‘The whole idea of a glass balustrade was to keep the lovely view’

Keeping the lovely view ‘was the whole idea of the balustrade’ for Justin and Ally who self-installed this beautiful Balconette Aerofoil Glass Balustrade System in a new extension at their Somerset home.

No posts were necessary for this balcony as, structurally, the Aerofoil System can run to four metres without posts (when fixed wall to wall) for any single balustrade run. The distinctive wing-shaped handrail measures 3.05 metres and has a Silver Anodised finish.

Justin, who installed the balustrade with help from a window installer friend, comments: “We’re chuffed to bits with it; we absolutely love it, and it was really easy to install. If we bought another property and ever have the need for a balustrade again, then I’d have no hesitation to come back to Balconette.”

The extension has enlarged the 1978-built rural property near Bruton by about a third, ground floor kitchen-diner, utility and study, first floor adding an extra bedroom, dressing room and bathroom, along with the sheltered balustrade on top of low-maintenance composite decking.

“We bought the view, we didn’t buy the house really,” says Justin. “You can change the house, but you can’t change the view. We’re on the side of the Mendips, looking across to Dorset and Wiltshire. It’s beautiful!”

Having done his research online and sent his enquiry to Balconette, Justin asked a friend with 30 years-plus in the window industry what he thought. “His company doesn’t install balconies, but when I asked his opinion, his first suggestion was ‘the best people I know are Balconette’.

“So that gave me reassurance, given his industry experience, that we’d made a pretty good choice,” continues Justin, who opted for Balconette’s measuring service as a ‘belt and braces’ approach to getting the measurements correct.

Despite some issues with delays and hardware, Balconette’s swift rectification of the problems left Justin a happy customer. “The first part of the process was brilliant, the middle part not so much; the quality of the balcony and everything – brilliant.”

He adds: “The whole idea of the balustrade was to keep the lovely view. We could have done it half the price with railings; we considered having a frameless balustrade with just glass. But we like having the handrail, it looks good.

“The Aerofoil handrail is really lovely; you get the reassurance of a handrail you can lean on. And that’s exactly what we do - because of the view you’re always stretching round the corner to see what else you can see.

“And of course, our dogs Bella and Bailey love the view. They often sit there taking in the surroundings!”