lets talk conservatories

[YUMMYMUMMY]

we were going to move but i think for the moment we've decided to stay put for maybe another 3 years. we are lucky our house is reasonable size and moving was only cause we were greedy for more space but we can manage where we are. more space downstairs would be fab, we have ruled out an extension because of the short amount of time we're planning on staying it just wouldnt be cost effective iyswim, but maybe a conservatory would.

what do you think is it a good idea or bad one , have you got a conservatory is it a good extra room or wish you didnt have one

if you have got one have you got a roof vent? does it leak have heard that they can

all quotes we got were for internal measurments 3 meters by 4 meters is that big for a conservatory?


weve had 3 quotes one was for £ 8400 bloke was very vague didnt do a plan just said "ye ye we can do that ":yeahright: and recomended white not a brown one ( we have brown windows) cause they move and get hot.

second one was £11,500 he recommended white on brown, a bronzed roof to cut down on heat , metal supports inside the window structure to suport so it wont move. doesnt include plastering or lights. digging down for base was 12 inches

3rd quote today was £11.600, offered similar roof for heat deflection, included roof vent , metal sheeting in base cause of hedge roots next door, but window structure had plastic inside so i presume we will have movement and swelling issues . digging down for base was 6-4 inches

at the moment were thinking of going with the second quote , the fella was very thourgh and the metal in th eframe to stop movement sounds good, they use only one builder who we pay seperatly once he's finished the base work and then pay the company the rest when they have fitted the consevatory bit which was the only thing that bothered me , dont you usually pay the company it all? it will work out more as it didnt include plastering or lights but the service seemed better and better quality.

anyone got under floor heating or air conditioning in theirs? also shall we keep the back frech doors and window or knock it into an arch to make it part of our kitchen diner, my sil has had that done to her kitchen to make the conservatory her dining room and it looks good. shall we leave the brick exposed or have it plastered to make it look more of a room?


what do you think? sorry its a huge post full of loads of questions needing some damsels wisdom:nod:

[cheeky_biscuit]

My friend has a lovely conservatory which sounds like the middle description.
She has got a door from the kitchen, but this is usually open. I think doors give you more options than an arch.
My mum & dads isn't plastered and it just doesn't seem as much like a room iyswim than my friends plastered one. My friend has underfloor heating, my parents have a radiator. The underfloor heating seems effective.
Iwould love one.

[*kate*]

We had ours done a few years ago. TBH I wish we'd thought more carefully and paid a little extra on having a proper sun room built (it would only have cost another £1k ish). It's 5m x 5m which is a decent room size.

We use our extensively throughout the summer (march to October) but after that it gets too cold to use it. During the times we use it, we have the french doors constantly open and it is such a lovely extension to our family room, but in the winter/colder times it is an unused, very very cold room. The walls are plastered so it looks like a room.

If I could change it I would have a proper sun room with velux windows, so it could be used all year round.

One thing I would say is that 6 inches doesn't sound very deep for a dwarf wall. When we had our conservatory checked to see if we could turn it into a proper sun room the builder said we needed founds of over 1m for a sun room and ours were slightly short (so certainly deeper than 6").

[JoGee]

I absolutely love mine. We had it built last year, its brown on white. I personally dont like white conservatorys.

We have an oak wooden floor (but had to wait for the concrete to dry so bear that in mind)

Ours is about the same size you are planning and it cost £12k, with electrics and plastering. We dont have a roof vent as we were worried about leaking too.

We had climate/air con fitted which we've not used yet. Its no good as a heater though. We do have an oil filled radiator which has made it useable in the winter excpet on exceptionally cold nights.

Ours is plastered and painted in chocolate and cream, With wood effect venetian blinds. Can you tell I just:lurve: it. Its so relaxing sitting in there listening to the birds tweeting and its the one room in this house thats always tidy:nod:

We paid the builder separately to the conserv company, it was no problem.

[ChelseaHarvey]

Not really in the know of conservatrys but if we end up staying in this house a conservatry is going on to give us more room downstairs... Were looking at going out 3 meters but at the mo i have no idea on costs etc

[Solitaire]

Would you mind PMing me who you got quotes from?

