How do you keep a conservatory warm enough to use properly? / Any smart floor insulation ideas? / And are we crazy to spend money on this??

[OhGood]

We can't afford to build the kitchen extension we wanted, and so are getting prices on a rebuild of the existing conservatory. We'll be knocking down a wall from the kitchen / diner into the conservatory and putting in big folding glass doors. We want to use this room properly - will have dining table in there and use it for eating and entertaining. I'll probably work in there.

Anyone know any smart ways to keep it warm? I am especially trying to find a way of adding insulation to the concrete floor. It's already plumbed into our central heating and there will be a radiator in there.

Also, are we insane to spend money on a conservatory instead of a proper extension? (Issue is that we a. don't have enough cash b. this bloody house was a bad buy, and we cannot afford to spend too much on it as we will just end up going way over the value of the house and will never recoup - and yes I do want to sell it at some stage.)

As you can see, any advice appreciated...

[traceystephens]

If anybody is still interested there's a really good article here with tips for keeping your conservatory warm

[AgathaF]

Change your roof for a glass one. That way you keep it as a lovely conservatory but it will be warm in winter and cool in summer.

[user1484065176]

I have a conservatory that is cold in summer and hot in the summer. We are thinking of putting a light weight roof on. Has anybody any advice.
We have had two quotes £15,000 for aluminium Guardian roof and £11,000 for time and metrolite tiles. Any advice?

[JT05]

To solve the problem of wanting a glazed feature, extending a room and have no separating doors, we designed a huge glazed bay window, with glazed roof. This met all the building regs, had gas filled glazing and was part of the room. It was built by the double glazing company with foundations and was a much cheaper solution to a conservatory or extension. The room had the usual central heating radiator and sitting in the glazed part was never cold or draughty.
I'd post a picture, but we've now moved house!

[architect2016]

those boxes architects add, have better quality glass, and are put through building regs, as usually the house is improved elsewhere to compensate, a SAP calc will determine the amount of heat loss through glazing, in houses with excessive glazing design. For building regs sign off an approval, you cannot remove the external doors between the existing house and the new conservatory, as the conservatory as a stand alone structure does not comply with building regs that relate to a dwelling.

Same as a porch, the external front door has to stay in position if you do not wish to apply for building regs.

its all information available on the planning portal!

insulate the floor and loose the glazed roof to a solid roof and insulated structure, thats your best bet to keep a conservatory warm.

[purplesheila]

I have had a gas heater fitted. not the most modern fitting but tidier than an oil filled rad and cheaper to run - it is great. My mum had one years ago in her back room - she kept the room aired by just keeping the pilot light on

I do have it on a full wall, some conservatories may not have one however it works for us as we can use it independently from the main heating :)

//www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Baxi_Brazilia_F5S_Wall_Mounted_Heater.html

[purplesheila]

I have had a gas heater fitted. not the most modern fitting but tidier than an oil filled rad and cheaper to run - it is great. My mum had one years ago in her back room - she kept the room aired by just keeping the pilot light on

I do have it on a full wall, some conservatories may not have one however it works for us :)

www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Baxi_Brazilia_F5S_Wall_Mounted_Heater.html

[cristiang2012]

Hi,
I might have mine done by a company called conservatoryroofinsulations and has a plasterboard finish.

Can anyone please share any experience?
Thanks
C.

[ChrisLiadon]

We had our conservatory ceiling insulated by a local company - Insulated Conservatories (google it). It costed almost nothing, compared to good roof blinds and works perfectly, also looks very nice, and the light loss is minimum. The whole thing was up in a day!

[Badvoc]

....oh and now we have to fork out £1.3k for new windows at the back too.
Happy days :(

[Badvoc]

The conservatory we have - built by previous owners - is standard brick and UPvc construction.
No radiator.
Sliding doors to access it.
We have just had to fork out £3.5k for a new roof - old one was leaking and polycarb. Had a glass one and it does look very nice and is Warmer.
We also have an oil filled radiator in there that we can plug in anytime which helps.
The only way to have a warm conservatory in winter imomis to have underfloor heating which would cost £££££ to install and then £££££ to heat.
I hate the bloody things personally, and it certainly wasn't a selling point for me when we bought this house 15 months ago!

[Figgyroll]

Our 23' x 12' conservatory is built off our kitchen and it is part of our downstairs. Our dining table and chairs are in there, a huge storage unit, the dogs bed plus a comfy second suite and coffee table. We use it all the time. When it was built we had a huge radiator installed but, when it drops to freezing temps or snows, it is difficult to heat but we have solved it by buying a chunky oil filled radiator and having it on during the day when we're home. We store it in the garage when the weather improves.

One thing I would recommend are good blinds. Ours are by Thomas Sanderson and have a reflective backing so keeps the temp down in the summer, reflecting the sun away, and the warmth in during the winter. Not cheap but definitely worth the money. We also have a huge rug on the floor to keep our feet warm. I regret not having underfloor heating - if you can afford it, definitely get it installed.

Oh, and don't forget a dehumidifier - a must if you want to avoid condensation.

[Flutterbutterby]

I should also add, it did add value as it provided extra floor space. It cost less than an extension would have done (although this is a guess, we didn't cost it out but wouldn't have put a normal extension onto the existing conservatory so the work would have been much bigger than just extending the conservatory). The house was also easier to sell because of the wow factor. The only negative comment from viewings was from a more "mature couple" (EA words) who thought it was too open plan.

Heating, we had 2 wall mounted electric heaters. We knew we weren't going to stay in the house forever though but in a house where we were staying longer we'd possibly go for underfloor heating which we had in the kitchen.

[Flutterbutterby]

We did almost exactly as you plan to OP. We didn't want doors from the kitchen into the conservatory as we wanted it to feel part of the kitchen IYSWIM, so had to sign a waiver with the conservatory company that we "would put in doors ourselves". Of course we didn't.

