New Conservatory - Cost & Heating

mel48rose

Ganga wrote: »

I must be the odd one out,i love to sit in my mother in law,s conservatory with a cold beer in my hand and pretend i am abroad.I love the heat but agree they are cold in the winter.

Ganga

I also absolutely love mine. Its used a lot. Even a small amount of sun warms it up, it's often warmer in there than in the house!

cyclonebri1

smartn wrote: »

We are in the process of purchasing/specifying a conservatory. The size is to be 4m x 3.5m. We are going for top rated glass for the windows/doors/roof and are looking at heating options as we want the room to be usable all year round. One of the walls close to a neighbours property will be primarily brick and well insulated and we will have a dwarf wall which will also be well insulated. I've thought about an extension rather than conservatory but think an extension would cut off too much light to our dining room (although the dining room has a flat roof so may be able to put some sort of roof window in).

So far we have had electric underfloor heating recommended which sounds OK but I was wondering if anyone had experience of air source heat pumps in a conservatory as I think this would be more economical. Ideally I'd like some cooling capacity in summer but the conservatory will be south facing so with the relevant glass this may not be necessary.

It's at the early stages so any experiences/information will be gratefully received on all aspects, not just the heating/cooling. First quote was 14.5K to include underfloor heating/electrics etc.

Just poking my nose back in again, I think the underfloor heating idea probably isn't such a good idea.

You are never going to retain any/much heat in there in winter, do to lack of insulating value of both roof and windows, so I think you would need a more immediate form of heating. Underfloor has too much "lag".

I completed our conservatory in March last year so it has only seen 1 winter and 1 summer. It's actually technically an "orangery", as it's free standing rather than attached to the house. About 6.5mtr x 4.5.
It isn't heated, we had it mainly as a games room and to grow a few plants in.

The 1 thing I'm pleased with is the fact that we chose opaque polycarbonate for the roof panels. Being free standing it catches the sun from dusk 'til dawn.
Last summer wasn't exactly a scorcher but we had absolutely no issues with overheating.

Just ensure you overspec it with regard to opening windows at high level. ;)

Just a positive note,we used a supply only company and did the groundwork and erection ourselves, total cost was about £4500 for the unit delivered and about £2k for the concrete and bricks etc, and a few beers for the labour.

And yes I am glad we did it, my hideaway at times:D:D.

I did a breakdown at the time, if I can find itr still I will post it up.

Furts

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Just poking my nose back in again, I think the underfloor heating idea probably isn't such a good idea.

You are never going to retain any/much heat in there in winter, do to lack of insulating value of both roof and windows, so I think you would need a more immediate form of heating. Underfloor has too much "lag".

I completed our conservatory in March last year so it has only seen 1 winter and 1 summer. It's actually technically an "orangery", as it's free standing rather than attached to the house. About 6.5mtr x 4.5.
It isn't heated, we had it mainly as a games room and to grow a few plants in.

The 1 thing I'm pleased with is the fact that we chose opaque polycarbonate for the roof panels. Being free standing it catches the sun from dusk 'til dawn.
Last summer wasn't exactly a scorcher but we had absolutely no issues with overheating.

Just ensure you overspec it with regard to opening windows at high level. ;)

Just a positive note,we used a supply only company and did the groundwork and erection ourselves, total cost was about £4500 for the unit delivered and about £2k for the concrete and bricks etc, and a few beers for the labour.

And yes I am glad we did it, my hideaway at times:D:D.

I did a breakdown at the time, if I can find itr still I will post it up.

Well done cyclonebri1.

Your costs should be broadcast loud and clear to all mse users. Then, there should be quiet reflection on why all conservatory quotes have historically been soooo much higher than this.

Have people in the upvc industry been ripping off "The Great British Public" over many years? This includes price, useability and quality of the finished product?

cyclonebri1

Furts wrote: »

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

x 4.5.




I did a breakdown at the time, if I can find itr still I will post it up.

Well done cyclonebri1.

Your costs should be broadcast loud and clear to all mse users. Then, there should be quiet reflection on why all conservatory quotes have historically been soooo much higher than this.

Have people in the upvc industry been ripping off "The Great British Public" over many years? This includes price, useability and quality of the finished product?

I did check, but I seem to have deleted the document but the figures I gave are pretty accurate.

I used a company called Centurion Conservatories if that's of any use to any one?

