Tiling a conservatory roof? Anyone done it?

We inherited a large conservatory when we bought our house, which does add a lot of space. As per usual though, it’s freezing in winter and way too hot in summer.

Has anyone had tiles retrofitted and does it make a difference?

Also thinking of a couple of smaller sky lights to keep it brightish.

We did about 5 years ago. It’s by no means perfect but a lot warmer than it was in winter, comfortable with an oil radiator.
We didn’t use on the of the big chain companies, they wanted £8k. A local roofer did it for us for half that, timber frame with acrylic tiles, foam insulation and boarded and pasted inside, vaulted not flat ceiling.

You’ve got windows…. Should be bright enough!

Tiles could add considerable weight (you should insulate while you’re at it) so the question is whether the structure and footings are able to take the extra weight.

I’d go with one of the more reputable installers and have it done, the glazing bars and structure were never designed to hold the weight of plastic tiles and the plaster and insulation. The roof is the structural element that holds it all together so you dont want it to fail.

A lot have been converted so it must work.

I always thought the tiles for conservatory roof replacements are on a sheet and you cut to size.

Conservatory aren’t that strong…I suppose if you have a glass roof version maybe they are better built…

Soz I don’t know much about conservatories,  I always wanted one, but now I’m glad I don’t have one…20 years later they seem to start falling apart, my customers are always asking to gun some sealant in places…I keep telling them I’m not a expert and this isnt a fix

I’m very glad we do have one; even with a simple, gently sloping corex sheeting roof facing NW at present, it gets used plenty for more than half of the year.
I think that if funds allow, the best solution is a rebuild, with a structure designed to hold a significantly heavier roof. This is likely to be the road we go down; our 30 year old, reputable local supplier conservatory is gradually ageing beyond eth point where repairs are going to be viable for much longer.
I’d love to go for this full rebuild, an open timber structure, pitched slate roof construction with proper sarking board for strength and insulation, but am currently constrained by budget as that would mean having to completely re-glaze too. At least the foundations and hip wall are strong enough for the load on ours but still… Dreams of having a wee pot belly stove in there and with views of winter sunsets.

I got quotes from a UK firm and local conservatory firm, UK firm were just on about replacing the existing roof sheets with new sheets made of compressed materials. Local firm, as per another poster spoke about a light weight wooden roof with fake tiles, some sort of window and insulation. UK firms price was huge thinking £15k and the local price was £4k-ish.

What stopped me was the local firm pointed out the age of my conservatory, they say when there fitted they have a 20-30 year life and estimated mine to be around 15 years old, so if I did spend any money on the roof, the rest of the conservatory could age out and need replacing sooner rather then later which could mean doing the roof twice. They actually recommended knocking it down fully and building a proper extension which could be properly insulated, have proper skylights, proper electrics, etc which I appreciated and now exploring.

Piggy backing a question – my mums house (that we rent out) has one and we’ve had a bit of a chat with the tenants about improvements going forward and the conservatory – and roofing it being one…..

What’s the planning situation. If you upgrade the roof at what point does a ‘conservatory’ become and ‘extension’ – or are they the same thing?

you can see what I did with mine here

Conservatory re-modelling without tearing the whole thing down?

probably about 6.5k all in and a fair bit of my sanity as I did a lot of the decorating

I must admit the rest of the conservatory does need some work – windows and some of the exterior, ill have to get on it in the spring/summer, If we had the cash knocking it down & rebuilding would have been great!

What’s the planning situation. If you upgrade the roof at what point does a ‘conservatory’ become and ‘extension’ – or are they the same thing?

From memory, there’s a building regs angle to do with whether the conservatory is thermally coupled to the rest of the house or not. If not (i.e. it’s the other side of some external-grade UPVC doors or whatever), then it can be built to lower a insulation specification. That’s not just for the roof but also things like insulation in the walls and the floor.

