TelBoy

Thinking of getting one.

Worth paying up or are they all roughly similar? What are the features i should be looking for? Ta.

what would scooby do

Why not get a member of the liberal party instead

what would scooby do

Go for glass not polycarbonate roof

TelBoy

Cheers. Why's that?

what would scooby do

There are 3 types of makers

#1 Cheap and shoddy
#2 Mid range and decent
#3 Bloody expensive and not much better quality than #2

I would go for a locally well known company that's been around for a while.

Ensure you have lots of openings etc for when it gets hot.

You will get 100 different opinions on using Pilkington Activ and solar glass etc

what would scooby do

When it rains poly is very loud

Hanley

I can certainly vouch for that.

We built a conservatory which is 4 metres by 12 metres and goes into an L shape, big enough for my office, a large dining table and large corner sofa with tv.

When it rains, even when it's fairly light rain, the noise is very amplified.

If you do go for triple-polycarbonate then make sure it's the thickest possible, the company who done ours tried to fob us off with 11mm and we had to fight them for 18 months to get them to replace it with a 25mm roof. That was one of our original requests so make sure everything you ask for is in the contract - and I mean EVERYTHING!!

Also agree with the comment about the openings, they get very hot.

On the plus side, when the weather is nice like it is now, open the doors and windows and you have a very nice place to sit and relax. No chance of watching tv when the sun is out though.

David Lock

I got one to use as an office. Cost about £6k from Wickes (about 5.5 x 4m) and I paid someone to build it under my direction. Cheaper than getting a contractor.

But one thing I never thought of is that it is obviously a very bright room when sun is out which makes using a computer screen a problem. The standard blinds aren't thick enough to keep out enough light. I still don't know the full answer to this problem but be carefulo when you choose location. Gets very hot in summer; I have aircon but it won't cope on really hot days. Aside from that I have been delighted with it. dl

Scooby Snacks 23

We have a poly roof and it's right below our bedroom window - when it was first put up we used to get woken up by the rain all the time, but you do get used to it. If you'ree watching telly or having a dinner though whe it's raining hard, you can't hear yourself think, let alone talk!!

I would like to replace it to glass, but fear it's too much ££££ at the mo.

TelBoy

Good info, thanks all. Won't be using computers or tellies in it so no worries on that front

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

Of course you could go for a flat roof - which would make it an extension intead. You may need planning permission for this though. I'm looking at this option. It will be cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

^Qwerty^

Heating and cooling

supertouring

The problem we have is getting blinds for the roof.

We went with glass, more expensive, and to keep the sun out we also need blinds, yet more expense! Happy we did though, much nicer.

Unfortunately, the shape of the converatory means that blinds would not fit properly, so we are looking at other options. Window tinting film has been suggested but have yet to see anyone with it in place so not sure if it would be a good idea or not.

We spend a lot of time in our conservatory, best thing we did to the house.

Nigel H

Tel,

Ours is North facing which means it doesn't get that hot in Summer. From experience I'm not sure I'd want a South facing one. Too hot.

It's glass and so noise isn't a problem. I seem to remember Kirsty Allsop (c4 woman - you know who ) saying that the best ones are those that are used as dining rooms. She may have a point, but we use ours as a sitting room and it's fine

r32

Dont get wood, go for plastic ...............

TelBoy

Thought there would be more to this than i imagined! Glad i asked now!

Don't like flat roof conservatories gpssti4 but thanks for the tip.

Mine would be West facing so cool but airy in the morning but a heat trap in the afternoon.

jonc

We went with a garden room instead of a conservatory. Has a slated pitched roof with 8 pilkinton glass skylights and walls constructed from timber frame. Its habitable in the summer and winter, ie cool in summer and warm in winter and is well sound insulated. Conservatorys are usually hot in summer as it traps all the heat, and cold in the winter where the heat just goes through the roof, they generally have poor insulation.

Mines not too disimilar to this in construction, except its a little smaller and has 8 glass panel skylights.
http://www.findabuilder.co.uk/images/regency_top.jpg

It will have to go through planning permission and submit plans etc, whereas conservatorys can get by with just a building notice. Oh and they cost a little bit more, but IMO is well worth it.

Bakerman

Absolutely a glass roof.
We used Anglian and to be fair to them they were excellent, build on time and a good job done. Not the cheapest but not the most expensive either, I think it came in around 15-17k but cant quite remember. We think a dwarf wall looks smarter and we put in the biggest possible windows (within reason) to try and give a nice aspect. We dont have the little windows at the top, rather the big ones that either open on a slant or get fully opened meaning the air flow in the summer is excellent. With a dwarf wall it gets very dusty unless plastered. Central heating is not necessary, we have a small elec plug in gas heater thingy which does the job.

Ours is south facing and is very very warm in the summer but that heat does get pushed around the house, even in winter it is easily warm enough providing the sun is out.

We needed planning (according to west oxon council anyway), I think it is something like 6000mm by 4250mm.

The Trooper 1815

iTrader: (31)

We went for the dark brown effect plastic. Soooooooo much easier on the eye when dirty. Don't for get that things like overbridging drains, manhole covers, how many opening windows and shape etc are things that may push the price up.

Got a 9 by 9 foot from B&Q for £3999 in the brown, double doors with 4 top opening windows. And got a contract build, saves order time and you can dictate build dates too. Must say that the poly issue will soon go away.

HTH

MJW

This is the biggest consideration ! My mum and dad have a replica crystal palace built onto the back of their house, and in winter its like Siberia, but in the summer its like being microwaved at 1000w

Infractfree

Primary consideration should be that they demonstrate appallingly bad taste for the most part. Will sir take his UPVC in white or faux wood effect?

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

....... not what my Mrs said

gpssti4

iTrader: (6)

I asked my local council and they advised that you don't need planning permission if:
It's not increasing the living area by more than 70 cubic metres
It's segregated (sp?) from the main house, i.e. French doors.

Chip Sengravy

I think conservatories look clatty, unless they are decent hardwood jobbies.

Why not go for a sun room ? Tall brick sides with glass frontage and proper sloping roof with 50-60% velux ? Depending on your overlook one of the sides glass aswell ?

Deep Singh

Just remember to have the conservatory usable all year round you need:

1) Lots of openings (more £)

2) AC (£)

3) Blinds (£)

4) ? Underfloor heating if tiled (£)

Once I added up all these costs and a conservatory from a medium priced company I realised I could have a solid extension for about 30% more money. The solid extension will also add more value to your home than a conservatory.

Just something to consider

David Lock

I think also that you need planning if you plumb in any rads to the house central heating system. But I stand to be corrected. I thought about underfloor but the temperature rises and falls very quickly. I have an electric rad on a timer to take the chill off in the morning and a fixed aircon unit although that does get expensive to run.

jonc

Each council will have their own rules and regs that a build will have to comply to. We initially started off with just a building notice, then we had a visit from the planning office and told us to plans will have to be submitted despite the fact they sent us a letter stating that it can be done with a building notice and that planning permission was not required.

ScoobyWeb

Ok, you don,t need planning if it has a floor area of less than 30 square metres, it has to have at least 75% of the roof area to be of a translutant material, 50% of the walls translutant and be seperated from the main house by a door. It also has to have it's own heat source i.e not fed from the main house heating system. Glass has to be toughened/break safe.


Chris.

Chip Sengravy

Hit us with a bombshell in your opening gambit, why don't you ?

Telboy, wanting a conservatory on his Surbiton crash-pad, on Scoobynet, with his reputation?

dpb

its all a wind-up folks