Glass roof or velux in new extension?

[pippy1958]

We are having a double height extension built with new kitchen/dining room extension on the ground floor. The dining room section will have bifold doors but I also wanted a section of glass roof but my DH says it will get far too hot. We can probably compromise on a couple of velux but I really fancied a lot of light. Does anyone have experience of this sort of extension/sunroom/conservatory?

Just wanted to say thanks for all the tips on kitchens/hobs/floors, etc in some recent posts... Devoured with great interest!

[bisybackson]

I am shamelessly marking my place as we are having the same debate - partly discussing heat and partly cost. Very interested to hear other people's experiences.

[sweetmelody]

Which way does your room face? It might make a difference. Also you can get veluxes with integrated blinds. We have a north facing room and are having 6m of sliding doors and 4 huge roof lights (about 120 cm across).

[sixtiesqueen]

We have a south facing extension with 5 metres of bifold doors, two velum windows and a sliding patio door. It's a very bright room.

I would have loved double velux windows but the builder didn't think it would look right (I disagree now)

Would that be an option? (one on top of the other so it looks like a rectangle of glass?) seems very popular.

Hard to say about heat - we only finished the job last xmas and it's been such a bad summer.

[sixtiesqueen]

Velum windows?!! Soft palate of windows? Heavens!

[libelulle]

We had exactly this dilemma which in the end was resolved on cost grounds - a full glass roof over the side return was prohibitively expensive. So we have three side-by-side veluxes at the 'dark' end of the room and a whole wall of sliding folding doors going into the garden. It is the lightest brightest room I have ever lived in in all my life and our initial fears about the back of the room being too dark seem laughable now.

[Sportbluehorse0]

Do you recall how much your velux windows and bifold doors cost libelulle?

[beachyhead]

We have had two glass corridor rooves put in in two separate builds and in both cases they have either leaked or not drained correctly... Builders hate them and seem incapable of fitting them (vast generalisation ). Velux all the way

[Pradaqueen]

What about a roof lantern if you are placing into a flat roof? Got a great recommendation here from a firm in the midlands called ccs. Cost was £930 for a 2m x 1m lantern with a pre-drilled hole and wiring for a chandelier. Love it!

[Alanna1]

Velux here. Loads of light, well made, few problems.

[Olive324]

We have just had a roof window 3m by 3m put in with 3m bifolds. Looks great. I would agree that it depends on which way your room is facing. We face east and it's fine but I imagine it would be too hot if you are south facing. We originally wanted velux but were unable to have them due to the gradient of the roof being less that 15 degrees. For us it was a glass roof window or no window at all. It is more expensive but we are really pleased with it.

[Potterwolfie]

We placed four Velux windows, evenly spaced, in the roof of our single story extension about eight years ago and we LOVE them.

No issues, they let loads of light in, we can open them for ventilation, they're easy to clean as you can flip them right over and clean the outside as well as the inside. We also use Rainex when we clean the outside, the rain beads and runs off. We face North, so no issues with strong sunlight, but the light it does let in is wonderful.

Highly recommend.

[Olive324]

Just realised this is a really old thread. Dooohhh....

[Hollytree99]

We are planning a similar extension, with bi fold doors to create a big open plan kitchen and breakfast room, but we face South so I am definitely worried about it being way too hot. Will velux throw enough light into the back part of the room? We probably only have space for three.

[KirstyVal]

Hollytree99 what did you go for in the end? Did you get Velux windows or a roof lantern?