Problematic conservatory- what would you do?

fronty

KnownMaynard said:

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. 

Yes one thing I am concerned about is the amount of light we will lose, the adjoining dining room is already quite dark so worried that with a warm roof on it might get really dark. I did think about having a velux type window added, but then I thought this might compromise the thermal efficiency, which is the main reason for getting the existing glass roof replaced in the first place.

Good point about the radiator. Not sure I will ever be compliant in that case, unsure what sort of hassle this will cause if I ever sell the house.

Bendy_House

fronty said:

Yes one thing I am concerned about is the amount of light we will lose, the adjoining dining room is already quite dark so worried that with a warm roof on it might get really dark. I did think about having a velux type window added, but then I thought this might compromise the thermal efficiency, which is the main reason for getting the existing glass roof replaced in the first place.

I wouldn't worry about any negative insulating effect from one or two Velux windows - even if there is any, it'll be very small and will pale against the benefits of light and - very likely - solar gain.

orangecrush

Updating this in case anyone would like to know what we did!

We went ahead with the lightweight tile roof.  It cost around £8k for a 2.5x4m conservatory.  It has made a dramatic difference.  The room is now usable all year round, but we still take additional measures to manage the climate in there:  we have lightweight voile curtains to provide a bit of shade on sunny but cool days, and heavyweight insulated blackout curtains that really help keeping the temperature manageable in both summer and winter.  We also put thermal underlay down under the new flooring.  At some point we will get the cavity walls insulated too, but we're having a nightmare getting anyone through the energy company to come and do it.

In hindsight, I think we should have replaced the conservatory windows at the same time, as they are pretty old, but the cost might not have been proportional to the benefit... so I'm not totally sure we wouldn't have made the same decision to leave them.  

We should also have taken up the floor and put under-floor insulation down, but having a loft conversion going on at the same time I couldn't take any more chaos!  

Hope this helps anyone thinking about the same problem.