A glazed porch for a turn-of-the-century house

When the owners of a house from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, standing in a suburb south of Stockholm, bought it ten years ago, it had been completely spoilt by unsuitable renovations. Instead of tiled stoves, plank floors and divided windows with glazing bars, it had typical features of the 70s – a brown sheet-metal facade, square windows and parquet.

– When I arrived on site, the family had already brought back the turn-of-the-century atmosphere of the house by replacing the windows, adding a new facade and period joinery inside. All that was missing was the finishing touch – a glazed porch with double doors, decorative timber details and divided windows. An extension like this is interesting because it has such a strong effect on the look of the building, says Niclas Jansson, who has worked as a carpenter since the early 80s.

For the family it was important that the porch would act as a thermal buffer – so that heat from the house would not escape straight outside but stay in the porch. The first task was therefore a concrete slab with underfloor heating.

– That way we wanted to avoid too great a difference in temperature between the porch and the hallway behind it. The second step was a sheet-metal roof with a slight forward pitch, anchored to the wall and resting on solid load-bearing posts. Then we built a masonry dwarf wall from expanded clay aggregate concrete blocks, which we rendered, and only then came the window installation – with an insulating strip under the frame, of course.

One sealant for the whole build – efficient!

A glazed porch with lots of timber details is sensitive to the weather, so good-quality sealing was crucial.

– This small space of 10 m² would have needed at least five different types of sealant. Outside I needed sealants that withstand sun, moisture and frost. Between and around the wooden windows they also have to cope with large movements. And under the windows I needed yet another sealant that adheres to wood, render and the insulating strip, says Niclas.

– ESSEAL ESS1 is ideal for this kind of work, because the reclaimed and slightly crooked windows leave lots of wide joints between them. It is as flexible as a really good movement joint sealant.

Inside, Niclas had to meet even more requirements.

– I had to seal between different timber elements, between wood and rendered masonry, between expanded clay aggregate concrete and floor tiles, and between the threshold and the tiles. Guess whether I was interested when the salesman at the builders' merchant suggested one and the same sealant for the whole build!

Construction sealant ESS 1, a universal sealant that adheres to practically all building materials, had just come onto the market. Niclas was sceptical but did not hesitate to try it.

– I was really surprised how well it holds on different materials. All I will say is: finally a universal sealant that is truly versatile!

Fewer cartridges thrown away

Since Niclas built the glazed porch, he has replaced most of the sealants he used to buy. With ESS1 he can seal both inside and outside, and the sealant is also paintable, so it can be used for even more jobs.

– ESSEAL ESS1 is brilliant! I have sealed around sinks, thresholds and windows with it. Recently I used it to bond a broken-off corner with an area of ten square decimetres back onto a concrete L-shaped retaining element that had been damaged in transport. When one product is enough, I save space in the store and I also save my worn-out back, because I do not have to carry loads of cartridges to the site. Another advantage is that I have fewer opened cartridges – and fewer half-empty cartridges end up in landfill.

Please note! The photos show the old ESSEAL ESS1 packaging. If you are looking for it in a shop, the new packaging looks like this.