Conservatory v extension

YoungBlueEyes

Here’s a couple of pics of the back of my house. One from a distance, one close up so you see the tall wall rad and light+fan combo. Not great pics cos it’s dreich here, but hopefully good enough to see. The thing itself seems quite good to me (not an expert), and it’ll be a shame to take it down. But an extension across the back would be much better space wise, although appreciably dearer. 

grumbler

YoungBlueEyes said:

The thing itself seems quite good to me

Why? Costs a fortune to heat in winter*, too hot in summer  and, possibly for this reason, used mainly as a storage place.
* if the 'tall wall rad' is connected to CH, I think this is against building regulations.

YoungBlueEyes

The rad and the light are independent, and no discernible way to turn either of them on (?!)

By quite good I meant a decent construction, not like the ones that are basically an all plastic gig that’s been glued to your house. 

Eldi_Dos

Looks good to me, live with it a few seasons to see how to get the best out of it according to season.Once you have got your decorating done and it cleared out that would be a lovely space to have the table set for Christmas dinner.One area that will need to be kept on top of is moss buildup on roof and gutter areas.

If you have never had decking before it is important to keep it moss free , the combination of moss, damp or frost can be dangerous.

YoungBlueEyes

Not had decking before (or new carpets, or a conservatory, yous must think I’m a right troglodyte ha haa!)

Yeah it is a slippery nightmare, I’ve bought bags of salty grit to scatter over it once it’s had a bloody good sweeping to help a bit. It’ll be coming up next year when we start the garden works. 

Moss on the con roof is being tackled by the window cleaner on his next visit. 

It’s a fine line of ‘how much do I need to do to keep it safe and usable’ versus ‘spending too much on it when the whole lot is prolly going in 6 months’

stuart45

It's probably structurally sound, although the Bricklayers would benefit from reading this book 9780091278717 - Brickwork Bonding Problems and Solutions by Nash, W G - AbeBooks

Eldi_Dos

A decking brush and a bit of curling practice will soon sort that out and will not cost much in the grand scheme of things.

YoungBlueEyes

It’s all at the notional stage atm. Poss extension would come out about as far as the conservatory, decking up and some slabs down. Then it’s the actual garden. 

The decking itself was probably beautiful when it was done, but nobody bothered with preservation or maintenance, and now it’s beyond the beyonds I think. A real waste. 

Bendy_House

The only obvious reason I'd knock that down to replace it with a proper extension is for additional space. First, I'd then work out just how much extra space the £40k+ extension would buy me. (And that figure is now probably stupidly cheap = fantasy).

You can transform what you have (ceiling and wall insulation) for a couple of £k.

And you can always add to that connie, extending out to the left (as in the photo), using similar materials, say, where that balustrade is.

Anyhoo, what I would personally be considering, should I decide to keep the existing, is: insulate the roof, either leaving the existing poly there as the weatherproof outer covering, or else replacing it with lightweight tile-cladding to near-match the rest of the house, and adding insulated p'board to the inside of the dwarf walls which should make the whole connie-room all-year usable.

Then a look at the aesthetics. It currently looks like - what do you call them? - oh yes, a conservatory. With, say, a 'tiled' roof, and anthracite windows, or sage green or whateves, coupled with a matching/contrasting decking, you could make it look like a proper extension/garden room to/part of the house.

Zinsser Allcoat will change the PVC colour effectively and near-permanently, and Ronseal Decking Rejuvenating paint will ditto the decking.

Just used both these products over the past year, and was very impressed with both.

Zinsser Allcoat, mini-foam-rollered, on to plastic bumpers, made it look like new.

Ronseal Deck Restore/Rescue paint used to transform some very dodgy decking.

If the existing decking is just about rescueable, and you are happy with the layout and wish to preserve it for another decade, then this is what I did, seems to be working, but comes with no guarantee...

1) Wait until Summer - long period of warm dry weather. Let it become bone dry.

2) Pressure-wash the decking. Go over it with a wire brush if needed. Get it clean. (My gawd - that took me days to get rid of old coatings...)

3) Let it become bone dry.

4) Spray it with Everbuild Lumberjack Triple-action wood preserver, £85 for a 25L drum, focussing on the decking ends, joints, joist gaps, screws, but wetting it all.

5) Let it become bone dry.

6) IF the decking is slightly dodgy - has signs of the start of rot (as mine did) - then - at your own risk - you can brush on Everbuild 406 Stabilising solution. I've searched and searched, but find no reference to using this on timber, but why shouldn't it work? All I can say is, I used this, it soaks in really well, it dries, and the subsequent application of Ronseal Decking Paint was SOOOO much better on to these surfaces (I know, because I came across a few balustrade rails that I hadn't done, and it was like trying to paint on to chalk in comparison. And, so far, the Ronseal seems to be superbly adhered to the 406'd timber. Many reviews mention that this decking paint can peel off, so that was another reason for the Stab.)

Decking restorative paint comes in many colours, such as Slate and Charcoal. It all depends on the overall chosen scheme. 'Sage' windows and charcoal balustrade could look very tasty. Possibly.

Anyhoo, the main Q, I'd suggest is - 'Yes, a new extension will be far superior and larger, but at what cost? Is it worth it, given there is already a room there?'

YoungBlueEyes

Thanks for your detailed reply Bendy. 

I’m not sure the decking can be saved by painting anything on it. It’s spongy and sinky in places and there’s parts I don’t/daren’t walk on. Poss it’s whatever’s underneath holding it up that’s the issue… couldn’t tell ya cos none of the holes are big enough to see clearly through. 

It’s really the kitchen that’s too small. (Window on left of con in 2nd pic). There’s nothing you can do to the con that’ll improve the kitchen size, hence the notion of an extension across the whole back wall. 

Another thought was leave the con up (after improvements), and extend the kitchen internally to make a kitchen diner. I like that idea personally, and would poss be a bit cheaper (?), but it would still be major works cos the cooker is on the wall that would be taken out to make a kitchen diner. 

@Eldi_Dos post was a good point. We’ve only been here a few weeks, no idea what the con is like in different seasons. Himself is all for a full width extension, I like the kitchen diner + improved con. Both are gonna be spendy…..

TELLIT01

A full width extension would obviously be more usable that that conservatory, but at a price.  Budget FROM £2.5k per square metre for the basic building with decoration, electrics etc and add for stuff like flooring, kitchen etc.