conservatory, orangery or extension

lisaann72red

We are looking to create some more living space on the rear of our house our garden is east facing. We live in a semi detached house.
We are looking at going right across the full width of the house 7.3m by 3 or 3.5m depth.
We have had a quote for a Conservatory £19900 not fully plastered. no changes internally 7.3m x 3.5m ( Was told that as neighbour has gone out 3.5m we can without applying for planning permission. I am sure this is incorrect? It would have 4m bifold doors. Would it be too cold?
Orangery £28000 fully plastered removing an internal house wall, RSJ to widen entrance from dining room into orangery. It would have 4.5m bifold doors. The salesman is telling us that we could be fully open plan into the orangery without building regs as long as we put right the doors windows between the spaces if we sell later. Is this correct? Do you think it would be to cold to open entirely the back of the house into the orangery.
Extension £28000-36000 guestimate by a builder. We have Willow trees at the end of our garden. The building Reg guys at the council have told him we would need at least 2m foundations but perhaps piling! Maybe a stretch to far for our budget.
Any experiences ideas you have would be great.
Thanks:)

Ladybird20

Well i have a conservatory,which looks nice but i dont use it???I t has a radiator in it for cold days /nights and also has air conditiong unit for very hot days ,it looks lovely and dont regret buying it, sometimes if i have the windows open it ends up being one large fly trap....

becs

We have a 6m x 3m conservatory which is seperated by ordinary internal doors. We use it on all bar the really really cold spells that go on for a few days simply to save the cost of heating as we don't "need" to use it. It is perfectly possible to use it though as it has 2 x double radiators at each end. The building regs thing is ok as long as you have heating that can be switched off independantly of your main system and any doors to the main house are of external specification you don't need regs.As you have been told you would only need to do this if/when you sell.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

Ladybird20 wrote: »

Well i have a conservatory,which looks nice but i dont use it???I t has a radiator in it for cold days /nights and also has air conditiong unit for very hot days ,it looks lovely and dont regret buying it, sometimes if i have the windows open it ends up being one large fly trap....

Funny I never use my conservatory either.
Looks nice but we don't like sitting in it.
I'd go for the extension if it was me since it's permanent,more sturdy and won't need lots of maintenance like a conservatory and will save money in the long run although more expensive initially.
As for the orangery well,I would'nt realy consider that it's a bit too in betweeny to me.

becs

I'm sat in mine now! Have a lovely sofa and tv in here as well as dining table and chairs. It's a really wet grey miserable day and the rest of the house is quite dark so I love sitting in here because it's so bright! No heating on either and it's lovely. As for maintenance ours has been up 2 years now and it looks as good today as the first day. It doesn't even get cleaned that often. The upvc frame gets cleaned once a year and the glass roof whenever we think it needs it which to be fair wouldn't be half as often if we didn't have the tv aerial above it!

lisaann72red

Thanks for the replies.

We think that the extension cost is slightly out of reach for us. If the Building Reg guy turns up and says we need piling. The budget will be blown and we wouldnt be able to find the extra money.

Has anyone got or been in an orangery? I just think it might be a little warmer the conservatory roof will be surrounded by a metre of insulated roof all the way around.

The man who has quoted us for the orangery has offered to take us to visit one they have made. We are definately going to take him up on the offer.

Another question is 3m depth enough will it feel confined?

Sorry another question has anyone heard of a change in the permitted development rules. I was told by the conservatory salesman that all premises will be under the 4m depth rule later this year??????

planning_officer

lisaann72red wrote: »

Sorry another question has anyone heard of a change in the permitted development rules. I was told by the conservatory salesman that all premises will be under the 4m depth rule later this year??????

Conservatory salesmen notoriously know nothing about planning, and I'm sorry to say that this one is no exception!

Firstly, PD changed in Oct 2008 and there are highly unlikely to be any further changes later this year to householder PD, so he is talking rubbish. Do you live in a detached, semi or terrace house? The 4m depth only applies to detached houses (it is 3m for any other house) - but importantly, this only applies beyond the original rear wall of the house (not to the rear of any subsequent extensions), and if you've already extended at any point to the rear, this will also 'eat into' the 4m allowance too.

lisaann72red

Thanks

We live in a semi detached house.

My spidey senses were tingling when he came out with that nugget of information.

I am sure they say whatever they think you want to here.

So 3m it is then.

Was it more than 3m before last October for a semi detached house?

Julie_RP12

We have an orangery and we absolutely love it and live in it!

You are absolutely right that having a partial roof with just a glass lantern definitely helps with insulating the area. We do have heating in it, but the area is never cold, even in the recent snow. Ours is east facing too.

I do query the company who advised dodging building regs though. Whilst I don't disagree with the proposed method suggested, why would you want to avoid building regs as they ensure you get the job done properly. For example, you should ensure proper insulation is fitted below the screed to the floor. All this will help with the internal temperature. We used 100mm celotex.

The price you have been quoted also seems very cheap. Ours was 10m by 4m, also completed under permitted development, but it cost around £70,000. We used Prime Oak, so the whole thing is costructed from oak and it looks absolutely fabulous.

Hope this may help a bit with your decision. Good Luck!

planning_officer

lisaann72red wrote: »

Was it more than 3m before last October (October 2008) for a semi detached house?

No, it was based on volumes instead of specific depths - so you could extend pretty much anywhere (subject to other restrictions) up to a certain volume, but once that volume had been used up, no more applied. In theory the new rules allow for more extensions to the sides, rear etc - and they are all assessed individually rather than adding them all up to get one volume measurement (if that makes sense...!)

MummyTash

We have been trying getting a conservatory similar to what you described. If you just add the conservatory then as long as its within the permitted size and you have external grade doors seperating it you dont need planning and the heating will depend on how much light you get, your local weather etc.

However if you want to remove a wall between the conservatory and the house you need to go through full planning permission which is whatwe are doing. You have to meet a minimum level of insullation and are limited considerably on how much glass you use (about 30% of the extension!). You would need to get architectural drawings and probably a SAP Calculation to show energy efficiency, plus the cost of the services at your local planning office. These fees are likely to be in the £2000 - 3000 mark, but you can always shop around and your planning office should be able to advise.

Good news is it sounds like you have been over quoted on the conservatory prices. Fitted costs a fortune, but there are loads of DIY options at a quarter of that price. You can easily find a builder to put it together if you dont want to do it yourself.

Our builder and conservatory supplier think about £10000 plus odds and ends (paint etc.) for conservatory and wall removal. Plus the planning and design costs as above.

Good luck in your project.