Are conservatories a waste of time?

Horizon81

I'm a FTB and still searching for the right home. Recently viewed one with a large(ish) conservatory and I thought great, useful multi purpose space for occasional dining (house didn't have a dining room), chilling out, escape from the living room etc etc.
But having spoken to friends, the general concensus seems to be that they're largely pointless. Last no more than 15 years before requiring replacement/repair. Too hot in summer, too cold for the rest of the year. Or if they're north facing, too cold all of the year! The one I'm looking at it East facing (ever so slightly north east) so I would expect sun in the morning, in the shade from midday, which does sound pointless to me. However, they seem to be popular enough so what am I missing? Does anyone who has/had a conservatory extol the virtues of it?

hazyjo

Had a substantial lean-to in a house once and did love it. Had a telly in there, a washing machine (kind of used as a mini-utility room), a pine dresser with lots of nice bits on, very comfy conservatory style furniture, coffee table, and I painted the walls a very Med shade of orange. Was my favourite room in the house. Never got too hot - had doors opposite each other, one into kitchen, one to garden, plus double doors into it from the back of the lounge/diner so lots of airflow - but did get cold when dark or in winter.

Did view a house once with a conservatory which could have easily doubled up as a sauna! Was awful, I'd never have sat in there in summer. My friend has a conservatory which she uses as a dining room/office, and she had one in her old house which was used more as a 'smoking room'. Was quite small and wasn't somewhere she'd sit for long.

It really depends on how you'd use it, how much sun it would get, and how it's heated. If there's no heating, from my experience, they're nearly always cold at night. If there's heating (or you could get it installed easily), I'd see it as a plus.

Jx

Catatonia

I'm with you and hate them. I would buy a house with one, but would pull it down as soon as I could afford to.

CloudCuckooLand

How much would an extension to create a dining room cost ?

Open the doors if it gets too hot.

For cold, depends how big it is, but you could get a little portable heater, with a timer switch...

Very nice on a spring/autumn day when there's warmth in the sun, but the wind is a bit chilly - like a permanent, wrap around wind-break...

Though they may be noisy in heavy rain.

mustrum_ridcully

Hate them with a passion... hot in summer (even with blinds and IR reflective films if pointing in the wrong direction), cold in winter (even with blinds and IR reflective film). The absolute worst are those where the patio doors have been removed to create one large room.

What I don't mind (and I've seen a few houses with these) is a smaller porch/lean-to type of thing that leads off the kitchen (as opposed to living room) that's used as a utility room with washing machine/tumble dryer/big freezer.

sonastin

as with everything... it depends. I've seen some lovely ones and some godawful ones. Depends on things like how much glass, how much heating, openings i.e doors and windows, shade (e.g roof blinds), etc.

Bad ones are at best a dumping ground for junk. Good ones are the most utilised room in the house.

mlz1413

If it needs to double as a dining room / extra room then it needs heating, as most are built on a concrete base then under floor heating with ceramic tiles on top would be easy to do.

If its hot I agree with CCLand open a door!

If this conservatory has a part brick wall it might be worth asking (building control?) if the current foundations and wall could be built up into a extension.

Facing east will allow lots of extra light into the house in the mornings and allow warm air in during the summer, but maybe limited use in the cold.

Benson

I love ours! Its probably the most used room in the house, we're south facing so get the sun from Morning till mid afternoon, on the few occassions its been really hot just open the doors which you do on a summers day anyway. We've used it everyday in the winter - bought a little oil radiator, use the timer to set it just before we come home and its lovely, saves us having the heating on all over the house too!

We didn't use it for 5 years as we had it as a traditional conservatory but then when the kiddies came along its now their playroom and as its off the kitchen/dining room we're mostly in there rather than the other rooms etc

It depends on the conservatory itself, ive seen some awful lean to's but then the new Everest advert one looks lovely! When we're in our new place thats what i'll be having!

donnaessex

I love ours! South east facing so its pretty hot in the summer but we just open the patio doors and all the windows. Its around 12ft x 9 ft.

Its our playroom for the children so in the winter when it truly is freezing out there we just put an electric fan heater on for 15 minutes, then open the doors that join the dining room and leave them open. By that time the air can circulate and it stays quite warm.

I never wanted a conservatory for the reasons you listed but now I have one I wouldnt be without it! When it comes to replacing it I will hopefully have a proper extension done, with lots of windows but until then I'm very happy with mine.

Doozergirl

It's a relatively inexpensive way of having an extra room, without constraints of planning and building control.

I've lived with one, I used it to sit on the sofa and talk on here It was obscenely hot, steaming in the summer even with the doors open but I enjoyed the extra space in that house and we'd have drinks in there in the summer. It worked as the kitchen had windows onto the decking and the conservatory was to the left with doors opening onto the patio so it made a nice sociable space. In Laws have one, apparently would never live in a house without one my FIL lives in it all summer, it's nowhere near as hot as ours was - it was obscene! They don't use it in winter at all.

BUT if I ever considered putting extra space onto a house, it would be a proper extension with lots of windows and roof-lights so it was connected to the garden but would be a genuine room that wasn't peeing all my money out of the roof in the form of heat in winter! I would never consider putting one on to a house myself.

flora48

I hate them too! Always collect all the stuff from elsewhere in the house, plus the fact I am **** at cleaning windows!