Icotherm conservatory roof replacement - Experiences?

Chaoscontrol

I'm trying to get quotes to replace a polycarbonate conservatory roof of the house we're buying.

I've got 2 or 3 quotes now. It's an Edwardian roof, 3.3x3.7m. 

I've got quotes for £10.6k (guardian roof), £9k and today one £6-8k (Icotherm). Prices without extras (velux, lights). Do these prices seem fair? 

I'm definitely leaning towards the Icotherm due to price. 

Looking at the website looks like a good thing just like most of the others. But I'd like to ask for first hand experiences. We're expecting to gain use of the room all day all year, as home office, working from home. 

TELLIT01

I can't help with Icotherm but we had a Guardian roof fitted about 18 months ago, approximately the same size and that cost us £8k.  The way material prices have shot up since, £10.6k doesn't seem excessive.

Chaoscontrol

TELLIT01 said:

I can't help with Icotherm but we had a Guardian roof fitted about 18 months ago, approximately the same size and that cost us £8k.  The way material prices have shot up since, £10.6k doesn't seem excessive.

How happy are you with the change? Can you comment? Did it make the room usable all year long? 

womble12345

I would question if just changing a roof would make a conservatory usable all year round, surely the solar gain from all the glass in the walls will still mean its like a greenhouse in the summer and all the glass walls cannot keep heat in as well as a brick wall in the winter. Also does it have central heating so you can use in winter?

Bendy_House

Not sure that's the case, Womble.

Yes, there will still be a lot of solar gain, but that's fine - just open the doors and windows. And you'll be glad of it come winter - on many days it'll be all that's needed to keep it warm.

And the glazing will be 'double', so should be perfectly well insulated, as it is in the rest of the house, or a 'garden' room. Yes, it's unlikely these units used will be as effective as those latest standard DG units for the house, but they should still be 'decent'.

By far the biggest issue with Connie's is the glare and heat from the translucent roof in summer, coupled with the huge heat loss through there in winter, so a proper insulated roof should sort both and make it usable pretty much all year if wished.

Yes, it won't be as easy to heat as a fully insulated room, so an eye needs keeping on heating costs. But there will be many days even in the depths of winter when it'll be usable without additional heat.

TELLIT01

Chaoscontrol said:

TELLIT01 said:

I can't help with Icotherm but we had a Guardian roof fitted about 18 months ago, approximately the same size and that cost us £8k.  The way material prices have shot up since, £10.6k doesn't seem excessive.

How happy are you with the change? Can you comment? Did it make the room usable all year long? 

Very happy.  We still have one section of full height glazing in order to minimise light loss, although now it's done I really don't think a completely solid roof would have been a problem in that respect as our conservatory has a high gable end so gets lots of natural light..  The room is certainly usable all year round but temperature does vary more than the rest of the house.  I think that is inevitable given the amount of glass.  We certainly wouldn't remove the doors between the main house and the 'conservatory' even though we could as it now fully conforms to building regs.  We do have underfloor heating in there but is generally only on if it gets very cold outside  We have a maximum/minimum thermometer in there and the temperature hasn't dropped below mid 50s since the roof was done. 

Chaoscontrol

TELLIT01 said:

Very happy.  We still have one section of full height glazing in order to minimise light loss, although now it's done I really don't think a completely solid roof would have been a problem in that respect as our conservatory has a high gable end so gets lots of natural light..  The room is certainly usable all year round but temperature does vary more than the rest of the house.  I think that is inevitable given the amount of glass.  We certainly wouldn't remove the doors between the main house and the 'conservatory' even though we could as it now fully conforms to building regs.  We do have underfloor heating in there but is generally only on if it gets very cold outside  We have a maximum/minimum thermometer in there and the temperature hasn't dropped below mid 50s since the roof was done. 

Thanks for the detail. Yeah, we will also go for some Velux or fixed glazing on the roof. Not that worried about loss of light tbh, it's just aesthetics. 

Ours is Edwardian, but I'm trying to ask for a Gable End replacement too, as I like the shape more internally. 

Why wouldn't you remove the doors then? 

50s you mean 50 Fahrenheit? 

FreeBear

Chaoscontrol said: Why wouldn't you remove the doors then?

Once you remove the exterior grade doors between the main house and a conservatory, it becomes an "extension". As such, it will then need to comply with building regulations in terms of construction and minimum levels of insulation. Even with a lightweight insulated roof, you will not meet the minimum requirements. Extending the main central heating to add a radiator in the conservatory opens the same can of worms.

If/when you come to sell the property, if the door has been removed, there is a very good chance the surveyor would down value his/her valuation and solicitors could ask some rather awkward questions. In short, leave the door in place. Come the winter, it will reduce the amount of heat being sucked out of the house.

Chaoscontrol

FreeBear said:

Chaoscontrol said: Why wouldn't you remove the doors then?

Once you remove the exterior grade doors between the main house and a conservatory, it becomes an "extension". As such, it will then need to comply with building regulations in terms of construction and minimum levels of insulation. Even with a lightweight insulated roof, you will not meet the minimum requirements. Extending the main central heating to add a radiator in the conservatory opens the same can of worms.

If/when you come to sell the property, if the door has been removed, there is a very good chance the surveyor would down value his/her valuation and solicitors could ask some rather awkward questions. In short, leave the door in place. Come the winter, it will reduce the amount of heat being sucked out of the house.

The thing is that our conservatory already has central heating installed. And the sliding door in between doesn't look like external grade at all. Also the conservatory is also connected to a utility room too, and that does doesn't look external either, at all.

However, the conservatory door looks like external grade. 

So tbh, it looks like it was done already to be prepared for it. 

Our surveyor didn't highlight anything or downvalue. The valuation was exactly what we agreed to pay too. 

We are getting to the enquiries phase now, so I guess our solicitor will ask for certificates of the conservatory/extension.

I have taken a peek to the planning map of the council. It shows the conservatory application on 2003, but it calls it a conservatory, not an extension, but not sure if thats a wording thing. Because then the utility room (which is definitely an extension) doesn't appear at all, which is weird. 

I still want to remove the door. Unless it becomes super costly (which doesn't seem the case given the circumstances). 

DRP

fyi we bought a house last year with a large glass roofed conservatory that was continuous with the house (no exterior grade doors, central heating & kitchen was located within the conservatory), and neither the surveyor , conveyancer nor mortgage company batted an eyelid. So there may not be any issues with buying it. I would 'price in' that you will need to get rid of it in the short to medium term though.

FYI we made the purchase fully aware that the conny would be comically difficult to heat in the summer and too hot/sunny in the summer - and it proved the case despite it being an expensive tinted dg roof! 

(we have just finished building an extension replacement on the same footprint!)

Chaoscontrol

DRP said:

fyi we bought a house last year with a large glass roofed conservatory that was continuous with the house (no exterior grade doors, central heating & kitchen was located within the conservatory), and neither the surveyor , conveyancer nor mortgage company batted an eyelid. So there may not be any issues with buying it. I would 'price in' that you will need to get rid of it in the short to medium term though.

FYI we made the purchase fully aware that the conny would be comically difficult to heat in the summer and too hot/sunny in the summer - and it proved the case despite it being an expensive tinted dg roof! 

(we have just finished building an extension replacement on the same footprint!)

What forced you to get rid of it though? Is the council doing rounds and giving fines?