Old conservatory makeover

[Elizabeth]

Greetings,

Our conservatory/sun lounge was built probably in the 1950s, about a century after the house was built, and it's a very basic add-on. The sides seem to be 1 metre high prefabricated blocks with the outside similar to pebbledash and the inside thin veneered plywood.

The timber framing for the glazing appears to have been painted with something similar to wooden fencing and it's been suggested that we paint it with sufficient coats of white Sadolin until the yucky brown has been covered. Does this sound sensible? Would I need to put a coat of white undercoat and gloss on top?

The floor is concrete and doesn't have a damp-proof membrane. The level of the floor is several inches lower than the house. Previously the flooring was rigid vinyl of some kind and when I pulled it up about a month ago there was a noticeable film of damp underneath. The sun lounge tends to be warm for most of the year and even with the cooler weather at the time the damp dried out very quickly. What's the best way of dealing with this - especially as I'll probably attempt to do the work myself if it's not too back-breaking. I wonder whether it's better to put down a membrane and then either tiles or vinyl, or whether there's a breathable flooring we could put so any damp evaporates.

The roofing is corrugated plastic-type. I don't really want to renew this as it's OK (no leaks) but it looks pretty ugly and I'd like something to fit to the underside of the wooden roof structure to disguise it. I've searched the Screwfix site and found the following:

which is described as Replacement Horticultural Pack, 4mm clear twinwall polycarbonate. Would this be suitable for a use like this? If so, what should I use to cut it and to fix it securely in place?

I'd be grateful for any suggestions. The rest of the house is gradually looking very much better, and the sun lounge needs to look better than a tacky add-on.

[Grunff]

It depends on what it was painted with. If it's an oil, such as creosote, you won't get any paint to reliably stick. You might be better off simply reapplying a stain to freshen them up. You could always try a small test patch somewhere out of the way with Sadolin.

Depends on your aim. If it was mine, I'd lay a membrane, put down battens (screwed), then lay a floor onto the battens (material of your choice - anything from floor grade chipboard to hardwood). I'd also insulate between the battens.

Alternatively, you could just lay a membrane then a floating floor on top.

Hmm, sounds like an odd approach, but I can't think of any immediate drawbacks.

The best way to achieve this would be to purchase sheets that are long enough to run the entire length. You can get these from somewhere like

can cut polycarb with pretty much anything (stanley knife, jigsaw, whatever), and to secure it you'll need some fixing strips consisting of a base + cap (have a look at the installation guide on the above site). But this will look a little odd; since you're essentially installing a rood inside + upside down. Personally I'd be tempted to replace the roof. This is simpler than you might think.

[Peter Lynch]

I'm in the process of refreshing my conservatory, which is a wooden lean-to with a polycarbonate roof. The seals where the roof was nailed to the rafters are starting to leak, and the stain used on them has run. I've repainted the rafters and the rest of the internal woodwork, partly to cover the now rather patchy woodstain and partly to get rid of the depressing dark brown colour.

Initially I just started painting the woodwork, but found that the woodstain was bleeding through. Even using 2 coats of stain block paint left some blotchy areas. In the end I've had to resort to sanding all the woodwork to get rid of the top layer of stain, then applying stain-block paint as an undercoat and a decent quality white interior paint on top of that.

Pete

[Elizabeth]

Thanks, I'll try the Sadolin first and if that doesn't work I'll go for reapplying a stain - anything that makes it look better than it does now.

Being a newbie to anything more DIY than painting, I guess the floating floor idea would be, say, a membrane then an underlay then laminate or somesuch?

I spent a bit of time yesterday just sitting in the sun lounge trying to see how these ideas would work out in practice.

It probably is simpler for someone a lot stronger than me, and with longer arms! I'll have to do some more thinking, but my main objective is to make this my own project. I'd like to do more than just wield a paintbrush and fixing this sun lounge seems a good start.

Thanks for the advice, I'm very grateful.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks for that, Pete. It is a depressing colour, isn't it. The more I look at it the more yucky it becomes. Your experience gives me a good idea of what problem I might have to face - and how to deal with it.

[Grunff]

Yes, exactly - laminate, softwood, hardwood, your choice.

You're welcome, good luck.