffs. Tel: 01889 882275. Email: [email protected]

• Rapide offers all types of refurbishment, as well as full site surveys on pre-owned units. It can offer free quotations nationwide.


This feature was published in the November 2010 issue of Park & Holiday Homes. To order your copy please click here

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