Would you buy a house where the dining area is in a conservatory?

[donteatthehedgehogs]

Have found a house with our perfect layout. If building a house from scratch I couldn't make it any better.

BUT the dining area is in a very large conservatory. It is almost entirely glass. North West facing so won't be bathed in sun all day and has underfloor heating and a special 'blue' glass in the ceiling. Will it still be too cold in winter and hot in summer?

To buy this house would cost every penny we have and it would be such an expensive mistake to make. We won't be able to afford to move for years.

Anybody got any words of wisdom?

[Jojay]

If it's perfect in every other way I would.

We had our conservatory ceiling insulated by a company called Roof Revive. It has transformed it, much warmer / cooler and not as noisy when it rains. It cost around £2.5k iirc, money well spent in my book.

[LadyWithLapdog]

What would have made it 100% perfect? If it's the conservatory being a proper bricks & mortar room, could you change that in years to come? Though with use you might find it fits the bill just right.

[donteatthehedgehogs]

Yes a bricks and mortar extension would be great but I think the idea of the large glass conservatory is to bring light and sunshine to the back of the house which would be quite dark as north facing so might defeat the object.

Am a bit bothered about the north west facing orientation too but on the plus side the conservatory does counteract that and other living areas have front facing windows as well as back so will get some south/east sunlight.

[donteatthehedgehogs]

That's interesting about the insulation Jojay. I wonder if that's similar to this blue glass which the EA seemed to think was quite special.

[LadyWithLapdog]

Then as long as you know the option is there in the future. There'll always be compromises, such as light vs brick wall in this case.

[Mrsladybirdface]

my inlaws have blue glass or something similar and automatic ceiling windows and it makes it a usable room all year round. on hot hot days it does get hot but open the windows and it's fine

[vinoandbrie]

Whereabouts in the country is it?

[donteatthehedgehogs]

midlands vino, does it make a difference?!

[VivaLeBeaver]

A friend has their dining room in the conservatory. They have underfloor heating. It works fine.

[meadowquark]

If the house is perfect otherwise I would definitely buy. By the way, North west side is my favourite as you only get gentle sun.

[donteatthehedgehogs]

Oh this is sounding positive. I expected lots of very negative replies.

Now we actually have to get it. I'm falling head over heals but can't get to asking price.

[burnishedsilver]

When you say dining area do you mean it's a spetate dining room or its your everyday kitchen table?

If it's a formal dining room, personally I wouldn't care what sort of a room it was in because it would be used at most twice a year. If its your 3 meals a day dining area I'd like it to be part of the kitchen and having it in a conservatory would put me off.

[Pinkje]

Presumably it is what the current owners use to dine in so I'd think it'll be okay. Good luck with your bid.

[ItMustBeBedtimeSurely]

I wouldn't, unless it was feasible to take down the conservatory and replace with a proper extension in the next few years. My parents have the same set up and even with decent blinds and heating it is cold in winter and in the the mornings. That said, I haven't experienced a conservatory with blue glass or ceiling insulation.

[donteatthehedgehogs]

thanks all,

Burnished, its part of the kitchen and you'd eat all meals there. Its more like a completely glass extension of the kitchen than a traditional conservatory in that there's no door between the two spaces and the floor is completely level and continuous throughout. It looks lovely and is perfect from a flow point of view, it really is only the temperature and sun which bothers me, although as north west not sure how much of an issue the sun is. Am dreading moving in and realising we are melting and wearing sunglasses at mealtimes!

[Kezzybear]

I wouldn't. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter but ours didn't have have under floor heating or blue glass which may make a difference.

[YeGodsAndLittleFishes]

I'd be concerned about the cost of heating it in winter, and if it actually does get warm when it needs to be. If there are automatic (ceiling) windows, easily accessible doors, and blinds, over heating shouldn't be such an issue.

[PrimalLass]

Yes, but allow some cash for very good blinds. Ours was far to bright to sit in, so a complete waste of 10k.

[iggymama]

I would be worried about the steam from cooking causing condensation problems.

[JugglingChaotically]

We have north facing conservatory.
Best insulated spot in the house.
Warm in winter.
Lovely in summer. Have blinds and large doors with special hinges which mean it pins back to outside. Vents in roof.
So it really works for us!
Floods kitchen with light and makes for a lovely room.

[JugglingChaotically]

Efficient vent over hob - no condensation!

[ItMustBeBedtimeSurely]

I definitely wouldn't then. We habitually shut our conservatory off at about 5pm in winter, because otherwise it makes the rest of the house cold.

[RuddyDuck]

We used to have a conservatory, which was a nightmare between November and March, as it was too cold. It was also boiling in summer but that was less of a problem as we always eat outside if it's nice enough. We knocked it down and replaced it with a proper extension - bliss.

We didn't have blue glass or underfloor heating so that would have made a difference.

Our conservatory faced south, which made it hotter in summer. A north facing conservatory would be cooler in summer and very cold in winter. Fwiw, I would never buy a house with a north facing garden.

[JugglingChaotically]

Reading other comments, I think i it's depend on the construction of the conservatory. Ours is great - just another room in the house, proper foundations, wood, double glazed etc and on the main central heating system.
We are not overlooked at back so get sun from east and west and over the top of house in summer - but it does face north.

[donteatthehedgehogs]

That sounds good Juggling, by the rest of the standards of the house this looks like a very high quality build so hopefully similar and it does have this blue glass but I can't work out what this really does. What do you mean when you say 'but it does face north'?

So difficult, haven't seen a house that suits us as well as this and swore I'd never buy a north facing garden but I'm used a very urban high density area and this is a large fairly low level detached house which faces north west (can't work out what the west impact will be on the north so thinking of it as north).