Hot conservatory

I have neither but with a S facing house would favour a solid roof as I could well imagine a conservatory would be as you describe! However I am sure it would earn its keep on a sunny but cold or windy i.e "normal" summer's day

Mine is the same, NFkD. It is great for drying the washing on those days when you daren't hang it out for fear of showers, and getting any sun that is around in spring and autumn. Not so good for sitting out in through the summer and winte, even with a small portable convection heater which helps in winter, and a fan for roasting summer days. It is off the kitchen (only place it could go) o at Christmas it fills up with all the things that overflow from the fridge and need somewhere cold.

I'm thinking of having our conservatory roof replaced with a solid one. Do they need a planning permission does anyone know.

I love the heat in our conservatory - it is like soaking in a hot bath - bliss! If it gets too hot I open the doors and put on a fan - cheaper than roof blinds!

I wonder if it would make the room from which the conservatory leads very dark as this is the effect my ceiling blinds have and they are a light colour and only really keep the glare out.

Suspect with solid roof it will still get very hot. When light passes through glass some of it is converted into heat. This escapes far more slowly than the light. It therefore builds up. You will still have a lot of glass.

I agree with Mishap. Our 'conservatory' is upstairs and gets really warm but we just open windows and doors - I love it.

In winter it benefits from any sun there maybe and the rising hot air from downstairs. It it also incredibly light and brightens the whole house up. I love sitting up there when it's raining.

Sorry, not an answer to the OP but a reflection on how lovely a conservatory can be.

We use ours as a second sitting room - radio,CDs etc - so don't like to leave the windows open when we go out and with heat reflecting blinds on the windows it gets up to nearly 50C! And it faces east so looses the sun mid afternoon. With a solid wall to the south and the house to the west we had thought it wouldn't get so hot.
(It's off the kitchen but a light tube should sort that.)

Ours faces west, with one side facing south. It does get hot in there, but is fine once opened up; it has double doors and top opening windows all round. It also has a Solaroof which reduces the heat and glare, and vents (manual ones) in the roof and around just under the roof.

We had underfloor heating installed which is not enough in the depths of winter but takes the chill off in spring/autumn, but also use an oil-filled radiator which warmed it up nicely even when there was snow outside. We are very pleased that we have been able to use it all year round, unless, of course, it is about 30C outside, when we would be looking for a shady spot in the garden anyway.

We have just been away for a week and we shut all the blinds before we went and I moved my houseplants inside into a cool room before we went. The blinds are vertical blinds (not as expensive as some) so we can open them fully, 'slant' them or close completely.

Perhaps the roof panels could be replaced with anti-glare panels which would still let light in, Nfk? It could be a cheaper option than a proper roof.

We've supposedly got anti-glare heat reflective panels in the roof already! We were advised against opening lights in the roof as they apparently tended to leak. We were told it would be very unusual for it to go over 40 closed up. It was a fib!

Most of the time it's lovely but, having only a small dark sitting room (a lovely snug in winter) we'd like to be able to use it full time. I also thought a solid roof might enable us to listen to the radio in heavy rain!

Oh, Nfk, not sure then. Ours does get hot closed up, but soon cools down with the double doors open. We haven't got opening lights in the roof for the reason you mentioned, just a vent thingy that we can open and shut (if I could reach it).

I had heat deflecting double gazing panels in my back door which is a utility room where we keep the freezer and it was really getting too hot in their for it. It's south facing getting the full sun.

They have made a big difference. But it might cost a whole lot more for a whole conservatory roof of them.

With regard to a conservatory the over heating vs very cold issue is why I don't have one.

We use ours all year round - doors open and fan in the summer; and the radiator on in the winter, when it warms up very fast as it grabs even the tiniest bit of heat from any sun going.

I love my conservatory - my favourite place in the house, where I sew and read and snooze and just wallow in the loveliness - it has the best view in the world too! I am a lucky lady.

I love ours too - although it only looks onto the garden - and the neighbours house. I've seen one which had been 'roofed in' and it still have the same feel - high ceiling, light and spacious - but it wasn't a lady I could be nosy with and ask how she liked it. I think she would have been very polite and said it was wonderful (I certainly couldn't have asked where she got it or how much!)

ours is northwest facing..just and find we can use it all year round...we just open windows or doors (like today) but when we built it we put big radiator in so we use it as second lounge throughout the winter..also it is attached to our lounge so it makes it a sort of long lounge....we didn't need to put doors in between at that time..so its big open space...OH fav place when he can manage to get in it.

Mine is also facing south, it is unbearably hot at this very mo.
I do have blinds and it does help. Also it proves how dark a solid roof would make it.
I leave my windows open when I go out, as I had security bars put in, not expensive.
I did have air vents that lasted a few years, then the leaks started.
I must say that the Summer evenings in the conservatory are lovely.
If its a little chilly outside, the temperature inside is just right, and you are overlooking the garden of course.
When it gets dark I light the candles, which creates a charming ambience.

Ours is south facing and had a corrugated roof which was very noisy when it rained. It was also very hot and the roof vent leaked however hard we tried to fix it. A couple of years ago we took off the roof and put on a solid, insulated roof. It's the best thing we ever did; it is still nice and light, it's quiet and pleasant to be in all year round.
Don't know if we should have had planning permission, we just got on with it. DH did most of the work (with me as labourer) and a plasterer finished it off.

Right - so roof lights are definitely out! And I don't think roof blinds are an option either - it's a big area and they'll probably sag. Cleaning would be a problem too.

It's quite new, isn't it? The plastic tiled solid roofs.They just lift off the old one and replace it with the solid one, it's very light-weight, as the tiles just look like tiles.I think for a south facing conservatory it's a good idea probably[I think they cost about £4ooo for an average sized one according to a friend.]Ours is new [not quite finished] but we have gone for an all glass domed roof as we are north facing and I wanted to see the sky.It has top windows that open and double doors to open if it gets hot, and I suppose a large fan if needed.However, if it becomes too hot, surely you would be sitting in the garden anyway?I really don't see why you would need planning permission.

As this is a conservatory thread...... how do others clean the high domed glass roof inside?is there a special thingamajig?Also, does anyone know a good place to buy conservatory furniture, cane, but padded and comfy?

Clean?

The furniture we bought was by a firm called Daro. We went all over the place looking; it was what I chose in the first place but it was quite expensive. However, I we decided in the end that it could be false economy to buy something cheaper then have to replace it sooner rather than later. Our suite doesn't have padded arms but it is very comfortable.

ps rosesarered: we chose smooth rattan arms as I found that woven wicker arms left dents in my own arms!

Thanks roseq for the info, I wouldn't want dents!