Problematic conservatory- what would you do?

Rosa_Damascena

orangecrush said:

Hi moneysavers,

tl;dr: Has anyone replaced a polycarbonate roof on a south facing conservatory? What did you replace it with and how has it worked out? 

Long version:

I would like some advice on what we could do with our conservatory. Ideally, want to use it all year round for the kids play stuff. It adjoins the open plan kitchen diner.

Currently the roof is polycarbonate. It is on its last legs; lots of condensation, draughty, rattly… Also the room faces south. Over the summer it got to 54 degrees in there regularly. My sons crayons melted. (He wasn’t chuffed as they were dinosaur shaped). In winter it is not significantly warmer than the outside. 

The room just isn’t useable for half the year and has become a dumping ground that makes me sad. 

We want to replace the roof, and have been given a quote of £2500 for new polycarbonate. The same guy quoted £4600 for a blue tinted double glazed roof and £6800 for a lightweight tiled roof. All are affordable, just. 

If we’re going to replace the roof anyway, I think we should upgrade to either glass or lightweight tiles - but I don’t know which. My goal is to mitigate the extremes of temperature  so no more 54 degree or 8 degree days. Logically a lightweight tile roof seems like the best way of achieving that, but I see all the arguments around those roofs being dodgy building control wise, being a fad, negating the point of a conservatory in the first place… In which case that leads us to double glazed roof, but I worry that we’ll still get extremes of temperature in there (maybe just 40 degrees instead of 54). 

We can’t afford an extension as we’re saving for a loft conversion which is our priority. So we’re making the best of it. We bought the house with the conservatory- we would not choose to have one ourselves!

Sorry for the brain dump. Thanks for any input! 

I bit the bullet and did just this. 

We had wonderful sunshine on 1st Feb, and the replacement was ambient. The conservatory would have been in the mid-20s at least.

orangecrush

Rosa_Damascena said:

orangecrush said:

Hi moneysavers,

tl;dr: Has anyone replaced a polycarbonate roof on a south facing conservatory? What did you replace it with and how has it worked out? 

Long version:

I would like some advice on what we could do with our conservatory. Ideally, want to use it all year round for the kids play stuff. It adjoins the open plan kitchen diner.

Currently the roof is polycarbonate. It is on its last legs; lots of condensation, draughty, rattly… Also the room faces south. Over the summer it got to 54 degrees in there regularly. My sons crayons melted. (He wasn’t chuffed as they were dinosaur shaped). In winter it is not significantly warmer than the outside. 

The room just isn’t useable for half the year and has become a dumping ground that makes me sad. 

We want to replace the roof, and have been given a quote of £2500 for new polycarbonate. The same guy quoted £4600 for a blue tinted double glazed roof and £6800 for a lightweight tiled roof. All are affordable, just. 

If we’re going to replace the roof anyway, I think we should upgrade to either glass or lightweight tiles - but I don’t know which. My goal is to mitigate the extremes of temperature  so no more 54 degree or 8 degree days. Logically a lightweight tile roof seems like the best way of achieving that, but I see all the arguments around those roofs being dodgy building control wise, being a fad, negating the point of a conservatory in the first place… In which case that leads us to double glazed roof, but I worry that we’ll still get extremes of temperature in there (maybe just 40 degrees instead of 54). 

We can’t afford an extension as we’re saving for a loft conversion which is our priority. So we’re making the best of it. We bought the house with the conservatory- we would not choose to have one ourselves!

Sorry for the brain dump. Thanks for any input! 

I bit the bullet and did just this. 

We had wonderful sunshine on 1st Feb, and the replacement was ambient. The conservatory would have been in the mid-20s at least.

Ours was almost 30 the other day in the sun! It cooks everything that’s in there. Can’t even use it for plants as they get scorched 🙄 

Great to hear you’re enjoying your new roof! Thanks for your feedback!

orangecrush

Hudsonbutler said:

Our roof now .no regrets. 

That’s beautiful! What a great room! Ours is a fraction of the size (4x2.5m) but is it looked that good I’d be chuffed. Thanks! 

fronty

Hudsonbutler said:

Our roof now .no regrets. 

Wow that looks great! Can I ask what type of roof system did you go for and roughly how much did it cost? I am asking because I've had several quotes to get our victorian conservatory roof replaced, a "Supalite" roof is coming out around £13K (size is 4m x 5m), which seems like an awful lot but I've been quoted £40K to knock down the conservatory and rebuild it as an extension because the foundations aren't deep enough and need re-digging.

We have a glass roof on our conservatory, it's one of those Pilkington Blue ones, it's around 15 years old and we use it all year round, however I have two big radiators in there and I'm looking to increase the thermal efficiency of the roof. It can get a little toasty in the summer but not excessively so, however the blinds are all at the ends of their lives and need replacing. Instead of spending a load of cash on new blinds I'm looking at putting the money towards a solid roof.

