Replacing conservatory roof
Discussion
Our conservatory currently has a glass roof which makes it mentally hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter so is pretty much unusable for most of the year.
Whilst it does have underfloor heating, this is electric so it never used as it costs a fortune and is pretty much useless as the furniture/rug covers most of the floor anyway.
To make it into a useable room we have had a builder and a conservatory company has been round to have a look and quote to replace it with a supalite roof system instead with a couple of glass windows in the roof to stop too much light from being blocked out.
Given that this is going to cost in the region of £15k - £20k I was wondering if anyone has done something similar and if it actually does make it worthwhile and transform it into a usable room again?
I also realise that for the amount its going to cost I could fill the place with electric heaters to keep it warm and still probably have money left over
How it currently looks:
How ChatGPT thinks it might look afterwards:
Whilst it does have underfloor heating, this is electric so it never used as it costs a fortune and is pretty much useless as the furniture/rug covers most of the floor anyway.
To make it into a useable room we have had a builder and a conservatory company has been round to have a look and quote to replace it with a supalite roof system instead with a couple of glass windows in the roof to stop too much light from being blocked out.
Given that this is going to cost in the region of £15k - £20k I was wondering if anyone has done something similar and if it actually does make it worthwhile and transform it into a usable room again?
I also realise that for the amount its going to cost I could fill the place with electric heaters to keep it warm and still probably have money left over
How it currently looks:
How ChatGPT thinks it might look afterwards:
The first quote I had was from a builder to replace the roof only. Thats back with £20k at the bottom of the email.
The second quote I am waiting for is from a local conservatory company who is going to price for roof only and also roof plus new windows/door. The conservatory is 10+ years old and the windows/door are all faded/sun bleached. The guy did say it was worth considering replacing the lot otherwise you have a new roof sitting on top of tired looking everything else. Not an unreasonable suggestion so worth getting a quote for both.
He estimated it would be ballpark £15k for the roof plus £5k(ish) for the windows/door (depending on colour, handles, whatever else) so lets see what they come back with. Assuming that is accurate then it makes the builder look a bit pricey.
Another local company is coming tomorrow so will see what they come back with.
Regardless its looking around £20k for all the work. On top of that there will be painting inside after the plaster has dried (assuming not part of the main work) and new blinds for the windows (no idea how much they cost but I suspect not cheap) as the current ones are vertical blinds that are also knackered.
To knock it down and start again would (I assume) cost more. How much more I dont know but I had £15k(ish) in my head as a 'reasonable' number to do this.
The second quote I am waiting for is from a local conservatory company who is going to price for roof only and also roof plus new windows/door. The conservatory is 10+ years old and the windows/door are all faded/sun bleached. The guy did say it was worth considering replacing the lot otherwise you have a new roof sitting on top of tired looking everything else. Not an unreasonable suggestion so worth getting a quote for both.
He estimated it would be ballpark £15k for the roof plus £5k(ish) for the windows/door (depending on colour, handles, whatever else) so lets see what they come back with. Assuming that is accurate then it makes the builder look a bit pricey.
Another local company is coming tomorrow so will see what they come back with.
Regardless its looking around £20k for all the work. On top of that there will be painting inside after the plaster has dried (assuming not part of the main work) and new blinds for the windows (no idea how much they cost but I suspect not cheap) as the current ones are vertical blinds that are also knackered.
To knock it down and start again would (I assume) cost more. How much more I dont know but I had £15k(ish) in my head as a 'reasonable' number to do this.
Mine is a polycarb roof and was unusable all year round, I had quotes of around £12k for a tiled roof and could not justify or afford that.
In the end I had a local window company batten, insulate and then clad the interior with UPVC T & G, I now have a room I can use all year round and not that expensive overall.
Only downside is the loss of light
In the end I had a local window company batten, insulate and then clad the interior with UPVC T & G, I now have a room I can use all year round and not that expensive overall.
Only downside is the loss of light
I reckon that'll still be cold unless you replace the windows as well as they're a big area. I bet the walls aren't insulated either. Might as well demolish and start again, hopefully using the same slab. There's very little brickwork there.
I think it's a classic case of either bodge it cheaply or do the job properly. Not much point spending three quarters of the money to get half a job.
As you've identified, a decent room with one or two glass walls is much better suited to UK climate than a conservatory.
I think it's a classic case of either bodge it cheaply or do the job properly. Not much point spending three quarters of the money to get half a job.
As you've identified, a decent room with one or two glass walls is much better suited to UK climate than a conservatory.
A few years ago a friend of mine did something but for a lot less, it'll sound terrible but it actually looks really good.
He put silver reflective film on all of the roof glass and then had a plasterboard ceiling installed with downlights etc so from inside it just looked like an extension and no pitched roof. I can only assume this would be a lot cheaper to achieve and as I said it look great and you wouldn't have known from the inside it was a conservatory, externally it looked like nothing had changed.
He put silver reflective film on all of the roof glass and then had a plasterboard ceiling installed with downlights etc so from inside it just looked like an extension and no pitched roof. I can only assume this would be a lot cheaper to achieve and as I said it look great and you wouldn't have known from the inside it was a conservatory, externally it looked like nothing had changed.
We had our polycarbonate roof replaced on our conservatory with a warmroof system, money well spent!
Similar price to your quote, similar sized but 'P' shaped rather than square. 2 windows added in to the roof too for the additional light but if I were to do it again I'd leave these out as noisy in the rain and, even though slightly tinted, you can feel the heat from the sun coming through them.
Overall temperature of the room is much better and usable all year round now. Still gets warmer than the rest of the house in the summer but its comfortable and most of that could be combatted by having blinds added to the existing windows. In the winter its a little cooler than the rest of the house but once the heating is on you wouldnt notice it.
