What's so wrong with a conservatory?

[conservatoryconfusion]

So I need more space due to having 3 children incl set of toddler twins - no playroom and id say a smaller than average lounge. Kitchen/diner and no other space downstairs

I must have contacted a dozen builders for a quote on an extension but the ones that do bother to speak to me say they are booked up for 2 years

So I've booked a couple of companies to quote a conservatory but then everyone I mention it to so says "don't do it"

I don't get it? As far as I can see

pros
One company - all complete in short space of time
Finance options to spread cost over 5 years
Cheaper
Less disruption

cons
Apparently too hot in summer - but wouldn't you just open the doors? Install roof blinds?

Apparently too cold in winter - don't you just have a radiator installed? Or at very least an electric one?

I'd think about the glass roof. My friend has one and the moss, leaves and bird poo were a real eyesore. She has just had a roof lining put in and it looks so much classier as well as making it easier to heat. The lining is white and shiny so the conservatory is still bright.

Yeah the crap on the roof is annoying. I keep meaning to stick a mop out there but life gets in the way.

Self-cleaning glass is bollocks!!

We have one with double doors off the kitchen. South facing but with a solid roof. Open double doors to garden all Summer even on a rainy day and love it. Underfloor heating in Winter and well insulated in the roof but we mostly use our living room then as like to light a fire. Definitely would not go for a glass roof.

We recently had our conservatory roof insulated and it's made a real difference. It used to be baltic in the winter and Sahara desert in summer. Much more manageable now!!

You can get tiled rooves for conservatories now. Most conservatory companies seem to offer them?
www.conservatoryoutlet.co.uk/solid-roofs/
I would have thought that would help with the too hot in summer and too cold in winter and makes it a bit more like an extension and less like a conservatory.

We have a conservatory about the size of the one you are planning which we use as our dining room. It has a storage heater (we are all electric), big windows which open up completely, double doors and a glass roof. In the ssummer it does get very hot so needs a fan and everything open - it's usually bearable apart from on the hottest days. In the winter it is ok with the heating up full, but as it is a room we don't use that often we don't usually put the heating on and it is freezing! We kept the patio doors between the sitting room and the conservatory, and it does add another layer of insulation to the sitting room when it is cold. In spring and autumn when the sun shines it gets nice and warm and we open up the doors to hear the sitting room.
One thing I would say is that if you are intending to use it as a playroom you are going to need to monitor the temperature in there closely.

Our is north facing. Until two years ago was separate and closed up in winter months. Being north facing was cooler in the summer and more usable space than some neighbours facing south. we used it all summer long.

took the decision to knock lots of internal walls down and redesign our kitchen just before Covid thinking we might regret it in the winter. It’s been fine. Lower walls were cavity, double glazed windows and I think we’ve got five levels of polycarbonate on the roof, it’s a tad cooler in that part, I keep snuggly blankets to throw over my knees in winter first thing in the morning, love my seating area looking out onto the garden all year round - our lounge is at the front - we invested in a heating system where we can decide the temperature in each room a couple of years ago so I can up and down the radiator in the conservatory part really easily. We now use it all year round, lounge has become more of a snug, best thing we did.

I never really understand the issue on here about them, my friends is usable all year round, sure a few days a year it’s boiling, but it’s boiling everywhere I. The house because it’s about 30 outside

the rest of the year it’s windows open, or blinds used, and In winter radiators on. I’d go for it.

Op I do think - from what I’ve read - modern conservatories are better insulated and a better use of space - but I think people (like me!) judge them on old ones
This.
The hive mind doesn't like conservatories but they tend to be talking about the old polycarbonate ones. Modern ones are, would you believe, modern.
Ours is glass roof, with blue tint to avoid the hot/cold thing, self-cleaning, isn't noisy in the rain. We use it every day.

Conservatory roof glass is considerably better than it used to be....

www.morleyglass.co.uk/tinted-glass-roof/

So ours is 3m out (as that’s what was allowed without planning) and 4.5m wide. We had a polycarbonate roof, south facing with a radiator and didn’t use it for the 4 years since we bought the house. It’s half brick with French doors.

