advice on conservatory roofs

Thought I'd see if the TZ community had any wisdom on this...

We are currently looking at moving house. The property we like has a conservatory which I think would be described as "Victorian" in style, with a 2 foot (ish) brick wall, UPVC windows all round and a poly carbonate roof. It is unheated and separated from the dining area by external sliding doors. Its approx. 4x4 m. Pretty much a typical conservatory from a decade or two ago I guess.

The longer term plan would be to replace with a property extension / orangery fully open and part of the main house to create a large open plan dining and entertaining space but this might be a longer-term project.

So the question... to make the space usable for a few years, has anyone got experience of having an insulated roof fitted (which seems to be something which is heavily promoted nowadays)... the idea being to make the space usable for more of the year until such time as we make serious changes.

Do these solutions make a difference? How much do they cost? Would it make such a marginal difference I would be better to put the money in the pot for doing it properly.

Appreciate this is all somewhat subjective but any direct experience of "improving" an existing conservatory of the style described would be really helpful.

Steve

All I’d say is that it may well be warmer than you think even in the cooler seasons
Live with it for a while first?

Ultimately you are 'polishing a turd' to spend money on a 20 year old conservatory. Replacing/improving the roof will improve things for you until you knock it down and replace it, but whether it is worth it for the length of time is really a decision only you can make when you have had it properly costed.

If it were mine, I would live with it until it was replaced with the permanent extension and put my money towards the final goal.

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Originally Posted by GOAT

All I’d say is that it may well be warmer than you think even in the cooler seasons
Live with it for a while first?

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Sounds reasonable.

OP can you not easily ring a couple of the companies heavily promoting this solution and get a ball park on cost of a new 16 sq m roof, you at least then have an idea of the cost involved in buying yourself a couple of years solution...price alone may make it prohibitive for a shortish term fix.

How important are aesthetics?

You could just suspend / fix some celotex under the polycarbonate, maybe finessing it with a layer of something (ply, card, errr something else). How air tight is the roof, draughts will rob you of any heat.

Alternatively run a small wall mounted electric heater in there until you replace it. Unless you go silly it's not going to cost more than 2 or 3 quid a week.

But as GOAT said, don't do anything to start with. You'd be surprised at how warm spaces can get just with solar gain. Which way does it face?

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Originally Posted by Jeremy67

How important are aesthetics?

You could just suspend / fix some celotex under the polycarbonate, maybe finessing it with a layer of something (ply, card, errr something else). How air tight is the roof, draughts will rob you of any heat.

Alternatively run a small wall mounted electric heater in there until you replace it. Unless you go silly it's not going to cost more than 2 or 3 quid a week.

But as GOAT said, don't do anything to start with. You'd be surpised at home warm spaces can get just with solar gain. Which way does it face?

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My BIL put a traditional ceiling in theirs with insulation above. From the outside it’s still the same but from the inside it’s just another room.
The difference in useability due to temperature was astounding; glass or plastic, conservatory roofs always lead to the room being either too hot or too cold.

I'm sitting right now in something very similar, just with a big gable wall and side walls about 3' tall. It has 31 double glazed windows and some kind of plastic roof. It's cold at the start of every day, summer or winter, and warms up remarkably fast even in winter. It takes very little to give it a boost in winter when it's that bit colder, we have a radiator plumbed into the central heating that does the trick but a small electric radiator works very quickly. I've fitted some excellent aluminium blinds (blinds2go.com have been excellent for our bigger slatted wooden blinds in other rooms too) in 24 of the windows (about £900). Seven more windows are over the gable wall and going to have a UV-resistant film that should take out a chunk of the midday sun and the roof will be treated to something like linen drapes, we're going to have to see. Some friends did that and it transformed the room - made it cooler in summer (I need to wear a sun hat in here when the sun's overhead) and a more attractive place to be. I did think long and hard about having the roof replaced with a proper slate-covered one and may well get round to doing that (it helps that we have the big gable wall already there) but for now it's not going to cost a fortune to make it a very useable room. If it were me I'd live with it for a while before making changes.

I was advised to check the depth of the foundations before deciding on what to do.
Once these are deemed sufficient then you have plenty of options.
Ours used to get upto 50+C in summer, the glare was terrible & cold in winter. The previous owners installed two large double radiators & an air con / heater to try & cope!

Lots of good info here: https://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.p...servatory+roof

Had mine done. 5x4 £6000 few wanted £8000.

It’s useable through summer now (not a sweat box)

Winter it’s still cold but retains heat better off an electric heater.

Overall happy with it, plus it looks 10x better inside and out.

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Originally Posted by tardinabox

Had mine done. 5x4 £6000 few wanted £8000.

It’s useable through summer now (not a sweat box)

Winter it’s still cold but retains heat better off an electric heater.

Overall happy with it, plus it looks 10x better inside and out.

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Did you go glass (pilkington k) or solid roof?

I had a 5k quote for my 4x4 in k glass.

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Went for a solid roof with the ultra light tiles.

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Originally Posted by tardinabox

Went for a solid roof with the ultra light tiles.

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Looks like a good price, any before and after shots?

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Thanks everyone for the comments and contributions here. Much appreciated !


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Just replaced mine with a guardian roof and new windows and doors - see previous link as I have posted a lot of photos