Conservatories are naff?

Stu999

Stu999

Stu999

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Does anyone like conservatories? Whenever I see one on a house listing I think they look very dated. I never think, “Ooh, I’d love to sit in there”.

What do you lot think about them?
 
I had one on my old place, not of by choice either.

It felt a bit like having a caravan glued to the back of your house, it became painfully hot during the summer and intolerably cold in the winter. It was nice at times but always felt like a huge waste, I'd personally rather have spent the money on an actual extension.
 
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The conservatory here is old, wooden and held together by car body filler and wishful thinking. But it's a great expansion zone for the greenhouse in the growing season, keeps the back of the house warmer than it would be otherwise in winter, and when I had a water leak in the garage during the cold spell I could dump a lot of stuff from the garage in there while I was sorting out the mess. It's a flexible, dry space that -- once in a blue moon -- I even sit in, staring at the gardening I haven't done. And it's invaluable as a place to dry washing, even in winter... well, most of the time.

Sign me up for team conservatory. I'm 60 this year though, so may just be looking for as many places as possible to fall asleep after lunch.
 
Yaayuh! said:
Nope.
Cold in the winter, oven in the summer, will eventually leak, pain to clean.
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This. You’re better off with a nice insulated extension and big skylights. My mum has a conservatory in her house (was there when she bought it). I spent a lot of energy putting her off adding a roof to it recently. I really thought that would make a pointless thing even more pointless. That said, she enjoys sitting in there on a warm sunny day so each to their own. They’re definitely either too hot or too cold though.
 
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They'll never beat a proper extension, but newer modern ones are much more practical. We had a conservatory on our house when I was younger and it was the plasticky roof that as others have said makes it freezing in the winter and an oven in the summer. Now they've had a proper glass roof installed, it's no longer freezing in the winter, although a bit cold to just leave open to the house. But it's a lot better in the summer.
 
My parents had one in almost every house we lived in growing up and still have one now, i really don't see the point in them. Far too hot and bright to sit in during the summer and way too cold in the winter, maybe there's a couple of days in the spring autumn when they'd be ok maybe? But even then i find them too bright to be comfortable, i don't want to wear sunglasses to just sit inside.

Whenever we go over on a nice day they always insist we sit in it and it's always a deeply unpleasant experience :(
 
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My mums conservatory is great in summer. A really pleasant place to be. Obviously for the other 9 months of the year it is unused.
 
We have a brick built ‘garden room’ with double skin insulated walls, insulated slab and a solid insulated roof and velux windows. 100X better than a traditional conservatory.

One wall is bifolds and the other is about 60% glass.

You can heat with in winter without any issue and the summer it’s nice, lots of light and very pleasant.
 
Wife’s parents converted their garage to a ‘granny’ flat and added a conservatory but they insulated the roof themselves a while later and it’s actually a really nice place to be, summer or winter. Mate has a conservatory without insulation and it’s really not a nice place to be anytime of the year!
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
We have a brick built ‘garden room’ with double skin insulated walls, insulated slab and a solid insulated roof and velux windows. 100X better than a traditional conservatory.

One wall is bifolds and the other is about 60% glass.

You can heat with in winter without any issue and the summer it’s nice, lots of light and very pleasant.
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Where does this live? Down the garden?
 
My parents house came with one.

They put a proper roof on it and now it's a room you can use all year round.

b0rn2sk8 said:
We have a brick built ‘garden room’ with double skin insulated walls, insulated slab and a solid insulated roof and velux windows. 100X better than a traditional conservatory.

One wall is bifolds and the other is about 60% glass.

You can heat with in winter without any issue and the summer it’s nice, lots of light and very pleasant.
Click to expand...

Pictures?
 
Good for gardeners to start plants early, i grow tomatoes every year and would love a conservatory but i would not buy one at the prices they want for a good one
 
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