What would you change on your conservatory?

[Elouera]

We are looking into a glass roof, dwarf walls and open to the rest of the house- the internal door will be removed for a more open plan feel.

What do you regret not installing or considering? What would you change?

I’ve just had a tiled roof on mine

What I did change was to demolish it. I found it awful. Too hot and too cold. What you can't do either (I was advised when considering options) that you can't remove the external doors to your house as they are considered temporary structures and are not part of the full building.

We built a proper extension and never regretted it. They are just a waste of money compared to a proper extension

We use it as our main sitting area, we have a ceiling fan in the summer and unerfloor heating for the summer.

Glass roof caused a lot of glare, so we have just had a tiled roof put on. Much better.

We also had blinds but have changed them for linen curtains. Just thick enough to stop glare if need be.

We changed from polycarbonate roof to glass roof and it is a game-changer. I definitely recommend it.

you can't remove the external doors to your house as [conservatories] are considered temporary structures and are not part of the full building
You won't pass building regs but nobody will know/care until you sell on. Retain the door and just re-fit it when you come to sell.

Something that nobody told us. Glass rooves are heavy and likely to spreadeagle if not kept in check. They build a steel ring to house the bottom of the roof and then hold it in place with a tie beam.

knowledgebase.roofwright.com/knowledge-base/a-simple-guide-to-the-structural-integrity-of-conservatory-roofs/

We changed our glass roof for a tiled roof, that was a game changer!

Some good points about the heavy glass. What sort of glass did people have? Maybe a solid, or majority solid roof is better in terms of insulation?

Our roof glass is self-cleaning with a slight blue tint to reduce glare. It has some clever coating which regulates the heat: reflects back sun in summer, conserves heat in winter. It is quiet, you don't hear rain.
Our invoice says that it was called Sola Activ but I can't find that on google. This is similar - our blue isn't as pronounced as theirs looks in the photo.

We are having a tiled and insulated roof put on ours too. I would spend the money on a proper extension if starting from scratch.

And the glass is clear, unlike the polycarbonate, so we get more light coming into the room behind (the kitchen).

We had one on the house when we bought it. I hate the bloody thing. It's too cold in winter, too hot in summer. A glorified spider sanctuary.

We're planning on moving but if we were to stay, we'd take it down and put a proper garden room on with a solid roof and insulated walls.

Ours is coming down too. Freezing in winter boiling in summer. It faces south though. Don’t know what the previous owners were thinking. No doors into kitchen or snug, which means they get cold too.

I really dislike conservatories. They are either too hot or too cold most of the time and I get a headache from the glare coming in over my head.

I would suggest a garden room with a normal roof, short walls and lots of glass on three sides. You can then legally open it up to the rest of the house legally, subject to PP. .

Sounds very similar to mine, dwarf walls (all internal walls plastered), glass roof, open to the kitchen.
Mine was built just after the building regs on having to have external doors was changed, and our installer didn't fit doors on the proviso that it was one of the things we were going to do.
Aspect faces just north of east.

The only thing is change would be for it to be bigger, and for someone to clean the windows (that would be me then!).
There are a few days a year when it is really too hot, but because it loses the sun by midday this isn't much of a problem. It can also be cold in the worst of winter - and for this reason I am considering doors (but have been considering them for about 15 years and it's so nice the rest of the year that I've never got them).
I usually have a curtain over the space in winter, although it wasn't up last year as I had a kitchen refit and the pole got taken down. I have just got a new curtain to fit in the space rather than over it. The curtain would probably be closed about 3 days a year in the summer as well, but only since we got the dog so keep his space in the utility cool.

Mine has a kitchen table where we eat almost all meals, despite having a dining room. It also has a couple of wicker chairs and we sit in there a lot in the day and summer evenings. I want to get some more comfy chairs, but not sure what to go for as limited by space.

