Replace or reroof conservatory, or something else entirely

[TiddleTaddleTat]

Hi
We’ve been in our house 2.5years, renovating throughout (though nothing structural as yet), doing it all as we go with income savings/short term 0% cc debt etc. Quite proud to say we have no debt outstanding on it except for the mortgage.

We need to do something about the old polycarbonate conservatory roof. It’s leaking, the room gets mouldy, there’s bad condensation despite my best efforts. I love the conservatory about 8 months of the year for reading, yoga, birdwatching etc. But it needs reroofing, decorating, flooring.

We have had a quote for £10.5k to put on a new tiled roof , seems extortionate and prices have clearly risen a lot as we had several quotes 2y ago about 20% less than this.

The rest of the 3x3m structure is about 12 years old and in good condition.

Wondering whether to replace it all (so roof and conservatory are same age and last longer) or just the roof or knock it down and replace with an extension. We could potentially wrap around side of the house although would only gain about 2mx3m additional by doing this. However could really do with a bigger kitchen as we have the standard tiny 30s semi kitchen. It’s dilapidated and due for replacement asap as well.

I’m just torn because I really can’t face taking on debt of any magnitude - my understanding is that extensions start at £2k per metre and often go over budget. We’d be adding to the mortgage in that case, extra £400 a month, extra £15k in interest over the 17 year term (staggering when you look at those numbers).

The alternative with the reroof option we were quoted today was 50% upfront (I could use 0% CC) and the rest interest free over 5 years with no penalty for paying off early.

I’d rather take on a loan than remortgage because of additional interest.

I’m aware that many consider a conservatory to be a poor man’s extension, although I do like aspects of ours.

Any words of wisdom?!

Following as we are in a similar predicament

@hellosunshineagainx oh really? Tell me about your predicament !

[quote TiddleTaddleTat]@hellosunshineagainx oh really? Tell me about your predicament ![/quote]
Been in the house a year but roof of conservatory needs replacing and the windows pvc is also pretty tired. We have one wall as brick already and it's brick 1/3 up so not really sure whether to just replace with a new conservatory and decent blinds or to tear it down and do a slightly bigger extension or third option tear it down and put a similar sized extension on the other side of the house instead

Atm we use it year round as its warm enough in the winter and the basic blinds we have help on the hottest days tho tbh on those days we are usually in the garden instead!

What is the long-term plan for the house. Is this conservatory / extension / whatever for your use or for resale value?

@hellosunshineagainx have you got any quotes yet? It’s great it’s warm enough year round, that’s a big plus.

@senua it’s a long term home. I don’t really want to move , ever , but certainly at least 10 years so resale value not important. I know that the house has increased in value a fair bit since we bought. probably worth about £350k with mortgage of £80k.

The classic advice is to go for the biggest conservatory or extension that you can. Nobody ever says, "I wish I'd gone smaller."

We are going to knock our conservatory down and have an extension to make it more useable. Too hot in the summer and too cold in winter, plus the flies that accumulate in the summer 🤮

I had mine improved. It is now more like an extension. Side walls clad, plastered etc, new french doors and windows and a lantern roof. Took off the doors to the lounge, had a radiator put in and recarpeted the lounge and conservatory. The lantern roof has transformed it into a proper room.
It’s completely enhanced our living space.
Not sure of cost as it was part of a large project including new bathroom, new fitted wardrobes in 3 bedrooms, painting throughout house, paving a small courtyard garden plus a few other carpentry small jobs The whole cost was £35000 a couple of years ago. That might give you an idea though, I seem to remember the lantern roof and paving were the most expensive bits!

We put a new roof on our conservatory and it's fab! We went for glass and we now get more light and much more stable temperatures all year round. We paid £7k for it 3 years ago. Honestly it's transformed the space and made it useable year round

@Iamanunsafebuilding same for us, and although I was worried it might be cold in the winter it absolutely isn’t

That’s great to hear about positive experiences of just replacing the conservatory roof. How old were the other windows when you added the new roof? I’m thinking that if an average upvc window lasts 20years, we’d get around 8 years out of a new roof before the rest of the structure needed updating. I guess that’s my concern , but I may be overthinking it.