As I say, we use ours all year round now, I would definitely recommend the outlay for it - seems a waste of a room otherwise.
Similar price to your quote, similar sized but 'P' shaped rather than square. 2 windows added in to the roof too for the additional light but if I were to do it again I'd leave these out as noisy in the rain and, even though slightly tinted, you can feel the heat from the sun coming through them.
Overall temperature of the room is much better and usable all year round now. Still gets warmer than the rest of the house in the summer but its comfortable and most of that could be combatted by having blinds added to the existing windows. In the winter its a little cooler than the rest of the house but once the heating is on you wouldnt notice it.
As I say, we use ours all year round now, I would definitely recommend the outlay for it - seems a waste of a room otherwise.
I had a Guardian Roof installed on my 4m x 4m Edwardian style conservatory a couple of years ago. It transformed the room and made it usable all year round. The Guardian Roof system is LABC approved so getting building control sign off was very straight forward. The roof and the redecorating came in at approx. £16k.
Byker28i said:
Our neighbours had similar and replaced the roof with a glass one that reflects heat, significantly better.
We knocked down our whole conservatory and are replacing it
We have had three conservatories .We knocked down our whole conservatory and are replacing it
The latest one has a glass roof with fancy heat reflector glass.
It's nothing like conservatories of old . It's easy to keep warm. It does not go mad hot in the winter.
Panamax said:
I reckon that'll still be cold unless you replace the windows as well as they're a big area. I bet the walls aren't insulated either. Might as well demolish and start again, hopefully using the same slab. There's very little brickwork there.
I think it's a classic case of either bodge it cheaply or do the job properly. Not much point spending three quarters of the money to get half a job.
As you've identified, a decent room with one or two glass walls is much better suited to UK climate than a conservatory.
It has 1 solid and two glass walls and was built in 2006 so replacing the windows would give better thermal efficiency and they are very tired looking.I think it's a classic case of either bodge it cheaply or do the job properly. Not much point spending three quarters of the money to get half a job.
As you've identified, a decent room with one or two glass walls is much better suited to UK climate than a conservatory.
I dont know if the walls are insulated or if that would be added if it was taken down to brick level and all the UPVC elements replaced.
I can see the argument for replacing it but that is more cost
Over the summer I did a DIY roof replacement using a kit from a company called Timberlite (https://www.conservatoryroofkits.co.uk/)
They were absolutely brilliant (and I believe they have an installation team if you don't want to DIY)
Total cost, including plasterboard and plastering with me doing most of the work (not the plastering) was under £5k for a room approx 3m x 3m.
It's transformed it from an unusable space to one we can use anytime as a home office.
They were absolutely brilliant (and I believe they have an installation team if you don't want to DIY)
Total cost, including plasterboard and plastering with me doing most of the work (not the plastering) was under £5k for a room approx 3m x 3m.
It's transformed it from an unusable space to one we can use anytime as a home office.
I had ours done by a company called 2hot2cold. The conservatory is 4 metres by 6 metres. It's a lean to. The roof installation included raising the pitch of the roof to meet building regs. The whole cost was around £11000 and the work was completed in 3 days. The company is owned by a Ukranian gentleman and most, if not all, the installers are Ukranian. They worked incredibly hard with very few breaks, hardly ever accepting offers of tea/coffee etc. They were on site by 08.30 each morning and worked solidly through until gone 5.00 pm each day. I was super impressed with them and would thoroughly recommend the company and it's products. The end result looks good, is definitely cooler in summer and warmer in winter and is amazingly quiet compared with the previous triple poly carbonate roof. We decided the end result is too posh to be called a conservatory so it is now known as the Jazz Lounge.
Keeping an eye on this thread, as bought a house with a conservatory earlier in the year, and not sure what to do with it, especially as it looks a bit tired. We had an open veranda at our old house and I really miss having the covered outside space, so I am tempted to replace with a veranda - that part of the garden will need landscaping at some point anyway.
The other option is either a proper extension to bring it into the house, or a "halfway" option as being discussed here.
The other option is either a proper extension to bring it into the house, or a "halfway" option as being discussed here.
2hot2cold look like they only go as far south as Guildford (ish) from their reviews as they are based in Feltham.
Assume you are around that area or they travel further as I am near Southampton.
Have another local installer line up who is coming to look on Sunday. He fits Guardian roofs but they look very similar based on what I can find.
Assume you are around that area or they travel further as I am near Southampton.
Have another local installer line up who is coming to look on Sunday. He fits Guardian roofs but they look very similar based on what I can find.
J6542 said:
I have done over 20 Supalite roofs for customers, and they have all been happy and noticed a massive improvement, there is 200mm of rigid insulation in the roof.
After the work do they still need a lot of heating (I hope not) 
as also thinking of putting a wet radiator in there (look away building control). However another option could be an oil filled radiator running overnight (I have an EV so it's only 7p per kW of peak) and hoping that will be ok for the rest of the day during winter given how insulated it would now be.
KTF said:
After the work do they still need a lot of heating (I hope not) as also thinking of putting a wet radiator in there (look away building control).
However another option could be an oil filled radiator running overnight (I have an EV so it's only 7p per kW of peak) and hoping that will be ok for the rest of the day during winter given how insulated it would now be.
If you can plumb a radiator in easily then that is the best thing to do, the images you posted show that your planning on changing the roof from a gable to a hip which will also keep the room warmer. as also thinking of putting a wet radiator in there (look away building control). However another option could be an oil filled radiator running overnight (I have an EV so it's only 7p per kW of peak) and hoping that will be ok for the rest of the day during winter given how insulated it would now be.
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