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've never had one but my parents did.

Good quality plus custom blinds on the glass roof and underfloor heating.

After 7 years they gave up on the "bloody thing" and built a proper garden room extension.

As pp's have already said it was too hot in summer and too cold in winter to be usable. They only had a few months a year when it was useful space.

Based on their experiences I'd never "invest" money on one.

A proper roof on ours turned it from a useless greenhouse to a lovely dining room usable all year. Neither too hot or cold now.

Eugh so glad we moved house and got rid of ours, they're only usable for about 4 months a year, may-august far too hot, October-Feb far too cold like absolutely freezing. X

Must admit mine was south facing so maybe that's why it was so hot in the summer but it would still be cold in the autumn/winter x

Ours is an extension of the living room. No issue with heat or cold - the new glass is excellent.

I think it depends. We've just got rid of our conservatory because it was an unusable space. Absolutely greenhouse-like in summer (and smelled like one), even with the double doors and two big windows open, and icy-cold in winter, despite being in a south-facing garden, with a heater on.

BUT, it was probably 20 years old and absolutely falling apart. I think modern conservatories are probably a lot better insulated.

Make/buy fly screens for the windows.
I'd advise anyone getting even a N-facing one to have opening roof lights, they keep it much cooler in the summer than opening windows or even doors.
Ours was N-facing, with engineered wood floor and underfloor heating and 2 opening roof lights, 3m x 3.5 IIRC. One full height wall, for bookcases. With that sort of floor the heating has to be kept low, it was really just to stop it freezing and keep the books in good condition; on very cold days I just used a convector. We used it all year round, and had no blinds. I spent 18 months writing a book in it, it was a great space, I could put all my reference textbooks out open as I worked, the light was fantastic. It let more light into the inner room because of the french doors too, and made the inner room warmer which was great in the winter, spring and autumn. In the summer, we kept the roof lights open when it was hot, so it didn't seem to make the house any hotter.
Where we are now it will be S-facing. I will be wanting four roof lights as a result, and we may have to have blinds.

The trick there is getting self-cleaning glass....costs a little bit more, but well worth it.

Our neighbours had a polycarbonate roofed one- too hot in summer, too cold in winter. They never used it, and eventually demolished it. We had a glass-roofed one built in the exact equivalent position, we used ours all the year round. But we did have it tinted, UV blocked, and self-cleaning. You get what you pay for, basically. I actually used to like the sound on rain on the glass roof. It was great sitting in there enjoying outdoor light and the views of the garden even when it was chucking it down.

Our conservatory was triple glazed roof, two three quarter length walls and one patio door, all triple glazed ( it came from Norway, very exciting. ) It was connected to the central heating, two large radiator ( space 3m x6m) . In the winter, spring and autumn it was easy or unnecessary to heat, very useful. In the summer it got up to 40 degrees with ease, we didn’t have roof blinds but all the windows opened..

it suited us because we didn’t use it in the summer, but it wasn’t really another room for a full time house. I wouldn’t have another room with a full glass roof, although I have had two rooms with skylights, one of which had an external blind ( motorised from inside). That worked very well, you got the bonus of the light but it could be effectively insulated when very cold or hot. I don’t know it the external blind or rather shutter is available in the UK .

Just looked and they are! But they are installed in a roof so not really a conservatory, I suppose.

We love ours!
And we haven't actually found it freezing in the winter, it actually heats up well.
Love sitting in there on rainy nights, and love the doors open to let air into the house in summer.
Couldn't be without mine tbh.

used to like the sound on rain on the glass roof

Me too :)

I have a sort of conservatory, never quite sure how to describe it!

It has 1 solid wall, 2 dwarf walls with windows all around above and French doors. The roof is felted and sloped. It's open to the kitchen and there are normal double doors through to the front room. It's South facing and we removed the blinds as we're not overlooked and they were ugly! It has 1 large rad in it. It was flagged in survey as probably doesn't meet building regs with it being open to house.

We love it. It does get chilly in the winter if there's no sun or until heating has kicked in fully, but it's still perfectly usable. It can get hot in the summer, but with the doors open it's fine. We have our dining table and a tv and sofa in it, plus kids consoles etc.

