Polycarbonate or glass roof?

Kalouh

We currently have a 10mm polycarbonate roof on our South facing conservatory. It's quite old and needs replacing.
I've had a quote for just over £4k for a new 35mm polycarbonate roof and just over £5.5k for a blue active glass roof. We're not planning on staying in the house forever so we're going to originally opt for the polycarbonate roof but now thinking of spending the extra and going for a glass roof. Has anyone got any advice/experience with this?

woodworm001

We almost bought a house last year that had the blue glass in a conservatory and it was very nice, I much preferred the look of it over the polycarb roof we have in our existing place.

For that sought of money though I'd imagine you could get a 'solid' roof put on which would make the place more habitable in the winter I think.

Gloomendoom

Glass is a lot quieter when it rains or hails.

Wouldn't putting a solid roof on a conservatory mean that it would need building regs approval?

sk240

A glass roof would make the room almost unusable in the summer, the polycarbonate actually will insulate the roof so it wont get as hot

Pheiffer

Thermal performance is noted in U-values which is a measure of heat loss or retention. generally speaking the lower the number the better the performance. As a basic guide a high performance double glazed unit coated with a special Low-e coating achieves about a 1.1 U-Val a standard argon filled unit is around 1.6 to 1.8 and a 50mm slab of cellotex(rigid insulation) achieves 0.022 U-Val.
A high performance solar glass(the blue one) performs on par with a 35mm polycarb which sits somewhere between 1 and 1.9 U-Val depending on the product.
I prefer glass as it is quieter in the rain and just feels more elegant
And yes putting a roof on will require building regs approval meaning the thermal performance of the roof walls and floor will need to be assessed and extra insulation may need to be installed depending on the findings of the inspector.

Kalouh

Thanks for the replies so far. In answer to the solid roof question, a solid roof is not an option unfortunately as we need the glass/polycarbonate roof to let light into the rest of the house (it has a bit of a weird layout!).

thescouselander

Having had both I'd say glass every time. If you go for glass I'd recommend getting roof blinds too for temperature control and to reduce glare from the sun.