Is a conservatory roof replacement in Barnsley worth it?
For most people, yes, and the reason is simple. A thin roof of glass or plastic sheet is the worst insulated part of the house. On a frosty morning it pulls the heat out of the room, and on a sunny afternoon it traps it. The walls are rarely the problem. The roof is.
A solid roof deals with both. It is insulated like the roof of an extension, so the room holds its warmth in winter and stops cooking in summer. It is also quiet. Anyone who has sat under a plastic roof in a Yorkshire downpour knows the drumming, and a tiled roof puts an end to it.
The other reason is cost. Knocking a conservatory down and starting again means a new base, new walls and new frames. A roof replacement keeps all three, so you are only paying for the part that was letting you down.
Do you need building regulations for a solid conservatory roof?
Yes. This is the part that a lot of conservatory roof adverts skip, so it is worth being plain about it.
A conservatory is exempt from most building regulations because it is a light, mostly glazed structure kept separate from the house. Once the glass roof is swapped for a solid one, it no longer counts as a conservatory in the eyes of the regulations. That is the position set out by LABC, the body that represents local authority building control in England. The new roof has to be approved.
In practice, building control are looking at three things:
- Can the base take the weight? A tiled roof is heavier than a glass one, so the foundations under the dwarf walls may be checked.
- Can the frames carry it? Frames made for a light plastic roof may not have the steel inside them to hold a heavier one. Where they do not, extra posts go in or the frames are replaced.
- Is the roof insulated to today's standard? The new roof is treated as new work, so it has to meet the current rules on heat loss.
The upside of all this is a certificate at the end, which you will want when you come to sell the house. A buyer's solicitor is likely to ask for it. Luke and Dale go through what building control will want with you at the survey, before anything is ordered.
What if the conservatory needs more than a new roof?
Sometimes the survey finds that the frames have dropped, the base has moved or the dwarf walls are cracked. Then a new roof on top would only hide the problem, and it is better to rebuild.
One recent job was exactly that. The old conservatory on the back of a stone bungalow came down to its base, and it went back up as a garden room in stone, under a solid tiled roof, with wide sliding doors and a glazed gable. More on that kind of work on the conservatories and garden rooms section. And if what you really have is a flat roof extension that needs more light, the answer may be a roof lantern instead.