I had underfloor heating (electric) put in, which was nice underfoot but expensive to use. Mostly I just wear slippers (everywhere inside) in winter so haven't used the heating for years. Unfortunately it was damaged as part of the refit so doesn't work now anyway.

I had the floor changed from tiles to LVT, and I think that makes a massive difference to how cold the floor feels, although last winter was very mild anyway.

Those who have put a tiled roof on have you found it worth it.
Want to that with ours and remove the doors between the house and conservatory.
Slight problem though as it is raised up quite a bit so hollow under the floor as well.

We have self cleaning with the highest heat retention possible. We have a very big glass lantern. I might have made it smaller but the light is amazing! It’s my kitchen.

Hate dwarf walls. We have floor to ceiling glass on two sides and opening doors to the garden giving ventilation. Roof ventilates too. House is on other two. Underfloor heating is vital. Do not get a cheap conservatory. It’s actually cheaper to build a conventional extension. You could add rooflights! Think about this carefully. Each pane of glass for ours is £650. There’s lots of them!

To others a roof in, you have to have it built to bear the load of the roof. Conservatories need foundations if they are having a roof. Ours has foundations and certainly isn’t hollow underneath. If it is, it’s cheap and cheerful. Pull it down and built it properly.

Our first house had one that was already built when we brought it.
Dwarf walls (internal brick, no plastering at all) solid flat roof, double glazed apart from the little windows on the top of some of the panes (no other opening windows). It had double glazed patio doors into the lounge.
It was south facing, and almost unusable for months in the summer. We would leave the doors and little windows open all the time, but when you opened the patio doors it was like a sauna hitting you.

Bifold doors rather than open to the house means you can shut off if it is really hot/cold.

What orientation will it be? Ours is north facing and works fine as we have good glass that reflects heat and with windows/doors open and blinds it doesn't ever get ridiculously hot.

It will cost a fortune to heat in winter tho and having it open to the house would make the whole house cold. There's a reason houses have brick walls and relatively small windows!

@MarieG10

What I did change was to demolish it. I found it awful. Too hot and too cold. What you can't do either (I was advised when considering options) that you can't remove the external doors to your house as they are considered temporary structures and are not part of the full building.

We built a proper extension and never regretted it. They are just a waste of money compared to a proper extension

We bought a house with a conservatory and I was thrilled as I always wanted one. I hate it. Everything MarieG10 said and more. Plus, it is full of spiders. After several years of effort I have reduced the spider infestation. The space is hardly ever used and empty. I resent having to clean it. The only purpose it has is to house a large item of keep fit equipment.

I would have it taken down or roofed over/or make a proper room extension but DH won't agree to having it removed (he never uses it, just thinks it adds value to the house) and we can't afford to have it roofed over/rebuilt.

If you remove the doors to the rest of the house and connect a radiator to the rest of your system without a separate control, you need planning permission and won’t be able to sell it on when the time comes.
I hate them.

Definitely a tiled roof. Or had we built it I’d have put it on the side of the house rather than the back so that we retained more south facing garden.

To be honest if we’d built it it would’ve been a knock through, single story extension joined onto the kitchen with light wells instead.

I’d also change the window ledge height, sounds trivial but the dining table, the sofa, they all sit higher than the window ledges and it irks me.

I’d have had more power put in, with outdoor power for outside.

Previous owners fitted blinds, which I hate. Given the conservatory is a spider haven I am forever cleaning them .

We had one put on last year - best thing we have done! We have a solid roof, dwarf walls which are higher at the sides. I have used it everyday since it was completed. I have a movable radiator which we kept on in the winter and even though we are south facing it hasn't been too hot to sit in during the summer. The extra space has been much appreciated during lockdown!

We knocked ours down and did an extension. Too hot in summer, freezing in winter. Just unusable space really. If I couldn't afford extension I'd go for tiled roof and a radiator.

I wouldn’t add a conservatory again, I’d add a proper room. Ours faces south and is unusable in warm weather and freezing in winter. It does have polycarbonate roofing though.