……RODENTS!??

Rarely do we engage with clients without key construction questions arising. “How does it sit on the ground?” we’re asked. “Why is round structurally stronger?” “What thickness are the walls?” and “How does the roof support itself without internal pillars?” along with our absolute favorite…..

“How do we stop rodents from getting in and nesting under the floor?!”

This is usually accompanied by a theatrical gasp of horror, twinkling mischevious eyes and a hand firmly clamped over their mouth… feigning the reality of living with that situation!

We LOVE these questions! For we’ve been dilligently designing superlative features into the manufacture of our Roundhouses over the past decade in anticipation of just such events.

Aha! You see, this is the underside of the floor panels – no rodent can access!
(Unless they are weilding a pair of bolt cutters or a circular saw)

When it comes to design; we are a team of worriers at Rotunda HQ. We worry about the “What ifs” and the “What mights” more than we probably should. But, we build for schools and nurseries. Children are using these buildings on a daily basis. One thing we love, as much as trees, are children! As a consequence of this, we have over-engineered what was once a modest and unassuming little garden room into a bomb-proof feat of engineering.

Have we told you about the Rotunda which was toppled over by a Hurricane in West Wales in 2016?

Mercifully, the whole building was still absolutely i-n-t-a-c-t!! Not even a crack to the windowpane. The fully glazed door was still sitting perfectly in the wall cavity and the structure required all but a little nudge back into the upright position by a tractor to remedy the damage.

The secret, to the intrinsic strength behind a Roundhouse, is the roof structure!
Behind this smooth, ceiling ring, the whole roof is held together by a steel cylinder.
Bolted to the roof trusses, this create a compression ring at the apex and again, at the header ring-beam (the top of the walls)

Buildings like ours (modular) are constructed in insulated ‘cassettes’ which are pre-fabricated in our joinery workshop. When they arrive at site, they are installed first. Soon after, the walls go up…

And then the roof trusses….
The windows and doors are installed into the building on site – saving the need for our joiners to carry panels which are heavier than necessary.
Cladding, Fascias and Soffits are usually the last processes to be installed by our craftsmen on site. The exterior is most usually Larch, unless otherwise specified.

All in all, each element comes together to make a Rotunda, absolutely unique and unbelievably durable. If you’d like to see a building which we have constructed, please do call us on 0161 223350 and arrange a site-visit to a building near you.

Until then……..Enjoy the sunshine!

Copyright © Rotunda Roundhouses Limited.