We used that bit of conservatory (we extended a small existing conservatory to go across the back of the house and knocked through into the kitchen with a large gap) so much, it became one of the most used spaces! We loved it! It often received "wow" comments from visitors!

Our garden was North East facing so the conservatory didn't get too hot but we had electric opening windows on the roof which were almost always open. Also had blue Pilkington glass roof which helped keep it cooler. The kitchen could be pretty nippy first thing in the morning in the Winter but nothing an extra layer and slippers wouldn't sort out!

We sold the house last year and the room had many favourable comments. Our buyers had a full structural survey and nothing came up, they didn't mention the lack of doors (nor did their solicitor).

Funnily enough I'd previously been a bit put off by conservatories but done well they can be fabulous additions. Our new house doesn't have a conservatory but we are considering adding one and again knocking through from the kitchen. We miss the light, especially in the Winter!

[MaryPoppinsBag]

7k is a lot if you don't have it!

We had a conservatory put all the way across the back of our house 6 years ago.
I wish we'd had a proper extension.
Mainly because it's too hot at times in the summer. Although I think that it would've made our kitchen diner v dark.

We have also taken the doors off to the kitchen 2 years ago - which I regret a little bit - its not particularly cold but I just think of the heat loss!

We use ours as a playroom for my childminding business although that was our original intention.

I had forgotten about the building regs thing when we took the doors off and didn't know about the radiator being part of the CH system.

[OhGood]

This is all excellent thank you. Especially the buyer stuff which is an obvious concern.

radiator/plumbing into CH - Whoever picked up on this is right. It's against regs to have a radiator plumbed into the CH if it's in a conservatory which does not meet regs for an extension. We bought the house this way - was already there. Obvious as radiator is totally pointless we never use it.

So, to clarify - we are essentially looking at building something as close as possible to an extension that meets regs - because we want it to be warm and usable. We are going to have a proper, reg-meeting door between this and the house. It sounds like we will end up with something like viper - it will look and hopefully feel like a proper extension.

We have extremely complicated stuff with re-routing the gas, Thames water build-over agreements etc

MaryPoppins price difference is about a conservative £7k - I know it's not a huge amount but we don't have it and we cannot expect to recoup it from the house if we sell (see above about bad buy etc.)

[mumzy]

We have an electric heater plug in and underfloor heating in ours. Both are on timers and we find if on for 1/2 hour before we get up in morning and before we get in in evenings in winter it's pretty warm. Both are off during the day when no one is in the house.

[GrandPoohBah]

IIRC, conservatories are exempt from building regs, BUT the definition of a conservatory is a room which is divided from the rest of the house by external quality doors, has over 50% of the wall area glazed and 75% of the roof area, with no heating plumbed through. If the room you build doesn't comply with these regulations then it doesn't count as a conservatory and would be subject to building regs sign off (which it won't get as a conservatory type room doesn't comply with relevant regulations).

So. You can build a conservatory which (for example) has one cavity wall with double glazed external quality concertina doors to the rest of the house (for leaving open) and electric underfloor heating on a separate system to the main heating in your home (which, FYI is what I'm planning on replacing our glorified greenhouse with when our kitchen is finished). But you couldn't build a room which has one solid wall, half walls around it with a radiator and no dividing doors as it would contravene regs - even if it did have a glass roof.

[colleysmill]

We had a conservatory built last year which we use as a play room for ds. We had the French doors into it replaced a few years before so they are proper external doors.

I worried it might be cold in winter so bought a little heater for it and whilst I know it was relatively mild last winter we only used it twice. In the day it heated up simply by opening the doors and was quite useable but we did notice a chill into the house in an evening tbh. As it is the playroom we simply close the door and also on the mess. We also carpeted the floor with a cheap and cheerful carpet so its not too cold on your bum when playing on the floor!

When we were getting quotes (including a garden room style extension) we told the companies that we wanted it to be useable all year, some weren't prepared to offer what we wanted but we went with a local firm who quoted for a thermo roof and extra wall insulation. I was so impressed with them we had them back to replace our other windows.

Overall our bills are down by a third although previous windows were so rubbish we used to gaffer tape them up in the winter

[cantpooinpeace]

We have a 'lean to' which is cold in the winter & obvs hot in the summer. We have an insulted curtain that we pull across in winter only and turn the radiator off in there. If we want to entertain in there when it's cold we put the oil heater on in there for a while but once it's full (the table is in there btw) it is more than fine

[HaplessHousewife]

We had ours as part of the house with a radiator etc and found it wasn't cold but it did get very hot in the summer even with blinds.

We found out when we were selling our house that it didn't meet regulations. It should have had external doors from the house and no radiator. I think it's all to do with how much glass you have ? there's a ratio of how much glass you're allowed in relation to the overall size of your house (can't remember exactly).

Luckily our buyers were happy to have an indemnity policy to cover the fact we didn't have building regs for it but we might not have been so lucky with a different buyer?

[tricot39]

reluctant big flash glass box jobs.have big.flash consultants who get paid lots of fee to do complex.sums under part l to make it comply. Often by superinsulating the rest of the house. This is rarely the case with a plastic.conservatory.

[tricot39]

Pigletjohn is right. It is entirely possible to do all sorts of illegal stuff in your house. There are no building police to check. It usually only comes to light when the house is sold and paperwork is checked. Often this reduces the value of the property.

People who have no doors between the conservatory and house often live without them but replace them for sale. Similarly people temporarily disable the self closers on fire doors installed after loft conversions etc. But that doesnt make it legal.

I dont think i am alone in saying that a conservatory would put me off buying a house. So OP dont spend much. Although insulating/overcladding the roof would be a good idea if you can.