‘Modern’ conservatory experiences?

[FloatingGlasshouse]

Has anyone had a ‘modern’ conservatory built relatively recently? Trying to find a cheaper option to an extension - have seen quite a few with some solid walls and non-glass/plastic roof, and open plan rather than with an external-quality door.

If you have, how much was it compared with a normal extension? And was it worth it! I always hear a lot of bad things about conservatories, but my PIL have a lovely huge one in a south facing garden which we’re in all the time, even with the recent BH weather.

Our garden is north-facing, so I’m not concerned about it being too hot, but don’t want to spend a fortune heating it it the winter. Would only be about 6x2.5m, added to make a kitchen diner of around total 6x7m.

Thanks in advance

Appreciate conservatories not popular anymore, but hopeful bump in case there is anyone out there!

Sorry to disappoint. We had our north facing Conservatory (which was off of the kitchen) demolished last week to make way for an extension. The conservatory was approx 11 years old and absolutely freezing in winter, too hot in summer :( We didn't have any additional heating in it other than the large radiator in the kitchen so that probably didn't help. It was in a horrid wood effect UPVC and when we weighed up the cost of replacing it compared to a new larger extension it was a no brainer. The extension wasn't actually all that much more expensive than a conservatory and we'll at least be able to use it year round.

I think what OP is after is an orangery.

We have one almost identical in size to the one your planning, and ours is open plan to the kitchen and dining room. We have pilkington k glass on the roof, and fitted blinds in the roof and all windows. We are staggered terraced so both short ends are full height solid brick. We love it. We are east facing and it’s neither too hot or too cold. We have done two summers and winters and we have decided not to put the external doors back (we left space to do so in case we had temp problems). It’s a great space to dry clothes in winter if it’s sunny. Cost £30k (from a big name company) but we had a new kitchen done at the same time.

Bear in mind that not putting in external doors means you need building regs sign off which is hard to get for a conservatory. We decided to leave the space for doors if it becomes a problem when selling the house, or get an indemnity policy to cover the lack of building regs.

Have a look at aliceinscandiland she covers her extension which is a modern conservatory on her blog. V useful if you're looking at doing it

We reLly miss our modern conservatory now we’ve moved. It had ufh and a glass roof. It was a lovely bright room we could use al year round. However it does depend exactly what you want to use it for. We couldn’t have watched tv at midday for example. But it was so lovely sitting in it all day

West facing should add

I didn't have one built but have had an existing conservatory (that was built when fashionable) upgraded with a solid roof (the light tile version). It's lovely and useable all year round but the reality is it is false economy if you do not plan to move as it will need replacing. If you cannot get the funds for a full extension then I would pay extra for the foundations to be made to extension standards with proof so in the future an extension style roof could be added.

Mine is oak framed and no doubt we could have had a cheaper standard extension, but we didn’t want one. We still did 6ft foundations because it is the equivalent of an extension. Well built and specified conservatories are still lovely spaces. They are not dated at all. It’s light, has underfloor heating and has a dual aspace so I can see the garden and woods around me. It was expensive though! It’s my kitchen and is about 5x7 m. It has a glass roof so is an orangery really.

The only downside is that it can get very bright when the sun is high in the sky. It faces N and E, but the sun from the S is above the house height, so it shines through the roof. I wouldn’t have a low spec one. This has expensive glazing and self cleaning roof glass. That actually works well!

Boulshired We're moving to a bungalow and that's what we plan to do - ie replace the leaking plastic conservatory roof with a new lightweight 'solid' tiled roof with 2 veluxes.

It sounds like you are happy with yours as it's made it a lovely usable room. It sounded like a good option for us too but having read your post I'm wondering why you say 'it is false economy (if you do not plan to move) as it will need replacing'. This will be our forever home and we thought a new conservatory roof (like Guardian or other similar make) would last at least 20 years and more? Were you given a short lifespan for yours? Thanks for any info you can give.

We have a guardian warm rood also and it's open to the house. Two radiators, two velux and we use it every day, all year round. It's north facing though so not too hot in the summer. It's lovely and by far the best money we spent on our house. We did it 3 years ago and it still looks brand new.

Sorry roof....not rood!

Glass is a lot less noisy than polycarbonate when it rains so worth paying for a double glazed glass roof. Plus it can be coated to make it more thermally effective and easier to clean.

Thanks, orangina01, that's exactly what we wanted to hear. Now we just have to exchange contracts...

We've just replaced our inherited 25 year old conservatory with a modern one. Kept the dwarf walls in place but built new timber windows and doors, and replaced the roof with a solid Livin' Roof from Ultraframe. It's an insulated roof with a couple of pilkington active blue glass panels.

So far we love it. It is still bright but not blinding and it doesn't get hot when it's sunny (we're south facing and it used to be horrendously hot when sunny, even in winter). Don't know how warm it'll be in winter but the roof is fully insulated, we've got a huge rad in there and we're thinking of installing a wood burning stove in the adjoining room. To replace the conservatory with an extension would have been £50k plus so wasn't an option for us.