If you have a south facing conservatory that is actually usable...

[PerditaMacleod]

What kind is it, what type of walls, glass, roof etc?

We recently moved and there is an old conservatory that we need to deal with. It's currently the kids' playroom but I think in winter it will be too cold to use. It gets absolutely boiling now as it's south facing.

I don't want to lose the floor space, and we could replace with an extension but it would cost a fortune. So we're thinking new conservatory, aren't they much better these days?

If yours is south facing and usable I'd love to hear about it- I don't want to shell out for a new one and it's no better.

Meant to say, the current one is floor to ceiling glass and polycarbonate roof!

I use to rent a flat which effectively had a conservatory (maybe a garden Room?) which was south facing. It had a tiled roof with polycarbonate 'skylights' (which leaked!), the external wall was all glass. We used it as a dining room/laundry room. It was far too hot in the summer (we'd eat dinner in the living room as it was cooler) but I found it fine in the winter as it had a big radiator.

South facing conservatory here. Floor to ceiling glass and a glass roof. Once the sun hits it, it retains the heat really well, in autumn and spring we will open the doors to heat the adjoining room. It's cold first thing in the morning but warms quickly and we have a radiator in there too.

Replacing with an extension is very expensive, but much more useable and will add more value.

If the cost is too prohibitive, I'd recommend changing the roof to either glass or solid with skylights. Conservatory companies do specialist lightweight solid roof with skylight options. Supply and fit should be well under 8k.

Ours is south facing, 30' x 12. It has a low wall and a tinted polycarbonate roof. Doors at one end, ceiling fans and a wall heater. It was built 15 years ago but last year we added electric UFH which has made it fully useable all year round.
I have sheer curtains on rods which offer a little sun protection but the fact is it's my favourite room and I use it all year round except in very, very cold weather or heavy rain which is noisy. Even on really hot days I will sit in there with a fan on. It's not because we have no space elsewhere because we have a big house.

We have a lightweight tiled roof. Use every day and can only hear rain on velum windows

We have a radiator and an air con unit so it's always usable

I have a south facing conservatory which, in summer, is hotter than the sun unless the doors have been open all day (57 degrees centigrade the other week!). In the winter it’s fine, as I have an oil filled radiator which warms it up nicely, but I’m looking into getting air con installed for hotter months, as I run hot at the best of times and it’s unbearable in there as soon as it warms up outside. Mines very new, dwarf walls and tinted polycarbonate roof.

We did have air con but took it out. There are very few days when it's too hot for me.

We have a garden room here which has windows on the south and west side and a small window on the east side. The roof is tiled. The south facing side has windows up to the roof apex. In summer the sun is high enough that we dont get a lot of direct sunlight in until it starts to go down in the west and we also have a mature ornamental cherry near the south west corner so that gives extra shade. We inky get direct sun in during winter and have roman blinds that we close if we are having lunch. We use the room as a dining room / sitting room all year. It does have electric under floor heating but this is expensive so we use an oil radiator in winter if we have visitors and the sun isnt giving enough warmth.

A well built conservatory can be wonderful - make sure there are enough windows to open and use fans if its hot. The trick is not building a cheap one really.

Photo taken in winter to give you an idea.

We are replacing our conservatory with an extension, which will have bifold doors and a skylight. It is expensive but I’m looking forward to using the space so much better. It means we can fully open up the back of the house (you couldn’t with the conservatory before due to building regs about heat loss). We are going to have a big open plan living dining room and semi open plan kitchen. We did look at replacing it with an orangery but the quotes we got were even more expensive than the extension, which was surprising.

At our old house we had a teeny tiny 8ft x 8ft south facing conservatory, 2ft bricks then glazing and a glazed roof.

In summer it was my favourite room in the house, always warm and airy with the doors open. Lovely for a morning coffee. But it did get very hot if there was a heatwave.

In the winter it was hideous, especially as it was the only back door to the garden and with a dog I had to venture into it a lot!!!

Ours has an internal false ceiling across one part, which helps keep the lounge cool. Blinds on every window and underfloor heating. I absolutely love it and it is a usable room.

MissBPotter
Would you mind me asking how much this is costing. I am replacing the front with bifold doors, and the roof with Ultraroof + skylights and the quote has come in at £22k. It is basically more of a 'lean to' as it uses the internal walls either side.
I thought it sounded expensive?