Door between dining room and Conservatory Question

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Friend has had a new conservatory built and it is joined onto the dining room but is straight through (no door). They have put a radiator in the conservatory which is fed off the main system.

I'm not sure but I thought they would have had to have a "external quality" door between the dining room and conservatory to meet building regs and you're making it "clear" that the conservatory is a completely separate building from the rest of the property? Or with them having a radiator in the conservatory does that get round the need of them having to have it seperated off?

Thanks
 
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Yes a door and separate heating is required.

But the real question is .... what does it actually matter? If its your house, do what you like with it.

Consider.... what use is a door if the owners just leave it open all the time?

What use is a separate heater if the owners just have it on 24/7?
 
I would have thought it more to do with security and potential heat loss. Conservatories and their doors are usually pretty flimsy and as they are mostly glass heat loss can be huge.
 
If there is no external door in between it is classed as an extension in the same way as a porch would be. It would then be subject to the same regs, U values etc. It would only really matter when you sell it, and then you could put an external door on if the buyer wanted it.
 
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Thanks for the replies. Just rang the building office as my friends were getting mixed answers from different people and wanted me to check as they're an old couple. I've been told that because the U value in the conservatory windows and glass is 1.4 there is no law/regulations to have a door between the dining room and conservatory. However, they would lose alot of heat in the winter.
 
This is in England or Wales isn't it?

Well it seems that even their "building office" does not have a clue about the building regulations. Must be a wonderful LA area to work in for builders

A conservatory requires "separation" from the main building to be classed as a conservatory and thus exempt from building regulations

And even if it was classed as an extension and come under the building regulations, it would fail Part L by virtue of the area of glass and [poly] roof
 
This is in England or Wales isn't it?

yep it's in england!

Well it seems that even their "building office" does not have a clue about the building regulations. Must be a wonderful LA area to work in for builders

This seems to be the case everywhere. I had several issues/concerns when I got my connie and building work and I got so many different stories from different builders, building regs people, councils and planning people. I ended up ringing people and varous councils from the North, London Area, West Country and Mersyside areas.

Without going into it, in the end I got sick of getting so many different answers from what you can do, what you need planning for, building regs etc I just trusted my local builder in the end!! Did you know if you live in Bristol the council said you can get a builder to lower your kerb if you want to put a drive on your house and it doesn't need checked but in Cumbria you have to have a survey done and the worked checked which of course you pay extra for :rolleyes: Surely it can't be that hard for professionals who work within building regs, planning offices etc to know the rules and regs and to give you consistant answers!

Anyway back on track what woody says sounds right and i've advised them to put a upvc door between the 2 like I did when we got our connie as at least you can shut the door in the winter when not sitting in the connie so you don't lose alot of heat
 
I don't agree that the heat loss is huge, we had just such a conservatory built, 7mx3.5m, which has rads in it linked to the main CH. No doors to close it off, which I know is against regs, but there has been no appreciable difference in heating costs (price rises notwithstanding) and yes the rest of the house is double glazed, cavity wall insulated and well lagged in the loft.

Oh, and it faces practically due north.
 
The BO are contradicting themselves a bit. On one hand they are saying that a U value of 1.4 means that the heat loss is low enough not to require an exterior door and on the other they are saying that without it there will be a great heat loss.
 
The BO are contradicting themselves a bit. On one hand they are saying that a U value of 1.4 means that the heat loss is low enough not to require an exterior door and on the other they are saying that without it there will be a great heat loss.

Not really contradicting themselves, Is it not more that the U value has to be below a certain level which requires you not to have to have doors (2.2 or something?) Still doesn't mean you're not going to lose a lot of heat compared to an internal brick room.

Our neighbours have a straight through conservatory and even though the houses on our street seem to keep heat indoors very well their dining/living room is freezing in the winter unless they have heating on full which means the rest of the house is very very warm. I know when we've had the heat on in our connie and then if we turn it off within 30mins it's cold on a winters night in there. Luckily we have good upvc doors seperating the dining room
 
I would have thought it more to do with security and potential heat loss. Conservatories and their doors are usually pretty flimsy and as they are mostly glass heat loss can be huge.
Me too, I think it would be important to have a chat with the household building insurance regarding the security issue as you could find the insurance invalid(?), last year my neighbour over the road locked themselves out and I got in just removing the glazing clips and slide the polycarbonate roofing sheet to get in as they has no exterior or patio door.
 
In terms of security, there is no difference to a door between the house and conservatory and a door or window on a conservatory. Especially when the burglar has a brick or crowbar for a key
 
I know what you're saying but I got in without damaging anything and hardly any noise :!:
 
Whether you have a door or not, or have a linked radiator or not, is entirely up to your friends really. But having either will mean it doesn't comply with building regulations.

If your friends are prepared to pay for the extra heat loss, and take the risk of reduced security, then leave as is.

Until you come to sell that is. Then you might have to fit a door and take the rad out to make it comply.

PS. The 1.4 U-value is a red herring. Either the LA don't know what they are on about or somebody has misunderstood.
 
We fitted exactly what you have explained at our last house with conservatory straight into dining room , no doors. Also we have 2 rads fitted off the CH system. We moved house 18 months ago and had 3 different surveyors check the house out. Al said how nice it was but none mentioned anything on the report.

At the time of having it built I contacted both the planning office and building regs who both said, 'unless you tell us we do not know you havn;t put any doors on' which I thought at the time was useless!

Even though we had a high spec conservatory with 28mm K glass roof we did still notice an increase in heat loss with the heating clicking back on quicker in the evening.

Just thought I would give you our experience.

Robert
 

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