How hot do loft conversion bedrooms get in the summer?

somerandomusername

I know this is going to vary from conversion to conversion but the EPC rating shows it as 

Wall	Solid brick, with external insulation	Good
Roof	Roof room(s), insulated	Good
Window	Fully double glazed	Good

The bedroom has 2 large skylights and one small normal upvc window. In the summer the sun would be directly overhead shining right down on the windows for most of the day. 

I can buy anti sun / reflective sheeting stuff that sticks on the outside of the window so light bounces off which apparently reduces heat and uv penetration by up to 90%. In addition I could close the normal curtain shutter to block out even more sunlight if needed. After all I'd only need the bedroom for sleeping anyway.

But I'm curious, some people say it'll be like a sauna up there, other people say it'll be fine because insulation also keeps heat out in the summer and heat in during the winter.

WIAWSNB

It'll be hot :-) Well, warm.

But, it's also the top of a natural chimney, so if you ventilate the lower floor and allow this to whooosh up t'stairs, through the loft room and out t'windows, it should be perfectly fine. 

Fit blinds to the windows that face the sun. 

But, yes, almost certainly it'll be the warmest room in your house (unless compared to a conservatory). You may find that you'll want only a sheet over you at night.  

It should not be a reason to avoid such a house. 

Above is based on ours. It has French doors, tho', and we do leave them open during some of the warmest nights. We cannot 'flue' the room, tho', as we need to keep the door closed 'cos our blind dawg could head for the stairs...  

somerandomusername

WIAWSNB said:

It'll be hot :-) Well, warm.

But, it's also the top of a natural chimney, so if you ventilate the lower floor and allow this to whooosh up t'stairs, through the loft room and out t'windows, it should be perfectly fine. 

Fit blinds to the windows that face the sun. 

But, yes, almost certainly it'll be the warmest room in your house (unless compared to a conservatory). You may find that you'll want only a sheet over you at night.  

It should not be a reason to avoid such a house. 

Above is based on ours. It has French doors, tho', and we do leave them open during some of the warmest nights. We cannot 'flue' the room, tho', as we need to keep the door closed 'cos our blind dawg could head for the stairs...  

Yeah I'll probably be fine and worst come to worst I could just get an air conditioning unit right...

Albermarle

We have a standard loft conversion, although reasonably big.
For sure it does get warmer than other rooms in the hot weather, even with blackout blinds on both Velux windows and a roller blind on the standard window.
Luckily the velux windows are on opposite sides so once the heat of the day has passed, you can open both and get a through flow of air.
Difficult to say about it being cold in Winter, because we either have the heating on, or its not being used and the heating is off. As it is at the top of the house it will never get icy cold as heat rises.

kimwp

My experience echos the above. Sauna when it's sunny/hot because I keep the door closed to keep a pet out. However it has windows on opposite sides, which means a good air flow to cool it at night (a fan will help with this on a still night). And being high up means no mosquitos/bugs coming through the window. Has roof insulation to the latest regs, still hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

twopenny

Just buy some thermal curtain lining, double sided velcro stuck to top and window then you can adjust as needed.

rach_k

Our loft conversion (Victorian mid-terrace) was done in 2019 so the insulation is decent.  It has two Velux windows with reflective black-out blinds under full sun and two normal windows in the shade for a lot of the day.  

I find that it gets warmer by 1 degree with each floor you go up, if the house is heated/ventilated as a sensible person would.  I have temp sensors in every room and got a bit obsessed with checking the temps over the summer!

It's possible to open/close windows, curtains/blinds and bedroom doors to get a cool(er) breeze blowing from whichever side of the house is in the shade at ground level, up to the attic.  If you use fans, you can play around to make it better.  It was very hot during parts of this summer, reaching 28 degrees in the attic some days, but then it was 27 on the first floor and 26 on the ground floor so pretty hot everywhere, and outside was worse.