I have to say there was a massive quantity of parts, but everything was there with 1 minor error, largely do to mine being a freestander, and being a bespoke design.
I called them twice, once to sort that issue out and once when something had me "flummoxed".
Everything well packed and absolutely no damage, and I'm finicky about that.
Top phone service I have to say.
Easily erected by 1 person, seriously. The only time help was needed was to hold the apex bar in place whilst attaching the corner hips.
This was a double hip design and there was nothing to steady the apex.


Just reread that and I sound like a salesman, but no, it's just a report from a satisfied customer who went the money saving expert route:money::money::money:;)

smartn

Lots of great feedback, thanks again all. I'm now more confused than ever! I'm now thinking along the lines of A rated windows/doors, pilkington K activ roof. Insulated dwarf wall on 2 of the 3 external sides, shoulder height wall on the other. Openings at the top on all windows on 2 of the 3 sides. Still think I'll try with some form of heating and looking at air to air heat pump (worcester Bosch greensource) which may help in both winter and summer. Accept that maybe in depths of winter it wont be usable but hopefully this would maximise available time it could be used.

cyclonebri1

BertieUK wrote: »

And finally, Conservatories that are well planned are an asset as I said before but I would say that they suit houses better than bungalows whereby it is designed to be fitted to the house wall like a lean to not like ours (Edwardian) where you have the roof is shaped like an apex of trapped air.

This was the issue we had, living in a bungalow, there simply wasn't a suitable place to attach it to the property.

But we differ in taste as I think lean too's look just like that, ie, leaning against the building, so give me a pent style roof every time.;)

BertieUK

smartn wrote: »

Lots of great feedback, thanks again all. I'm now more confused than ever! I'm now thinking along the lines of A rated windows/doors, pilkington K activ roof. Insulated dwarf wall on 2 of the 3 external sides, shoulder height wall on the other. Openings at the top on all windows on 2 of the 3 sides. Still think I'll try with some form of heating and looking at air to air heat pump (worcester Bosch greensource) which may help in both winter and summer. Accept that maybe in depths of winter it wont be usable but hopefully this would maximise available time it could be used.

Well at least you have asked the questions and hopefully you can now sit down with your family and discuss the pros and cons before you spend your hard earned cash, there are issues involved with every build and have to be discussed first. Look around your area to see other Conservatories that have been built on similar properties to your own.

At the end of the day remember it is you and your family that will be living in it all seasons of the year. All the best to you.:)

cyclonebri1

smartn wrote: »

Lots of great feedback, thanks again all. I'm now more confused than ever! I'm now thinking along the lines of A rated windows/doors, pilkington K activ roof. Insulated dwarf wall on 2 of the 3 external sides, shoulder height wall on the other. Openings at the top on all windows on 2 of the 3 sides. Still think I'll try with some form of heating and looking at air to air heat pump (worcester Bosch greensource) which may help in both winter and summer. Accept that maybe in depths of winter it wont be usable but hopefully this would maximise available time it could be used.

:T:T:T:T Yes, don't give up on the heating and cooling idea, whatever you do you will extend the season that you can use the conservatory.
My initial comments were probably a little harsh but this is a money saving forum after all, and it would be a heck of an expense trying to heat what is essentially a greenhouse to living room standards.

Many people do extend the home central heating system into the conservatory, you may end up robbing Peter to pay Paul, but the erection of the conservatory itself will lower the heat loss on the side of the house it's fixed to, so you may have a little spare capacity in the existing system;)

BertieUK

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

This was the issue we had, living in a bungalow, there simply wasn't a suitable place to attach it to the property.

But we differ in taste as I think lean too's look just like that, ie, leaning against the building, so give me a pent style roof every time.;)

I completely agree that a pent style roof is the best solution as long as you can get complete access to all sides not like mine where you would have to either be nimble as a cat to work on the sloping roofs or erect scaffolding or get in the experts.

My days of climbing heights are long behind me now maybe thats why I would rather have access to all sides with my platform ladders even though I have to use long poles etc to reach the Bungalow side.:)

cyclonebri1

BertieUK wrote: »

.

My days of climbing heights are long behind me now maybe thats why I would rather have access to all sides with my platform ladders even though I have to use long poles etc to reach the Bungalow side.:)

I have to concur with that to be honest, if you had seen the palaver we had in trying to put the finials onto the crest you'd have split your sides :rotfl: