conservatory too hot

newguy_2

Hi, I have a south facing conservatory, with a polycarbonate roof... gets so hot during day i cannot use.
I have researched a bit and found a product called coolkote which is sold by a lot of companies which claims too drastically reduce glare and heat build up. It is a film which is applied to the interior roof, reflecting solar heat and light. Has anyone used this product and if so was it any good? Thanks

Or any other suggestions (apart from opening the windows!):beer:

pboae

This is so vague I doubt it will be much use! But I saw something on TV, one of the property programmes, where they put black tiles down in a conservatory. I don't know if they were made from a special material, but they absorbed the heat during the day and then released it at night. Overall they dropped the temperature of the conservatory about 10c in the day and kept it warm into the evening as well.

Alan_M_2

Blinds will solve your problem.

Bossyboots

Alan_M wrote:

Blinds will solve your problem.

Oh no they won't!!!

The only product we have found that works is to cover our roof with a tarpaulin that has a silver backing, with the silver facing out. They cost about £2.99 from B&Q. This deflects the sun and brings the temperature right down, although still not to a comfortable level on a very hot day but better than just leaving it.

tanith

OH has nagged me to let him put up a conservatory and I have always resisted for this exact reason it getting just too hot to use..... do you think the advantages outway the disadvantages of having a conservatory ? Is it just another place to store 'stuff'?

Mr_Warren_2

My parents live on the West coast of France and their conservatory gets VERY hot during the summer. However, at the beginning of spring they put a fine plastic mesh over the roof. This keeps the temperature down etc. It does not rot nor gets damaged and at the end of the summer, they take it down, wash it and store it until the next year.

Bossyboots

tanith wrote:

OH has nagged me to let him put up a conservatory and I have always resisted for this exact reason it getting just too hot to use..... do you think the advantages outway the disadvantages of having a conservatory ? Is it just another place to store 'stuff'?

For us the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. We don't store anything in ours. My treadmill is out there, I dry washing out there in the winter and at Christmas we move our dining table out there as it is cosy for eating and gives us more space in our lounge for the family to be together.

GiJo

Mr_Warren wrote:

My parents live on the West coast of France and their conservatory gets VERY hot during the summer. However, at the beginning of spring they put a fine plastic mesh over the roof. This keeps the temperature down etc. It does not rot nor gets damaged and at the end of the summer, they take it down, wash it and store it until the next year.

How do they fix it? Will any sort of fine plastic mesh do or is it a specific product? Thanks in advance

oldandhappy

Our leanto type Conservatory on the back of our property use to have a poly roof and the ceilingblinds really kept the heat down.(stored in the loft still because they where so expensive but tired looking so dont know what to do with them) They where silver coated on the roof side and although it is north facing being a Bungee we have sun both front and back gardens but obviously not so extreme.We have a conservatory to the south as well but that has a solid roof so the temp is ok when its hot outside with the curtains closed....... it is heaven in the Winter though. Shading the glass the best way possible seems to me to be the only answer....plus an air conditoning unit will enable you to use it when the real Hot weather is with us. Mrs H

sue_balu

Hi - we have just (last couple of weeks after the very hot weather has finished) had a largish lean-to conservatory installed on a south facing wall and hope to use it in winter to warm the adjacent sitting room from the solar gain (plus additional appropriate background heating).
We were concerned it would be too hot in summer however we do spend the best weather out in the garden anyway. We have included an air conditioning unit although my money saving instincts will curb its use on all but the most unbearably hot days if we need to. The disadvantages will hopefully be outweighed by the far more numerous Autumn and Spring days when it is sunny and we can benefit from the solar gain and sit in comfort.

We might need to revise our opinion after next summer though!!

polybear

Hi, you may be interested in this (several companies do similar things - try Google):

http://www.smartpoly.co.uk/

Not tried it personally - I've got 6 roof blinds that are silver reflective on the "roof side" plus 3 semi-silvered vertical blinds on the windows. Makes a big difference, but can still get very hot. Cost? Around a grand in 1997-ish.
I may add roof inserts (similar to smartpoly etc.) next year.

Polybear.