Adding a glazed extension (conservatory)

[TeeKay]

I was considering extending my kitchen by adding a conservatory of approximately 15m2. This would entail removing most of the existing kitchen back wall.

Unfortunately I found that there are all sorts of building regs regarding this which as I understand it require one to make up the increased heat loss with improved insulation in the existing building.

The problem is that I already have insulated concrete floors, cavity wall insulation, uPVC double glazing, a 90.7% efficient boiler, boiler TRV's throughout and 400mm loft insulation so this is going to be impossible. I also intend to use the most thermally efficient glass for the conservatory.

Is my understanding of the building regs correct or maybe is there a loop hole or something such as building the conservatory in phase 1, then getting building regs approval just to knock out the wall and put in an RSJ?

 

[Steve]

Build the conservatory. Then to compensate for heat loss, stick a UPVC DG door between it and the house.

A conservatory is dreadfully poor at keeping heat in in the winter. And it is dreadfully poor at staying cool in the summer. No matter what glass you use. I suggest you have a door on it, this way you can heat / cool it when you're using it.

The use of a 300-400% efficient heat pump air conditioner will put a smile on the inspectors face too. Heating and cooling cheaper than using another radiator in the conservatory.

 

[TeeKay]

Steve,

I already have a window and patio door in the wall that I wanted to remove. I want to remove about 4m of wall and had considered putting in folding DG doors, but they are very expensive (about £4000) and I expect that most of the time they will be open. Having said that I take your point about conservatories being cold in the winter and warm in the summer even with the best glass.

The heat pump ac sounds like a good idea. I don't know anything about them though. Have you got any links to the sort of unit that you had in mind as I did a google and got lots of different results.

TIA,

Tim

 

[Richard C]

Keep the cons. separate so you can shut it off in winter or the heat loss will cost you a small fortune; you’ll need 3Kw going full chat in the depths of winter to successfully heat 15 sq/m &, as you’ve discovered, with no externally rated door between them, you start falling foul of Building Regs. Only successful way to minimise heat loss from an integrated unit is to either build a proper extension or, slightly cheaper, have a garden room; this is effectively a conservatory with a proper roof & insulation but these are more expensive &, again, if no closable doors are fitted, subject to Building Regulations.

We have 22 sq/m cons with fully insulated floor, K glass windows, insulated cavity dwarf walls & an extra thick 40mm roof; we have 4.5 Kw of under floor heating & it can still struggle on the coldest days; it costs so much to run in winter, we now close it down between November & March & I wish I'd gone the garden room route instead.