Are conservatories a waste of time?

ladymarmalade1970

kazmc wrote: »

Oh a builder told me if I wanted a radiator put into mine running off my house I would need planning permission as it would change the 'type' of room it was. Id be really interested to know if this isnt true as I would definitely have one put it.
I just took what he said as gospel, he probably couldnt be bothered with the extra work!!:(

We did need planning permission anyway because of the size of it. In meters its 5.5 x 3.5 so its quite big. We also have 2 brick walls and brick on the bottom of the other 2 walls as well. If it had a proper roof on you wouldn't know it was a conservatory. The walls are also 2 walls of brick with a cavity that is filled so to convert to a "proper" extention would be dead easy.
For us it was worth every penny and we love it.

Horizon81

Thanks for all your detailed replies. Does seem very much like a marmite thing! As a FTB, I'm sadly not looking at anywhere with a magnificent garden. In fact, in the house in question, the conservatory is quite big and the back garden quite small so there's only about 8ft of grass behind so the view is of the back fence!! It does have a radiator in it so by the sounds of it the seller should have got planning permission for it?
The biggest thing that bugs me about them is the cold. It's pretty obvious how they'll be absolutely freezing in the colder months and any attempt at heating them will go literally through the (plastic) roof.

vikingaero

Some friends of ours had an Orangery built onto their kitchen. They had electric underfloor heating installed which they used... a lot... until the electricity bill for the quarter came in for £2,300!

sunshinetours

amcluesent wrote: »

Great info. I have a easterly facing patio which would take a reasonably sized conservatory no problem and have pretty much the same floor area as the kitchen/diner, with the option of having mains lecky and a radiator fed from the gas C/H.

I imagine it being good for the 'feel' of outdoors without having noise from malodorous chav's 'boom boxes' from the nearby BTLs as you do sitting in the garden itself. Plus boost to warmth of kitchen, already d/g.

Quotes of about £9K. I'm tempted.

I wouldn't bank too much on noise being cut down. Noise insulation is nowhere near as good as a proper cavity wall or tiled roof structure due to the connection between wall and plastic roof.
It will of course be quieter than sitting in the garden but would hate to think you would be expecting same level of noise reductuion as sitting inside your living room for instance

Nixer

As has been said, depends if it's well designed or not. I've never had one, but in-laws' last 2 houses have had good ones and I would love to have one when we buy somewhere as I like sitting in the warm sun but have extremely sensitive skin so can't sit outside for very long. In laws had tomatoes growing in theirs and usually the cat would be lolling about on the floor if it was warm.