CosyRoof on a Conservatory?

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

Anyone had one done?

I keep seeing adverts for them everywhere since googling 'taking down a conservatory and building a hard extension in its place'

I have to say I am intrigued. It certainly would be a much cheaper option if they do what they claim to do (cool in the summer/warm in the winter making it an all year round useable space)

Are they too good to be true? 🤔

Until last April, our Conservatory had the plastic (I think) roof. It was unusable 9 months of the year. Freezing from October to April, usable until end of May and again in September. We had an insulated roof put on. It is now used year round. Full disclosure, it is always about 3/4 degrees cooler in the colder months and the same in the warmer months. But I now work out there year round. We’ve basically gained another room. We also had new windows and a new patio door fitted. All in, 11K the lot.

DP and I were talking about this yesterday. He had it done at his old house. Said the conservatory was freezing in winter, boiling in summer and became much a more consistent temperature.

Thanks for this its really useful. This is exactly what we would be looking to do and its good to hear you have had a really positive experience doing it. Its way cheaper than the alternative.

I think 11K is pretty reasonable and we would be willing to spend that if it would mean we could use it all year round.

Thank you. This is exactly our reason for wanting to do it. Its a great conservatory but what is the point if its unusable for much of the year.

Actually we also had to get it all plastered afterwards, so another £250.00 for that. It is honestly the best thing we could have done (and afforded at the time). So basically the doors/windows were done in 2022 and 2023 (£3750), we then saved for the new roof in 2024 (£7k ish). We have a proper radiator out there and during the coldest months it only really goes on twice a day for an hour or so. I remember one bitterly cold day this past winter going out there to start work at my desk and the temp was 14 degrees at 8am. Previously it would have been 3 degrees. Last week during the heatwave it was 30 degrees out there, but compared to our lounge (which was 27), it was only 3 degrees hotter out there.

Thanks, yep, this seems like something I definitely want to do and think would be worth every penny if we are gaining a whole new room.

We had a warm roof put on the conservatory in our last house. It made the living room leading into the conservatory incredibly dark as we lost the light coming through the roof. We needed the light on most of the time and I’m sure it is the reason why it was so difficult to sell this otherwise perfect house.

I had an insulated roof put on the conservatory around 5 years ago My observations were that immediately the lighting was dimmer in the conservatory and that the adjoining room was dimmer. I would offset that plastic roof was leaking and when it rained made hell of noise. The new roofing was a compromise. I came out of the experience thinking I don't want to buy a future house with a conservatory as the negatives out weigh the positives.

Yes, something to consider for sure. Thank you.

Other than losing the light did it do what you intended it to do? Did it make the room more useable.

The noise on the roof is another reason we are thinking of having a warm roof put on it. I didn't think about the light issue but on looking into it further you can have a window added which will retain some light. So this may be an option.

We will consider all options when deciding what to do but its great to get insights from people who have 'been there, done that'

Thanks

It made the room more useable as it was warmer. We also had the doors between conservatory and living room removed and a full height radiator installed. We then fell foul of planning regulations when the buyers had the survey done as it is against planning rules to have a radiator ( as part of your heating system) in a conservatory and also to not have proper external quality doors between conservatory and rest of the house. It was an absolute nightmare and cost us a fortune.

We’ve just decided against getting a warm roof. The conservatory if off the kitchen which is already fairly dark, so I can imagine we’d always need lights on.
Decided to change from polycarbonate to glass to reduce noise levels though.

You can have a window added to the roof though to help with the light issue which is looking like we will need to do now. I honestly never really thought about the light and was just thinking more about making sure it was more useable. Thanks

We had a solid roof put on ours last year and can't believe the difference, so much warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. I would in all honesty say we've used it more this last year than in the 25 previous years since it was built
Re the light issue yes our kitchen is darker as the only window looks into the conservatory, however we've got some sensor under cabinet lights so is fine for pottering and obviously main light when cooking properly

Thank you. This is exactly what I was hoping to hear. Our conservatory goes off the kitchen also but our window for the kitchen is really large and goes right along the end of the house and the conservatory doesn't cover that so I think the light issue may be less for us. But there are definitely clever lighting hacks you can do these days.

I think for me, losing some light would be a compromise I would be willing to make if it means we can actually use the room properly.

Could I ask how much it cost please?

Those who have had it done, would you mind saying the company you used? Was it CosyRoof or another? And also a rough cost?

Thanks

We looked into replacing our old,ugly polycarbonate conservatory roof with a solid insulated one with velux windows.
Our conservatory leads off the living room via double sliding patio doors.These doors were the only source of light into the living room.
We are in Scotland and building regulations didn’t allow us to put on a solid roof,even with a couple of velux windows if there were no other windows in the living room as a source of light.We could have knocked out some of the living room wall and put a window in but we didn’t want to be looking out at the side of our neighbours house.
We ended up putting in a self cleaning tinted solar glass roof and it’s been great.Definitely not so stiflingly hot in the summer and not so cold in the winter.It wasn’t cheap but we felt it was money well spent.We spend a lot of time in our conservatory.

In the process of having ours done right now.
We’re having a warm roof put on plus bifolds, new frames & windows.
Hoping it won’t make too much difference light wise as we’ve got 2 velux windows going in the roof.
ours is costing around 28k but that included quite a bit of extra stuff. Just the basic roof would have been 10-15k I reckon.
Here it is so far.

Oh wow, thank you for this. It looks good so far!!

Price seems reasonable for what you are having done and it is becoming more of an option the more I look into it.

Will be interested to hear what your thoughts are once its completed!

We bought a house with one. It's our dining room. Has underfloor heating plus an electric fan system on the wall. There's a lot of glass so we do have blinds to keep the sun out if necessary like during the heatwave. We can use it all the year round.

@ErlingHaalandsManBun I'm not entirely sure of the brand as we had the company who built the conservatory back to replace it. It cost 13k for a 3x3 m( roughly) roof we also had some rewiring a replacement fire door due to regulations as our garage opens into it. There's an internal gutter due to singe storey extension next to it that was also replaced
It did take longer than the adverts I'd seen but other than that absolutely no complaints

Thank you.

I was thinking between 10-15K for one and this seems reasonable to me when you consider the other option of changing it for a hard extension which may need foundations re-doing/planning permission etc.. So seems my thinking was about right.

My husband just DIY’d ours. Theres a lot of youtube video’s that breakdown how to do it if your handy. It cost about £500 in materials and 5 half days of him doing it with me as the skivvy, lol. There is a loss of light in there and the kitchen feels slightly darker as well, but we knew this would be the compromise. Today was around 22 degrees and the conservatory would usually be about 31 degrees with all windows and doors open. It was 24 degrees with just the windows cracked so ai am well pleased with the difference. Some days last month we had to shut it off from the rest of the house due to the heat! We’ve obviously not had a winter yet but I have high hopes.

This looks incredible and is very similar to what I am looking for. May I ask if you used local builders or nationwide company for it? Also, random question did you do about air bricks - we have a couple either side the kitchen door that would lead into the potential conservatory?

Whoops, I think I posted this on the wrong reply earlier and don’t know how to delete. Oh well - what I wanted to say is this looks incredible and is very similar to what I am looking for. May I ask if you used local builders or nationwide company for it? Also, random question did you do about air bricks - we have a couple either side the kitchen door that would lead into the potential conservatory?