Viewing houses with conservatorys

DCFC79

Im looking at moving to a new area, some houses within the area I want and budget have a conservatory, any pitfalls I should be aware of, Ive always known them to be a waste of space, cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

RAS

Check whether there are any radiators in the conservatory? 

DullGreyGuy

DCFC79 said:

Im looking at moving to a new area, some houses within the area I want and budget have a conservatory, any pitfalls I should be aware of, Ive always known them to be a waste of space, cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

So if you buy a house with one what's your plan? 

Conservatories cover a wide range of things and standards depending on their construction and age. Some are a proper room and usable (if maybe expensively) all year, others are little more than a plastic lean to. Have seen many claims for conservatories that have sunk because they were put on too shallow foundations which can cause problems with the house wall depending on how they are attached. 

Albermarle

RAS said:

Check whether there are any radiators in the conservatory? 

And blinds for the Summer.

dreaming

A lot is to do with what sort of roof it has - glass/perpex/solid etc. - plus, as already mentioned, does/will it have heating?

silvercar

See if there are doors between the conservatory and the adjoining room.

It is fairly common in my area for people to build a conservatory with doors separating it from the adjoining room. They then get building control sign off and promptly remove the doors to create an open plan living area. 

Stubod

We have just had our old wooden conservatory replaced. 

We are considering moving, and when we got an Estate Agent around they advised that conservatories are no longer popular, (??), as people now prefer "garden rooms" instead.

Also, the problem with our conservatory that being "old and wooden" it had started to leak, and was starting to look a little "tired", and it had the old style "5 ply" (none clear) plastic roof. As already mentioned it was also cold in Winter, and too hot in summer. 

We got some quotes for a new consevatory, and one salesman actually suggested it may be more cost effective to take it down and replace it with decking, as as it was it would probably have reduced the value of the property. (Probably a good plan if we were going to sell quickly).

However we do use our conservatory a lot, and may not actually move for ages, (if ever if we can't find anything suitable), so we decided to replace it with a modern plastic one. 

We were going to have a solid roof, but the salesman demonstrated the new type of "reflective" glass that reduces the amount of heat coming in, and help retain any heat that you already have, (and is also a much lower cost option). 

So far it has been a revalation! The (higher), glass roof has made a huge difference with regard to letting more light in, and we find the tempearture quite comfortable (so far), plus it's nice to have an un-interupted view of the sky!

We also replaced the "single door" that connects the house to the conservatory with a much larger, (and far more thermaly efficient), double sliding door.

So the bottom line is, if you want a conservatory make sure it is relatively modern one with the relevant roof you desire. (There is no heating in ours and it's been fine). 

BungalowBel

DullGreyGuy said:

DCFC79 said:

Im looking at moving to a new area, some houses within the area I want and budget have a conservatory, any pitfalls I should be aware of, Ive always known them to be a waste of space, cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

So if you buy a house with one what's your plan? 

Conservatories cover a wide range of things and standards depending on their construction and age. Some are a proper room and usable (if maybe expensively) all year, others are little more than a plastic lean to. Have seen many claims for conservatories that have sunk because they were put on too shallow foundations which can cause problems with the house wall depending on how they are attached. 

We have a large 4mx4m conservatory, made of proper thermal  glass. It has small brick walls to about a third of its height .  We use it as a dining room and office.  In the summer we open the windows and doors, in the winter we heat it with an electric radiator.  In the winter in the UK you usually have to heat a room if you are in it; the conservatory is no different.  If we are not using the room in the winter we keep the thermostat at 15 and just turn it up if we go in there.  We have blinds on the windows, but no ceiling blinds.

It is constructed on the end of the kitchen and can be closed off with double patio doors.

We love our conservatory and it is an additional room to our bungalow.

It cost us £17.5k ten years ago.

However, if you have a polycarbonate roof and just ordinary glass, then I think it would have far more extremes of hot and cold , although it would be cheaper to erect.

So, my advice is,how efficient and usable your conservatory is depends very much upon the materials used.

(NB< in reply to a post above.....we have a garden room as well ).