Plastic Roof in Conservatory

oligopoly

Hi all. In my conservatory we have these interlocking plastic sheets as the roof. On a a few occasions since moving in last September the heavy rain has dripped through the gaps in between. Not a huge amount but collecting puddles. Last night we had more come through past old silicone where the sheets join the vertical plastic UPVC.

Two questions I'd like answered:

1. What's the quickest way to waterproof the existing structure? Strip the existing silicone and apply fresh? Can I also apply (clear) silicone to the gaps between the sheeting or could that cause any problems?

2. Like most, the conservatory is freezing in winter and (presumably) boiling in summer. Can anyone give me a rough quote for replacing this sheeting with something more substantial. I appreciate the cost depends on many factors but I'm just interested in whether it's likely to be £200 / £1,000 / £5,000. The room is 4.35m x 3.14m...

DominicH

I had a quote many years ago (maybe eight?) to replace a polycarbonate roof with one of those tile-effect ones. This was in Greater London, so maybe more expensive, but it was something like £6 or £7K. I declined, and fitted some reflective strips myself. Doesn't help with the cold, but does reduce the furnace effect in summer.

missile

There is very little run on that roof and that may be the cause of your leaking.

I doubt the design of that conservatory would be strong enough to support any increase in weight.

TheCyclingProgrammer

A new roof would probably cost thousands.

I suspect trying to fix the leaks with silicone would be a bodge that won't last.

You might want to see if you can get quotes to replace the panels with new ones if they are damaged - you can have special UV inserts put into them to reflect away some of the glare and most of the UV light.

We have glass in our conservatory roof and had UV film applied - I don't know if its made much difference to the temperatures in winter (ours is open to the kitchen so it doesn't get freezing in winter) but it did reduce temperatures by about 10 degrees in the Summer - it still gets hot but it was over 40C on the hottest days last year before the film was installed (no good as we use it as a playroom) and reduces the affects of UV light (which can fade things quickly) and glare. Ours is South-West facing though. AFAIK these polycarbonate inserts do the same job.

Davesnave

To clarify, are the sheets 4.35m or 3.14m long? I imagine it's 3.14m but just thought I'd check.

It would make a difference if they were longer.

oligopoly

Davesnave wrote: »

To clarify, are the sheets 4.35m or 3.14m long? I think it would make a difference.

The sheets would be 3.14m long

Davesnave

OK, longer sheets would make it difficult, if not impossible to fit glass, due to the weight and flexing.

Assuming the windows and other fixings could take the weight, a glass roof would be several thousand £, but I can't be more precise. Pricing in the conservatory industry is pretty fluid, and usually vague.

cajef

We replaced the polycarbonate roof on our 3.5 x 3 m conservatory twelve months ago by the company that installed it for us, we had an argon filled blue tinted glass roof installed for £1800.

They had to replace the complete roof as the panels were a different thickness and weight

oligopoly

cajef wrote: »

We replaced the polycarbonate roof on our 3.5 x 3 m conservatory twelve months ago by the company that installed it for us, we had an argon filled blue tinted glass roof installed for £1800.

They had to replace the complete roof as the panels were a different thickness and weight

OK so sounds like a couple of grand as a ball-park for the glass you went for. Does the argon make much difference in terms of heat? Any other observations?

Silvertabby

We wanted to change our polycarbonate (16 year old) conservatory roof for glass, but the cost would have been over over £4K. To cut a long story short, we had the whole shebang knocked down to foundation level and rebuilt as a hybrid conservatory/orangery. Including the tinted roof, that came out at just over £9K.

We use it all year round and don't have a problem with excessive cold/heat. It's east facing, if that's any help.

cajef

Ours is not a flat roof it is what they call an Edwardian pitched roof shape, and the conservatory is north facing but we get the sun early morning and evening, the roof gets sun on it all day as we live in a bungalow.

There reasons for changing it were because we found it difficult to keep clean whereas the glass roof has self cleaning glass which we have found to be really effective though obviously the UPVC still needs cleaning a couple to times as year, the roof was very noisy in heavy rain the glass is much quieter and the big plus for us it is clear you have a view directly above, the sealed argon units with reflective glass are much better than polycarbonate both for cool in summer and warmth in winter.

We use the conservatory all year round with good ventilation we don't find it too hot in summer and we have heating in winter when needed, granted we do live in a mild area of the country but we don't find it expensive to heat but then we are lucky in that we can afford the cost without any undue hardship.