What's the crack with conservatories? What am I doing wrong?

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All my adult life I've wanted a conservatory, and at the grand old age of nearly 40 I finally have one.

But it's either freezing cold (can't open it when it's cold because it freezes the living room as though we have opened the door to the garden). And in when it's sunny (like right now) it's so hot I feel like I might die in there (but my god my washing dries quickly).

What am I doing wrong?
In the summer it's going to be an oven.

What you want is an orangery.

I love my conservatory. It’s full of exotic plants and sitting in it on a sunny day is like being on holiday in a Mediterranean country. When it rains on the roof it sounds like a tropical rain storm. It’s gothic in style and complements rhe architecture of our house. A plastic conservatory with the washing drying in it is not the same thing.

I like mine. in the winter we store toys in it but spring to autumn it's lovely. v comfy rattan sofa and perfect place to curl up with a book or cuppa. yes it gets hot but just go in the garden then. have a rad for the autumn when less warm.

We bought a new build semi off plan and waited for it to be built. We moved in on the same day as the owners of the other semi and were gobsmacked the next day when they started building a conservatory.

I thought they were mad but they had a radiator and air conditioning unit fitted to it and used it as an office as they both worked from home. It was actually genius and I was so jealous of their air con unit on scorching summer days - new builds are very well insulated and often unbearably hot in the summer.

We bought our house four years ago and the kitchen had been extended using a conservatory - the outside wall had been taken out and they had put in central heating radiators and a ceiling fan. It was lovely, a real selling point, but the downside was the perspex roof which was absolutely deafening when it rained. We had a solid tiled roof put on and it made a world of difference - much warmer in winter, cooler in summer and no rain noise. The high ceiling has spotlights in it and it looks lovely and spacious, and from the outside it looks like a proper extension. Love it.

bossy I'd agree that there is a wide range of what a conservatory is classed as.

A top of the range timber framed conservatory with modern heat reflecting glass, underfloor heating etc is a very far cry from a plastic framed 20 year old conservatory with a cheap Perspex roof.

That said, in terms of temperature they are harder to regulate than a garden room - but it absolutely can be done and I agree that some can look very elegant in the right style for the property.

We built on a sunroom for this very reason. It had a normal roof and is full of windows but it is a block wall around the windows. Still very bright but doesn't have the temperature issues.

You can get a solar control film which stops them getting overly warm. If properly installed they shouldn’t be freezing cold, but any additional glazing will make a room cooler.

Mine is also very hot. Although nice on Summer evenings. Good for drying things unless they are colours as everything fades. The wooden windows were lovely but the lower timber frames have rotted, I think because I stupidly kept plants on the slate windowsill. So we need to completely re-do it. We were thinking of a tiled roof, as the current polycarbonate one is what makes the room so hot. I am tempted to pull it down, DH wants to re -roof.
Any roof suggestions welcome. It is a lean-to sort of thing, long and narrow.

I must be one of the only ones that likes a conservatory! 🤣
My parents have had one for 20 years! It has carpet and in the winter they have a convector heater that heats it up in no time and twinkly lights, cosey sofa etc and in the summer it can get hot but open the windows, the french doors and the doors to the livingroom it's lovely! (On occasional days it's too hot but we don't get a lot of days like that in England!)
We're always in it! It always has a calming effect and on a Sunday afternoon after lunch you always want to fall asleep in it! Haha! Xx

We've got a garden room. We are west facing at the front, east at the back. Our main living room is at the front so it can get very hot in summer in the evening. While the garden room is lovely and sunny in the morning for breakfast. it has made the dining room a bit dark though but then again the dining room is always cool no matter how hot it is. I wanted French doors exactly opposite the ones from the dining room into the garden room so you can see right through.

Expensive blinds, triple glazed blue glass roof and radiators. I use mine all year round. It has a brick base which is insulated which helps as wells

@Simonfromharlow thanks what type of blinds?

They are thermal blinds so keep the heat in. We only have them on the roof. They make w massive difference. They cost about 2k I think.

Heat in in winter that should say. They keep it cooler in summer but we do have to have all the doors and windows open in summer during the day.

We have one and it’s fine...you just need to know ‘how’ to use it and make some adjustments. It’s used as the dining room (and school room at present) so in constant use.

In the summer the windows are open wide at all times. We have reflective film on the inside of the conservatory room which makes a MASSIVE difference to the amount of heat and glare and drops the temperature loads on hot days. It cost us about £60 and was a bugger to install but worth it! Would highly recommend.

The conservatory is definitely still the warmest room through the summer but in no way too warm or unusable, just a couple of degrees more than the rest of the house.

In winter we have two really good blower-style electric heaters that are reasonably economical and heat the room within 5 minutes. So the room can still be used at night/on cold days, you just need to go in and turn the heaters on a few minutes before you want to sit in there. We have a normal radiator in there too but the conservatory needs more.

When not in use at night in the winter, we shut the door to the conservatory (we have a ‘normal’ door into it, not double doors) and use a draft excluder to stop the cold coming into the rest of the house.

I’m not sure I’d choose to put a conservatory on. But if it’s already there there are lots of ways to ensure it stays a usable room.

Reflective film on the inside of the conservatory ROOF that should say

We ve a massive one and the kids have used it loads. So glad we decided to add it, an affordable space we ve had for 17 years.

Before you shell out on blinds, try the film op.

I have a friend who spent about £600 on blinds for her roof to keep the sun/heat out and they don’t work as well as our £60 eBay film!

@luminousamber thank you.

Your tips sound great!

Sorry but I hate conservatories. Find them very naff or Grannyish. If we were househunting and there was one it'd be knocked down straight away. Get a proper extension instead.

I havent RTFT but think it depends on what direction you face. A north facing conservatory will be a lot different to a south facing one

Sorry weird that someone said hot at 27 was good and someone else replied how awful that was.
My toddlers room is the coolest in the house right now and is 28 (only a nappy on, open windows, fan).

It's cool in there and lovely to sit in. Yet the gro egg is still blaring red.

Our conservatory is a million times that.
If I step in for a few seconds I feel dizzy.

It's way way way way hotter than a tiny 27, and someone was saying that could handle it because they grew up in Hong Kong?
I must be getting something really wrong here?

I hate ours. I insisted on it and DH loves saying I told you so.