My OH works for a window company in Lincoln, and although I can't get discounts I'll be able to tell you if the prices you have are reasonable.

The guy who mentioned brown on white does sound knowledgeable.

My OH's company normally recommend a builder, and you pay him direct. He isn't employed by the window company which is why you pay seperately - I assume the company who quoted you do the same thing.

3x4 m is a good size - we used to have a 3 seater settee and a big armchair in ours. Mark out on the grass to see how much of the graden it would take it up, and see if you find the space useable rather than just a corridor. You might need planning permission if you knock through to it from the kitchen as it changes the use.

We had underfloor heating - fitted it ourselves and it was OK. Would really need an extra storage heater to use when it's really cold.

Roofs vents shouldn't leak :happyno:

I'm almost ashamed of my knowledge:oops:

[Moffgal]

I can't really give you an opinion on cost as we did it all ourselves so it cost a lot less than paying someone to do it.

But I loooovvvveee mine. It's used all day long as an office/Damsing area, playroom and dining room in the evening. it's tiled, with underfloor heating and air con which both heats and cools- and boy are we going to need the cooling facility- it was red hot in here this evening after the sun had been on the back all afternoon.

Actually thats another thing for you to consider, coz in my opinion, ceiling fans do bugger all to cool conservatories down. Which way would yours face?

[jellybean]

we had a quote for 2.5 metres by 3 mertres, from anglian windows and they said list price is £18,000 :yeahright: hmmm dont think so, But with a special offer it will only be £13,000 (hmmm not falling for that one.) When we do get one were going to get a build your own for £2500

sorry thats not answered any questions

[YUMMYMUMMY]

we had a quote for 2.5 metres by 3 mertres, from anglian windows and they said list price is £18,000 :yeahright: hmmm dont think so, But with a special offer it will only be £13,000 (hmmm not falling for that one.) When we do get one were going to get a build your own for £2500

sorry thats not answered any questions

i hate companys that do all that cr@p, luckily the 3 quotes we've had have just come in measured up and given us a price non of that if you sign today we'll knock 5 grand off the price rubbish:yeahright:

moffgal, our back garden has the sun in it most of the day so i know it will get very very hot so thinking seriously about an air con unit:nod:

[Flicky]

We're having a conservatory built right now - in fact I am sat in it just now :grin: - still waiting on flooring and the walls being finished internally but the structure is there. I love it!

We are paying £16,000 BUT that includes other work (we are having our front door relocated and new external stairs built) and also it's a tricky one as it's built up against the retaining wall of our terraced garden so there was lots of new drainage and damp proofing to add. I think because of that it would probably it would have been £14000 without the door work - it's 4m by 2.5m iirc. It's a great job though - we've used a builder/joiner who did a major job for us before so wanted him to do it and didn't get any other quotes.

I love it already, even in its unfinished state we've moved out here this weekend because the builders are gone. It's white, lean-to style and the roof is light/heat deflecting somehow - this room faces east and gets the full morning sun and light slanting in the rest of the day.

I am so glad we went for it!

[Peony]

We got a large extension built on our previous house and that cost less than £15k. I'm sure at the time local glaziers were doing deals on box shaped, tiled roof, garden rooms for around £12k-£13 so it although it might cost £2k more it may add a bit more on the value of your house over a conservatory.

Our current conservatory came with the house and is wooden and was much more than we would of ever paid!

#4x3m sounds a fair size

#Ours has tiled flooring but in time we'll replace probably with wood effect Amtico or similar

#Don't think we've got a roof vent (is that an opening window?)

#We've got short double radiators and it warms up very quickly but there again it's double glazed so is never icy cold

#We're currently pondering whether to plaster or not

#No aircon but we'll have to see what it's like in the summer - ours is east facing so it gets a nice bit of sun in the morning and late evening sun at the other end (it juts out past the house at one end) so hasn't been too hot yet. There are some of those proper conservatory roof blinds fitted at one end but I've not even tried them yet