Conservatory - Glass Roof

ShowMeTheDough

Hi,

I have a south facing conservatory which is connected to the living room. The living room itself is particularly dark during the day because of the conservatory, which currently still has the original polycarbonate roof fitted from many years back. 

I have been told that a glazed roof/tinted glazed roof would help with increasing the amount of light coming through, and if I were to opt for one with solar control properties, it would be far less like an oven in the summer as a bonus. 

Has anyone had their conservatory plastic roof replaced with a glazed one, with the main reason being to improve light into an adjoining room? If so, did you experience much of an improvement? I know this is not normally the main reason for replacing the roof, so I'd be keen to hear if anyone has had good results from doing this before I commit to what would likely be a £4k - £5k job. 

Any advice much appreciated.

Jeepers_Creepers

When you say the current roof is 'polycarbonate', do you mean the translucent type of standard connie roof or an opaque covering?

ShowMeTheDough

Jeepers_Creepers said:

When you say the current roof is 'polycarbonate', do you mean the translucent type of standard connie roof or an opaque covering?

The former. Sorry, should have been more clear on that. 

Silvertabby

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

ShowMeTheDough

Silvertabby said:

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

I have to say, I was quite surprised when I started getting quotes and they were as much as they are! It does seem a lot for a glass roof on what is a relatively modest sized conservatory (10m2 floor area ish).

Perhaps I'll also explore some 'full replacement' options for comparison. 

Thanks. 

Silvertabby

ShowMeTheDough said:

Silvertabby said:

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

I have to say, I was quite surprised when I started getting quotes and they were as much as they are! It does seem a lot for a glass roof on what is a relatively modest sized conservatory (10m2 floor area ish).

Perhaps I'll also explore some 'full replacement' options for comparison. 

Thanks. 

When we had the dwarf wall and windows all way round, we kept the side blinds down permanently for privacy.  When discussing our options, the first suggestion was to replace that wall with brick, then fit new windows and doors on the other sides.

That appealed, that then I realised that I would have 3 types of brick - the house, the original dwarf wall, and the new wall.  Took a deep breath and asked for a quote for all new bar the foundations (which are very substantial for a conservatory).

We ended up with brick floor to roof on one side, brick floor to roof columns on each side of a large triple window (on dwarf wall) and brick floor to roof columns on each side of the large French doors. 

The glass roof lets in plenty of light, and the extra brick keeps the whole thing warmer in winter. 

And as an added bonus - the cost of 3 roman blinds for the windows plus full length curtains for the doors was considerably less than the cost of 12 made to measure roman blinds for a conventional conservatory !

Rosa_Damascena

Silvertabby said:

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

This is just what I needed to know, thank you ST! Am going to take down my existing conservatory - which is wonderfully roasting in the summer and half a junk room between November - February! - and turn into an orangery. There will be a 3m x 2m lantern embedded into the flat roof and I am looking forward to having a room we can use year-round.

Silvertabby

Rosa_Damascena said:

Silvertabby said:

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

This is just what I needed to know, thank you ST! Am going to take down my existing conservatory - which is wonderfully roasting in the summer and half a junk room between November - February! - and turn into an orangery. There will be a 3m x 2m lantern embedded into the flat roof and I am looking forward to having a room we can use year-round.

You won't regret it.  However, before you start, do be sure that your foundations are up to the job as they are not all built to the same standards.

In our case, they were dug out by a mini digger and a substantial amount of hardcore and cement was laid.  This was then left to properly set before the actual building began.  We've never had any problems with movement, cracking or pulling away from the house, with either the old or new conservatories.  

On the other hand, neighbours had a conservatory built by 'one of the usual suspects'  This took about a week from start to finish - and they still have a problem with 'settling', which has caused the conservatory to pull away from the house.

TELLIT01

Silvertabby said:

You won't regret it.  However, before you start, do be sure that your foundations are up to the job as they are not all built to the same standards.

It's not just the strength of the footing which need checking.  Polycarbonate is much lighter than glass so the entire roof framework, and more, may need replacing.  Regarding the cost of the glass, when we needed a 8 ft by 2 1/2 ft pane replacing we were quoted around £400.  That was all singing, all dancing, self clean, reflective coat and gas filled unit.

Rosa_Damascena

Silvertabby said:

Rosa_Damascena said:

Silvertabby said:

We did this with our east facing conservatory a while ago and it was worth every penny.  We use the conservatory all year round, and the adjoining dining room is certainly lighter.

However, we didn't stop at the roof.  The cost was going to be almost £5K just to change the roof, which we thought was a lot for a 15 year old basic (albeit well built ) standard dwarf wall all round conservatory.

To cut a long story short, we had the whole lot knocked down to foundation level and re-built as what I can only describe as a hybrid conservatory/orangery (more brick than glass).   That cost £9K, including the tinted double glazed glass roof.

This is just what I needed to know, thank you ST! Am going to take down my existing conservatory - which is wonderfully roasting in the summer and half a junk room between November - February! - and turn into an orangery. There will be a 3m x 2m lantern embedded into the flat roof and I am looking forward to having a room we can use year-round.

You won't regret it.  However, before you start, do be sure that your foundations are up to the job as they are not all built to the same standards.

In our case, they were dug out by a mini digger and a substantial amount of hardcore and cement was laid.  This was then left to properly set before the actual building began.  We've never had any problems with movement, cracking or pulling away from the house, with either the old or new conservatories.  

On the other hand, neighbours had a conservatory built by 'one of the usual suspects'  This took about a week from start to finish - and they still have a problem with 'settling', which has caused the conservatory to pull away from the house.

Thanks, this is all going to be done properly to accommodate a further storey above if necessary - going down 1.2-1.4 metres. Sometimes just got to bite the bullet on these things, cutting corners now will be an expensive mistake.

Silvertabby

TELLIT01 said:

Silvertabby said:

You won't regret it.  However, before you start, do be sure that your foundations are up to the job as they are not all built to the same standards.

It's not just the strength of the footing which need checking.  Polycarbonate is much lighter than glass so the entire roof framework, and more, may need replacing.  Regarding the cost of the glass, when we needed a 8 ft by 2 1/2 ft pane replacing we were quoted around £400.  That was all singing, all dancing, self clean, reflective coat and gas filled unit.

Yes, complete new roof.  In our case, much of the weight is supported by the full height brick walls - but we still had a brace bar fitted.

Mind you, only a man could use the words 'self' and 'clean' in the same sentence!  Mr S still has to give ours the odd going over to remove bird droppings and dust.