new conservatorh

[smac]

i am thinking of having a conservatory built at the back of my bungalow.Is it a building reg that i have to have a door between it and my dining room,or can i just have an arch making a bigger room.thanks

[Owain]

You have to have an exterior grade door between the conservatory and the house if you want to take advantage of the conservatory exemptions from Building Regs.

If you want to enlarge the room and have an arch, what you are building ceases to be a conservatory and becomes an extension subject to full building regs, in particular thermal insulation.

You can have quite a big door (double, triple, even quadruple leaves) and if you line up the flooring levels carefully with a very low threshold can have most of the advantages of through room whilst retaining the ability to close it off and comply with the exterior door requirement.

Owain

[Doctor Drivel]

You need a door. The conservatory must be regarded as the outside as regard to the main house and double glazing etc must be used in the doors/windows that separate them. Conservatories were originally for plants not living space. They are not supposed to have heating in them. The heat loss from them is phenomenal. They add to global warming in a colossal way. In many homes 1/3 of the heating bill is to heat the conservatory.

[John Rumm]

Or you do what most people seem to do, and have the door for the purposes of gaining the building regs exemption, and then remove it after work is completed, and stick it in a shed just in case you want to sell later!