Last year we had a light weight roof fitted, and took out the doors to the dining room making it open plan, now we use it daily, it’s warm but not hot and not too cold in the winter. Our neighbours have just had a glass roof but still struggle with it being too hot so I recommend the light weight tiled roof turning it into an extension rather than an occasional use room.

We bought a house with a conservatory - our thoughts were we'll get rid of that eyesore - it didn't match the house - looked crappy even though it was wood, the PvC ones look even worse, it had the too hot too cold thing going on too - granted it was an old one but I would think a lot of people would see it as a negative when buying a house - so will you get back your investment? - you might not even care but if you do - get a proper room.

It depends on the aspect. My parents have one in a shady spot and use it all year apart from dead of winter when it's too cold to heat. We have a south facing one and never use it. You need doors between the conservatory and main house to keep heat / cold out. Blinds in it and a ceiling fan. Go for it!

If you have the money to have triple glazing and a proper roof rather than glass, a conservatory is amazing. I absolutely love ours.

Also blinds on the windows help with the heat in summer - you can just open them/some of them when you're sitting in there, and it stops the sun heating it up the rest of the time.

Not sure why people are saying a little heater wouldn't work - I have a little one and it works fine.

My parents have a conservatory they use as a dining room and 8ve never found it too cold in winter. They have a plug in heater and I find it really warm. Also not too hot in summer!

We bought a house with a very big conservatory on the back it is too hot in summer and too cold in winter sometimes. We have cupboards along both ends and it sorted storage for the house. We are thinking of having a solid roof put on so it’s more useable. I do like sitting in it when the temps are not too extreme.

Our old house had a conservatory that wasn't dilapidated or anything but definitely had seen better days and wasn't top spec. It had one radiator in and was east facing. The radiator was enough to make it usable in winter, and blinds and a door open was enough in summer.

In our current house we have a big conservatory that's south facing. It has a AC/heater unit in it. This makes it pleasant all year round. Without it, it wouldn't be.

We didn't have a conservatory on our wish list when we bought either house but both have turned out to be really useful, pleasant additional spaces for us.

@MrsWooster how do you use the sail?

Over the roof? Or as a blind?

PILs use their conservatory all year round, they have a standalone electric radiator for winter so doesn't get too cold (IIRC you need building regs approval if you connect it to your main central heating). Theirs is probably about 1/3 height brick walls, they have the self cleaning glass on the roof and while it still needs a bit of attention, a lot of the crap does just run off.

They have one of those canvas sail thingies inside which takes the edge of the brightness in the summer but it does still get very hot. And the sail catches loads of dead flies! It helps if the open the patio doors, but we have small DC then they escape and the garden isn't secure. I'm sure when we aren't there its cooler as they can just throw open the doors.

I disagree with pp saying that they are a negative point for buying a house. I think they are fine as long modern build and no obvious problems (so buyers don't want to see condensation suggesting damp, or conservatory obviously not being used etc)

Same here and ours is an old one so id imagine newer ones are better

It was a glorious day when our conservatory came down and was replaced with a proper extension.

Too hot, too cold, mould, leaks, grubby glass...

Hated it!!

Don't do it

If you want to use it all year round, then you need as much brick as possible and a solid roof (not glass). Check if you will need planning permission.

Look at orangeries with a solid room. They are more expensive but better insulated.

Of course, you can have heaters in it in the winter, but with the price of energy, it will cost a lot to heat it.

Ours in east facing and has a glass roof and we only use it between April and September because we don't want to spend money heating it in the winter. But we do not need the space all year round.

*solid roof

Oh I don't have roof blinds I didn't even realise you could get them! I'll have to look into it

PP mentioned 'passive solar gain' which if sited correctly and in the right place surely that could cut your heating bills (and drafts)

Personally I would love one and when the kids are older you could morph into an indoor gardening expert and make it into a tropical paradies...with lemon trees and such?

The only bug bear I would have is the use of PVC on environmental grounds. I expect though that the state of the market as it is there may not be alternatives and perhaps that might push the price up (or down). I would check gardening magazines or even Which? Convervatories? I have not checked to see if they have anything on their site but they might do - it is really a fab resource to check if things are worth doing.