Conservatory roof

[Meandmini3]

My conservatory has a plastic roof. Boiling in simmer freezing in winter. What’s the best option for improving this?

hi @Meandmini3 we recently bought a house with exactly this, we had it replaced with a lightweight tiled roof and insulated ceiling, so far so good and when we had the heatwave last week the conservatory was the coolest room in the house. It cost us around £4k for a 5mx3m conservatory - but shop around as quotes we had varied from £4 - £15k - it seems much of the difference in price was down to the inside, so whether you have it plastered or use plastic - we went for plastic (never have to paint it again which is a bonus) 😁 this is the company we used to give you an idea of what it looks like direct roofing

@anoldcharter thanks for sharing your experience!

Little bump

I would replace it with a proper room. These plastic conservatories are rarely built to a decent standard. Insulation is hard to achieve and heating costs are always high.

If you still want the light, get high-end glass, if the frame can take it. Stuff that blocks UV, self-cleaning, and tinted. We had one like that, neighbours with one the same size and same orientation had a polycarbonate roof and found they could never use it. We used ours all year round.

@TizerorFizz we asked the surveyor to properly look at it and it’s well built with foundations and lots of wall rather than all round windows. But the roof is rubbish!

In that case, if you have double glazed windows and appropriate heating ( preferably under floor) changing the roof is worth it if the room will then meet your needs.

I actually have an oak framed orangery kitchen and obviously I use it all year. The roof is the self cleaning double glazed type and it’s expensive. Cons are that direct sunlight can still make it hot in summer so we have two large sets of doors that both open to the garden. The roof opens too. I would consider a tiled roof if the structure can take it. However I’d have large roof lights that open. I do get a lot of pleasure from the light in my kitchen every morning. I look out over the garden and woods and it’s lovely.,

@TizerorFizz double glazed windows and underfloor heating yes.

@Meandmini3
I would change the roof then but make sure the structure can take it and ensure it’s insulated.

I’ve had some quotes but don’t know what is good and what is not! Any advice?

from cheapest to most expensive

metrotile
thermolite
Guardian warm roof

We got a cosy roof on our big conservatory. Best thing we've ever done to our home!! I can't tell you how extreme the weather got in there but now it's like an extension

Also following this as interested

@HereIfYouNeedMe how much was a cosy roof? Presumably it’s still a conservatory and so you need doors between it and house

we had a quote from Anglian for making our conservatory more into an extension - the foundations are there so they would replace roof and some of glazing etc and knock down walls - came to £40k!

Trying to work what difference is between that and the companies the posters used in this thread

@Namechanger355 it was 8K 4 years ago. We were going to knock it down and build an extension, paid £1500 for an architect to draw up plans. That went to waste but was still cheaper! We have doors in the house going into the conservatory, nothing in there has changes apart from the roof but they had the old one off (a bit of plastic) and the new one up in 2 days!

When you accept a quote make sure it meets building regulations. We had changed ours to tiled but ended up changing it back to plastic when we sold as it didn't meet standards and held up the sale.
If we had gone for a recognised roof system such as Guardian we wouldn't have had a problem but the builder who did it basically added plywood and tiles to original plastic roof.

@TulipsfromAmsterdam the metrotile one is a good chunk cheaper so now I’m wondering if that’s why! We are not planning to move from this house ever but I would still like things to be right

@Meandmini3 I would check regs on council website if you are wanting it done right. Ours was insulated with foil backed plastic no where near thick enough. It was a lot cheaper than a Guardian roof but we ended up paying twice to get sale through.

We changed our poly roof for light weight tiled one a few years back in my old house. It was a reasonable price and was very well worth it- game changer . We put in 2 Velux windows to keep light into the back of the room and that worked brilliantly on hotter days to vent air flow.
I can’t remember what it cost but in region of £6k sticks in my mind- but a few years ago and a big conservatory . The “conservatory” wasn’t really that- it had 2.5 solid walls and heating- so more like a garden room

when I came to sell though we had a bit of a small hassle. We had no planning approval or building regs. Now we had spoken to council and a number of builders who all said we didn’t need it doe to it being a proper room and prior planning approval for that. But we had nothing to prove that especially from the council. In the end we got it sorted as council remembered visiting and confirmed. But If I did it again I’d keep copies of Council communication around planning approval and insist on building Reg process with builder - bit more expensive but save a lot of hassle when you come to sell.

We replaced our roof with a light roof but used a local company. Best decision we have made for the house. Huge improvements in insulation, looks and we love it. We used appleandoak.co.uk/.
Not sure where you are based but they are in Surrey. Great service. Would really recommend.

@TulipsfromAmsterdam the cheaper option seems to be like this. Retaining the current roof and tiling over it then insulating and plastering inside. Was it effective for heat regulation? We are not planning to move so that side of things bothers me less!

Thanks for this thread OP! Our conservatory must be about 30 years old but in good nick. How do you find out if there are foundations or not?? Really want to sort the roof out as it’s currently a playroom but serves as toy storage only in summer and winter as too hot/cold to play in there!

We’re in Surrey so will check out that company @alldone

I found the original planning application and I also asked our surveyor for his opinion.

We got CosyRoof on ours 2 years ago. Cost £7.5k for a 4x3 room, has made such a big difference to our whole house. Not only do we now have a usable room, but the entire downstairs of our house is no longer boiling in summer and freezing in winter. The work was done quickly and efficiently and money well spent.

@GiantSpaceHamster does cosy roof replace the whole thing or tile over the existing one?

They replaced the whole thing, stripped off the polycarbonate and installed new roof, plastered ceiling underneath, all in less than 48 hours.