@TiddleTaddleTat I think my original conservatory was about 15years old, my builder constructed it back then and so he knew what he was working with.
Be aware though that there are some regulations preventing a conservatory becoming an extension, something to do with planning permission and external locks.
If I sell up ever, I need to put my dividing doors back on.....
There may be no issue if the original conservatory is old thoygh

All of my conservatory windows etc were replaced at the same time. I think it would have false economy to just add a new roof
My very elderly dad liked sitting in my conservatory when he visited me from up north, I used part of my inheritance to revamp my lovely little, but dated, house and every time I sit there I think how I wish he could have seen what a lovely improvement it is.

If your budget allows, go for the best insulated roof etc you can.

I would be careful about putting a roof on a polycarbonate conservatory. The conservatory is a not a load bearing structure. It’s existing roof is very light. A tiled roof won’t be.

Therefore pull it down and get a proper extension. At least that adds value. £80,000 is not much of a mortgage! My DD has £350,000 on her own!

A good friend of mine owns a company that replaces conservatory roofs with lightweight tiles and plasters them to make them into proper useable rooms. £10k isn't off the scale for this - though obviously size dependent. I had my own conservatory knocked down and built an extension instead with an orangery roof and bifold doors on one side. It's fab and added value to the house as it's made the living area larger.

We had a 30 year old wooden conservatory with a plastic roof that had reached the end of its life. We replaced windows and roof last year with upvc and a flat roof with lantern. It's a massive improvement. We decided not to change the footprint at all or convert to solid walls as this would have made it much more expensive for not much more benefit. I can't help much with costs as we also had a plastic roof replaced on a lean to utility room (went for pitched roof with velux windows, kept the wooden frames there as in good condition) again much warmer with proper roof and not lost as much light as I thought...

I did what a pp did and turned the conservatory not into a full extension (prohibitively expensive, quote was 40k) but rebuilt parts, warm roof, french doors, put in a radiator, took out the doors to the main house and so on. Looks just like an extension with a plastered, vaulted ceiling and down lights, windows etc but a fraction of the cost at 11k. It's increased the value well above its cost and makes our 30s semi a completely different space. It's also usable all year round at a constant temp to match the house.

Following as we are in the same position.

Those who have rebuilt sections of conservatory so it looks like an extension but isn't, is there a name for this? I'd like to research companies.

Thanks!

@TiddleTaddleTat

That’s great to hear about positive experiences of just replacing the conservatory roof. How old were the other windows when you added the new roof? I’m thinking that if an average upvc window lasts 20years, we’d get around 8 years out of a new roof before the rest of the structure needed updating. I guess that’s my concern , but I may be overthinking it.

Our conservatory was 16 years old when we replaced the roof, we did get the same company back to do the roof so they checked the windows out when they came to quote for the roof

It’s really helpful to hear all these different perspectives and approaches.
@TizerorFizz I know I’m very fortunate to have such a small mortgage - we have sacrificed a lot to be where we are and I’m very wary of increasing any sort of debt really. I understand the arguments for increasing value of the house with an extension - I’m not sure this is as relevant to ours as we already have a large detached garage. I’m concerned if we added an extension we would be over-encroaching on the garden a bit.
I’ve got a couple of window / conservatory companies coming to quote next week so will ask about replacing windows as well as roof. As far as I can tell the dwarf walls are good and existing upvc window structures are good quality, so may not need to replace everything.
I really like having lots of windows too - at the end of the day, that’s the difference from just another room. It feels like part of the garden and that’s what I love about it.

We had ours upgraded - re glazed, warm roof with skylights, doors replaced, new floor. Basically redone from dwarf walls up. We had surveyor/building inspector check re load bearing etc.