The way some people carry on you'd think
a) Every conservatory was exactly the same, and old, cheap and nasty with it,
b) All the UK had the same weather, from Penzance to Wick, and
c) UK temperatures only changed twice a year, once from -10 to 35 deg C in the spring, and then back again in the autumn.🙄

We have a north facing conservatory, its only small, about 10x12, we use it all year round. It has 2 glass sides, a glass roof, 2 full brick sides due to the side of the house and the side thats on the fence to the neighbours

We have a single oil filled rad out there, in the winter we may come down to it being as cold as 10 degrees, put the rad on and after about 20 mins its gone up to 18/19.

I love our conservatory its one of the best things we've done to the house, its not too hot in summer because we open the doors and windows.

I inherited mine with my house I bought from elderly lady. Everest 1988. 3 x 2 m. North West facing. I was told she used it all the time. I was doubtful, but here I am, feet up, sitting in it again. Watching the summer wind and light rain and birds in the garden. I love it! Real light therapy.
No heating, so I use it to sit in from March to October. Then in winter it’s perfect for storing wellington boots, wet weather gear and the wood burning stove stuff! I have an old bookcase I use for storing logs - nicely dried.

We put one in 2019 at a cost of £17k nov-feb we dont use it much other than letting the dog through to the garden but rest of year we have the doors open from the lounge the whole house feels bigger.
Also use it primarily for playstuff but we have sofas and storage too.
Too cold i get but its never been too hot.
Wouldn't be without it

Im not sure I understand why someone would have a solid roof on a conservatory, that would feel quite hemmed in, plus it would darken the room its attached to, normally the kitchen or dining room.

Ours is the blue glass, its beautiful to see the clouds wafting over or watching the rain. Its self cleaning and seems to work well

From lots of the comments here with people knocking down walls and attaching rads to their central heating system, these dont meet building control I wouldnt have thought?

If you get a quality one and pay attention to blinds and flooring, it's very good solution OP- we had a nice one in Denmark in our rented house , a bit like that Aliceinscandiland one someone posted- the people moving in after us plan exactly on using it as a playroom. The underfloor heating made a big difference and a tiled roof . Have seen a few grotty ones in the past though- mainly because people used for storage and didn't ventilate/heat properly .

Mine is NWW facing and open to the kitchen, we’re in the South East. We use it a lot but not in high summer or deepest winter.

We have a small sofa and our breakfast table there and eat there about 50% of the time. We really love the brightness and closeness to the garden. We love it when it is bright outside but too cold to actually sit outside. It is too hot to eat there today though, even with the doors open and, even with heaters, it is too cold in winter. I don’t really want to get a solid roof because of reducing the light.

We have a net on the door which has totally transformed the spider / fly issues we used to have.

To you, maybe. (Not being snippy, that's great).

But a glass roof won't stop the conservatory getting bitterly cold in the winter and certainly won't help keeping it cooler in summer (unless uv shielded).

We have UFH it is never cold in the winter except at night when the heating is off, it gets warmer more quickly and stays warmer than some of the other rooms in the house and the glass is uv shielded, tinted and self cleaning.
It makes a huge difference.

That was my point :)

I hate mine. It's not super modern but not ancient either, about 10 years old I think. Glass roof, one solid wall and two dwarf walls. East facing, so the side of it faces south. Horribly hot in the summer, and also makes the dining room very hot as there is no division between them. And cold in the winter - it does have a radiator but with fuel costs I don't exactly want to pump heat into a big glass box. It's not much good for plants either - many of my plants have died or become unhappy since we moved in, as it's simply too hot and bright in there

We had a conservatory built about 15yrs ago on our previous property. We had a 4 and a newborn at the time. It was the best money we have ever spent on our housing ever.

Similar size to the one you are talking about we had a radiator installed and topped that up in the winter if needed with an oil filled radiator.

That room was a godsend. A play room with carpets on the floor and toys everywhere. A boys room for the husband with a solid oak floor, sofa, TV etc. A social room for the family. A dining room. Its been them all and we just couldnt have done what we did without it.

Conservatories are not cheap, especially now. Extensions are even more expensive. Dont worry about which you do. There is no black and white correct answer