Are conservatories worth it

slummymummyof3

I would rather have an extension that I can realistically use all year round rather than a conservatory that is too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

fluffymuffy

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

I would rather have an extension that I can realistically use all year round rather than a conservatory that is too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

Extensions cost three times as much as conservatories.

Depending on the house plan, extensions can make for dark internal spaces. For example, we have an "L" shaped house and we've filled the "L" in with conservatory - which allows light into two rooms. An extension would have been out of the question as it would have formed two dark internal rooms.

As to the summer overheating/ winter freezing - there are ways to avoid this in the use of materials and design. Most people just go for the cheapest solution though.

Becles

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

I would rather have an extension that I can realistically use all year round rather than a conservatory that is too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

My parents have a conservatory and have said the same thing! It doesn't have any heating in it, so it's too cold to use in the winter, and then it gets too hot to use in the summer. It's nice on warm spring and autumn days though!

They think they would have been better getting an extension so they could have used the room all year round. It leads off the kitchen so they use it as a utility room now and the freezer, washer and tumble drier are in it.

ixwood

Conservatories are temporary structures that don't add any value above what they cost and will need replacing in a decade or so.

I'd always go for a garden room with a solid roof instead.

BoxerfanUK

slummymummyof3 wrote: »

I would rather have an extension that I can realistically use all year round rather than a conservatory that is too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

I disagree. It's all about planning your conservatory so you can get the best out of it. Yes, if you buy cheap you get cheap as effectively it becomes a greenhouse, but if you do the following you can have somewhere to use all year round if you wish.

1) Have one with dwarf walls built, and insulate the cavities

2) Ensure the installer puts insulation in the floor under the concrete slab. We did one better than this and had the slab cast a bit lower so that we could run proper central heating pipework in the floor (thus avoiding pipes around the walls/skirting) and then had a cement screed over the top, just like its done in most solid ground floor houses.

3) Think about what type of flooring you want. It doesn't have to be ceramic tiles, which are very cold especially in winter. We fitted laminate flooring with the thick wood/felt type underlay and its much warmer. Just ensure you leave the recommended expansion gap around the perimeter and then fit your skirting board over the top. You could also have a vinyl floor (Karndean & Amtico are good - expensive but good as you'll have a job to tell the difference between them and ceramic tiles/stone

4) Get the best/thickest glass/polycarbonate roof you can afford. If using glass, specify low emissivity heat reflecting glass (like Pilkingtom 'K' glass)

5) Same with all the glass windows, use 'K' glass or similar as this not only reflets heat in and cold out, it's stops condensation on the insides of the windows too. It has the reverse effect in summer and helps keep a little cooler.

6) Have the dwarf walls and any adjoining house walls plastered, that way it looks more like an extension or other room in the house plus also allows you to decorate more to your taste instead of being stuck with the same 'brick' decoration.

7) Specify top openers on ALL windows, some go with the small windows fixed on the top with just 2 or 3 openers, this is a mistake. If you have all openers it allows more airflow thru in the summer and helps keep it cooler. The extra cost for all openers on ours was next to nothing, literally.

8) Fit a proper radiator off your CH system with a thermostat to control temperature.

9) Fit reflective foil behind the radiator and specify a bigger (longer) rad than you need for the room size as heat loss will be more in a conservatory in the winter.

10) Fit the best ceiling fan u can get. Don't bother with the ones you see in B&Q for 70 or 80 quid they are crap. Like in the link in my previous post, get one from someone like Fantasia fans (ours is 4 and a half foot span), yes they are around 400 quid but worth every penny and will last.

11) Specify to your installer that you want foundations to a depth of 1 metre, they will say you don't need it, but it's YOUR MONEY and YOUR CONSERVATORY!

As other posters have said, you can sit there summer and winter if you like and enjoy your garden without feeling all enclosed like you would in a brick built extension. Horses for courses though and each to their own. Hope this helps.

BoxerfanUK

ixwood wrote: »

Conservatories are temporary structures that don't add any value above what they cost and will need replacing in a decade or so.

I'd always go for a garden room with a solid roof instead.

Again I disagree! If you buy the right one and specify good quality it will last. I made our installer go down 1 metre with foundations the same as the house. It is SOLID. We've had ours over 6 years now and it as good now as when we first had it fitted.

Barneysmom

We've had ours for about 5 years and it's doing fine, a good clean up on the outside a couple of times a year keeps it looking tidy.
On the floor we have vinyl, simply because if we'd tiled it I'd have been bored with it after a couple of years, and vinyl is easier to change.
It's painted every spring when we make sure there are no damp pathces, though I was thinking of maybe tiling the walls, as the dog's tail flicks mud sometimes

It's great for sneaking out and watching the sparrows eating too...

The_Wall

When I read the OP my initial reponse was no conservatories are not worth it.

But by the time I got to BoxerfanUK's 11 points I realised why. The trouble is that the conservatory was already there when we bought the house, and I now realise how badly it was designed. Ours is a glorified lean to, and is mainly used as an entrance porch / storage area.

Where as Saver 1 you have the opportunity to get what you want.

A couple of things I would add.

As ixwood said they can need replacing, although a decade might be a bit soon. This is to do with the fact that the DG units will go eventually, and the seals on the polycarbonate roof, was a very old roof though, went and it started to leak. The latter might not be such a problem nowadays though.

Talking of roofs, because the old roof let all the light in and caused it to be like an oven in the summer, we had a polycarbonate with a backing of some sort, sorry cannot remember the technical term, that cuts down the amount of sunlight that gets in, and it did make it alot cooler.

Also consider access to windows / roof above where ever you intend to put the conservatory. Because ours goes almost the full width of the house, when we had the soffits and facias done, they had to put up a special scaffolding structure to span the conservatory, which obviously cost a bit more. But this should not be a reason for not getting one, just something to bear in mind.

fluffymuffy

ixwood wrote: »

I'd always go for a garden room with a solid roof instead.

No such animal exists. Conservatories are (for a little while longer) exempt from the building regulations. The Sun Room (as some call it), or garden room, with a large window area, is an extension in the true sense with the full weight of the heat loss part of the building regulations to be complied with - which it cannot if a desirable amount of glazing is used without specialist work, often involving upgrading the insulation on the whole house so as to achieve an overall heat loss no worse that before.

fluffymuffy

Nice post Boxerfan.

Though {your point 7} I prefer to go for No opening windows at all! When it's hot we open the doors - we have some at each end. The opening lights in most conservatories are too high for me to open. Also we'd never remember to close them whereas we do manage to lock the doors.

And {points 8,9,10} Conservatories are best heated with heat pumps - which also provide air conditioning and so a fan wouldn't be needed.