We had it done last spring so it's done a summer (warm but nice and obviously you can open doors/skylights) and so far this winter (a bit chilly but we didn't replace the radiator and it's a big buggered so getting it replaced now. It warms up fine with a space heater in the meant).

It's lovely and also the heat retention in the rest of the house is better now there are no gaps or drafts. It's about 2.5*3 and really adds to living space. I am wfh 70% of my time now and have a proper office space set up in a corner.

Ours cost 16k but was pretty extensive. We had a quote for 27k from the place that did our double glazing well and reasonably just the year before pre covid and they had a huge demand.

Hi 👋🏻. This time last year, we were in the same boat and are now mid way through an extension.

Our situation (moved in 2016):
-Conservatory built c2006
-one full shared wall, one half brick, UPVC glazing with roof, French doors etc
-roof started leaking 2 years ago
-conservatory is 3x4 metres

We had several companies come and have a look and we enquired about a replacement roof. We were pretty underwhelmed with the options and realised part of the issue was guttering around the conservatory which was part of the problem. All companies said they couldn't guarantee a full fix for a long length of time due to this guttering problem had infiltrated the walls too.

We thought back to when we first moved in and it wasn't leaking and realised that we hardly ever used it. It was too hot in the summer and we had insects come in and an absolute tonne of spiders in the ceiling-and it was too cold in the winter, even with new radiator and non leaking roof.

It was also a size that meant it didn't quite know what it wanted to be-and we had internal doors separating it from another room. It ultimately became a storage room.

So we decided to change it to an extension with sloped roof. We are also extended it out a couple of metres (we would have loved to wrap around and link to kitchen but it's just out of our budget!). Total space 3x7 metres

When we spoke to various builders, they all had different views on what the foundations could take and ultimately a very kind builder said we really should go through an architect and structural engineer as although it seemed straightforward, it had load bearing walls and the foundations were unknown

Architect and structural engineer made it clear it's not as simple as just taking the roof and glass down and building up. Foundations need digging a little deeper as a full roof is heavier. It was essentially money well spent to get it drawn up, planning permission etc

So we're now knocking out the internal doors and seeing it as an extension of the room
It connects to. Nice window seat with picture window. , big bifold doors and some massive skylights: but walls are far more insulated, floor is concrete and it is, in essence, better put together with longer life span.

The total cost including architect, structural engineer, materials, glazing etc is going to be c £45k for knocking down 99% of the conservatory, adding on 2 metres and finishing it with joinery, electric speakers etc so a fairly high spec. This is about £15k more than when we asked around 2 years ago but it's not such a surprise with costs going up.

We are pleased we decided to do this rather than replace the roof as we feel the space will be much more usable.

Sorry it's long but hope that helps (we're south east London)

We got quotes for both and decided to go with replacing the conservatory roof. @1potato we had an Ultraroof but you need to Google “solid roof”.

I’m so happy with the decision as it has transformed the living space. Yes - an extension would have lasted longer and been better quality but it wasn’t worth spending the extra £30k - especially as our house is not hugely expensive. And I really doubt an average person could tell the difference

@TiddleTaddleTat
What @Swimmingwiththefishes says is spot on. It’s not just about walls. You won’t have foundations. There’s a big difference between a proper extension and tarting up a conservatory. Our old one had radiators that really didn’t work in the space in the winter.

We actually pulled our old one down. We had it built in the first place but we decided throwing good money after bad wasn’t what we wanted to do. The orangery extension was in the same position as the conservatory so took no more space up. However it’s not got underfloor heating and is my kitchen. It was expensive but our house is worth a lot and it’s fantastic!

I would say tarted up conservatories don’t really add value. They mean a buyer doesn’t walk away or ask for a price reduction when they see the previous old, cold, cheap conservatory. A good heated space with foundations, high spec glass, and suitable construction is more use and certainly adds value. Ours has an orangery roof and is glass on 2 sides with 2 sets of doors. Every morning it gives me a window on my garden and the sky. I love it.

So I simply wouldn’t skimp. You still won’t have a building with foundations and sufficient heating.