Tiled or glass conservatory roof?

SuzieSue

I've had a conservatory with Pilkington Activ Blue for over 5 years and it isn't noisy when it rains, it's actually quite nice listening to the rain hitting the glass (next door's polycarb roof is deafening when it rains).

We use it from late March to late September. Ours is east facing so it heats up in the morning (as long as it's sunny!), but doesn't get the sun in the late afternoon so it doesn't often get unbearable in the summer. We don't used it in the winter as I don't want to spend money heating it as we don't need the extra room.

Dobbess

SuzieSue wrote: »

I've had a conservatory with Pilkington Activ Blue for over 5 years and it isn't noisy when it rains, it's actually quite nice listening to the rain hitting the glass (next door's polycarb roof is deafening when it rains).

We use it from late March to late September. Ours is east facing so it heats up in the morning (as long as it's sunny!), but doesn't get the sun in the late afternoon so it doesn't often get unbearable in the summer. We don't used it in the winter as I don't want to spend money heating it as we don't need the extra room.

Thanks. I know you said you don't use it then, but is it particularly cold in the winter? We're thinking of getting a radiator put in there as we want to use it as an extra room all year round. Do you think the Pilkington glass is still suitable for this? Ours would also be East facing and would be almost exactly like the one in the photos that Jamski has put up above.

Does anyone have the lightweight tiles on their conservatory roof? Are they any good?

SuzieSue

Dobbess wrote: »

Thanks. I know you said you don't use it then, but is it particularly cold in the winter? We're thinking of getting a radiator put in there as we want to use it as an extra room all year round. Do you think the Pilkington glass is still suitable for this? Ours would also be East facing and would be almost exactly like the one in the photos that Jamski has put up above.

Does anyone have the lightweight tiles on their conservatory roof? Are they any good?

If you need the extra room then I would definitely go for an extension. If you read some of the other conservatory threads on this forum you will see lots of other people saying the same.


My conservatory is freezing in winter - it is as cold as being outside. I know some people say that they use theirs in the winter, but I would dread to think what their fuel bills are like and also some people don't feel the cold as much as I do, so it might be ok for them.


I am not sure if you can run a radiator off your main CH system in a conservatory so you will need to check that.

SuzieSue

Also, even if your conservatory is east-facing like mine, it will still get hot in the summer although not for as long as a south-facing one would - my conservatory got up to 40 degrees today and it is only just April. When it is sunny in the summer it reaches over 50 degrees, so if you need to use it then it will be very uncomfortable.

sillygoose

SuzieSue wrote: »

Also, even if your conservatory is east-facing like mine, it will still get hot in the summer although not for as long as a south-facing one would - my conservatory got up to 40 degrees today and it is only just April. When it is sunny in the summer it reaches over 50 degrees, so if you need to use it then it will be very uncomfortable.

Woo! mine doesn't get that hot. I have a lot of small upper opening windows and I leave them on the secure trickle vent position all the time which helps.

I wouldn't normally do that with any downstairs window for security reasons but there isn't anything much to nick in it and I have a secure aluminium exterior grade bi-folding door between the house and the conservatory which is closed and locked when we are out.

Does get very hot in summer but opening the double doors largely solves that.

We do use it all year, with the bi-fold doors open it is capable of drawing a fair bit of heat from the house but has powerful underfloor heating too. It uses 2KW but is very efficient due to a huge insulation layer in the floor.

Easily reaches 20C+ room temperature even with snow on the roof. I believe if you extend your house heating system into a conservatory you can run foul of building regulations as the conservatory would then be expected to be as insulated as the house which it can't be.

The underfloor heating mainly runs on a smart programmer that keeps a fairly modest temperature at times we may want to use it allowing us to manually boost when needed and frost protection at other times, the running costs are quite reasonable. Conservatories are quite good at picking up heat from even a feeble winter sun, especially with a glass roof and I am surprised even on a cold day with the heating off to feel quite warm tiles underfoot from near invisible sunlight.

SuzieSue

sillygoose wrote: »

Woo! mine doesn't get that hot. I have a lot of small upper opening windows and I leave them on the secure trickle vent position all the time which helps.

I'm in the south-east, perhaps that makes a difference. Where are you?

sillygoose

SuzieSue wrote: »

I'm in the south-east, perhaps that makes a difference. Where are you?

Midlands. I also have solar glass in the sides too so that helps maybe.

It does get pretty warmish, when not in use we use it as a giant tumble dryer! I have an effective dehumidifier in there and clothes dry pretty quick without the walls or glass ever getting damp. :cool:

jamski07

SuzieSue wrote: »

Also, even if your conservatory is east-facing like mine, it will still get hot in the summer although not for as long as a south-facing one would - my conservatory got up to 40 degrees today and it is only just April. When it is sunny in the summer it reaches over 50 degrees, so if you need to use it then it will be very uncomfortable.

40 today?! That is crazy, what roof/glass do you have?

SuzieSue

jamski07 wrote: »

40 today?! That is crazy, what roof/glass do you have?

Pilkington Activ Blue. It increased from 15 degrees at 8am up to 40 degrees at 1pm and then decreased to around 20 degrees by 5pm. We had very few clouds yesterday.

jamski07

SuzieSue wrote: »

Pilkington Activ Blue. It increased from 15 degrees at 8am up to 40 degrees at 1pm and then decreased to around 20 degrees by 5pm. We had very few clouds yesterday.

Blimey. Have you got any blinds in there? We're having reflective pleated blinds installed on the roof, and venetians on all windows.