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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

162 replies

HowFurloughCanYouGo · 08/05/2020 16:44

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.

OP posts:
carltongirl · 08/05/2020 20:56

Useless. Wish we'd knocked ours down. Instead spent money on roof leaks and yes, use as greenhouse and clothes drier. Ugly too

Thisismytimetoshine · 08/05/2020 20:57

That's the worst, Vivienne. Having only yourself to blame.

TheGreatWave · 08/05/2020 21:16

I have a conservatory - we use it all year round, but it needs replacing, I have been sitting in it whilst wfh and can see daylight through the frame. I have no idea what to do - it has a dwarf wall and two exposed sides. It is old - perspex roof, old windows (beading on the outside) and rubbish rainwater drainage.

I guess it will depend partly on what the foundations are like. At the moment we have radiators (I know not completely legit), a ceiling fan and window blinds (not roof)

TrickyD · 08/05/2020 21:19

As several people have said, it is madness to have a south facing conservatory, or one with a plastic roof unless you want to be roasted or frozen.

Good conservatories are not cheap.

Ours mainly faces east and is brilliant all year. We have underfloor heating so it is cosy in winter. It is big enough to have a table seating 12 plus a sofa, chairs, coffee table and loads of plants.

I cannot imagine life without it.

66redballons · 08/05/2020 21:22

Well you need air conditioning !!! Best thing ever. Ours is also a heater to take the chill out the air in the winter.

66redballons · 08/05/2020 21:27

Oh and you def don’t want a crack in tour conservatory Grin

Darbs76 · 08/05/2020 21:33

My mum has one. Always been the same, freezing or boiling. She replaced it with an orangery. Same but not quite as extreme

Higherproblem · 08/05/2020 21:36

We like ours. It's great in summer, because it's north facing. It's cold in the winter, but the extra space is invaluable.

Winnipegdreamer · 08/05/2020 21:41

This is exactly why nobody wants a conservatory and they can even decrease the value of a house

speakout · 08/05/2020 21:42

I like my conservatory- they heat in the summer is wonderful, but then I live in Scotland- it's a rare treat to be warm.
I love to bask in my conservatory on late summer afternoons, enjoying the warmth and the sunlight.
It warms the house in the spring and summer too, and I have heating, a great place to entertain over the winter months.

Rebelwithallthecause · 08/05/2020 21:46

Luckily ours is on the side of the house and isn’t in direct sun this time of year and the house stays very cool with it

I wouldn’t have one that’s south facing for sure

TW2013 · 08/05/2020 21:48

We had one in our last house, it was heated so useable most of the winter and North facing so not generally really hot as it was in the shade of the house and hedge. The light in there was lovely. I now have to go to the greenhouse if I want some light.

georgialondon · 08/05/2020 21:51

I hate conservatories.

speakout · 08/05/2020 21:59

This is my first ever house with a conservatory - buit be the previous owners.
I don't think I would have built it myself, but I have been surprised at how much we all enjoy the room, most of the year round.
Lovely for morning coffee, Saturday evening wine and snacks, great curled up on a rainy day with a book and tea on a rainy day feeling like being outside but being cosy and warm inside.

The whole family enjoy using it.

Mumoftwoyoungkids · 08/05/2020 22:00

We like ours. It is well built with 1 of the three outer walls fully brick and the other two a combination of brick and window / door. The roof is glass but super duper stuff that massively reflects heat. We also have proper radiators in it.

It is usually a couple of degrees hotter than the rest of the house in the summer and a couple of degrees colder in the winter. But usable pretty year round.

dontlikebeards · 08/05/2020 22:06

We put a log burner in ours, we used it as a living room all year round.

SamSeabornforPresident · 08/05/2020 22:07

We've just spent approximately a milllion pounds to replace ours with an extension. (Lockdown's come at a really good time for us.) It's worth it though, as we can use it all year round.

MulberryPeony · 08/05/2020 22:08

Another here with a mostly east facing conservatory with reflective glass roof who thinks it’s great. It wasn’t nearly as useable with the polycarbonate roof even with some roof blinds. As well as radiators we also have a wood burner for a boost because often the rest of the house is too warm for the heating to come on. We decided against underfloor heating and haven’t regretted it.

frasersmummy · 08/05/2020 22:15

I love my conservatory..
Can I ask what size of windows do you have mine drop from.the roof to approx 4ft of the ground and open like a door.
So even at the height of summer it's cosy but not over powering

We have a self cleaning glass roof.. Its great to sit and look at the stars

It is cold in the winter but I have an oil heater that solves that

Its my comfy reading corner

Bluntness100 · 08/05/2020 22:16

I think it’s down to management,

I’ve a relative whose conservatory is unusable, they always want you to sit in there too, in summer it’s suffocating, in winter it’s freezing.

However they only open the windows and doors when you arrive, or put the heating on when you arrive. It doesn’t habe time to cool down or heat up.

I’ve a friend where hers is used all year round, however she treats it like the rest of her house, the heating switches on with the rest of the house, so it’s always the same temp, maybe a couple of degrees cooler, the doors are never shut from the house to it.

In warmer weather she leaves the external doors and windows open from when she gets up. Literally she puts the kettle on then opens the doors and windows and leaves them like that till she goes out or goes to bed, She has those sort of string things over the door to stop things flying in. It does get warm but never unbearable, and if it’s that hot we want to be outside anyway.

So it is never able to fully have the heat build up in summer, or the cold take hold in winter, hence making it usable all year.

I get some folks don’t want to leave their doors open, or heat it, but i think that’s the trick. Her last house had a conservatory and it was the same, so in the twenty odd years I’ve known her, her conservatory has always been the most used room in her house.

The3Ls · 08/05/2020 22:22

Black out blinds carpet and a strong heater. Use mine all year round love it. Once of most used rooms. No direct sun hits it till 5pm though which may help. In summer I go in first thing and open windows

LuminousAmber · 08/05/2020 22:48

great curled up on a rainy day with a book and tea

This. The rain. One of the best things about a conservatory. I love sitting in there and listening to the rain on the roof, the most relaxing sound ever.

CaptainButtock · 08/05/2020 22:57

Awful things. Looked at a house a couple of years ago that had one of those awful plastic upvc ones. Had to factor in the cost of getting rid of the bloody thing.

I think as others have said, maybe a new roof? Anything you do won't be cheap tho. Probably worth it in the end.

Notso · 08/05/2020 23:00

Ours is east facing too.
Lots of people tried to put us off getting on as they said it would be unusable. We did look into getting a regular extension but what was permitted was not what we wanted at all. It would have made the rest of the house incredibly dark.
The conservatory is exactly what we wanted but with two extra windows and we didn't need planning permission. It was up in a day and even with us going for aluminium it was still much cheaper than an extension.

SuperMumTum · 08/05/2020 23:03

Ours was built by a previous owner and it's a bit shit - leaky, draughty, boiling hot. I go through stages of hating it and loving it. It's mostly a playroom for rainy/ overcast days at this time of year which is great for getting my living room back from the kids and the rabbits and laundry take over in the winter. If I had the money I'd knock it down and get a ground floor extension with a laundry room/ cloakroom and downstairs loo.