I did have another quote which was around £10K but they build the roof using the existing roof structure (rather than replacing it), and they're not answering my questions about LABC approval or structural load testing of the existing conservatory frame - I get the impression the Supalite roof is a more complete package with LABC approval included, I need to double-check.

I am in a bit of a dilemma as it seems like quite a lot of money to put a roof onto a frame that is already 15 years old, but I can't justify the 40K cost and hassle of getting it all completely rebuilt.

KnownMaynard

Our situation was similar to yours. Bought a house with a conservatory, thought 'what a great space for our son to play in'...Then spent a first winter in there with him fine and one of us freezing cold. We already had a radiator in there too so decided to get a tiled roof on instead, those lightweight tapco tiles. It's brilliant now, we have the radiator on really low and it's warm enough in there now, the space is great and we really do make use of it. A local builder did it for us, can't remember exactly but something like £6-7000 with a skylight too. He built a new wooden frame, insulated it...The rest went in a skip along with a few hundred dead insects.

The problem with glass may be how bright it is in there, as well as how hot. I don't need sunglasses indoors with our new room. People will tell you about building control concerns but, like yours, ours was already beyond that due to the radiator in there. 

We also found melted crayons when we cleared it out, definitely wouldn't happen now.

Hudsonbutler

fronty said:

Hudsonbutler said:

Our roof now .no regrets. 

Wow that looks great! Can I ask what type of roof system did you go for and roughly how much did it cost? I am asking because I've had several quotes to get our victorian conservatory roof replaced, a "Supalite" roof is coming out around £13K (size is 4m x 5m), which seems like an awful lot but I've been quoted £40K to knock down the conservatory and rebuild it as an extension because the foundations aren't deep enough and need re-digging.

We have a glass roof on our conservatory, it's one of those Pilkington Blue ones, it's around 15 years old and we use it all year round, however I have two big radiators in there and I'm looking to increase the thermal efficiency of the roof. It can get a little toasty in the summer but not excessively so, however the blinds are all at the ends of their lives and need replacing. Instead of spending a load of cash on new blinds I'm looking at putting the money towards a solid roof.

I did have another quote which was around £10K but they build the roof using the existing roof structure (rather than replacing it), and they're not answering my questions about LABC approval or structural load testing of the existing conservatory frame - I get the impression the Supalite roof is a more complete package with LABC approval included, I need to double-check.

I am in a bit of a dilemma as it seems like quite a lot of money to put a roof onto a frame that is already 15 years old, but I can't justify the 40K cost and hassle of getting it all completely rebuilt.

We had guardianroof,I have no affiliation with the company. 
We also had a pilkington blue glass roof, around 10 years old. 
I had various quotes from £15k to £20k, but they wanted to replace the whole roof. Our roof came in at roughly £14k, this conservatory is 9m x approx 3. There are 2 big radiators either side of the doors. They removed all the rubbish, it took around 7 days to complete, lots of tea, coffee and biscuits for the lads, they worked in wind and rain and made sure it was water tight over the first night, this was November 2020.
There was no problem with bc .
I too contemplated an extension but I suffered a heart attack and decided to go for this as I'm one of those people who doesn't mind getting in and working, I would have done a lot of the labour, both my sons are in the trade so would not have cost too much, at the time we were looking at least £30-£35k.
I know some people are not in favour of these rooves, but from my own experience and opinion it's the best thing we ever did, much warmer in winter and a lot cooler in summer. 
We know a few people who have had this done with polycarbonate rooves and had no regrets .

DRP

Just in case it is relevant, our conservatory was built by previous owners in c2002. A bit of investigation has shown that the foundations aare 75cm deep and about 60cm wide, so will be sufficient to build an extension on once we demolish to DPC level.

This will save a fair bit of £££ on groundworks making the build achievable for us - it might be worth checking this, OP

Rosa_Damascena

DRP said:

Just in case it is relevant, our conservatory was built by previous owners in c2002. A bit of investigation has shown that the foundations aare 75cm deep and about 60cm wide, so will be sufficient to build an extension on once we demolish to DPC level.

This will save a fair bit of £££ on groundworks making the build achievable for us - it might be worth checking this, OP

Doesn't the required depth depend on its surrounds and the soil type? So the dimensions might not be applicable to the OP's situation?

DRP

Yes local conditions are important.

I am saying my foundations were built well enough to not need removing and replacing.

This might also be the case for the OP.

fronty

I took a picture of the foundations when the conservatory was built and before the concrete was poured, you can see 7 courses of house bricks down to the base of the foundations, so I make that 525mm, and I'm sure I read that foundations for extensions should normally be around 1000mm, so I think new foundations will be needed in my case.