conservatories

This is very sad Jendurham, very sorry for your loss, it must happen a lot just when you both make plans.Perhaps you should still go ahead with his drawings and have it built? however, you may not want to stay there now, and a conservatory is so expensive on a single pension.I could not afford it if on my own [so good to get it done soon.]What a great builder you had as well, not so many of those about.

rosesarered, I had my conservatory when I retired from teaching. It was built by friends from our local darts team and this meant weeks went by while they were busy doing other things. There's bits of it that aren't perfect and brickwork that isn't as neat as it could be. BUT, I love it to bits. Sitting in there, looking at the garden and the birds is heaven. I love doing my cross-stitch in there and also talking to friends on the phone - usually while DH is watching football. I love decorating it at Christmas time and hanging lights in there that reflect back from the garden. Just bought a white 'spriggy' paper tree which I'll use to hang Advent Stockings from. Idea is the GC will take a stocking off and replace it with a red bauble from a basket. I love my conservatory in all weathers and times of the year. Think of it as your special place and find your own peace there. x You'll enjoy it I'm absolutely sure.

I'd just like to add to all the good advise - to consider some sort of opening roof ventilation. Ours has supposedly special roofing which should stop it overheating but it still gets to 40C plus when left closed up when we go out. It faces east on a house wall so looses the sun mid afternoon but I still worry about spontaneous combustion when it's left closed up in summer.

rosesared I have had my north facing one for 15 years and still love it. Sun in the morning for breakfast, and in the evening, good light all day but rarely too hot even in the summer. My advice would be (apologies for repeating others' points):
Avoid greyed roof (north facing wants the light, not to cut out the heat), but as nfk says, definitely have roof ventilation
Choose glass for the roof if you can, it lasts much longer than polycarbonate and doesn't sound like a drum whoever it rains
Tiled floor is great for in and out of the garden, but very chilly in the winter - if you can afford it, I would now choose underfloor heating, which wasn't really an option when we got ours.
Ours is 8 sided, with number 8 being the house. I think now I would choose rectangular for easier use of space, because we use it SO much. We have folding, sliding doors into the house so it can be completely opened up for parties, and even just when the weather is good.
As others have said, definitely as big as you can.
I would just say yes, yes, go for it!

whenever it rains. Pshawww.

We love our conservatory. It faces South so we can use it all year round. In summer we use blinds and have the windows open. The floor is solid so we used terracotta coloured floor paint which was really cheap but it looks great - just chuck a couple of mats down.
If you come in from the rain and you're dripping wet you can leave your brolly, boots and mac there to dry out. I keep the airer there and never have a problem getting washing dry. I love to take my book and cup of tea and just relax in the conservatory enjoying the warmth. There are lots of sunny days in winter when it's warm enough to do that. Never regretted getting it- a local builder did the lot. Worth every penny.

Thank you all SO much for your very helpful comments.
I have made a list of things to go for, and things not to have, all we need now is to get some quotes from reputable builders. I'm getting excited already] even though we won't want it done util next June.

This thread is giving me ideas! I have always wanted a conservatory, but our house is built the wrong way round, in that the lounge faces north, and the sunniest side of the house has the utility and downstaires loo and study!

As our lounge faces north, it only gets a little sun in morning and evening, because as well as the french doors to the patio, we have a small window on the south side which gives evening sun. Sorry to go on, but I always dismissed the idea of a conservatory off the lounge as I thought it would make the room darker still. But I suppose when its nice, we'd actually be in the conservatory a lot instead of lounge. Has anyone else with north facing lounge found a problem with reduced light?

Ah, Sunflowersuffolk, I can tell you about that because our daughter has a house with a North facing lounge, which when they bought it already had a conservatory 'in situ'. The short answer is yes, it does reduce the light coming into the lounge BUT if you had underfloor heating [or connected to central heating with a radiator] then you would use the room a lot by sitting in the conservatory, during daylight hours. In the evening you can be in the slightly darker lounge, watching tv.But there is no doubt that it does reduce the light coming into the main room.The upside would be the extra sunshine/light when you sat out in the con. so you would have to make it as attractive as possible so you would use it.If you would only be able to have a small con. then I wouldn't go ahead, as it means that when you have visitors you couldn't use it.

rosesarered go go go girl..you will not regret it! go for it..we built our own conserve (kit from B N Q) about 8 yrs ago, came on big wagon all in kit form..OH was a lot better then, ours is I think if I rem right about 3 mtres by 4..biggest we could afford at the time, we had big radiator put in after the first year as our house faces north so needed the extra heat, since OH has been il lhe has enjoyed sitting in it as it's light and airy, although yes it did make the lounge slightly darker..but we use both the lounge and conserve all year, we don't have doors in between so our lounge sort of runs through to the conservatory, it's the best thing we have done! (although house up for sale now and will miss it if we move)..!

