Case Study No. 12

A semi-detached town centre home with elevated views over open countryside, with rear sited brick built garage and covered courtyard walk way to the back door - Devon.

The Problem:

The property was part of an older estate built before the car boom. The owner had built a garage in the back garden, but driving into it necessitated carefully aligning the car between the house and boundary wall, slaloming through the courtyard chicane and then into the garage. To reverse back onto the road without damage was very challenging in the narrower 1950’s cars, but almost impossible with the wider modern family cars. In addition, current safety and insurance requirements now demand that vehicles enter and leave the road in a forward direction.

The Solution:

A 3.5M (11’6”) diameter CPS car turntable sited between the back door and the garage door provided the turnaround facility desperately needed. The available space was just sufficient for the rotating car to clear the house, the garage and boundary fence, enabling forward movement in both directions through the 2M (6’6”) wide gap. This installation allowed cars to leave and join the highway safely in a forward gear. The car is also now safely locked away at night and protected from bad weather. Currently the system uses “manual” rotation, this can be replaced with a powered drive unit if required.

The installation has immediately boosted the price of the property by over five times its installation cost.