'Solar-control' glass: does it really work?

[jimbodicko]

Hi there

My wife and I are looking to add an extra room to the rear of our house. We're torn between a single-storey extension, with tiled roof, velux windows and bi-fold doors onto the patio; or a glass conservatory with bi-fold doors etc.

We live in the South-East of England and have a South-West facing garden: it can get very hot at the back of our house in the summer. Despite the claims of the salesman from Everest, I just can't help but feel that a conservatory would become a greenhouse, even with 'solar-control' glass: does this stuff make that much of a difference? Glare would be an issue too, wouldn't it? We want it to be very much a room we can use all year round as we need the extra space (children!).

I suspect a 'proper' extension would be more expensive, but don't know whether the difference is worth saving up for? We're not averse to blinds in a conservatory, but I see they can be expensive too (perhaps making up the difference between extension and conservatory?) and not sure if they will make that much difference either?

FYI - the room would be approx 3.7m x 3.1m with a wall on one side (as it adjoins a fence), dwarf wall and windows at end (as it meets a retaining wall) and bi-dold doors on the other side.

Many thanks for any help.

 

[God]

The company i used to work for had a display that showed how solar control glass worked, it was supplied by a leading roof manufacturer and all it had was a light bulb and 2 pieces of glass that slid in front of the bulb. Normal glass(sealed units) were hot to touch when placed in front of the bulb but the solar controlled glass stayed cool all the time. So i would say yes

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If you want a room you can practically use all year round a conservatory is not the route to take. One other thing if you go the conservatory route in order to avoid Building Regulations you need to retain an external door between the house and the conservatory.