Conservatory insulation

[gavroche]

Many firms are advertising roof insulation of conservatories and they all promise greatly reduced heating bills and cooler in summer. They also say installation is done within a day.
Has anybody has any experience of this and what are your thoughts?
Is it worth doing it and how much does it cost?

 

[bikingdad90]

At work we have found the biggest energy saving (decarbonisation) is to replace the windows with high quality double glazed ones as they perform very similar to triple glazed ones.

Insulation is a tricky one as sometimes it can cause more problems if the property isn’t designed for the insulation.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Many firms are advertising roof insulation of conservatories and they all promise greatly reduced heating bills and cooler in summer. They also say installation is done within a day.
Has anybody has any experience of this and what are your thoughts?
Is it worth doing it and how much does it cost?

Our friends had this done a couple of months ago. Their next door neighbours had had it done and they were really impressed. The work consisted of removing the glass roof and replacing it with pre formed aluminium and insulation. It had the effect of raising the rear conservatory roof line higher up the wall of the house. the bulk of the existing conservatory structure didn't change. They had a couple of velux style windows as part of the new roof to help the light levels.
The people were done and dusted in a couple of days, old roof removed and new timbers done within a day and finished off the following day. Our friends are very pleased with the results.

 

[Ajax Bay]

It's not really a conservatory if it's got a solid roof, is it?
Do you want to lose all that light?
Just make sure the door(s) to the conservatory are effective (frame seals and double glazed) and enjoy it in the summer (with blinds to avoid overheating).

 

[Gunk]

We had a very expensive conservatory built at our previous house back when they were flavour of the month back in the 1990’s, far too cold in winter and too hot in summer, you end end up having to spend a small fortune on inefficient underfloor heating, bespoke blinds and A/C to even make them useable. It was a complete waste of money.

 

[CXRAndy]

Many firms are advertising roof insulation of conservatories and they all promise greatly reduced heating bills and cooler in summer. They also say installation is done within a day.
Has anybody has any experience of this and what are your thoughts?
Is it worth doing it and how much does it cost?

My sister in-law had it done. Made a unusable room into part of the house. UK not designed for conservatories, bloody cold in winter, ovens in summer. Get it done with re-roof. I would not go with super fast company. Make sure it's done right-done once

Btw we had a conservatory, I used it predominantly for indoor riding, where it was cold enough not to concern me. In summer I had to have all the windows and doors open to keep cool

 

[Drago]

We had a very expensive conservatory built at our previous house back when they were flavour of the month I. The 10990’s, far too cold in winter and too hot in summer, you end end up having to spend a small fortune on inefficient underfloor heating, bespoke blinds and A/C to even make them useable. It was a complete waste of money.

Bloody hell. You built your conservatory 9000 odd years in the future?

 

[Gillstay]

We had a very expensive conservatory built at our previous house back when they were flavour of the month back in the 1990’s, far too cold in winter and too hot in summer, you end end up having to spend a small fortune on inefficient underfloor heating, bespoke blinds and A/C to even make them useable. It was a complete waste of money.

We have on on this house we inherited so to speak and I cannot fathom why they spent sooo much money on it .
All the same problems as you list. You cannot even grow plants in it well.

 

[Tenkaykev]

We had a very expensive conservatory built at our previous house back when they were flavour of the month back in the 1990’s, far too cold in winter and too hot in summer, you end end up having to spend a small fortune on inefficient underfloor heating, bespoke blinds and A/C to even make them useable. It was a complete waste of money.

Yes indeed. Our friends had roof and window blinds made to measure and a ginormous ceiling fan put in before eventually decidinfg on re roofing.

 

[Beebo]

We knocked ours down and built an extension. And it had double glazing, a composite roof and radiators.
It was still freezing.

 

[Gunk]

Ours was custom built in timber because it was a Victorian house, it cost an absolute fortune and people who bought the house took it down and built a proper extension

 

[MontyVeda]

It's not really a conservatory if it's got a solid roof, is it?
Do you want to lose all that light?
Just make sure the door(s) to the conservatory are effective (frame seals and double glazed) and enjoy it in the summer (with blinds to avoid overheating).

most of the the walls are glass so they're still very well lit rooms even with a roof. They're more bearable in the summer, not so noisy when it rains and definitely easier to heat in the winter. Since my folks got a proper roof on theirs, I'd advise anyone to do the same.

Of course not all roofs are created equal.

 

[Kingfisher101]

The neighbours at both sides have them and are always having various problems such as the roof's leaking etc. Thankfully we never jumped on that bandwagon. I don't see the point of them.

 

[Profpointy]

We had a brilliant conservatory in one house, filling the corner between the kitchen door and the door to the garage. It did have radiators (pointlessly) which we never turned on. In the winter it was just a cold corridor but in the summer it was nice to hang out in. If there was a suitable layout in another house I'd get another. Ours had a semi-outdoor greenhousy vibe to it which I liked.