Hello. I want to create a "conservatory" between 2 house walls leading from the kitchen and I need advice on the best roof. It will have glass doors. Is glass suitable for the roof or some sort of plastic. What sort of slope should it have and in what direction? Thankyou
The message from "poppyo" contains these words:
Personally I'd use one of the many readily available "multiwall" plastic roofing systems. They're strong, light and easy to assemble.
As for slope - I'd suggest downwards! Often one of the most important aspects is where the drains are. Are the two walls parallel or at right angles to each other?
Will the room be closed off from the rest off the house, or will it thus need to be heated ?
I acquired a "conservatory" thing with my current house, and it has a polycarb roof. Great on the warm days, as it is warm. But on hot days, it's like an oven, and on cold days, it's a freezer. I'm looking to have it rebuilt, and would like similar advice, about the thermal/insulation properties of such constructions.
Ian
The message from Ian Cornish contains these words:
I'm still building my conservatory, but the floor has UF heating with 4" of insulation, the walls have layers of allububbleish stuff either side of a 4" thermalite block leaf, the front wall's got 4" of foam in the cavity and alububble on the inside behind the cedar. 28mm DG units and
5-wall roof should make it warm enough in the winter at least. For summer I may have to open the windows, though I've left space for an air conditioner if things get bad.Thanks, the two walls are parallel, same height, garden in front, kitchen behind. I want maximum light and don't want it looking like a lean to.
The message from "poppyo" contains these words:
It'll end up sloping towards the open side to a gutter over the front windows. Anything else would be making life /very/ difficult.
How far is it between the walls, and how far out from the back wall will it run?
Check with the council that you can get a conservatory exemption on your intended layout. If not, you need to get building regs approval, which will probably not be possible. If you can get the exemption then several rules apply. Heating should have independent controls. You must have an external grade door separating the conservatory from the house. Some of the glass will need to be safety glass and it is usually easier to just specify it for all panels.
Glass double glazing is much superior to plastic, but much more expensive. Glass is heavier, so you need to use thicker rafters.
Suitable plastic is 2 or 3 wall polycarbonate sheeting. It sounds like a washing machine full of gravel when it rains and isn't properly transparent.
It should slope towards where you can run the water away.
Christian.
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