Aibu to build a conservatory?

[BanginChoons]

Hi, could I ask about your conservatory? I know that pricing can vary greatly but I could do with some advice. How big is it, how much did it cost? If you build it, do you regret it and would you do it differently with hindsight? I have had so many mixed opinions!

Background information is that I have 3 children, teens and pre teen, we live in a small 3 bed semi and could do with some additional living space.
I have a limited budget (single parent). I would like the room to be usable year round as it will be used as a dining room and games room. I have concerns about it being to hot or too cold etc.
Please let me know if there are other things I should consider as I am somewhat a novice at this!

I wouldn’t have a conservatory in the UK personally.

When we bought this house we knocked the conservatory down and replaced with a brick extension. The conservatory was in a north facing garden with no radiator ! So freezing and damp and smelt of wet dog (without a dog)

My Gran loves hers though 😀🤷‍♀️

While I agree that a brick extension would be better, if you're on a limited budget you do get more for your money in terms of space with a conservatory.

I wouldn't have another. I'd have a sun room with proper roof and floor to ceiling windows.

Even with a hugely expensive solar reflective roof it's still too hot/ cold.

Requires tons of cleaning

You will need blinds and they're expensive

Did I mention the cleaning?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor why so much cleaning?

My in laws had one, it was freezing in winter and hot in summer. I would rather have had an extension. It’s also noisy when it rains.

lived in 2 houses with a conservatory......would I have 1 put in? NO.

first conservatory south facing, like an oven in summer so useless, damp and cold in winter. second west facing always cold and damp. tons of condensation so buy yourself a karcher hand vac ready lol!! cleaning yucky mould.....

oh and they can leak!!

A proper garden room would be much more useful all year around

We've just got rid of ours. Far too hot on hot summer days, freezing cold for most of winter.

I would really very strongly not recommend building one. We bought a house with an East-facing garden and a conservatory. We loved the way it looks but it is so often too hot or too cold. Also when it rains the sound of rain on the roof is so loud that we have to shout. I had hoped to use it more but really it's only suitable in the afternoons (too cold in the mornings and after the sun goes down) for about 6 months a year.

It came in quite handy when we moved in in February and didn't have a fridge as we could just leave stuff in there.

We're planning to either move or knock it down and replace it with a proper extension in the next few years.

I can’t comment on building as ours was in situ before we moved in.

It is big enough to be a dining room/games room assuming most of the games are played on the table 😉
It’s a north facing garden and it is useable year round- here’s my tips for making that happen.

1. It has openings into the kitchen (brick built and heated), and the converted garage (central heating in garage)
2. It has its own large radiator
3. It has two internal walls (kitchen and garage) and two half height walls with windows + French doors to the garden on one of the window walls.
4. In heat wave times get up early and open the small windows on both exposed sides and draw blinds (this is only needed on days it’s above about 28degrees so not often).

Good luck- ours is great and transforms the usuable space in the house.

Ours was there when we moved in. It's massive. Rarely too hot but can be too cold in deepest winter even though it is heated. Use it every day aside from the coldest parts of winter or whrpen the rain is very heavy. I love it but would have preferred an ordinary extension but it wasn't an option as it was definitely too good to demolish.

I've managed to buy 3 houses, each with conservatories. Each have been progressively better in terms of structure and quality but even the current one now isn't ideal. We have underfloor heating and a radiator so in the winter it's useable although still chilly first thing in the morning. In the summer it's got two roof windows, french doors and a reflective screen on the roof, but it still gets boiling hot. To knock it down and rebuild will cost us £30k which would get us a more useable room but no more additional floor space than we have currently, so is hard to justify. So for now we're stuck with it.

I wouldn't recommend them at all and wouldn't buy a house that house one again. Too much hassle. And the fucking spiders!!!

Oh yes and ours is like a graveyard for dead insects so lots of cleaning required. We took 16 month old DS in their recently wrapped up in a jumper as it's still a bit too cold and he started picking up the dead insects and saying "Bee" all proud of himself because it's one of his few words. We cleaned up quickly after that!

Oh and slugs come in through the gaps in our dwarf walls and we had an ants nest built in their last year

*there

Thanks for the replies, this is all very useful.

What's the best way for a conservatory to face? My garden is east facing I think.

Also what the difference with a sun room? A proper roof? Noise from the rain would bother me I think.

@AppleKatie it's good to hear from someone who uses theirs every day. Thank you for the tips.

@fussychica yours sound like what I am hoping for. What heating does it have?

@newnameeveryweek eew at the ants and slugs!

@MsLumley what would you rebuild instead? An extension?

during the 1990`s lots of conservatories were built . The warranty is 10 yrs max!! now theres loads of out of warranty leaky, cold , mould ridden yuck conservatories out there!!

Many companys dont exist any more! That should say plenty....

We have one in a south east facing garden absolutely baking in summer and freezing in winter.

We wish it had been a proper extension however the sides of the conservatory are brick built to head height and we've just had a solid roof put on ours and now it's not freezing cold and feels like a proper extension

Ours is a good one, about 3.5 x 5 m with glass roof, skylight, loys of openers and french doors, It has 2 large radiators, and is semi open plan to a large kitchen plus a living room. We use it every day as another living area, no problems at all with bugs, leaks, condensation and so on. It can be chilly first thing, bur soon warms up, and can be hot on the hottest of days but there is plenty of attached ventilation. It was here when we bought the house, and we chose to extend and attach to it rather than knocking it down because of the cost. If it hadn't already been there we would have just built all the way across but it actually looks good. We have proper sofas and engineered oak, good blinds and its fine! Cane be bright if you want to watch tv in there though...

We've had 3 houses with conservatories and none have been useable more than a few weeks each year (too hot, too cold, too noisy when it rains). On the bright side, the oven like temps in the summer will dry your washing in a flash! I wouldn't put one on unless it was effectively another proper room with a proper roof.

Yes,we'd replace it with a proper brick extension.

Op we used to have a conservatory and I absolutely hated it. The noise from rain was really annoying, sometimes we could hear The tv in another room.

It was really, really cold and expensive to heat. Luckily ours wasn’t open plan, and in the end we didn’t use it (just for the cat litter tray!).

My aunt still has one, and is having issues with moisture, condensation and leaks.

Sum rooms are much better - brick walls with large windows and a proper roof.

Total regret here. Too hot or too cold most of the year. Difficult to maintain. We spent a fortune on a new roof and I wish we'd taken down the whole thing. Builder recently told me nobody wants them or sees them as a bonus, but rather a potential headache. Do something else with the space.

It does help that I quite like the sound of the rain on the roof- #camper 😂