Keeping a conservatory cool? Any ideas?

[KatyMac]

I have (DIY) roof blinds, roof windows/vents & opening windows

It is always hot

HELP?

Bump

You must have the sun on it all day long.

A small fan to keep the air moving.

A few vases/containers of water to evaporate and moisten the air.
Heavier roof covers to deflect the sun.
PolyCool.Co.uk for reflective inserts in polycarbonate roof.
Sun shade or umbrella outside to put it in shadow.
Go to conservatory store for new ideas.

Yep it's south facing

It's also very big.....

One thing I noticed with our conservatory on warm days is that if I moved our sun umbrella to shade IN FRONT of the open doors, the air coming in felt a bit cooler straight away.

We have a big (party) tent in front of our conservatory; goodness knows how hot it would be without that

Today has been so hot

You may just have to get an air conditioning unit!!!!

Get air-con?

I'd get rid of it - we had a south facing conservatory and it was a horrible thing to live with, baking hot in the summer, freezing in the winter - think it was useable for about 2 months of the year.

You need an insulated roof, it's the roof that is causing the problem,imo all the heat is baking down on you, anything you do will be pretty pointless.

I'm with Disparity.

Demolish it. Ridiculous things to have on south or west facing elevations. Too cold in winter, baking in summer. Turns the inside of the house into an oven too.

Ours is large and SW facing and it's being demolished this summer and I can't wait. I loathe the damn thing.

You could try getting better quality heat reflective blinds but really the only way to cool it down is air-con and that becomes pointless if you have the doors open to the garden.

A builder friend has said that they have put some kind of boarding on the inside of conservatory roofs, so maybe contact a builder to see if they can do anything?

Ours was over 100 degrees the other day and it was only about 60 degrees outside.

Reflective inserts worked really well in our old conservatory, which faced south-west. But once we had the money to do a proper extension we did. It was a great short-term solution, though.

I know

I think I will ask the planning department if I can put a solid roof on

KatyMac - let me know what your planning dept say as I'd love to put a tiled roof on ours - it is nearly 25 feet long x 12 feet & I hate hate HATE it!! We have air-con & DH says we should use it this year but tbh what's the point if I have to have the french doors closed & the blinds closed - I won't be able to see the children in the garden! When we looked round this house I loved it until we walked into the conservatory & my heart sank :( Would love to knock it down & build a proper extension but that would be too expensive for us at the moment.

We need special lightweight roofing, because of the foundations

I did wonder whether our foundations wouldn't be deep enough. So, did the planning officer come out to take a look at your conservatory? Do you have any idea re cost/installation of the special lightweight roofing? We are in Hertfordshire. Sorry for all the questions hun!!

I don't even know if light-weight roofing exists; I'm just assuming we would need it

When we built it (yes it was our fault) the building inspector came out to look at the foundations; but my dad is a structural engineer & he is looking into options for me

I might end up with an insulated shed roof

Thanks. I found this thread

Interesting but no real solutions

this looks interesting

I just came across this old post,
There are still only two permanent and effective ways how to make a conservatory cooler in the summer months.
Either a solid roof, that is where the existing Conservatory roof is removed and replaced very expensive tho. Or the cheaper option that has the same effectiveness as a solid roof, internal insulation.
roof blinds or window film wouldn’t cut it.

I have a SE facing one and really like it.

It's really useful around spring/autumn because it can still get warm and you can drive the heat into the rest of the house by leaving the doors open.

I can turn off the house heating in March and go in there for some heat on a sunny day which is lovely.

Oh yes, you need to set up a cooling path. If the rear of your house faces south, then the front must be north. If you open the windows at the front, air will flow through from the cold shadowed area at the front to the rear.