How to use my conservatory

Molly41

We use our conservatory all year round. I use oil filled radiators on timers and that seems to work. Mine has insulation. It does cost extra to heat but you need to weigh up those costs against the versatility of having another room. All rooms cost to heat. I love mine now as i have made it really cosy and am sure you could too.

esmf73

Don't know if its any help but I have put curtains up in our conservatory - but for privacy rather than warmth - so I used voile. I used brass picture hooks (bent to go over the top of the uPVC) and then hung the curtains on garden canes!

Doesn't look the best, but it's OK. This thread has given me loads of ideas though so I think that I'll look at putting in proper curtain rods and foil behind the radiator that is in there. Perhaps I might be able to use it then!!

kunekune

We're really lucky, I think. Ours is fairly small but big enough to take a settee, a chair and a table. It has a power supply, though no light. We have a standard lamp in there, and also a small electric heater with a thermostat. We are able to use it all year - have been in there every night this week. It is double glazed, and has a stone floor, which also helps to heat up the living room I think. The thermostat on the heater is set at 18 degrees and we find that it comes on roughly every half an hour for 2-3 minutes and that's enough to keep the temperature ok.

OP, it may be that you can't make the conservatory actually warm for a reasonable amount of money. If that's the case, I think the best idea would be to put other things in it, and use the table and chairs in the living room for the winter. But also, maybe it isn't really cold, just feels cold: that's where a rug and some nice looking soft furnishing might make all the difference.

foxgloves

Not a helpful suggestion for the cold, I know (& I know how cold they can be, our conservatory is our dining room and we need 2 heaters on & lots of clothing to be able to use it in the depths of winter) but in summer, so you get something from it, could the windowsills be used to grow things like chillies?

Justamum

I've rented two houses with conservatories, and honestly can't see why people think spending a fortune on building one makes their house more desirable - if I was ever in the position of buying a house I would never have a conservatory. They are unbearably hot in summer and unbearably cold in winter.

valk_scot

If you can get some sort of power socket in there you can heat and light the place. Is there no place you can burrow a hole just to take the flex of a good quality long extension lead through the door frame?

Insullating the floor would seem a priority. If it's small then a foam backed carpet offcut cut to shape and loose laid would seem the way to go. If you want cheap, try Freecycle. Otherwise get some cheap rugs from Ikea.

You can insullate greenhouses with bubble wrap using special clips. it might be worth looking at these to see if they fit your glazing bars.

Keeping the blinds shut will also help with the insullation, both in keeping it warm and also shading it. Or try the foil panel trick as above.

However, if it's still to cold or hot as a living space, think laterally. What could you put in there that would free up other more useful space inside the house? You could use it as a lobby for wet coats and boots, or as a cold larder, or for a greenhouse/potting shed in the summer, or move the book cases in there, or just general storage.

mandragora_2

As others have said, certainly cover the floor with a carpet - try freecycle, friends or a local recycling centre/tip to see if anyone's getting rid of anything - especially this time of year when the slaes are on and people might just be re-furnishing. If none of the above give you what you want, try your local carpet warehouses - they often have ends of rolls/ offcuts, for pretty reasonable prices. When laying it, try to put some sort of underlay down - it doesn't need to be actual underlay if that's too expensinve - we've used a really old carpet underneath first, and then put the 'better' second-hand carpet on top of it in the past. This will help with insulation.

The roof is the biggest single place you'll be losing heat from is the roof - and the windows as a secondary. As others have said bubble wrap really is the best and easiest solution. To buy it in quantity, shop around - for us the cheapest place we've found is the local farm supplies shop - farmers seem use it and other insulating materials in great volume. Builders' merchants might be another place to look.

The final point is that with a lot of conservatories like this they really come into their own in the spring and the autumn - winter and summer are too extreme to be worth bothering with them much, unless they're really efficient.

(We've just replaced an eldery conservatory with a brand spanking new one - the technology has changed so much in the 20 years since it was built, the difference is unbelievable. Cost lots and lots to do though - so while it was the right thing for us, and we love it, it's not really a practical solution for you at the moment!)

iamana1ias

Not read the whole thread but if it's that cold I'd ditch the dining room idea. You could use it as a fridge (freezer?) and switch off your fridge thus saving money. You might save enough for a better heater for next year :T

Wickedkitten

I don't even bother trying to heat ours in the winter because it's just a massive waste of money. The good thing though is that we have curtains in it, so if I draw those, the heat from the sun hitting the roof, manages to warm up the living room quite a bit and the cats like sitting out there in their cardboard box.

lisawood78

This thread's a year old folks