Insulating an existing conservatory - any suggestions

[sybiltherednosedreindeer]

New house, the conservatory is open plan to the kitchen and northwest facing. It has a radiator and while it has been cool in the run up to the winter now that this icy weather is here it is frankly bloody freezing.

For some unknown reason the previous owners grow 25 feet trees surrounding it so it gets no direct sunlight at all and so no solar heat. Although cutting down these trees is obviously going to happen, are there any other things I can do to stop all the heat escaping from the windows/roof?

I was thinking of putting up blinds/curtains to the wall parts, but how do you attach these to the upvc?

Also, I was maybe considering insulating bubblewrap for the roof. Has anyone tried this?

I'm not looking for it to suddenly become as warm as the rest of the house as I know this is impossible, but not seeing my breathe freeze when I go in there would be nice!

Any ideas greatly appreciated. Thanks

What about cellular blinds?

watching this thread, we have just got a quote for bricking up some of our windows and updating the rest. does yours get unbearably hot it summer? it could be that the trees protect you from overheating.

A woman on this thread recommended the cling film stuff. I don't know if it would work for a whole conservatory but may be worth investigating.

According to DH (builds conservatorys!) there really isn't much you can do .... it would all end up costly and futile. Easiest way to solve the problem is to get another heater in there! It's quick and effective...probably end up the same price as all the other options. He's screwed up his nose at the cling film stuff...think it works best on small spaces.

Obviously if you're going to chop the trees down then that will help your lighting issues but you can also maybe look at upgrading the glass and seeing if more heating in there would be possible and affordable for you to do at a later date.

Conservatorys really do suffer from the too much/too little heat issue. This is why so many folk spend a lot of time working out the heating and glazing options as that really helps especially if there is no door and it opens straight out onto an existing room.

Ny in-laws put two layers of bubble wrap on their conservatory roof and it really did make a difference, so much that when the snow has thawed on their neighbour's concservatories their roof is still covered. Also make sure the radiator is the right btu

I've been told that cellular blinds will help substantially, but that if they're really going to work, you have to have them on runners, so that the air doesn't escape round the edges. Then you have to close the cellular blinds as soon as it gets to dusk, to take advantage of any solar gain. There is also the problem that then your glass will be getting much cooler, and you may have condensation issues.

There is also special horticultural bubblewrap designed for greenhouses which might be worth a try.

TBH, the conservatory sounds rather badly made. Was it a cheaper conservatory, do you think? My parents have the same set up in their new house, and are going to have a replacement conservatory with very high quality glass. My dad is having huge fun as a retired physics teacher working out how good the glass needs to be to keep the rest of the house warm. But they are talking about spending £30k or so on it.

Thanks for the messages!

I doubt the conservatory was badly made - they seem to have spared no expense on the the rest of the house, but it was built 15 years ago so obviously isn't up to todays spec. I guess the best long term solution would be to replace the glass but that is quite some way down the line financially speaking!

The bubble wrap sounds promising so I think I will get some this weekend and give that a bash.

Any thoughts on how to attach blinds to th upvc? My mum sugested velcro but I'm not sure if that would degrade the plastic?