Let's talk conservatories

[Ladyof]

I am looking at buying a house which has a big conservatory, I've never been bothered about a conservatory as all the people all know that have one rarely use it.

Do you have one, is it useable in summer and winter, would you rather not have one etc.

Thoughts please.

We have one, which goes across the whole back of the house so quite large. I'm not a massive fan! It's bloody freezing in the winter. Even though there's a radiator in there, it doesn't really heat the room much. So in Winter, it's basically just a storage room, with space for an extra fridge/freezer which admittedly is rather handy.
It was useful in the warmer months when DS was smaller as it was basically his playroom, which meant that all toys could be kept out of the main living area and the door could just be shut on any mess! Now that he's older, it's not really used so much. We just about have space in there for a small pool table. It does end up being a bit of a dumping ground for things with no other home, which drives me slightly mad...

In an ideal world, I'd like to extend properly into the conservatory to make a proper large, livable kitchen/diner.

I think if I was buying a house with a conservatory, I'd need to be really clear on what I'd be using the space for. If the intention is an extra living area, you need to ensure that it's properly heated.

We had one but it was either way to hot or freezing. The spiders loved it and it was constantly attracting wasps and flies.

We had the sides removed and had steel posts put in to support the roof. Had it all repainted (steel was galvanised) and now we have an amazing inside-outside area. We’ve added a little wall heater and have used the space all year round.

That said, my parents have a conservatory and it’s lovely. I think the position of it is key to it being a usable space.

I know 3 people with conservatories. 1 added it as a garden room and had heated flooring, so can use it as an entertaining space when guests are over. They fill it with plants. 1 have a p shape and it's big. It's an entertaining and dining space, as it can be configured to take 12 people, used to read the papers, enjoy sunny days etc.. It had air conditioning. 1 inherited a conservatory, attached to the kitchen with no dividing door. It's cold, the kitchen is cold - it's going to be replaced by a proper extension.

We have one - came with the house - and I hate it. It was a cheap one installed by the previous owner in the 1990's - really cheap. Our surveyor told us to remove it as it devalued our house and I wish I had listened to him.

We thought it would be useful extra space for the DC and for sitting in the garden on cooler days with the doors open. But it is almost falling down, the flies and spiders are always there, it is like a fridge in Winter and a sauna in Summer. If you are doing any work on the house you buy, get the builder to knock it down. We now have to try to find a builder to do the job as a stand alone job and it is proving impossible to find one who will take on a job this small.

However, if the one in the house you are buying is a really expensive one, then it will be lovely. I would love a beautiful, aluclad, top of the line orangery. But I have a cheap and awful plastic and glass 'room' tacked on to the back of my house.

I used ours a lot, but mainly between March and October

We had the roof and one wall filled in a few years ago, best thing we ever did. We use it all year round now, like a second living room.

I have a conservatory and it is an all-year-round room. It has a glass roof (technical stuff: insulating / reflecting, anti-glare, self-cleaning, etc) and is way better than our old polycarbonate. It didn't cost that much to upgrade.

My parents have one, built maybe 20/25 years ago. Aside from the temperature extremes that PP have already mentioned, when it rains heavily the noise on the roof makes the space unusable.

We bought a house with a conservatory (in fact, we had to pay £200 for an indemnity policy for the bloody thing). It's awful. Boiling in summer, freezing in winter and leaks when it rains. I can't wait to have it demolished.

My friends have one ans did in their previous home, and it’s pretty much the most used room in thr home. But it’s warm through winter as they heat it, and In summer it does get a bit warm on very hot days but they open th doors and windows early on and ensure a breeze is going through,

We inherited one - it's being demolished next week and I can't wait.

We have one, it's useable in the spring/summer as we had a proper roof put on for shade. DH uses it daily at that time of year as he reads a lot. The roof was also meant to keep it warmer in winter but it doesn't tbh. It's quite nice as an extra room leading out to the garden, comes in handy if having a bbq and it starts raining....it was here when we bought the house though, I'm not sure I'd have one built if we didn't have it already.

We inherited one before....just awful. They are classes as temporary structures not required to comply with building regs. They are not supposed to be connected to the main house heating and the house external doors can't be removed.

Demolish and build an extension

Build quality is everything. You need the technical glass. You need under floor heating. You need it to be properly constructed. You need opening roof and several doors. Mine is oak and was £65,000 11 years ago. It’s my kitchen and it’s big. Cheap ones are pretty useless. You should replace with a better quality building if it’s a cheap one. They are simply not usable all year round.

We have one.

It’s too hot / too cold like other say, but only for the coldest of winter days and the hottest of summer days, maybe 20% of the time.

But I do really like it too - the glass makes it feel so much nicer than sitting fully indoors. It’s a really nice space to be in.

We used to have the fly / spider problem but finally resolved last year by adding a magnetic fly screen to the door. It’s not the prettiest but has totally sorted it.

We inherited one. The only good thing about it is that we can put washing out on a clothes horse and even on a freezing day the direct light will get the clothes dry within the day.

Other than that it's never used apart from to store things that are being sold or taken to charity shops .

We have a hardwood one, it was here when we bought the house. It’s on the north side of the house ( freezing ) and we just use it for storage.

It was built in 2002 by the previous owners and they used it as an office. We’ve got pp to build a bedroom there and it will be knocked down next year.

We've just got rid of ours. Too hot in summer, freezing in winter. Not for me.

We have just moved into a house with a conservatory that we want to use as a dining room. It was freezing when we moved in, we have just had a new much larger double radiator put in and it has made so much difference. We have had to turn the temperature of that radiator down as it was getting so warm out there.

We want to get a new roof eventually but we can't afford it yet as it's about 7k.

I'm not a fan of conservatories at all. I like to open the doors to the garden on summer days to get fresh air in directly... and not trudge through another room to get into the garden either.

You can't usually see the garden properly from the house. Just see a view of upright, horizontal and vertical lines and windows/walls when looking out from the room it's adjoined to. So any nice view of a garden is interrupted. I think they can make the room that they are off look darker than they should and block the light somewhat.

I don't like the space they take away from a garden, and would much rather have a decent size garden without a chunk missing.

A house I bought some years ago had a conservatory on the back of the house and it was boiling in there in summer, couldn't even use it as a greenhouse. I took it down.

When house viewing I won't view anywhere with a conservatory.

We bought a house with one and it was bloody awful for all the reasons others have mentioned... too hot, too cold, spiders, became dumping ground. We got rid and replaced with a lovely extension we can actually use all year round.

Leavingtime

You don't fancy this place then?

Ours is the most used room in the house. It has under floor heating for winter and we open up the bifolds in summer.

Several of our neighbours with old conservatories are putting on solid roofs.

There’s a massive difference in old conservatories and modern ones. Mine is not an “add on” - it’s my kitchen. I have a huge garden so it doesn’t use up much of it. I do need a kitchen so even if it wasn’t a glass one, I would still be using the space.

When you all say old what would you class as old?