WHAT'S GOING ON
01 Sep - 2017
The benefits of aluminium as a material for windows and doors
Aluminium has many benefits for construction and home improvement which has seen it rise in popularity in the UK over uPVC and timber. Here at Lite Haus, we only recommend aluminium when it comes to choosing your windows and doors as it guarantees quality and style whichever product you choose.
So why are aluminium windows and doors better than uPVC?
Aluminium is strong and durable
With a high strength-to-weight ratio, aluminium is a great material for building sturdy windows and doors. Much stronger than wood or plastic, aluminium is highly durable and scratch resistant, offering a guarantee that your frames will last for years to come. This reliable material is an affordable long-term investment for frequently used bi-fold doors or ventilation windows that would be prone to wear and tear. To back this up, our aluminium doors come with a 10 year guarantee.It offers flexibility in design
The properties of aluminium allows it to be easily shaped, which means you’re not limited in the choice of design when working with this material. The lightweight nature of aluminium, combined with its strength, is ideal for creating slim frames for a large glass surface.Aluminium is sustainable
Our windows and doors are eco- friendly and recyclable thanks to the sustainability of aluminium. This material can be continuously recycled without losing its benefits and only uses 5% of the energy it takes to produce the primary metal during the recycling process.It is a very low maintenance material
Aluminium frames only require limited care to keep them in top condition. Unlike cheaper alternatives that may look worn out over time, the durable properties of aluminium means that your frames will maintain its ‘just installed’ appearance and never give away its age.Aluminium products are thermally efficient
Energy efficiency is an important consideration for homeowners, particularly when you’re selling your home. Our modern aluminium doors are fitted with a polyamide thermal break system to resist thermal transfer and effectively keep in the warmth to reduce your energy bills. Aluminium window frames are also suitable for double and triple glazing, so you can guarantee thermal efficiency throughout your home.Benefit from a modern design
Our aluminium windows and doors are very popular for the modern and sleek appearance they add to any home. Thin aluminium frames allow for a high glass-to-frame ratio that maximises your view and natural light. What's more, alu frames can be finished in any RAL colour of your choice so the design options are endless!If you'd like to find out more about our products or would like a quote, get in touch with the Lite Haus UK team today! Call us now on 024 7646 0115 or email [email protected]
READ MORE 20 Jul - 2017
Choosing the right windows and doors for your home
There are many reasons why our customers decide to choose new windows and doors for their home. Large designs are an increasingly popular feature for home extensions as they easily create more light and ventilation. For others it’s an important investment to improve the energy efficiency and security of their property. But whichever your reason for installing new doors and windows, the decision of which product is best for you will come down to individual preference and the space you have available. Doors in particular need to be chosen carefully as the size and movement can affect how you use the space in your home and garden.
Lite Style Aluminium Windows and Doors
Lite Style is our own range of aluminium products made to the highest market standards. With our knowledge and experience, it is designed to meet your individual requirements and provide high quality materials and value for money. Aluminium bi fold doors or sliding doors? Within our Lite Style range we offer quality folding doors, sliding doors and lift and slide glass doors so you have the option to choose the style that best suits your space. Bi folds are a popular choice for their unique design and high performance. We frequently install our Lite Style bi folding doors to rooms or extensions at the back of the house as they provide the functionality to fully fold back and open out to the garden. Whilst our bi folding doors are designed with slim sight-lines, some customers prefer our Lite Style sliding or lift and slide doors for a larger glass surface. Large sliding panels easily maximise your light and view when the sliding doors are closed. All of the doors in our range offer excellent insulation, security and high quality and are custom made to your spec. Get in touch with our team to discuss the best option for you and get a free quote. Aluminium Windows offer quality Lite Style aluminium windows are designed to reduce energy costs with complete thermal efficiency. Our window system features a modern, simple frame that minimises sight lines and offers a wide range of configuration movements. When you choose aluminium windows, you have more design options to personalise the look of your windows to match existing decor or conform to building regulations. As aluminium is a strong material, it offers better security and longevity in comparison to other uPVC options on the market. Stylish rooflights are a great solution for spaces where windows are not suitable, either for privacy or logistical reasons. Our flat roofing system is designed for the needs of the modern home, providing natural light and ventilation for bathrooms, extensions and small rooms. Lantern rooflights look amazing and provide a beautiful light feature. They are a popular choice for opening up kitchens or extensions as they provide slimline glazing bars to maximise the glass surface. Read more of the features and benefits of our Lite Style thermal rooflight systems and see if they are the right choice for your home. READ MORE 30 Jun - 2017
