Conservatory Replacement

webby7

Hi All,

Happy New Year.

We've got a conservatory on the back of our house that's around 15 years old, that comes off the back of the kitchen/diner.  It's the usual scenario with conservatories, ie cold in the winter, hot in the summer and leaking in the corner, due to a problem with the guttering.

Our kitchen/diner isn't that large and currently has kitchen cabinets and a small round table.

We need to do something with the conservatory, and at the moment are thinking either:

1. fix the leaking problem
2. apply a new roof
3. knock down the conservatory down and extend the kitchen/diner 

With the 3rd option, which is currently our favourite option, we're thinking of either a:

1. bricks/mortar single story extension
2. Hup system extension

We've got a new patio, which is only a couple of years old and are concerned that a bricks/mortar replacement would result in plenty of damage, plus possibly needing to redo the patio.  We're slowly coming round to the idea of the Hup/Ultraframe extension, but can't find too much in the way of independent information about it, and would like to better understand the following:

• Does anyone have any experience with Hup/Ultraframe of another SIP product?
• Is planning permission required?  Ours is likely to only be 3m x 3m, so not very large.
• What happens at resale?
• Are they really as energy efficient as they're making out?
• Give, it's mostly made from wood and pre-fabricated, is there likely to be issues with damp/rotting?
• I believe that there have been 17,000 Hups installations in the last few years, in the UK, but is anyone aware of how many installations particular resellers have done?

Basically, any information or experiences that anyone has got, would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks, in advance.

moneysaver1978

No experience in extensions but I did look extensively into extensions for both front and the back. I found conflicting reports with hup - there's very little difference in materials and cost but you are restricted by the installers familar with the system (you have more choice if you get quotes for "traditional" brick-based extensions).

Re planning permissions - it greatly depends on your council. Are there other houses in your street with back extensions? If so, ask them or check your local council planning applications online.

Are you planning to pipe in heating from the house to the new extension?

webby7

Yes, the Hup stuff does get some conflicting reports, esp on Google reviews.  A lot of the negative comments appear to be related to installers.  I guess it's no different (theoretically) to a company selling bricks/windows/doors/insulation and a builder making a mess of it all.

I'm trying to get some information from Hup in relation to the number of installations their installers have completed, but nothing as yet.  We've got 3 companies who Hup has shared our details with; 2 look like double glazing/conservatory companies, whereas the third is more of a builder/construction company that also does Hup.  I have more faith in this last one that they'll give a balanced view.

With regards to the heating question.  We've got 2 rads at the back of the house that are on the walls that'll form the first part of the small extension.  I'm hoping that'll be sufficient and if not, we possibly look to increase the size of the rads... boiler permitting.  At the moment, these 2 rads are right under the roof void at the end of the kitchen, so suspect a lot of their heat is escaping - hard to describe, but hopefully that makes sense.

  Lots more questions where it comes to Hup, but maybe that's because it's new. 

TELLIT01

I will confess to being very much 'old school' when it comes to building construction.  I would go the route of standard construction over any radically new method.  Unless it had been tried and tested in a UK environment for a couple of decades I wouldn't go with 'new' methods.  Even conventionally constructed new builds seem to suffer from poor workmanship.  That's probably the biggest hurdle to cross whichever option is taken - quality of the work.

Albermarle

 We've got 3 companies who Hup has shared our details with; 2 look like double glazing/conservatory companies, whereas the third is more of a builder/construction company that also does Hup

HUP is a tradename used by Ultraframe, who are a major conservatory supplier. So it is not surprising that it is being promoted by double glazing/conservatory companies as they will already have a relationship with Ultraframe.

I do not know hardly anything about it but looking at their website, I had four thoughts.
1) As Hup uses the existing conservatory base, this will save costs. I am pretty sure that base would have to come out and deeper foundations dug for a more traditional brick based extension.
2) Hup probably offers more variety of layout without pushing the cost up too much . 
3) The pictures give the impression that it looks still more like a garden room/glorified conservatory, rather than part of the house.
4) I think resale would be easier with a traditional extension, with building regs sign off. Not just with buyers, but less potential problems with conveyancers/mortgage providers/valuers/surveyors.