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.

My dfil used to whitewash his greenhouse roof in summer. A conservatory is just a posh greenhouse fixed to your house.
Perhaps you could start growing tomatoes in there.

It may be that the different experience of a conservatory depends on the aspect. A conservatory on a south facing wall will get sun pretty much constantly whereas a north facing wall will mean the house roof may shade the conservatory from afternoon sun especially in the winter when the sun is low in the sky resulting in a cooler conservatory.
So before spending money on blinds etc work out which way the conservatory if facing.

it depends on how you build it and the cost etc. We build one for about 20k. It starts with bricks/a wall before the windows which helps with insulation. It has plaster work on top as well to make it look like an orangery which I think may also hold. We have a normal radiator in there and a small one if needed. We're not south facing and the house being new is naturally never too cold in winter. So it works out well. It's been a lifesaver during the lockdown - husband works there and kids play there and I am in the office upstairs.

'Help' not 'hold'

is

We had a large one built into our old house ( 20 years ago ) we had underfloor heating put in it , and the roof had foil reflectors put in it stop some of the sun shining through, but I think that goes in before the roof goes on and is invisible . You need to look at blinds .

When we discovered we were having twins and wanted to increase our living space we looked into a conservatory and the cost blew our minds. We had a garden room put in the back garden for a fraction of the price that is a music room / office and is fantastic.

They're not so bad my mum used to have one and it was a really nice room to use although did sometimes become too hot or cold. Good idea with the blinds. Not convinced about extensions because of the cost but they also make rooms darker and one day all that white plasterboard will look naff too!

Don't waste your money on blinds - I did (3k) and they are wank.

The only proper solution is that super duper reflective glass (next door has it so I know it works) or re-roofing.

We don't really use ours in winter but from early spring or late autumn we pop the heating on to take the chill off and in summer we open the vent windows or if we are in the doors early in the morning to stop the heat building up.
It's a bonus room for us rather than essential space as we already have quite a bit of living space.

Agree with other posters you’re not doing anything wrong. We have one in the house we bought it’s a lovely big room but out of use November to March as it’s Baltic & afternoons in summer too hot. Ours is nice in the evening at this time of year. We kicked off the process to get a proper roof added to ours in January ( obviously no progress at the moment) we’re in Scotland and adding a roof means it is classed as a room in your house so needs building warrants & we might also have to put a window in the room it’s joined to ( the patio doors between the 2 rooms are the current windows). So it’s a pretty drawn out process. I don’t think the regulation is the same U.K. wide.

I spend loads of time in ours. It faces SW but there is a row of massive trees on that boundary, and the leaf canopies cast quite a lot of shade during the day. We get the evening sun comes down through the trees, which is lovely.

It's usable for about 6 months of the year - and I love it because it's so light in there (we have a glass roof which doesn't need blinds because of the trees). I sit in there to read, and also have plants growing as well. It doubles as a bit of a greenhouse over the winter for tender plants that can't stay outside.

I think the trick to a conservatory is to think about what you would use it for, and then look at the position and how that impacts the temperature and light.

I quite like ours too. The dog sleeps in there now so it’s really useful for us - we’ve got underfloor heating in there so we do sit in it all year round.

It’s too hot in there on a summer’s day, yes, but if it’s a summer day, we can sit outside it’s lovely on a summer’s evening when it cools down.

We’ve got blinds on the glass roof, which help, but yes it still too hot on a proper hot day.

All this hatred arising from cheap and nasty conservatories facing the wrong way!

As someone upthread said, you get what you pay for.

Our house had a large south facing conservatory when we bought it. We also found it too cold in the winter (even though it had two large radiators) and unbearably hot in the summer. The trick is to keep the doors open like any other part of your house rather than shutting it off, and we also had the roof tiled and plastered etc with skylights. It is fantastic now and we use it more than our living room as we have it set up as a ‘snug/family room’.

Use ours all year round (it's east facing) - it's my office/woman cave/piss off everyone else and leave me alone den - has a telly in there, computer, sofa.

Think the difference is ours is relatively new so the glass is up to modern standards, and we tend to leave the door between it and the lounge open all the time so there's not that temperature difference and it's just an offshoot of the living room really. Has a radiator in there as well and I've been in there in the winter with snow on the roof and in the height of summer - although on days like this the French doors out of it are left open most of the day to let the air through.

I love mine. Use it constantly from March - Oct. Has radiators so can be used in winter eg as extra entertaining/escape space at Christmas.
DH has rigged up washing lines to make the most of the heat 😁

Should’ve got a sunroom instead

I love mine! It's my favourite room all year round. It's open plan with my kitchen and dining space though, although I have my dining table in the conservatory. Its south facing but I have blinds and some sort of panelling that filters the light from the ceiling and a large radiator for winter.

I adore ours.
Half wall but glass roof.
We had top of the range insulating glass used when it was built.

We have a large garden and it is very much an extra room that we don't need but enjoy.

We put a beautiful reclaimed floor in which matched the old wooden floors in the rest of the house. Huge insulation under the floor which makes such a difference plus 2 full double gas rads.

We use it for 9 months of the year but even on the coldest day it would be toasty with the heat on.

It doesn't retain the heat though, in the same way the rest of the house would.

We love it and the view of the garden.
It has two sets of french doors directly out to the garden.
It's a beautiful room to sit in.

We love sitting in there, drinking wine and enjoying listening to music together.

Well worth trying to make it work for you.

Using it as a dumping room is never going to make it appealing.

Sounds lovely, billy, but I'm wondering how much help it is to poor op to have people describing their mega conservatories or telling her she should have got a sunroom?
She posted for advice 😬

My grandparents had one growing up they were always in it and I never remember it being boiling hot, was always perfectly pleasant. But maybe I'm remembering it wrong, this was 25 years ago!

I love mine. Yes it can be cold in winter but so is the rest of the house without heating! I have an electric radiator in there so switch it on before I need to use it. From April onwards it's my favourite place to sit and read, look at the garden. It has my dining table in there, sofa . I wouldn't be without it now.

Re building reg etc - we're in England and would only need build reg if we were to remove the doors (outside patio style doors) between the main house and the conservatory or generally knock down the wall in between. To keep our options opened we ensured we took good records of how deep the foundations were when the conservatory was built so that we can get building reg retrospective approval if need it. I don't think we'd need it if we wanted to just re-roof it but could be wrong.

OP - worth looking at what you can do to make your conservatory more energy efficient - whether roof, glass, heating etc there are definitely options out there.
The issue is a bog standard cheap conservatory is probably a bit useless overall yes. Best to spend almost as much as you would on an extension and do a proper job of it.

Forgetcourgettes let me just flip back 10 years to when the previous owners erected the conservatory and tell them your wise words.