replacement conservatory - soft or hard wood?

[mumbug]

The small conservatory on the back of lounge in victorian terrace house we bought is rotting so badly it needs to be replaced

There seems to be a choice of softwoods that would get painted, or hard wood that would most likely be just varnished.

I know that hard woods are much stronger and durable, but from point of view of appearance I'm not sure how well varnished hard woods are going to fit in with the rest of the building. Window frames are all painted whitish, for example, so not sure I can justify spending say 2k extra on oak that might just look out of place.

I wouldn't mind one of those woods that greys with age, but I've only seen that on cladding and not sure how practical this is for this purpose.

Would softwood be a mistake?
Anyone recommend a nice pale (cheap) greyish hard wood?

Yes, I'm pretty certain soft wood would be a mistake. I wouldn't use softwoods outside myself. They're called 'soft' for a reason - it means they're much less dense and therefore less strong and durable, and more permeable to weather'likely to get dented and damaged, etc. You can treat wood to stop rain damaging it, but it's much more difficult to treat the ends/bottoms/bits that will be in contact with the ground, where damp may rise. Also, you'd need to bear in mind that glass is heavy, and you'd need to calculate load carefully, because I just don't know whether soft wood would hold up a glass roof in a standard design conservatory.

You can get pressure-treated softwoods - i.e. the wood has been 'squashed' to make it denser - but I think there are some environmental concerns about it.

You can get white oak as well as 'standard' oak.

This is a useful overview of woods for outdoor use.

I'm fascinated to discover that there is a UK government document about different types of wood! I dunno if it's useful for you, but it gave me a good overview. :)

thanks flow, that's really helpful.
I didn't even know that cedar was a soft wood

I had been looking at the cover of current grand designs magazine, which seem to show some kind of white tinted pine used outside structure of extension

Doesn't look like the kind of project where they were cutting corners. Or would you say that isn't pine?

I don't know enough about wood to recognise what type it is, mumbug. Sorry!
Also, even if it is pine, it could be another country I guess... A drier one!