Rain noise from conservatory roof

We moved to a 20yr old place a couple of months ago which has a conservatory from the dining room. We’ve not had such a thing before so we didn’t realise how noisy they are when it rains. Polycarbonate roof I believe. Aesthetically it’s good but unusable when it rains, which is quite often in Carlisle. Any online searches just throw up conservatory companies peddling their own particular solutions but without real world comparisons. Any tips for a replacement roof?

Knock the f’ing thing down and build a proper extension would be my choice. Probably not what you want to hear.

Similar conservatory from the sound of things. Eventually our plan is to gut it down to the dwarf wall and replace with a more modern solid roof conservatory.

Embrace it. Just like camping.

It’s respite from the rasping heat of a conservatory on a summers day

I q like the sound of rain on a polycarbonate roof.  My neighbour had hers tiled and insulated, apparently much better.  I m planning knocking it down and making it part of the house.  Shame, mines 20 years old and got q a lot of life left in it.

? I am considering knocking it down as suggested. Seems a shame as it’s in great nick with quality blinds. Big question mark against whether the foundations are beefy enough to take the weight of a solid roof  so I’m asking whether there are decent light weight alternatives to polycarbonate. Temperatures seem fine in the time we’ve been here, there are plenty of windows for ventilation and the odd chilly morning we’ve had hasn’t made it feel cold. It seems the good money has been spent on everything but the roof (most important part).

Our conservatory roof was originally polycarbonate and was like yours, very noisy when raining. We replaced ours with Pilkington K glass and it is so much quieter. Only really heavy rains causes us bother now.

The other pluses are that it is, whilst fairly slight, rather than magically different, noticeably cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We had to change ours as a panel failed

Same as @TheGingerOne here. We replaced our ploycarb roof with a self-clean glass roof this time last year and the difference is like night and day.

The roof is outside our bedroom window and I’m a very light sleeper that used to get woken up every time it rained previously. Now I sleep through everything except really heavy storm rain, and that would probably wake me up even if the conservatory wasn’t there.

Are there no doors separating the conservatory from the dining room? If not put some asap as you will be burning money heating the room.

Or knock the conservatory down

Are there no doors separating the conservatory from the dining room?

This, you really want some double glazed french/patio doors between the conservatory and the house for purposes for retaining heat in the rest of the house…and just dont use the conservatory when its cold/raining.

Yeah, they all have have double glazed patio type doors separating them from the house. With the doors closed obviously you don’t hear rain or background noise, but it’s a shame not to comfortably use the extra space as part of the house just because it’s raining.

At least it’s an early warning to get your waning in. A slight drizzle is amplified to a thunderstorm so you have a head start!

We had one at our first house, with ceramic tiles floor. Came home from work after the first really sunny day after moving in, opened the door into it and was blasted by the heat as I  stepped barefoot onto the oven temporarily floor.

it did come in handy for painting car parts in a still, warm environment when we were restoring one of our Spitfires.

Yeah, they all have have double glazed patio type doors separating them from the house.

I think that might fall under building regs/planning permission, and have insurance implications too, as it’s a conservatory, not a ‘proper’ extension… the door between the house and the conservatory should be essentailly the same as any exterior door/s.

One of those pull out awnings attached to the wall above where the roof joins the house. Pull it out whenever it rains, roll.it away again to let light in when it stops

@mattyfez they are, let it go 🙂

Love ours, glass roof, makes a beautiful noise when it rains. Yes it’s hot in summer and cold in winter but would not be without it.

Our house with big conservatory, bought 4 years a go, is about the same age as yours OP. Polycarb roof.

We really like the space, use it as family dining room, and the principle of the thing, but suffered same issues of truly horrific rain noise, heat and cold.

We were going to turn it into an extension, had the architect plans and building regs etc, but escalating costs knocked that on the head.

Got conservatory roof insulation (on the inside only) from these guys https://conservatoryroofinsulation.com/, along with ‘perfect fit’ thermal blinds, and had the floor redone and insulated as part of the kitchen getting redone.

The insulated roof removes the rain noise by about 90% (so totally usable even in a deluge), and weirdly makes the room and kitchen brighter as white roof reflects more usable light. It also has a massive impact in summer in removing most of the heat (though we do use the blinds on really hot days too), and in winter it’s now usable all year round.

Fab, not perfect, and extension would have been lovely, but 1/10th the cost and it’s working well for us. before/after attached

I really like it…almost therapeutic.

Conservatory isn’t warm, but I like the sound!

Our house had a conservatory that was built sometime in the mid-90’s It’s 4’x3′ footprint so bigger than what’s permitted now. Anyway, we use it as a dining room but it was a nightmare in anything but mild, dry weather.
We had a quote to get the roof done with lightweight tiles etc. from a roofer that did the roof on our old house as opposed to one of these companies you see advertising everywhere. That was going to be around £5K inlcuding wiring and plastering etc. The issue for me was that it didn’t address the fact the frame was old and all the glazing units were blown. I couldn’t see how a nearly 30 year old frame would take the weight.

Knock it down and build an extension they all scream…no, not that simple is it? The costs involved in doing that are way too high for us and disruptive when it affects the kitchen area which hadn’t long been done by the previous owner. We also have two young(ish) kids to consider.

In the end we had the conservatory rebuilt with a new frame, modern glazing and a superlite roof. It has a building regs certificate for the roof. So far, it’s made a massive difference to the room. It now means we can use it properly in all weathers. It’s so quiet and it’s much easier to regulate the temperature. We have an electric oil filled radiator in there which does the job.

It was more expensive than doing up the existing conservatory but now we have piece of mind that it’ll last a good many years. As the previous post said ‘an extension would have been lovely, but 1/10th of the cost andit’s working well for us’

Thanks everyone, it’s good to see solutions. I’ll investigate some of the suggestions.

A) To get rid of the noise from the plastic roof, replace it with glass.

B) To get rid of the benefits/drawbacks of the conservatory tear it down and replace with a brick extension.

C) To get rid of most of the noise and most of the benefits stick plastic cladding over the roof.

To me, most of the benefits of a conservatory are the clear roof so you can see the sky – not just the brighter room which could equally be achieved with maoire daylight lighting. The drawbacks are the heat/cold compared to the main house.

If you want something as temperature controlled as your house without the clear roof, build some more house. If you want the benefits of a conservatory with less noise, fit a quieter roof.

Ah, just seen pictures above my post…mine doesn’t have the polycarb roof, it is insulated…still plenty rain noise, but it isn’t loud enough to drown a conversation out. I do tend to go to the conservatory when it rains though as I do like the sound – does remind me of camping – bit on the cold side and raining outside!!!

B) To get rid of the benefits/drawbacks of the conservatory tear it down and replace with a brick extension.

Done. Polycarbonate = cold in Winter and hot in Summer. The polycarbonate got upcycled into a roof for the wood store which is far enough fropm the house not to be a noise issue.