I think conservatories also are generally allowed under permitted development, whereas you may need planning permission for an extension. The devil is in the details of course.

If we had the cash knocking it down & rebuilding would have been great!

Amen 🙂

My conservatory is still the big shed-full-of-crap it was when I first posted that thread. We will get there, possibly, before we move out. Either in a van or a six foot box.

My mum and dad had there’s done and it’s been really good, probably around 10 years ago and they have had no issues at all. It’s a decent size and apart from decorating was done in a day. It’s made the room a lot more useable

We looked at replacing our conservatory roof last summer but the prices were insane. So I opted to insulate it using YBS Superquilt then plasterboarded. It was a fair bit of work (280q ft) and we’re still waiting for a plasterer to finish off, but the end result is exactly what we wanted, ie easily regulated temps all year round;  cool in summer and warm in winter.

I also fitted custom PerfectFit duo shade blinds to all doors and windows to improve thermals (probably only a bit), add complete control over sunlight filtering, and basically give it a more modern look.

My neighbours had their’s done,  plastic fake tile sheets, insulation inside.  It looks very smart outside and they say it made a big difference over the summer,  I’ve not asked what is like currently in this cold spell.

Thanks folks, lots of positives for doing it but I keep hearing the “wish we’d ripped it down and went for an extension” point.

That is my gut feeling as I’d love to turn part of it into a utility. The main reason for roofing it would be for putting the washer and dryer in there and using it as a “dirty” house entrance. All the dog walking and MTB kit would live in it.

It’s all going to boil down to finances and whether I can get services over to that side of the house.

Thanks folks, lots of positives for doing it but I keep hearing the “wish we’d ripped it down and went for an extension” point.

You might want to have a sit down when you get quotes in – you may feel a little faint!

My conservatory is 20 years old, polycarb roof.  Loads of people have looked at it, any roof improvements are just temporary, hence no planning if you retain the doors between house and conservatory.  I m going for a rebuild as part of the house, but it’s 50k v 5k.  If you look around most conservatories are being replaced with permanent structures.

For 50k you get max insulation, no interlnking doors needed so the internal house ceilings run flush to the new structure.

My sister has an issue with their dwarf wall conservatory – the poly-carbonate roof sheets have moved and it tends to leak if they get bad weather. BIL won’t entertain getting it re-roofed, so it’s knock it down. £50k they have been quoted.

Personally, given how little they use their’s, I’d fix it, but it’s say 20 years old, and BIL can’t do any DIY, so is happy to spend £50k for another room that won’t get used (there is two of them in a four bed house).

Ours is 25 years old, all glass with polycarbonate roof – it does get too hot in summer. Winter we manage OK with a Delonghi oil radiator – I’ve been here all day working. Summer isn’t great. We have indoor cats that have access to their ‘outdoor’ area via the conservatory window – it means we can’t go leaving the other window and door wide open or they will escape. Plan for this summer is to have a pop up gate that allows us to open the doors, but keep the cats in.

Yep had a warm roof fitted a few years ago, combined with a Bioethanol stove it’s now a comfortable room all year round

I pointed an infra red thermometer into our conservatory the other day, 1C. The savings are drained so that’s that

so it’s knock it down. £50k they have been quoted.

£50k to knock a conservatory down or am I misreading. Most things are free to knock down and then you pay for a skip to take the bits away!

We had ours done 2 years ago. We managed 15 years of too cold in winter and too hot in summer. We had the polycarbonate roof replaced with Vinyl Tiles, 15cm of insulation, plasterboard ceiling with recessed lights.

Our first quotes from the companies that we found advertising on facebook etc were in the region of £12k, we found a local guy who did it for £7k. He was excellent and the results have been transformative, we now have a room that we can use all year round. We use it as a quiet space for reading etc. Very happy that we had it done.

Same deal, new lightweight insulated roof and we had the frosted glass portion facing our neighbours turned into a privacy wall. Bloody lovely.