Rosesarered, we had a motability car for my husband. I drove it because he couldn't any more. It was only 18 months old.
When he died, I had to buy it, otherwise I would not be able to get around much. It cost the same as the conservatory would have done.
So no funds left for the conservatory.
Anyway, we'd only lived in this bungalow for a year before he was diagnosed with brain cancer. It does not have happy memories for me.
It is also at the top of a hill in a village that gets the first snows in Durham and can be cut off.
Although I want to stay in the village as my son and his family are here, I will probably move down to the village centre.

Sunflower, have you heard of sunpipes. It's a good way of bringing light into a dark room.
The cafe in my local Sainsbury's has sunpipes in the ceiling. When it is light enough the ceiling lights switch off automatically and the room is mainly lit by sunpipes.
I do not suggest you have the automatic light switch, just the sunpipe.
Just an idea for you to research.

It sounds like a good idea for you to move Jendurham, what with the unhappy memories and being at the top of a hill [and in Durham too! very cold.]I'm sure you will be happier with a new start further down in the village, besides it's quite exciting to have a new start for anyone I think.Level ground will be better for your motobility car as well, it sounds very dangerous as it is?Hope that you mangae to sell your house, the current market is still not good[or is it in Durham?]
The sun pipes are a good idea, I have seen them on tv.

When we moved to our current house, many moons ago, there was a conservatory off the kitchen. It was the best siting as far as the garden was concerned, but not in a useful place from an internal point of view. After a while it was demolished and several years of discussions took place regarding the size and siting of a new one. The ideal place took up too much garden and made access slightly awkward. Eventually we hit on what has become an ideal solution. We had a large bay window added to a garden facing stint ing room. It has a 9ft opening directly into the room, no need for separating doors, the parquet floor was matched, it is 5 sided glass, full length tilt and turn opening windows to four panes and a central opening door. The roof is glass, in a fan shape. The construction is special heat conserving glass with argon gas in between the glazing. It has opened up the room, which now feels twice as large and the full glazed roof lets in more light than the previous flat window. Hope this is a suggestion that might give others ideas. The firm putting it in had no problem with us stating exactly what we wanted. They took photos for their publicity! X

I hadn't thought of sunpipes, tho I've seen them used on those home makeover programmes. I'll have a lok into it thanks.

I am quite tempted still by the conservatorty idea, as we have plenty of room outside, and beyong the lawn we have a large pond, so already we sit in the lounge watching the moorhens etc.

At present we don't find ourselves sitting on patio outside lounge much, as its a 2 storey house, and that area doesn't get much sun at all(patio slabs go bit green due to low light). But if it were a conservatory, I suppose that's different, You are warm but almost in the garden, and the light comes in from the conservatory roof too.

I certainly agree about underfloor heating to make it as cosy as possible, so we would use it a lot.

Sorry to hijack your thread Roses, but it seems everyone thinks its a great idea for you. Good luck with the quotes.

Jendurham - maybe you can find a new start in the village, and may even find a lovely place with a ready made conservatory. Sometimes it's good to move on.

Roses, just read that Weardale had two inches of snow overnight on Bonfire night! That's the next dale along from us, 15 minutes drive away.
Need my snow tyres on soon.

Jendurham, I can't believe it, snow! So it must be really cold there now, still rainy and mild here in Oxfordshire. be careful on the steep hills in your car.
And, not too much of this.......

J52 we also had big bay window in the (small lounge) we took it out and built the conservatory onto it..it has approx. 8ft wide opening and no doors so it is a sort of straight through room with French doors at the end (think build regs may have change since we built this and you may now have! to have doors in between....I have photos at the as the house is on the market... if you need to look at any ideas also have pics some where of it being built,, it has a "framed floor" that being it has a metal girder frame work.....not the usual sold block concrete foundations....

Has anyone had their conservatory roof replaced. Ours is tri wall plastic stuff and the noise when it rains is terrible. Thinking of replacing either with glass or the new solid food system. So has anyone had the solid roof put on and does it cut out a lot of light.

solid food Brenda?Is this a typo? Yes, everyone says that the noise the rain makes if you haven't got a glass roof is awful. Surely a good builder could do this?

Dear old IPAD and it's predictive text. Yes roof not food. Sorry all, I should proof read prior to posting.

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Reported.
It's amazing who follows GN isn't it then rushes in with an advert or a request for follow up. It's also a reminder that this is a public forum and we are being watched! (hmm)

eeeek!Thought this thread had gone dormant?However, as we are just about to get quotes for conservatory, if any G'netters want to jump back in with their thoughts and experiences, I am listening! Or rather, watching.