conservatories

We spend so much time in ours which was built about 2.5 years ago. We decided to have underfloor heating put in, which is lovely although it would not be enough on its own, so we have a de lunghi oil filled radiator as well. The roof has some special glass to prevent solar glare, it is half brick a bit expensive but we have spent so much time in there and have saved on heating the rest of the house until later in the day.

Ps ours faces west/s.west

We opted for a glass roof rather than Perspex which doesn't wear so well. You can have the glass coated to reduce glare in the summer.
Do let us know how you get on. We are so pleased with ours. It has so many uses - relaxing in the warmth, drying the washing, growing tomatoes, planting seeds, drying the wet dog before she goes into the house, etc etc.
We haven't any heating in it as it faces south so even on a sunny day in winter we can use it.
Good luck!

Thanks mrsmopp and margaret. We intend having glass roof as heard it's better than perspex, but am alarmed by the underfloor heating AND a radiator being needed, as hoped underfloor heating would do the job.We are in the process of contacting builders for quotes, have left it a while as we don't want anything doing until the Summer, but so far have only one builder lined up, the others haven't got back to us.Here in the Thames Valley looks like builders are going to be kept busy with all the storm and flood damage for the foreeable future, so we may need to wait awhile; if and when this conservatory does go ahead I will post details on here, and thank you all for the responses, it's really been appreciated.I still have a few reservations about going ahead [but that's just me!]

I think it depends on what flooring you choose roses, as my friend has underfloor heating with a ceramic floor, which extend s right through into the kitchen and it seemed very effective when I stood on it. However, we chose a wooden floor, although I kept saying I thought I remembered from physics lessons that wood is a bad conductor of heat. I just don't thimk our underfloor heating is the most effective, the flooring firm who installed it worked jn conjunction with the large wellknown company who installed the conservatory. However, DC can sit and play on a warm floor even in the depths of winter. The oil filled radiator is quite economical I think and we have sat in the conservatory with snow outside, at a toasty 23C, not putting the heat on in the rest of the house until later in the day.

Hope this helps, we did think the u/f heating would be enough, but not in ours in the depths of winter unfortunately, but then I don't think it would be enough in the rest of the house either

Ps when the sun shines it warms up without the radiator of course but not very often these days.

Yes like everyone else I LOVE ours - just in the middle of choosing material to re-upholster the chairs as ours have got mucky. I was watching - Oh Blimey senior moment can't remember the name of the film - but it had Grace Kelly in it and Frank and Bing - anyway outdoor chairs there were lovely - green seats cushions and white chairs so hope to copy them

High Society!

A lot depends on the direction you are facing, obviously South will get a lot of heat from the sun. Even in winter if it's sunny we can go there. Facing North you will want heating.

Sorry I haven't read all the posts (grovel) but just quick comment on energy efficiency. In some cases they are hugely expensive to run because heat from the house goes out through a big gap (no separating door) into the conservatory which is not insulated at all (even a double glazed one, if a centrally heated space, would lose heat very rapidly when it is cold outside.)
If you have a conservatory that is, basically a greenhouse on the side of the house with a good quality door between the centrally heated house and the conservatory, this does not apply. Of course if you then put in an electric heater to warm up the conservatory to sit in during the winter, then that too would cost a lot.
Ask your suppliers about the eco rating of the glass and go for the best.
Good luck.

I wanted it off the kitchen, just open, but it became too difficult (moving drains etc), and was also advised the house insurers would not be happy if there was no dividing door..

So it is off the sitting room and we left the patio door in situ, a bifold door would have been nice but we thought it would take up valuable space

Also the floor heating is set to cut in if the temperature drops below 10C. DH thinks electricity has not gone up vastly since we had it he thinks floor and oil filled radiator are both very efficient.

We would definitely go for the underfloor heating, but the question is what kind? Electric 'pipes' or electric mat or hot water?Think that you need terracotta or ceramic tile floor if you have underfloor heating too.The Edwardian style seems to be the best space saving shape for a conservatory, but we have a builder coming this week and have pages of questions for him!This is the time that I start to get cold feet about the project [with or without underfloor heating.]

If you got underfloor heating there'll be no more cold feet!

I would recommend looking into underfloor heatingif you like roses.more carefully than we did, although today DH put the U/h heating on and, with the sunshine today it was 25c in there when I went in later. It is now 19c with the sun gone.

Our very wellknown conservatory/double glazing provider had bought out the flooring firm so that was who fitted ours, seems to be some sort of electric mat, not pipes.
Am I allowed to mention names? Begins with A anyway, and you would expect to find them on the east coast.
I think the Romans had the right idea re underfloor heating, we haven't progressed much.

A very good [local] builder came today, he was able to answer all our questions and told us exactly how big we would need the floor space to be[slighter larger than we had thought] and discussed heating, lighting, plastering, in fact everything!He will prepare a detailed estimate to send us, but we need to look for 2 other builders as soon as possible.Always best to have 3 quotes!Getting quite excited now, so hope I don't go 'off the boil' [ as I sometimes do, with projects.]

Underfloor heating sounds nice - but it is not something you can turn on and off quickly is it. (because it takes ages to heat up the tiles etc before you get the benefit) Its the sort of thing you leave on all the time, night and day, for a big chunk of the year and in a conservatory, which is not insulated, it must use a lot of energy. If are planning to spend hours a day, in the winter, in your conservatory and someone has worked out the likely cost and you are not concerned about it, then it might work for you. It seems likely that fuel prices will continue to rise over the foreseeable future.
I'd take some expert advice on this if I was you.
If you are only going to use it for an hour here and there, maybe a plug in fan heater or similar might be more flexible.

JessM I think our underfloor heating just takes the chill off, it cuts in if the temperature goes below 10c which is good if you have plants in there. I think I said before we use an oil filled radiator when it is chilly, but when (!) the sun is out it warms up quickly without that.

It is just nice to have the chill taken off the floor and nice for DGC when they sit on the floor to play.
DH keeps a very keen eye on our heating bills, they do not seem to be higher as we use the heat in the house less.

Going now to play on conservatory floor with DGD2.

oh right i was imagining you were using it to heat the space to 20deg which would be quite extravagant

I think it would heat it to 20c quickly on a mild day and certainly don't need anything on a sunny day.
And the oil filled radiator has a thermostat as well.

Nice and cosy in here today, dolls, books, puzzles everwhere.

We are also planning to have a radiator added in there to our existing new central heating system, but underfloor electric heating as well.The builder said that was best and margaret had advised that too!

Better to install it during build rather than wish later that you had done it.
Enjoy it when it's finished. But then you have to pick the furniture!

Picking the furniture will be the nice bit! If only we were at that stage already.Thanks for all the advice.

Just a final thank you to all who replied and were helpful, it was so useful to have a ticklist to ask the builder about. We have now got a builder who will start next month, so it's going to happen at last.yay!

The conservatory is now up! it looks great, and we took heed of all the helpful advice. Plasterer has just been , and someone coming to do the terracotta tiling in a day or two, and put wall lights up.Underfloor heating AND a radiator linked to the central heating.Had the patio re-laid as well and some garden beds raised, which looks neat.
Have to think about cane/rattan furniture now. Also paint for the walls.Wish conservatory furniture wasn't so expensive. Have looked at DARO cane, looks good.Thanks to all who replied with helpful comments, in fact without that, I think nothing would have been done, it spurred me on.

How lovely - sounds just perfect. I wish you many happy days and evenings in there. So wish I had a conservatory - for plants and also for sitting in. One day maybe, if I ever get to move to a bungalow! (live in a town house so not possible here!)