Keeping conservatory cool - UV film?

TheCyclingProgrammer

The house we bought last year has a south facing conservatory. It's not too bad outside of summer and doesn't loose too much heat in winter but on hot sunny summer days, especially when there are clear skies, it gets unbearably hot and the glare means you need sunglasses on.

I know it's a well known problem but we'd still like to try and make the best of a bad situation. We can't afford to have it removed or the roof replaced or any other drastic measure.

We mainly use it as a playroom and are in the process of doing it up a bit so it's a bit better organised for our daughter to play in.

I've looked into various solutions to this problem and it seems there is no quick fix. We are considering three options:

1. Just keep doors and windows open and use a decent fan for air circulation.

2. UV solar film applied to the roof panels (glass) plus blinds for the side windows if necessary.

3. DIY "sails".

From what I've read bespoke fitted sails are expensive and do little to reduce heat so at most I'd only be looking at a DIY solution though it seems this might only really reduce glare.

UV film sounds like a good idea but does it actually work? I've found something like this that can be applied DIY or we can pay to have it applied:
http://www.windowfilm.co.uk/buy-online/window-film-by-the-metre/conservatory/supertint-glass

I guess the only proper way to reduce heat effectively is to stop sunlight entering from the outside but I haven't found any cost effective solution for this.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Got a quote from the above UV film: £544 supplied and fitted including 10 year guarantee.

Alternatively I can buy the film for about £130.

£400 fitting seems a bit much to me!

Grenage

It's probably tricky to install well, but for £400 saved, I'm sure it's worth the hassle!

TheCyclingProgrammer

Grenage wrote: »

It's probably tricky to install well, but for £400 saved, I'm sure it's worth the hassle!

I'm leaning that way (second quote I've had was similar) though I bet it's a !!!!!! to install (video makes it look easy).

Ectophile

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

Got a quote from the above UV film: £544 supplied and fitted including 10 year guarantee.

Alternatively I can buy the film for about £130.

£400 fitting seems a bit much to me!

I suspect when you find out how hard it is to apply to the roof of a conservatory, you'll realise why they charge so much.

TheCyclingProgrammer

So the question is, has anyone used this and does it actually do the job?

tonyh66

its probably not as difficult to install as you think, buy a sheet of A4 size and have a try.