Raising the conservatory floor to house level.

[RP971]

Im planning to raise my conservatory floor up 65mm to match the same level as my living room and remove the UPVC doors and install wooden doors, and also replace the plastic roof with an insulated roof.

I’m not sure how to do it, would a concrete slab be better than a false insulated floor?

With this I will also come having to raise the existing door leading in from the garden, I’m getting all new windows and doors for the house so I can work out the measurements once the window guy comes out.

Appreciate any advise from builders or anyone with previous knowledge in this area.

Planning to speak to the council in regards to building regs etc. as this will technically be an extension, as I’ve read in a few other forums.

 

[jj4091]

Are the windows built onto a single skin dwarf wall as it looks from your first pic. If it is I think you should demolish the whole lot and rebuild properly.

 

[George_engineer]

If the existing floor is solid then do a floating floor. That is, lay a dpm, insulation, vcl and chipboard/plywood to bring up the levels.

You will probably need to remove the doors now, then add a course of bricks so the new door can be installed at the higher threshold level.

However I echo the other comment - the main heat loss is through the roof so doing nothing to that will still mean it is not a very usable space.

 

[RP971]

If the existing floor is solid then do a floating floor. That is, lay a dpm, insulation, vcl and chipboard/plywood to bring up the levels.

You will probably need to remove the doors now, then add a course of bricks so the new door can be installed at the higher threshold level.

However I echo the other comment - the main heat loss is through the roof so doing nothing to that will still mean it is not a very usable space.

Hello George, thankyou. We’re planning to get the roof fully insulated replaced with slates or something similar that the builders will use.

I’ll get getting someone to do these but I’m just doing some homework now to check what is best and cost effective.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hello George, thankyou. We’re planning to get the roof fully insulated replaced with slates or something similar that the builders will use.

Best to make sure that structure is able to support the weight of such a roof first. Your present roof, appears to be lightweight plastic sheet

 

[RP971]

Are the windows built onto a single skin dwarf wall as it looks from your first pic. If it is I think you should demolish the whole lot and rebuild properly.

built on the outside brick and have a thermal block internal I think filled with insulation between.

The windows are on the outside brick yes, and there is a thermal brick inside with insulation in between.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Get your spade out and dig down the outside of the wall in a couple of spots, dig down the edge of the concrete footing. If there's black topsoil under it, as is common for conservatories, then it's not suitable for adding the weight of a proper roof. It would look great for a couple of weeks, then the cracking will start.

There may be lightweight insulated alternatives. If so this is one option, knocking down and building a proper building from subsoil upwards is the other.

 

[RP971]

Cheers Ivor, the roofs we have seen are light weight and insulated, I’ll run this past the builder and see if I can find if it’s got footings.