Conservatory or extension??

inmypocketnottheirs

About 3 years ago we had a conservatory put on the back of our kitchen. It is 5x3m and fills in a space provided by a lounge extension. We opted for a box gutter style roof, meaning we have a pitched roof from all four angles. The right hand flank wall is close to the boundary, so we had a brick wall with opening fan lights at shoulder level. This means that we are not overlooked from our neighbours and we chose not to have obscured glass in place of the wall with fan lights. The front of the conservatory is with dwarf walls and French doors.

It is also south facing, so we have openign fan lights all round, and a large ceiling fan. For the winter we had 2 double radiators fitted.

We removed the kitchen windows and back door, so the conservatory actually forms part of the kitchen.

The total cost, including all finishing i.e. electrics, plumbing, tiling (ceramic floor tiles) and plastering was around £11,000.

The best money we have ever spent, we use the conservatory all year round, every day. For us it forms part of the house.

RunningRach

We were looking into this too - extension/conservatory. We got some quotes for a 11' by 15' extension in at £15-22k depending on the building firm which is way out of our financial league at the moment.

Instead we have gone for a 10' by 9' dwarf wall conservatory which was fully fitted for £5500. It was completed a couple of weeks ago and despite the weather has been fairly warm inside. It is a bit cooler than the lounge/diner it is attached to but nothing that an additional light layer doesn't cope with (and I really feel the cold as a rule!) Our garden is north-facing so it shouldn't get too hot in the summer either - fingers crossed! What we have found is that by buying a small dehumidifier unit and running that overnight once a week or so the whole house is warmer as a rule. Might be one to look into?

misgrace

I would go with an extention, but thats my personal choice, as I am not too keen on a conservatory, reason being, the couple of neighbours around me that have one, have all ended up using it as a junk room,:eek: seems such a waste to me, wheras you will always use the extended kitchen.

evergreen

My Aunt has recently had a conservatory built and was told the law has recently changed and you can no longer have the gas central heating extended into a conservatory, so she could not have a radiator put in there (as she did in her old house), so had to have an independant electric heater fitted.

chinagirl

ictmad wrote:

6000 is very cheAP i have been quoted 3 times that price,who did u go with??

Guy who did it was the brother of a good friend, but we looked elsewhere first, and found it pays to get quotes from smaller firms, as they have smaller overheads, so can be more flexible on price. We were on a tight budget, and I don't think we would have been able to have it built if it were gonna cost more that the £6000.

Any builder worth his salt will be pleased to let you see examples of his work.

Also, on a different subject, my brother and wife had their modest house double-glazed and used a large reputable company, thinking they would be guaranteed for a few years. However, within a year, the company went bust, and their guarantee is worthless. He wishes he used my Conservatory guy to fit his windows, for half the price he paid.

harryhound

Issue "L" of the building regulations came in a year ago.
They have been inspired by the panic over global warming and carbon footprints. You could probably get away with building a conservatory kit yourself if the neighbours don't "shop" you to the authorities.

Otherwise you can nolonger have a room opening out into a conservatory. You are ment to have an unheated conservatory on the other side of a well insulated wall and door.

The allowance of not needing planning permission for a 15% extension (detached or semi) or 10% (terrace) applies for the original size of the building or as at 1947 if later. My place has grown by 100% over the last 60 years.

The down side comes when you try to sell, the buyer may pick up on the missing planning permission or the failure to comply with the building regulations; though after 4 years they cannot make you knock it down if the building is a domestic home.
As from June the home energy survey inspector should notice what has happened and mark you down in the certificate you have to give to the buyer.

What a pain but "you know it makes sense" ?

Harry.

PS one final thought, do your deeds include a restrictive covenant requiring you to seek permission from some private organisation connected to the people who originally laid out the estate ? My daughter in her former council tax has got one of these, theoretically she has to ask the council TWICE if she wants to build an extension. [We cannot have the peasants on the council estate making their own decisions can we ?]

MothWing

I have been researching conservatories south west conservatoriesincornwall.com/conservatory.html and wonder what the real savings are by investing in some A rated energy efficient glass? I have been reading up on it, but are the savings going to make up for the extra expense now? I know that fuel prices are continually rising, however does that really justify the extra £2k?

I also wonder what the added value to my home is likely to be once I have added a conservatory? Is the only way to find this out by paying for a valuation?

Thanks
MW

Doozergirl

A conservatory will add about as much as they cost unless it's a singing, dancing, open to the house with a building regulations certificate, more like an extension. On a new build house style I know, the house with a conservatory only sold for 4-5% more.

If you have a polycarbonate roof, there is no point whatsoever in upgrading the glass as heat will escape through the ceiling immediately anyway. It's more of a consideration if you have a glass roof and again more of a consideration if it's open to the rest of the house, in which case it's a vulnerable point.

In our houses we upgrade the glass to a uValue of 1.2. It cost about an extra £30 per window IIRC to get it down from 1.8. The additional cost to go to 1.1uValue was just pointless for 0.1. An extra £2000 is a lot - I doubt you'll recoup the costs even within 10 years.

cajef

Doozergirl wrote: »

If you have a polycarbonate roof, there is no point whatsoever in upgrading the glass as heat will escape through the ceiling immediately anyway.

You have stated this before and it is simply not true, 35mm polycarbonate has a uvalue of 1.5 which while not as low as some modern glass units is still adequate and will not let the heat escape immediately.

http://www.tradeconservatories2u.co.uk/specifications/insulation-values.htm

motherofstudents

I would go for the extension. We had a large conservatory put on for £11000 and it is very difficult and expensive to heat. No problem in summer, we just open the double doors and it has never got too hot even without blinds. We have looked into putting radiators in there, I'm sure you are allowed to do it if you have thermostatic valves fitted so that it is not classed as permanent heating but of course that may have been superceded by now. We also considered a multi fuel stove. We have it as a dining room but rarely use it which seems such a shame.