conservatories

[BlossomHill]

Would be really interested to hear anyones views on them. My house is feeling smaller and more cramped and would love to have more space for the toys etc. Ideally I would love to extend but can be quite expensive so the next best thing would be a conservatory.
If you have one do you use it a lot? Did you build it yourself or get someone in?
TIA BH

We have one (previous owners got someone to build it). We use it as our dining room, and it has a sofa in too. Its lovely in the Autumn and Spring - when it looks sunny outside but is actually cold, and you can sit in the conservatory and enjoy it. Its fabulous for evening meals - when we have friends round we fill it with candles and its great.

But its too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter! So my advice is to go the whole hog - get a radiator in there that is on your central heating system so it is warm in the winter. And get blinds on all the windows, and little windows in the roof that can be left open, so it is nice in the summer. Also make the floor the same height as the floor in the room its joined on to.

HTH!

I would look at extending at the same time - you'd be surprised, sometimes it is actually cheaper to extend than to have a proper conservatory, and more practical.

But I agree with fruitful, if you're going to have one, do make sure it is properly heated - a conservatory really comes into its own in the winter, when you get the light coming in and it feels like summer!

we have one with central heating and heat reducing glass

Oh and a temp/rain activated roof vent!

we've just taken our conservatory down as we are building an extension ,but I would not have one again to be honest ,I think a room with a proper roof and gglass walls would be much more practical.We hardly used ours ,too bright in the summer,too hot ,noisy when it rained,made the reat of the house really dark.Our house is now so light without it I wish I'd taken it down years ago.sorry to be so negative but I really feel they are overrated and impractical.Definatel spend the extra and get a roof you won't regret it.