3 Reasons Why You Should Invest In A Rooflight
Investing in a Rooflight or Skylight
Sunlight is a fantastic source that has an abundance of potential. Natural light brings a host of environmental benefits and can be used to create free, non-polluting energy. It’s importance in the modern home is becoming increasingly prevalent and rooflights are one of the most efficient and affordable ways to maximise sunlight in any sized room. So here are our top 3 reasons why you should invest in a rooflight this year.1 Energy Efficiency
When installed professionally, roof skylights can lower the cost of your energy bills. By allowing more natural light into a room throughout the year, rooflights maximise daylight and significantly reduce the need for artificial lighting. The extra light from a skylight can increase the temperature of the interior, thereby offering excellent thermal performance.2 Ventilation
Contemporary rooflights are a natural source of ventilation. This is an important aspect for any room as effective ventilation helps to maintain good air quality and improve comfort levels.3 Privacy
Homes are being built increasingly closer together as the demand for new houses increases, and this brings a challenge of balancing the desire to maximise natural light and the need to offer privacy from neighbours. Rooflight systems are a great solution to this as they allow sunlight to come from above. This is a particularly effective solution for bathrooms where privacy and light is most important.Flat and Lantern Rooflights
At Lite Haus UK, we offer a premium range of rooflights. Our quality roofing systems come in two styles: flat rooflights and roof lanterns. Our roof windows are designed to meet the needs of the modern home using sustainable materials which deliver superior aesthetics and crisp clean lines. For more information about our rooflights or to get a quote, contact our team today. Call us on 024 7646 0115. READ MORE 24 May - 2017
Lite Haus UK Featured in Schüco Residential Magazine
We were recently interviewed by Schüco for their UK Trade Residential magazine! Have a read of the article below and find out more about the company and what we do.
Oliver Aldersley is the Managing Director of Lite Haüs UK Ltd, a company he founded in 2011. Today, it is a rapidly expanding business specialising in the fabrication and installation of a wide range of top-quality aluminium products. Based in Coventry, Lite Haüs UK serves mainly domestic residential customers all over Warwickshire, the West Midlands and Leicestershire.What made you choose the company name? It was a family decision over Sunday lunch! We’d researched the products that we wanted to sell and Schueco was our first choice. We wanted a name with a connotation of German engineering and eventually came up with Lite Haüs. It was German-sounding– rather like Huf Haus – with the ‘Lite’ picking up on some of Schueco’s own phrases like ‘Let the light stream in’.
How large is the company today? Considerably larger than it was in the first year! The growth has been massive. We have gone from a £50,000 turnover to an estimated £1.5m. It hasn’t been easy but we’ve achieved the growth we wanted.
How big is the team? We’ve got about 16 employees and four management roles. I do sales, Lyndsey runs accounts, Maciej is processing and production – he does all our LogiCal and he runs processors and the CNC machine. And then we’ve got Mirek, who is our shop floor manager – he runs the team on the shop floor. Finally, we’ve got Adam who oversees the installations and runs our site surveying.
How many are on the shop floor? Between 8 and 10. We’ve got two members of staff that ‘float’ so they can install or go and help wherever they’re needed. We also are aware that some of the products aren’t easy, so if, for example, we do a bespoke job like a retractable corner post or a glass-to-glass corner, we tend to send a fabricator on site. So there are two installers (we have two installer teams) and the guy who’s fabricated that job.
And what do you sell most of? 80% to 90% are bi-folds. We’ve seen a big change in the market in respect of customers looking at sliders. We’ve had a lot of people coming in to enquire about sliding doors – but they don’t always suit the project. A lot of customers come in looking for a slider but they go away with a bi-fold because it’s more practical for them. A slider has to be in a large opening to achieve the sort of panoramic ‘big glass’ impact they’ve seen in brochures. But sliders are going to be a big thing because they’ve got fewer sight lines than bi-folds when they’re closed.
