Solid conservatory roof opinions / experiences

Davesnave

I'll keep mine, thanks. I don't suffer from SAD in winter because of it, and even in the cooler months I get lots of free heat to the house in daytime.

TELLIT01

Our conservatory is used all year round.  We normally have family round on Boxing Day and they head straight for the conservatory.  It does have underfloor heating and I also have a maximum -minimum thermometer which shows that the temperature has never dropped below the mid 50's F even when the underfloor heating is turned down.  Our conservatory has a glass pitched roof so I'm doubtful that the solution described would work for us.

Silvertabby

Our east facing glass roofed conservatory is used all year round as well.  However, it isn't a 'classic' conservatory design - roof apart, it has more (double walled/insulated) brick than glass.

Simplest way of explaining it is that it has one curved/bay window and double patio doors set in floor to roof brick walls.

Davesnave

I thought ours would be unusable without a large extra heat input in winter, but despite the glass roof, we're in there most days. Everything apart from the roof is built to conform to building regs and we can draw on a very economical heat source (free logs) in the main room, so if the radiator is used at all, that will usually be only around Christmas or New Year.

Bottom line: not essential, but very handy and the best bang for the buck to get 30m2 of extra space for breakfasting, lunch, wildlife viewing, drying clothes, bringing on a few seedlings, overwintering a couple of tender plants etc etc .

TELLIT01

Silvertabby said:

Our east facing glass roofed conservatory is used all year round as well.  It isn't a 'classic' conservatory design - roof apart, it has more brick than glass.

Simplest way of explaining it is that it has one curved/bay window and double patio doors set in floor to roof brick walls.

Ours is similar design from the way you describe yours.  Solid walls at each side, dwarf wall to the south with glazing above and double doors to the garden.  Fully glazed pitched roof.  Less glass than a conservatory with glass on 3 walls which probably does help with heat retention.

DD265

Our west-facing conservatory is rubbish for temperature regulation. Saying that, we've only used the air conditioning a handful of times this year and we eat all our meals in there. Last year we ended up buying an electric heater to combine with the air conditioning unit (which does heat as well as the cold) which helped, but it takes about 30 minutes to get bearable in there in the middle of winter. 

As has been mentioned up thread, we don't think we can put a solid roof on it without blocking out too much light into the living room. I have considered blinds as an alternative, but struggled to find any pricing online - I gather it's still not a cheap route to go down. Long term, we want to replace it with a single storey extension so reluctant to spend any significant money on the existing structure.

This year we're planning to get a small table to use in the living room (and the garden in summer), and will only use the conservatory if we need more space. Or potentially to winter plants. It was good for that!

TELLIT01

My next door neighbours had tinted polycarbonate on their conservatory roof and regretted it from Day1 as it made their dining room so dark they always needed the light on, no matter how bright it was outside.

Rosa_Damascena

TELLIT01 said:

My next door neighbours had tinted polycarbonate on their conservatory roof and regretted it from Day1 as it made their dining room so dark they always needed the light on, no matter how bright it was outside.

I am glad you have confirmed this to me.

SWMBO is starting to dig her heels in and insist that the pitched skylights in my new orangery project are opaque because she doesn't want to feel God's light on her face. My concern was a dark and dingy, albeit generous sized room.

Rosa_Damascena

Jeepers_Creepers said:

theonlywayisup said:

Not commenting either way, but for a low pitch lightweight tile you could look at Britmet Lite Slate.

I don't like conservatories. 

Wow - these are nice!

I get what you say about conservatories - there's something unpleasant about the cheapness of the roof in particular and the sheer amount of glass! Not a 'cosy' feel. The strange thing is that a 'garden room' can be very similar in many ways, but the addition of a 'proper' roof - perhaps with skylights - and a break in the wall of glass transforms it.

Garden rooms are fab. Connies should be shot. 

Harsh assessment. I love my conservatory, which is large and south facing but get no use out of it for at least 4 months of the year because it is just too cold. I end up storing junk in there and then have a spring clean as soon as the temperature gets into double figures.

Davesnave

Rosa_Damascena said:

Jeepers_Creepers said:

theonlywayisup said:

Not commenting either way, but for a low pitch lightweight tile you could look at Britmet Lite Slate.

I don't like conservatories. 

Wow - these are nice!

I get what you say about conservatories - there's something unpleasant about the cheapness of the roof in particular and the sheer amount of glass! Not a 'cosy' feel. The strange thing is that a 'garden room' can be very similar in many ways, but the addition of a 'proper' roof - perhaps with skylights - and a break in the wall of glass transforms it.

Garden rooms are fab. Connies should be shot. 

Harsh assessment. I love my conservatory, which is large and south facing but get no use out of it for at least 4 months of the year because it is just too cold. I end up storing junk in there and then have a spring clean as soon as the temperature gets into double figures.

The exact opposite of ours, which is also south facing. We use it less from June to September because it is warmer than we want on hot days when we'd rather be in the north-facing kitchen/diner or outdoors.

I think this shows that construction details make one hell of a difference. We were even in there when the Beast from the East was raging. It wasn't tropical, but maintained a steady 19c with just the wood burner in the living room heating it.