South-facing conservatory - yay or nay

[KnockMeDown]

We are currently considering extending downstairs, to put a family-type room onto the kitchen diner, with bi-fold doors out onto patio. Budget considerations, and other work which needs doing, mean we may need to downgrade from proper extension to conservatory. However our architect and his wife, who assists him and advises on design, have advised that conservatories, especially south-facing, which is what ours will be, will be very hot in summer, cold in winter, and we would end up not using it. They said they are taking loads down.

So what is your experience? Do you use your conservatory? Is it too hot in summer if south facing? Interested in all opinions, as we only have their word to go on.

I would say most definitely no!

We had one put in connecting our lounge with the conservatory and blimey in the summer it was so hot when we opened the connecting doors.

We were in a new build so the garden wasn't established with no trees to provide shade during the hottest time in the day, and when we opened the connecting door from the lounge into the conservatory we got hit with overwhelming heat it was horrid.

We had heat refelective roof and blinds but it actually made me dislike the house, as we never sat in there in the summer as it was too hot, if I had my time again I would of put a proper extension on, we moved in the end.

We have one that is about to be knocked down and rebuilt as a proper extension as part of a major refurb. It was here when we moved in 7 years ago. We have lived with it as our main dining room (it is off our kitchen) for the last 7 years. We have used it everyday as our dining room, our work table, etc. Has it been ideal? No. Has it been usable? Yes. We put special heat/sun reflective film on all the ceiling glass panels. We put black out reflective blinds on all of the windows. We added radiators. In the very very hottest part of summer, there have been some days that are too hot in the middle of the day to eat lunch in there. But it has been a much needed part of our house. I am very glad to be replacing it now with a proper build but wouldn't have been without the extra space for the last 7 years.

We changed the roof in our unuseable one in our last house from a polycarb roof to a glass, heat reflective roof. It changed from a room that we could only comfortably use for a few weeks a year in sping and autumn, to a year round, bright and sunny room. We've moved now and have another one with a polycarb roof. We hope to change it to a glass one again, providing the structure can take the extra weight.

Ours has the lightweights roof tiles it is usually between 1 - 2 c hotter or colder than the rest of the house so is useable all year round. The downside is it looks nothing like a conservatory and it did need building regs.

Blimey. We had one at our last house and loved it.

A very efficient panel heater made it totally usable in winter, and in summer if it was too hot we just opened doors and windows, which was fine as we always wanted it to feel sort of half-inside half-outside so sitting in there with the doors and windows open and a breeze was lovely.

It was never too hot or cold to sit in there - used to have meals in it every day.

We have a south facing conservatory. Needed an extra room and couldn't put an extension on as it would have made the adjoining room dark.

It has climate glass roof and windows. We also have window blinds, but those are to reduce glare on the computers as it's used as an office all year round. We have underfloor heating which keeps it lovely and warm in the winter. Highest temp it got last summer was 35 degrees, we then put a portable Air Con unit in there and it was lovely. Love ours, and don't regret it, as it's lovely to sit in the warm looking out onto a frosty garden with a full view of the sky.

I absolutely love our conservatory, we use it 365 days a year and it's the best things we've ever done to the house.

Technically it's an orangerie ( get me) because it has a solid ceiling with a large glass roof light. We have door to ceiling windows on all three sides and large bi food doors.

It's heated by under floor heating ( on the house central heating system ) and a wood burning stove.

In the summer we can open the casement windows and there are windows in the roof which open and close automatically on a thermostat. When we are home we can open up the bifold doors.

We don't need blinds because it's north facing so never gets full direct sunshine.

We use it a lot and feel that we are sitting in the garden all year round rather than for the 2 weeks of good weather we seem to get each summer.

Did I mention that we love it ? Which is just well as it's wasn't cheap, we saved up for it for years. If I'd known how much we would use it, I've have done it soooer.

South facing is the issue here, not a discussion about the pros and cons of conservatories.

My sister had a huge extension put on her south facing house (in the SE so gets lots of sun). Wall to wall bifolds (7 or 8m) and a huge glass roof lantern. All finished by February, stunning.

By summer, they'd installed roller blinds on all of the bi-folds and had a tarpaulin under the roof lantern to stop the sun coming into the room whilst they waited for air conditioning to be installed.

So its not just conservatories,, its any extensions (with lots of glass) on south facing plots. You really need to plan carefully.

that's the thing about conservatories - both pros and cons and both are bigtimers. In my humble experience and opinion, if you already have one, definitely put the extra effort/cost for necessary improvements, because that's what fully completes a conservatory, so you can use it 365. Most are not habitable due to extreme summer heath/winter cold, but that's simply part of the deal.

namechange that is a very valid point, as our ideal plan is the extension with a glass roof and bifold doors on the east side. It seems that we may have similar heat issues with that.

Hmm - lots to think about.

I suspect how usable it is depends on the direction it faces, what it's made out of, what part of the UK (or elsewhere) you live in, and a wee bit about how hardy you are yourself. I was sitting outside for a cup of tea today, in the north, in Feb - I doubt I would have found a conservatory too cold!

Namechange has summed it up. It's not about conservatories generally it's the direction they face. A south facing conservatory is unusable for large parts of the year ime. Kristina, your orangerie sounds lovely but it's a totally different thing.

We have a south facing conservatory/extension. It was like the fires of hell in there during the first summer but now we have shade sails on the ceiling and blinds all around it is a million times better. We also have a radiator out there which makes it a usable space all year round.

Toottoo I think you're right - south facing conservatories are a boon up north in the UK!

I think it also depends whether you're intending to treat it as an extra room that you can use daily, or whether you're happy for it to be a seasonal addition I don't need mine as an extra room (only me and DH in the house) so I think of it more as a garden extension than a house extension.

Sorry if I've missed this (couldn't see it anywhere). Although I'd prefer a sunroom to a conservatory anyway, it depends where you are as to how usable a conservatory would be. We had a south facing one on the south coast. It was unbearable in the summer. If you live in the North, it might be pretty bearable except on the hottest days.

Sorry! Just noticed the post before mine covered this!

We replaced the aforementioned south facing conservatory with extension with 4 panel bifold + window all south facing and 3 large velux roof windows. We are in south east. Extension is fine. Conservatory was oven. Modern walls and glass are more insulated now, that keeps a better temperature in the summer.

My parents recently tore down their conservatory and replaced it with a beautiful garden room. So proper extension but with big windows and bi-fold doors to the garden. It's stunning.

DF says with hindsight it's what they should have done in the first place.

The conservatory never got used. Cold in winter and stupidly hot in the summer - they ended up hating it. It just became a dumping ground.

Cleaning the roof was a pain and tbh as time went on it just looked shabby - even though it was very expensive.

Based on their experience I'd never have a conservatory.