How important is the ‘German-engineered’ label for the homeowner? Very important. I think the idea that ‘German’ equates to ‘Quality’ is the norm everywhere from the car industry all the way down to cookers, hobs and kitchens. People respect German engineering. You only have to touch a Schueco door to know it has the edge over other systems. What do you think about the Schueco AWS 70 window? It’s filled a gap in the market for Schueco. It’s a good window. The lift-and-slide door has the ‘wow’ factor, the bi-fold has the ‘wow’ factor. How much ‘wow’ can a window have? It’s not a tilt-and-turn, it’s very basic. It’s doing exactly what Schueco brought it out to do. It’s more cost-friendly than some Schueco products and that’s helped us sell it. What guarantees do you give to your customers? We give 10 years on all our products. We are looking at increasing the guarantees on certain products but obviously we can’t on others because not all systems houses will offer matching guarantees.What geographical areas does the business cover? We try to limit travel times from around 45 minutes to an hour. We feel after that we can’t give the customers the service they deserve. If we do go further afield or we have a customer that’s doing a job out of the area, we will undertake that work for them, but we will charge them extra. The biggest thing is aftercare. It’s all very well everyone selling nationwide, but what happens if there is an issue or if a customer needs support? If they’re two to three hours away, they’re not going to get the service we sold them in the showroom and I don’t think that’s fair. People are buying a luxury product, not a necessity, so the whole experience needs to be right for them.
Do you receive any enquiries from Schueco UK? Yes. In the form of emails. They’re kept regional to keep it fair. We also pass leads on to other Schueco partners. For example, we don’t cover London but we have a lot of interest from London, so we push those enquiries back to Schueco partners we know will service those areas.
When you researched the products and determined that Schueco quality was superior, did you look at alternative systems?I don’t think we needed to. The quality was obvious and the only issue I had was, Schueco is a German company, so how closely can we work together? In fact, we have a more personal relationship with Schueco than I thought we would. Schueco’s a family business and I think that shows. For instance, the biggest problem for any business is cashflow – it can be a real stumbling block – but we’ve been able to work with Schueco with credit limits, with payment terms, staged payments etc., to enable us to get products on the shop floor. So, we owe a lot to Schueco, especially in the accounts area.
How have you marketed yourselves? Originally, word-of-mouth but over the last two or three years we’ve invested heavily in marketing – like the website, Google and so on. We now use an independent marketing team and that’s working really well.
In this coming year, what plans do you have for the Schueco marketing support budget? Advertising, product research – looking at new products, determining whether they’ll sell or not. We want to look at the Schueco front door and the new panels you’ve introduced for it – that sort of thing.
A snippet of our 4-page interview in Schüco Resi 02 2017 - The Schueco UK Trade Residential News Update.
READ MORE 23 May - 2017
Make the Most of your Outdoor Space this Summer
Whether you have a big garden or a small outdoor space to call your own, when summer’s arrived it's time to make the most of it! We’ve installed our sliding doors and windows to variety of different homes and extensions across the Midlands, and in doing so we’ve seen some amazing homes with clever use of space. So here’s some top tips from Lite Haus UK to make the most of your outdoor space this summer. Garden pod Take inspiration from one of our customers who built a small extension at the end of their garden. This amazing garden hideout is the perfect hideaway in the summer. With bi-fold doors installed at the front, the pod easily opens up to the garden creating more space and effectively keeping the pod cool. Garden hideouts are becoming increasingly popular for contemporary garden offices and sliding doors are a great option for maximising light and providing thermal insulation throughout the year. Balcony Sliding Doors Not every home has a garden but even small spaces can be transformed for the summer. This is a view from the balcony of one our customers who lives in an apartment. We installed sliding doors to open out onto the balcony, opening the room to the outdoors without taking up any space on either side. Open or closed, the balcony doors let all the summer light in and provides easy access to the beautiful scenery that’s on offer. With the right lighting on your balcony, you can create a relaxing outdoor space to retreat to during a warm summer evening. Open dining area This beautiful outdoor seating area is a great example of how to extend your living space during the summer months and enjoy al fresco dining. If you have room on your decking or patio to include garden table and chairs, you have an amazing space to enjoy eating in the summer. With bi folding doors pulled right back, you can easily extend your kitchen and dining space and allow traffic to freely flow between both spaces. There are some amazingly creative designs across Houzz and Pinterest to get you inspired for your own space - so take a look! If you’re interested in installing new sliding doors or windows in your home this summer, get in touch with the Lite Haus team and we’ll find the best product for you.
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23 Feb - 2017
Maximising Natural Light in Your Home
Studies have shown that natural light has a positive effect on our health, from improving mental health to increasing productivity. A space that receives a lot of natural sunlight creates a therapeutic environment that can trigger endorphins and enhance concentration and state of mind. Therefore, natural light is an important consideration to factor in when designing your home, particularly in the rooms that you spend a lot of time in. As well as the benefits to your health, natural light brings out the best in any room no matter its interior. Lots of sunlight is immediately inviting and it effectively generates the look of more space. So let's take a look at the different ways you can maximise natural light in your home and reap all the benefits.
