What to do with conservatory

[blueflowersinthesnow]

We moved into a new house over the summer which has a conservatory. It's around 3.5mx3.5m (hexagonal). It was completely disgusting when we moved in (previous owner kept dogs and cats in there and never cleaned it!) but after many hours of scrubbing it's now hygienic at least. However, we still never use it - it's a really old one from the 80s so quite dated and was like an oven in the summer and is now like a fridge. Also, it joins on to our living room but the doors aren't great so we're losing a lot of heat out there at the moment.

If you inherited something similar in your house, what did you do with it?

Options we are considering:

A 'Upgrading' with a new roof etc. But the rest of it is still so naff that I'm not sure it would be worth it.
B Replacing with an extension. We could then use it as a kids playroom which would be brilliant. But I don't know if it's too much hassle with planning permission etc - plus it sounds like costs are really spiralling for this kind of thing.
C Replacing with a new conservatory - I do quite like the look of those lovely modern conservatories you can get now. But will I regret not just going for a full extension? Will it actually be a usable space?
D Knocking it down and just laying down new patio. But are we mad to reduce the footprint of the house?
E Doing nothing. We haven't ruled out moving again in 5/6 years...

First world problem I know but interested in any views or experiences!

A 40 year old conservatory needs knocking down, that's way past their lifespan!

We’re in a similar position but is a good quality large conservatory by previous owner but hate it because of the temp variances, unusable during day in summer and frozen in winter despite huge radiators.
We’re extending out to the side of our house and knocking down the conservatory, cannot wait. For 6 months of the year it’s full of clutter as a dumping ground for everything, training bikes etc set up, in summer it’s good for drying the washing, it stresses me out looking at this from my dining space.
My recommendation would be to think out your space and how you could improve your layout to suit your family which will inform what you decide to do.

Mine is equally old and equally crap but full of plants and a quirky and very pretty addition to the side of the house.

If you can afford an extension, I'd go for that, but if funds are limited, I'd go for a new conservatory with solid roof.

I inherited a "sun room" when I moved into my house. It has dwarf walls on 2 sides, with windows above. 1 wall is solid and unglazed. The other side is open to the kitchen and has normal double internal doors to the front room. Roof is solid, but felted, not tiled. It was flagged up my survey as perhaps not fully insulated and shouldn't have a radiator in it or be open to the house. I love it though. It does get a bit chilly in the winter until the heating kicks in, but it's perfectly usable all year round. We use it as a dining room and extra sofa area.

I think an extension is the only way to go, but we can't afford that yet. I'd concentrate on getting the adjoining doors replaced.

If you have a young family they are useful to put all your stuff in. In the summer clothes dry in a few hours. You can use it as a dumping ground for large toys. I have a treadmill and run out there. Extra food and drink storage in the winter...

We moved into a house with an old hardwood conservatory with a polycarbonate roof. Hot /cold /leaked etc.

We had it replaced with a new upvc conservatory, with a glass (semi-reflective) roof. We had exactly the same foot print so there was no need for any change to the
'foundations', planning or building regs. It was 2.3 x 7.2 metres and cost about £13,000 5 years ago, and they demolished and removed the old one.
We use it a lot and are very pleased with the result.

Unless you really need extra room, I'd tear it down, renew the French doors from the living room and make a lovely outdoor area, possibly with a pergola

This is exactly what we'll be doing with our vile 80s monstrosity. It's boiling hot in summer, freezing in winter, leaks in the rain and has a revolting and filthy polycarbonate roof which looks absolutely awful. It sucks all the available light from the south-facing part of the garden and makes the kitchen-diner so dark. I loathe it and can't wait to have a beautiful outside seating space with honeysuckle and climbing roses on my pergola instead!

When we viewed the house earlier this year, DH asked the estate agent if knocking down the conservatory (and thereby reducing the house's footprint) would adversely affect the value. She literally snorted and said 'removing this conservatory will only ever have a positive effect on this house's value!'

Thank you so much for all of the comments! This has been such a useful thread, I've shared it with my DH too and I think it has helped us to come to a decision.

To answer a few questions:

@hairyfriend yes we do already have a downstairs cloakroom so don't need to convert it to that. Yours looks brill though!

@kendodd yes we do have another window into the living room, on the opposite side of the room to the conservatory.

We don't really need the additional space, it is true! And the conservatory is very visible, we walk past it every time we go past the kitchen so I'm wary of it becoming a dumping ground for items which don't have a home elsewhere as it looks quite messy. I'd thought an extension could work for a kids playroom as then we could shut the door to it when not in use but I hadn't thought of the light aspect.

Anyway, in summary...I think we're going to get quotes for all options but ultimately just knock it down, replace the doors, and make a nice outdoor seating space in the garden. Although an extension sounds fab and would be our second option, I'm not sure the use we'd get out of it would really justify the price (depending on the quotes).

In terms of what we could afford, we are in the fortunate position that we didn't borrow the maximum when we bought this house so could put extra on the mortgage if we really though the work was worth it. Or our budget is around 20k if we don't borrow against the house.