AIBU to think that conservatories are a total waste of time?

[RosaPfirsich]

Misread my own title then as 'Conservatives' then... they are a waste of space too tbf but my AIBU is about the uselessness of conservatories of the glass room variety.

Went to view a house yesterday. It's perfect except for the fact that it has a conservatory. The sellers had the standard wicker type furniture in there and it looked nice enough but in my experience the space is only ever fleetingly useful in maybe spring and autumn.

My experiences of having a conservatory previously have been that it's either so hot in them that you can't sit for longer than 5 minutes without feeling like you are going to pass out, OR they are absolutely bloody freezing and any efforts to warm them with additional heating are completely fruitless as the warmth wastes zero time escaping through the glass.

What is the point?! Have I just been stuck with really shit conservatories and other people don't have these problems?

We'd like to put an offer on the house but the conservatory is bugging me already!

What do you do with yours? Do you actually use it all year?

I think I'm kind of wanting someone to tell me IABU and sell the idea that they aren't a waste of space as I really love this house!

[snoogans]

I don't see the point of them either. Our house has one that was already there when we moved in. It's more useful than most because it has electronic roof windows as well as side windows and a ceiling fan which helps get heat out and draw cooler air in.
I actually use ours as a gym (I work out first thing) as in the winter I'm quickly too sweaty to care about the cold and in the summer opening all the windows and it being early morning means it's not too hot.
But I'd never put one on a house.

[Springwalk]

I absolutely hate them l, especially the plastic white ones. I associate them with the older generation and see them as old fashioned.

Garden rooms are much nicer

[bookmum08]

I would love one. Unfortunatly I have yet to figure out how to attach it to a second floor flat!
My sister in law has one. Whenever I visit I feel jealous because I don't think they really use it as much as i would. If it was mine it would have plants and a comfy sofa and I would read and do crafts. O

[MargoLovebutter]

My Mum uses hers as solar heating for her house MereDintofPandiculation. She lives in an ancient house with single glazing that is like the north pole in the winter, but on sunny winter days, she is able to open up the double doors into the conservatory and it heats that whole side of the house. She also has roof vents and good blinds, so that in the summer it isn't roasting.

[itsabongthing]

One of my pet hates when I’m looking at houses is where they’ve got a conservatory on the back where window/doors from the living room used to be so the living room is then very dark.

[Linguaphile]

YANBU, they’re such a pointless use of space. Proper extension with skylights and glass doors is infinitely more useful.

[downcasteyes]

YANBU! They are completely useless and they pretty much always look dreadful as well.

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

It will surely depend on various factors.
Friends of ours built a conservatory on the side of a sitting room that seemed very small given the size of the house, and was very dark.

It made an enormous difference to the light and feeling of space. It was often used as a dining room, even though they had one, plus a kitchen table big enough for 4 to eat at.

[NameChangeNugget]

YANBU.

They are a wanky BTEC extension.

[IrianOfW]

I used to agree and ours was a glorified storage room until my son began to be interested in plants and now our conservatory is used for it's proper purpose - a place to grow plants. It's great for germinating seeds in the spring and growing his collection of cacti, succulents and pitcher plants the rest of the time. OK, it isn't usable for much else now but it's really pretty.

[LadyRochfordsSpangledGusset]

Yanbu, some of them are really badly done yet when you're viewing a house they're introduced as a massive advantage. The worst is a badly done extension eating into an otherwise lovely garden.

[Floralnomad]

We’ve just had our conservatory taken down and replaced by a proper extension , we had the conservatory for 14 yrs and it was really only properly used by the dog who is a bit of a sun worshipper . On the other hand my neighbours have a conservatory that they use practically all day everyday as their main room to sit in / read etc .

[diabeticsanon]

sorry peeps, am looking to move soon and if you have one you won't be on the viewing list. but for people who like them that's good, but i would dislike the attached room in gloom. someone i know has one, hardly uses it and her lounge light is on most of the day.

[IrianOfW]

Oh and citrus plants too so perhaps we could call it an orangery :)

My parents have a huge conservatory on their bungalow and they manage to use it most of the year somehow. Mum made 20 lbs of marmalade from the oranges she grew and DS2 used some of her lemons in his GCSE food tech exam.

[Blondielongie]

We had one that was a bit too hot. If we had the doors open flies would get in. We had fly doors attached but they were a hassle. I think French windows and no conservatory are the one.

[diabeticsanon]

irain bow that sounds like my thing i collect house plants like some people collect old socks and we all know they are loners but you don't part with them just in case

[AlexaAmbidextra]

I associate them with the older generation and see them as old fashioned.

Oh God. Burn them all down then. Not the older generation. Yuk. 🙄

[Missingstreetlife]

Used as laundry room. Orangery is different I think. Has solid walls, more of a construction.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

We had a south facing one that the kids used to play in. It was always impossibly hot in summer.

Once the kids left some crayons on the table and we came back from our holiday to multicoloured puddles of wax. Scary how hot it must have got.

[maddiemookins16mum]

We had one, it was known as the washing drying room.

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

Be careful of wanting to change them! You have to know what your planning consent is!

We cannot put a proper roof on, nor install proper heating. It is basically a posh lean to!

We didn't hink about it when we bought... we are exploring our options, as they say!

[bigbluebus]

One of our neighbours is about to have a massive one installed. When she told me she was so excited. I'm afraid all I could muster was "that's nice".
Every double glazing salesman who ever knocked on my door and tried to sell me firstly, new windows and then moved on to a conservatory got the response "in a south facing garden?". I think most of them took that as a 'no'

[nokidshere]

We use ours all year round. When the dc were small it was a playroom, then a teenage hang out, now only used occasionally. Decent ventilation and blinds help regulate the temp and in the summer we just leave the doors and windows open as much as possible.

[HoneysuckIejasmine]

We have one. It's North facing so not too hot in Summer at all, and we have an oil filled radiator in there to take the chill off in winter. It's the kids playroom. It's great especially in summer so we can leave doors open and they can go in and out of the house at will whilst I drink tea . It's attached to the kitchen.

[Peridot1]

MIL has made me along the side of her house. Freezing in winter. Hotter than hell in summer. It’s mainly a walk through and dumping area. And it leaks. And she is talking about getting it replaced. With another one.

Although on talking to her she said the FIL insisted that they put proper foundations in when it was being built so she could out an extension or proper garden room on which she is thinking about.