New conservatory

[swanny65]

As a regular user of internet forums i know how helpful they can be solving problems so here is my dilemma.

I live in a self built detached chalet bungalow with a south facing garden. The property has a detached garage with its eastern external wall gabled in line with the west facing gabled external wall and set about 1 metre back into the garden.

We intend to convert the garage into a playroom for the children / accommodation if friends come to stay. This is pretty straightforward as the garage is build on a reinforced concrete pad and has a pitched and tiled roof.

We have decided a 5 x4 or 6 x 4 metre conservatory should be built in the infill area between the property and the garage. Primary due to the cost of an extension over a conservatory and any extension with a tiled roof will look messy (hope you can picture the roof layout).

We need planning permission as we have no permitted rights so building a dwarf wall is our preferred option - even though this will means we have less than 50% conservatory glassing.

Reading thought this forum and other bits and pieces on the internet i am concerned i will have a greenhouse in summer and a freezer in winter. The conservatory will be used in winter, if nothing else to access the garage conversion.

What conservatory roofing material is best to keep out in the summer and warmth in in the winter?

Any other ides or comments i should consider.

Thanks

 

[Richard C]

You cannot infill the bit between your garage conversion & the main property with a conservatory without maintaining external grade doors between the cons/main property & the cons/garage conversion. If you don’t fit the doors (or remove them) it’s not a cons & must fully comply with Building Regs; this will be impossible for a conventional conservatory.

See here to understand what constitutes a conservatory;
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/conservatories/

We have a 22 sq/m cons which, by using a few little design tricks, we can keep relatively cool summer but it will be freezing in winter unless you pump an awful lot of heat energy in there. The average cons is about as heat efficient as a garden shed, if you want to use it all year round you need a garden room between the two which is basically an extension.

 

[swanny65]

Hi Richard

Thanks for your reply.

I think the building regs issues are not a problem.

What i was wondering was if only the east and south sides of the conservatory are glazed is there a conservatory roofing "material" that keeps most of the heat out in summer and warmth in in winter. If there is then with UFH (as per my plumbing post) i may be able to make the conservatory livable in all year round.

If not a garden room extension may be a better, but more expensive, option. However i cant picture the tiled roof and guttering on this as being anything other than "messy"

 

[mointainwalker]

"...is there a conservatory roofing "material" that keeps most of the heat out in summer and warmth in in winter "

No.

If there is then with UFH (as per my plumbing post) i may be able to make the conservatory livable in all year round.

There isn't and you can't unless you are willing to spend as much heating your conny as the rest of the house. Do a search and you will find that affordable all-year-round use is the Holy Grail of conservatory owners but the long-term owners on here mostly use it 6-8 months per year.

 

[Richard C]

What i was wondering was if only the east and south sides of the conservatory are glazed is there a conservatory roofing "material" that keeps most of the heat out in summer and warmth in in winter.

Bear in mind that to be classed as conservatory & maintain B Regs exemption - “at least 50% of area that will form the external boundary / edge of the conservatory must be glazed and 75% of the roof area to be covered with either glass or polycarbonate”. You need to take account of this if only two sides of your cons are going to be glazed.

Positioning of opening doors is important; in our South facing Edwardian cons, we have French doors in all 3 sides & these can be used to maintain/adjust a through air flow to keep it cool on even the hottest of days; the opaque roof also helps prevent heat & glare. Most of the cheapy conservatories have 3 core poly which is between 25-30mm thick, For better insulation & to prevent glare, get as thick an opaque Polycarbonate roof as you can; I have a 5 core which is around 50mm thick but I believe you can get even thicker now. If you add metal foil inserts to this it will give some additional insulation & reduce heat absorption (sun) even further but you have to remember that this can in no way compare with what’s achievable with an insulated pitch tile or flat roof. Triple glazed glass may do the trick but it’ll cost a fortune & require a hefty structure to support the weight & then you will need expensive additional or integral blinds to combat sun glare.

A conservatory roofing "material" that keeps most of the heat out in summer and warmth in in winter is utopia, invent one that actually works & you will be a multi-millionaire within a year!

If there is then with UFH (as per my plumbing post) i may be able to make the conservatory livable in all year round.

Take note of what I said about the latest Regs & the need for an independent heating system. I have 4 Kw of electric UFH over an insulated slab with insulated backer boards directly below the heater mat; response time is pretty good & it works very well. I also have another 3 Kw of reflective/convection heating I can call on & that will keep the cons comfortable in winter but running 7Kw flat out is like throwing cash on the fire so, apart from the odd sunny day, we abandon ours November through to April; we have a separate, adjacent lounge with a multi fuel stove & get our wood for free . For UFH, plan on 200w sq/m but if you want to use it in winter you can probably double that & still feel cold.

Another worthwhile consideration is an air con unit (heat pump) which can give you the best of both worlds but you have to find somewhere unobtrusive to site the large compressor & heat exchanger it will need for the sort of environment you desire.

If not a garden room extension may be a better, but more expensive, option. However i cant picture the tiled roof and guttering on this as being anything other than "messy"

Obviously I cant visualise what you have but is there not a way of tying the pitch roof of the cons in with the garage conversion to make a seamless unit, a sort of glazed corridor between the two; with careful design & bi-fold doors each side it could look very smart (I know someone in Spain with something similar) but, for sure, it won’t be cheap.

 

[mointainwalker]

. For UFH, plan on 200w sq/m but if you want to use it in winter you can probably double that & still feel cold.

Most manufacturers (pipe ) give 100W as max output for hydraulic UFH and as seen on the plumbing forum the OP is talking about using his Baxi boiler.

 

[swanny65]

A conservatory roofing "material" that keeps most of the heat out in summer and warmth in in winter is utopia, invent one that actually works & you will be a multi-millionaire within a year!

LOL - now to persuade the wife a garden room extension is far better than a conservatory.

I could pitch its roof in line with the garage roof. There the 1 metre gap between the house and garage that needs filling, i take on board your glazing corridor. Alternatively it could have a hipped back conservatory type roof but would need box guttering on 2 sides.

 

[Richard C]

Most manufacturers (pipe ) give 100W as max output for hydraulic UFH and as seen on the plumbing forum the OP is talking about using his Baxi boiler.

I have no experience of hydraulic UFH other than knowing what it is but the system type makes no difference & in any case, the OP can’t tap into his main heating system to supply the cons & still comply with the new BR’s (Part L) for a conservatory.

I had cause to be rather disappointed with my own cons UFH system some 6 years ago to the point where I & the supplier agreed to have an independent & binding survey undertaken by a specialist to avoid it going legal. This specialist was employed by the electric UFH manufacturer & commisioned by the local installer & it was he that told me (after much plying) that a Cons should be designed on 200w/sqm if you want to avoid disappointment. The supplier accepted the survey finding so I won my case & I was happy with the outcome which meant I ended up with a system that provided 200w sq/m. It’s still not enough in the depth of winter but you can find the same design figure repeated elsewhere (not DIYnot) if you care to search.

 

[Richard C]

LOL - now to persuade the wife a garden room extension is far better than a conservatory.

Roof logistics aside (& there is always a way), it’s a question of what you want from it but, realistically, if you want year round use in our climate a garden room is a far better option if you run to it.