Changing Conservatory Roof, need help

[doodleygirl]

We have just downside and inherited a conservatory, we don’t want to knock down and build an extension but we do want to use it all year round. I have done so much research my head is going to explode.

Budget is approx 20k, do we go with a thermal active glass such as Pilkingtons or a thermally efficient roof system with glass panels. We will have a bifold between conservatory and dining room and are planning on adding a central heating radiator. If anyone has done this would welcome your knowledge.

The best thing we ever did years ago was to change our conservatory roof into a lightweight tiled proper roof. We are SW facing and the conservatory would be boiling in summer with glass, and freezing in winter. Now it is just a constant temperature

This wasn't the company we used but it is similar to this. You don't need planning permission for it

www.supaliteroof.co.uk/conservatory-roof-replacement/

We had a new conservatory built about six years ago with brick base. It has the pilkington glass roof. It was still too hot in summer due to us having a south facing garden, but we have also added Hillary’s black out blinds on the roof, and gas central heating radiator. It is now usable 95 per cent of the year save for when it’s 30 degrees plus in a heat wave, even then it’s ok in the evening if it’s open.

@TulipTiptoer this what we want to do. What sort of price range was yours please?

I recently had the conservatory roof changed to a glass one. Big expensive mistake - absolutely boiling in summer and heats the entire downstairs to unbearable levels.... I am seriously considering changing it again or installing air conditioning...If I could go back in time I would go for the tiled option.

My MIL had three different refurbs of her conservatory in the 22 years she spent at the last house. Having the glass treated was no use whatsoever to the too cold or too hot problem. The bifold doors did help with the temp in her sitting room but not really with use of the conservatory. A tiled roof or those panels they advertise would have done, but it wasn't what she wanted.

@TulipTiptoer thats the type of roof we are looking at, thank you

Hiya... it was probably about 8 years ago now, so prices will have changed a lot. I think it was about £8K at the time. It's quite a big conservatory. But it is absolutely perfect, so much warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

@Mumlaplomb can you use it in the winter or is too cold when temperatures plummet?

8k, wow, we are being quoted between 18k and 20k, this includes two glass roof panels

Hi yes, we do put a small fan heater on in the evening if it’s in the minuses. We now have our dining room table in there and eat our tea in there.

We changed ours from plastic sheeting to some kind of high thermal efficiency glass with some kind of coating and it made a massive difference - conservatory now useable all year round and, yes, it's hot in direct sun in the Summer, but not unbearably hot. Unfortunately can't remember the technical name/specification of the glass, we just relied on the window fitting firm and took their advice -they said it was the best glass available at that time.

It was 8 years or even 10 years ago now (can't remember!) Everything has gone up sooooo much so could well be double that now.

This pic of it was equivalent as to what we have got and it looks so much nicer from the bottom of the garden looking at it!

Ooops can't do a pic, it's the one halfway down the page of the link I put up, showing the profile of what the roof consists of.

I think given you will have a door in between your living area and the conservatory, a glass one might be fine. However, if budget allows I would go for the tiled roof option so it can be as close to a normal room as possible.

We are about to embark on a similar project.
The tiled roof will definitely be better insulation wise but they are more expensive.

Has someone been out to look at the existing conservatory? We were told that our existing frames would need replacing due to the weight of the tiles, so we were quoted for replacing all of the frames/glass, including french doors, adding spotlights, replastering and building regs costs.
Quotes were 25-30k for a 3.5 x 3.5 conservatory. There are a few other bits I haven't listed but I think that's a good ball park figure.

If you wanted to add a radiator this would be against building regs (a tiled roof needs to be inspected & approved by the council) so it wouldn't get signed off . You could add one after but if you sold the house in future it could be flagged. We're going to add underfloor heating or a log burner instead.

My DM just had her conservatory roof replaced with 24mm pilkington sunshade activ blue. Was just under £10k all in. She had new guttering, window sills on the conservatory as well.
She has a rad in there and it's perfectly usable throughout winter. Haven't had a summer in it with the new roof yet.
Hopefully not too scorching as she'd rather not install roof blinds, she had them in the last roof (which wasn't sunshade activ blue) and they just became grotty looking insect traps.

If you're Herts Beds Bucks I can totally recommend the company

I got the conservatory roof changed from the plastic stuff to a decent looking fake tile looking roof. They had loads of colours to choose from. Cost about £5k, and was complete in a week. The actual roof change was a day. They added a suspended ceiling, lights and plaster. We had to pay for painting separately.