‘Garden Room’ Extension - where to start?

Anoneemoose

Evening all,

I’m just looking for advice on how to go about this process. We’ve had lots of work done in the house over the years (we’ve got a reliable joiner, plasterer, electrician, roofer - could do with a new plumber as ours retired) but we’ve never had a ‘builder’. We want to add an additional room downstairs, sort of a conservatory but a with a proper roof and structure to support that (that’s the ‘garden room’ reference, please advise if it’s called something else). 

Anyway, as I say we’ve never had a builder and we just don’t know where to start looking for one and what sort of things we should be asking for/looking for in terms of making sure they’re reliable and we don’t lose out money wise. (I’ve probably watched too many episodes of Cowboy Builders). 

Can anyone offer any tips please?

Thanks in advance. 

HampshireH

So we are having this done this summer.

We have used a local windows/conservatory company who genuinely do "sun rooms" which is an extension under permitted development. They have a fantastic reputation locally and they came in at the best price as well. They have submitted all paperwork efficiently and so far we cannot fault them.

I would suggest that word of mouth locally is the best you can get in terms of reviews. 

Anoneemoose

HampshireH said:

So we are having this done this summer.

We have used a local windows/conservatory company who genuinely do "sun rooms" which is an extension under permitted development. They have a fantastic reputation locally and they came in at the best price as well. They have submitted all paperwork efficiently and so far we cannot fault them.

I would suggest that word of mouth locally is the best you can get in terms of reviews. 

Thank you for sharing. We also have a reliable window company that we’ve used in the past so I’ll ask him if they do it. I did look at their website and it just looked like normal conservatives but he might be able to suggest something. 

Davesnave

Anoneemoose said:

HampshireH said:

So we are having this done this summer.

We have used a local windows/conservatory company who genuinely do "sun rooms" which is an extension under permitted development. They have a fantastic reputation locally and they came in at the best price as well. They have submitted all paperwork efficiently and so far we cannot fault them.

I would suggest that word of mouth locally is the best you can get in terms of reviews. 

  I did look at their website and it just looked like normal conservatives but he might be able to suggest something. 

I'd recommend Desmond Swayne, or Charles Walker. Most of the rest are insufferable wimps with lefty leanings. As for Boris, he just waffles and goes with the flow; you certainly won't get a detailed plan out of him!

womble12345

I always thought a garden room was one of those 'posh sheds' people put in their garden to gain extra space. I think what you are talking abut may be called an 'orangery'.

Anoneemoose

womble12345 said:

I always thought a garden room was one of those 'posh sheds' people put in their garden to gain extra space. I think what you are talking abut may be called an 'orangery'.

Yes, that’s probably it, thank you! I knew I’d have it wrong. 

Davesnave

womble12345 said:

I always thought a garden room was one of those 'posh sheds' people put in their garden to gain extra space. I think what you are talking abut may be called an 'orangery'.

Not always, but it can be. A proper garden room on a house should have a solid and substantial roof, perhaps with glass sections and/or roof lights, and be built to building regulation standards. It's a proper extension. Orangeries are typically conservatory-based and not necessarily able to meet required BR values for thermal conductivity, or foundation size etc.

Of course, it's not impossible to build a conservatory well, but the pricing and practises of conservatory companies tend to mitigate against that, as I found to my cost. Fortunately, I only allowed the company to build the superstructure; i.e. from the walls up, and they still managed to get it wrong. My conservatory doesn't meet BR standards for heat retention, but it cost a lot less than an extension and I'm OK with that especially as the room behind needs light. Friends wrecked their living space by building a north-facing garden room along the back of their bungalow and now live in Stygian gloom.

Edited to add: builders built the walls of my conservatory which means the walls and floors are insulated to housing standard. The roof is the weakest link thermal ly, but it's still an easy space to heat if we want to.

TELLIT01

My first step would be to speak to one or more of your trusted tradespeople to see if they can recommend anybody.  A full solid roof on any form of extension will reduce the light into the rooms off it, but that can be mitigated by having some glazed panels in the roof, and the walls.

koalakoala

In Scotland a conservatory has glazed roof, a fully tiled proper roof is classed as a sunroom

Rosa_Damascena

My conservatory has come down and although had dwarf walls, I can now see how pathetic the footings were. They have been replaced by 1.2m foundations.

Davesnave

Rosa_Damascena said:

My conservatory has come down and although had dwarf walls, I can now see how pathetic the footings were. They have been replaced by 1.2m foundations.

They were adequate for what was there, assuming it didn't  sink away from the house, but a tiled or slated roof and the attendant timbers would place a much higher loading on foundations. 1200mm is very impressive, unless you're on something like London clay.