are conservatories worth the money

jadebabe

Hi, we are thinking of getting a conservatory fitted ,but have been told by a lot of people that they are too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, we would want to use it all year round. also what type of heating can you put in,is underfloor heating expensive to run, any opinions appreciated thanks.

danm

As you have heard previously, ours was too hot in summer and too cold in winter.

not much you can do in the summer, but we put a couple of electic radiators out there for the winter. Plenty enough heat for our conservatory (3mx3m). be careful about running heating outside as i believe this can impact whether it is classed as a conservatory or extension for planning permission purposes

missile

I put up a conservatory on a North facing wall. It was not too hot in the summer and very pleasant to sit in on a winters day although it got rather cold in the evening. We fitted thermal blinds which helps keep sun out and heat in. We extended our central heating system and had no issue with planning consent.

deanos

Ours is fine in the summer make sure you get a roof vent and as many openings as possible, we have a electric radiator for the winter and its fine

deanos

missile wrote: »

. We extended our central heating system and had no issue with planning consent.

Sorry to put a spanner in the works but if the central heating is in the conservatory then you need planning permission as its now classed as a permanent building , i was told this by the council when i enquired before building mine, by your wording you mean you dont have permission ?

Poppy9

It depends which way you are facing. Our 'sun lounge' (that's what it was called when house built in 50's) was far too hot in the summer and the whole room it adjoined was unusable (it faced SW) so we replaced the glass roof with a tiled pitched roof and replaced the full width sliding doors with french doors with two side opening windows. We did have to have building regs but not planning permission. Now we enjoy the room all year around.

ictmad

deanos wrote: »

Sorry to put a spanner in the works but if the central heating is in the conservatory then you need planning permission as its now classed as a permanent building , i was told this by the council when i enquired before building mine, by your wording you mean you dont have permission ?

will be putting heating in mine,but in scotland u need permission if its over a certain size regardless of whether it has heatring or not

wendyl1967

We had a 22ft by 12ft conservatory build two years ago. We put in two large radiators (approx 5ft each) along the outside wall. We rang up the planning office but did not require planning permission as our neighbours house was a certain distance away. (I cannot remember the figure quoted!)

Most of the winter the heating is sufficient, in fact we needed to turn the thermostat on the radiators to a slightly lower number than the rest of the house. The only time we have a problem is if there is a heavy frost outside. We eat in the conservatory so sometimes in a morning if the heating has only been on for an hour it can still be a bit chilly in there. We sometimes have to click a convector heater on for 10 minutes or so to top up. If I know it is going to be frosty I set the heating to come on half an hour earlier and this solves the problem.

In the summer it can get hot in there but we have lots of windows that open and two large ceiling fans.

We use ours all year round. It has a dining room table in, and lounge area with tv. Sometimes the glare from the sun can be a pain in summer for watching tv but we just shut the blinds.

Busybody

We also use our conservatory all year round, we have a radiator in there but in winter sometimes give it a little boost with extra heater.
We always have the connecting doors open unless it is raining badly, so as we can't hear the telly.
During the day the heat that it generates from the sun warms the lounge.
In my opinion I would go for a comfy couch (not an uncomfy wicker) mine has got removable covers and if I think they look a bit faded I throw them in the washer with a dye (the same original colour).
our pets love to have their naps in there, so do I!:rotfl:

Busybody

:T By the way, get the biggest one you can afford/fit as you will only wish you had! I wish mine was bigger even thought its quite large already!!

economiser

It's crazy to expect anyone to build an unheated conservatory. Ours is a traditional conservatory (i.e. full of non-hardy plants) and some form of heating is essential. If you are using it as living space it would obviously need more. What would be the purpose of an unheated conservatory?