Cheaply insulating a conservatory

twopenny

Same thought. I had thick curtains where the problem was temporary but in this case it would block out the light and draw draught in from the unheated outbuilding.
My first thought was the tiled floor. That will hold the cold.
It's very unpopular but this winter I used a nice wool rug that had been destined for the charity shop and its made a lot of difference to the temperature. I've been able to turn the heating down as notch.
Can quickly go away in summer or if anyone's coming i want to impress.
Stayed clean for the few months too but I cook and bake.

orangecrush

TELLIT01 said:

orangecrush said:

We have an icky polycarbonate conservatory too! We have sliding doors between it and the kitchen, and they make a huge difference to the cold (and heat!) and don’t make any difference to the light that comes through.

We’re going to replace the conservatory roof with a lightweight tiled version this summer, at which point the sliding doors will come out, but we’ll be keeping them in case we need to add them back 😁

I wouldn't take the doors out initially.  Go through the winter months leaving the door open to see what the temperature difference is in the adjoining room with them open and closed.  We have a lightweight insulated roof and it certainly makes a big difference, but I still really feel it if the door to the conservatory is open on a cold day (the missus doesn't seem to notice as much).  Our conservatory has solid walls on 2 sides, windows only at high level on the 3rd and only fully glazed on one side.  If yours is more open than that, heat loss is going to be even greater.

Thank you! That’s a great idea, we’ll definitely do that. Ours is solid wall on one side, half brick on the other two. Our main problem with it is the heat rather than cold, it’s in a south facing garden so it gets to 50+ degrees regularly in the summer and over 30 on occasion in winter. 

Definitely will keep the doors for a while though - it’s going to be a playroom for the kids so actually the doors are useful for containment of noise and drama 😂

Rosa_Damascena

What aspect is the conservatory facing, OP?

I ask because you will need to consider this when you replace it with a permanent structure. It might be freezing in the morning but does it not warm up fast with a bit of sun? Factor this into the radiators installed into your new build.

RedFraggle

They might have taken the doors off due to having a gas cooker/hob installation. I think the gas regs require a door or window that opens directly to the outside; was mentioned to me when I lived in a house where the kitchen had a breakfast room bolted on. I was told I couldn't ever put a door on it unless I swapped the hob to being electric. 

greensalad

Can anyone advise how easy it is to fit a sliding door that is slightly too small for the aperture? I am finding lots on eBay for cheap that are obviously not exactly right but only a little off. Would it be possible to put some "filler" pieces or something in?

greensalad

greenface2 said:

what about t hick curtain on the inside wall

Already a pair of thermals covering the whole back window. Doesn't seem to make a bit of difference. Seems most of the heat escapes through the roof.

greensalad

RedFraggle said:

They might have taken the doors off due to having a gas cooker/hob installation. I think the gas regs require a door or window that opens directly to the outside; was mentioned to me when I lived in a house where the kitchen had a breakfast room bolted on. I was told I couldn't ever put a door on it unless I swapped the hob to being electric. 

Hmm interesting. The gas hob predates the removal of the door though. The kitchen was put in by the owner two-previous to us, including the cooker. The owner previous to us took the door out. The kitchen wasn't changed during their tenancy.

greensalad

Rosa_Damascena said:

What aspect is the conservatory facing, OP?

I ask because you will need to consider this when you replace it with a permanent structure. It might be freezing in the morning but does it not warm up fast with a bit of sun? Factor this into the radiators installed into your new build.

North east. Doesn't warm up much from what we've seen. We visited the house in July & August when we viewed and it was perfectly fine but not madly hot.

Dream is a pair of bifolds + lantern roof. The room gets a nice amount of flat light throughout the day. 

Bendy_House

greensalad said:

Can anyone advise how easy it is to fit a sliding door that is slightly too small for the aperture? I am finding lots on eBay for cheap that are obviously not exactly right but only a little off. Would it be possible to put some "filler" pieces or something in?

Peasy as a squeazy.

How it's tackled depends on the actual gap you need to fill, whether it'll take an actual timber frame, or whether we are talking about, say, less than 10mm all around.

But, peasy. We will guide you

What are the dims of the opening, and what sorts of door sizes are you finding?