Replacing a conservatory roof to make it more useable in winter.

[Clevs]

Has anybody done this?

We had a flyer in the postbox last week from a company offering to replace our conservatory roof to make it warmer in winter and cooler in summer - basically more useable.

We have a rep coming round tomorrow to measure up/quote and try to sell it to us but just wondering how effective it may be. If we get to next winter and it's still too cold in there to use, then what?

Any recommendations of firms/types of replacement roofs you've personally used and would recommend welcome. It just seems a wasted space in the winter as it's too cold in there for it to be used for its intended purpose (play room).

Just done it! It's great, no regrets. It's lovely and warm and looks great.

In process. We are replacing the glass roof with a solid roof with velux windows and a gable end. However, this isn’t always possible, depending on construction of walls as they may not take the weight. Otherwise there are other options that look like tiles but aren’t and are much lighter.

We're considering this too so interested in opinions .

So we had someone round today and he quoted us £16k (it's a big conservatory). This is quite a bit more than what we were expecting so may get a second opinion from another company. We only moved in last summer and have a long list of other jobs to do to the house so I guess it's a matter of prioritising and I think the conservatory will be way down the list if it's going to be that expensive.

Does it have walls or all windows?

Yes. We did ours last year. It's much better. It's still cold in winter and warm in summer because there's still a lot of glass and no central heating or ceiling fan but a more bearable level.

We have a blow heater in there and a 20 min blast warms it enough for an hour or two. Windows still need opening in summer etc. but it's now usable as a room all day and all seasons where before it just stayed locked up all winter due to being a literal ice box and in the summer it was too hot in the afternoon.

We used a local company and I think it cost about 8k which was for roof plus 2 small velux, new glass, replastering, spotlights and painting. It's a small to average sized conservatory. Took about 5 days to complete.

Just to add ours has a wall on one end but glass the rest of the way round.

A wall all the way round.

Yes, we've very recently done ours, £14k for a 2mx3m conservatory, so far it seems a lot better. It feels like a more usable room!

We had ours done 2 years ago and it’s definitely made it more bearable in summer and winter, though it’s still a bit hotter/colder than other rooms in the house. We paid about £12k - the conservatory is around 10 ft by 13, I reckon.

Ours has one wall too - apparently that means it’s an orangery rather than a conservatory 🤷‍♀️

Reading the OP again I just want to say temper your expectations if you don't have radiators in there or under floor heating. It is so much better than before but the roof doesn't work miracles. Some winter heating will still be needed but the kids have used it as a TV room through the winter evenings by warming it up and wearing Oodies. With the old plastic roof nobody wanted to go in there during winter, even with a small heater.

I didn't know that. Sounds posher so I'll take it. 😄

Thought about this but decided it would make the living room darker
Also beware when you come to sell it up to building regs.
Held up buying our current house because the sellers we're buying a property who had this conversion.
Had to have a specialist one in and sort it.

That's a good point. Ours is off the dining room and it has reduced the light. I can live with that for the benefits but not everyone would.

We did ours at the end of last year. We reckon it’s made about 10 degrees improvement in temperature in the winter - obviously we’ve yet to see how things go I; the summer. You will definitely lose a fair bit of light, so you need to make sure you have appropriate levels to bear this.

There are various methods of doing this, so I would beware of how much effect anything too cheap would have.

Big conservatory and in the South East, ours was about £17k for a properly insulated tiled roof, with two Velux windows. Looks great.

Yes, I use it when I want to sound posher 😂😂 ‘Oh shall we dine in the orangery tonight, darling?!’

Our conservatory is fully glass with the sloping glass/guttering effect where you can hear the rain loud and proud. It is the length of our full back of house (quite big).

We were quoted £20,000 for a new pitched roof, quad bi-fold doors, new half bricked up all the way round, and take down of complete external back wall to make one big open kitchen. Essentially turning it into one big fancy useable space. No wiring or plastering included in this price (just the bare bones/foundation/roof and brickwork) as my husband would do the rest. Other quotes were about £25,000, £30,000. Our neighbours had theirs done for £32,000 and theirs look stunning.

For us, we decided as we had only been in the house a year (now two) we would not go ahead; we had other things we would much rather spend our money on.

HOWEVER due to having teenagers and needing a workable space for them, we framed up, insulated the ceiling & then my husband put the polycarbonate sheets up, then did the electrical work for lighting. We had a radiator added, track & thermal curtains added, and then had a dehumidifier popped in the room (takes the damp edge off/gets rid of condensation wonderfully).

It has proven to be a very workable space. Looks/feels really warm and cosy, surprised me really. Didn't think it would work this well. Another plus, our clothes dry quick in here too. We'll save up for the big job if we still want it in the future, but our set up works for us all.

Had ours done about 8 years ago.
Best decision ever.
It was freezing in the winter, boiling in the summer and extremely noisy when it rained.
Ours was made open plan by the previous owner and was effectively also making the kitchen and dining area out of bounds during the summer/winter as it was so hot/cold.
It was a big space with one solid wall and 2 sides windows. Prob approx 10 meters by 5. The ceiling was insulated and lights were put in. The roof is lightweight tiles.
We paid about £8k.
It's made such a difference. It's just like any other room in the house now.

Please could I ask what company did your quote?

We have a quote to replace the old polycarbonate roof and all the windows doors but I want a bit more done and the firm that quoted can do it, so I’m trying to works out what kind of firm I actually need.

I'd look at the price difference between that and a single story extension.

I'd recommend looking at a brand new one as a possibility OP. For almost the same prices people have paid here for a solid roof we've had a completely new conservatory built (using existing foundations to reduce cost.) Our old one was 20 years old (freezing 50%of year and boiling the other 50%) and with the new one we maxed out on everything possible to keep the heat in and sun out. We put a radiator in (not strictly within regulations), thermal roofing, as much wall and as little glass as we could get away with and stay within regulations. It's completely transformed the room and it's lovely to use now.

That's what we're going to do now I think. We didn't think it would be that expensive and the money would be put to better use making it into a proper room with a proper roof!

We looked at it in 2020. It ranged frlm about £6k to 'wrap' the existing roof in insulation inside and out (materials looked cheap and it sounded structurally odd), £12k to replace the whole roof on existing structure with a solid roof, £18k new conservatory with glass roof (much better insulated than plastic roof), £24k for new conservatory with solid roof with 2 skylights. Given the age of the old conservatory (almost 20 years) we went for a new one with solid roof. The replacement roofs came with a 10 year guarantee but we were not sure our old one could cope with the extra weight of a solid roof for which it was not designed. Using the existing base saved us money.

Really interested to hear from anyone that has had Supalight roof installed?

Bought a house last year with an existing 'situation' and if we want to avoid building work (would cost less but would take longer to install, much more upheaval) it has two cavity walls either side, timber and glass roof, timber and glass rear onto garden. Back wall of house removed already so have large kitchen/diner - with room for sofa/living area.