Replacement conservatory

20 year old conservatory is about to fall down. Was supposed to be Mahogany but turned out to be 'Phillipines' mahogany. AKA rubbish.On top of which i t was badly designed and badly constructed. Replacement will have to be non maintenance which means aluminium or PVC. L eaning towards aluminium as it has a slimmer profile. What should I look out for? What are the pitfalls ? What variations are the re in PVC systems and what variations are there in aluminium systems. Are t here any particular ones that stand out from the herd ? How in heavens name do I pick one out. They all have wonderful web sites. Our original supplie r is still going strong which make me despair of sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

I'll be left to make the choice so that when there are problems it will all be my fault. Just love selective womens lib

Reply to
fred
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Whoever you choose as supplier, make sure the design includes plenty of ventilation, preferably several openable roof vents. Conservatories can get unbearably hot in the summer, and the few designs I've seen have pitifully inadequate ventilation.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

On Monday 16 December 2013 19:37 fred wrote in uk.d-i-y:

Will you be replacing the base or just the wall/roof construction?

As to uPVC - all drk profiles should contain steel sections that makes the pretty stromg. Best bet is to look at some - do the have multiple locking bars and hinge bolts?

Glass for roof is a good idea, not crappy polycarb panels. I've just had one built - 16m2 against 1 wall of the house. with 8C outside, 300W from the dehumidifier[1] is keeping it warm. They've come a long way since 20 years ago.

[1] Drying the screen prior to tiling.
Reply to
Tim Watts

In message , Chris Hogg writes

Yup, you can never have enough on hot days, but we have two opening roof vents two large windows and the outside door and it does a pretty good job of ventilating (about 15 sq m IIRC.

We have electric auto openers on ours - installed because we have a vine in there (it replaced a victorian conservatory, AFAIK the vine is Victorian as well, but can be sure) and it puts out loads of moisture which will be running down the walls in time otherwise. Also it much easier to operate them as they are pretty high up - it being a lean to conservatory

Reply to
chris French

In message , Tim Watts writes

Yup we have glass, polycarb roofs are so noisy in the rain the conservatory is almost unusable, always end up look dirty and scruffy as well

Reply to
chris French
20 year old conservatory is about to fall down. Was supposed to be Mahogany but turned out to be 'Phillipines' mahogany. AKA rubbish.On top of which it was badly designed and badly constructed. Replacement will have to be non maintenance which means aluminium or PVC. Leaning towards aluminium as it has a slimmer profile. What should I look out for? What are the pitfalls ? What variations are there in PVC systems and what variations are there in aluminium systems. Are there any particular ones that stand out from the herd ? How in heavens name do I pick one out. They all have wonderful web sites. Our original supplier is still going strong which make me despair of sorting out the wheat from the chaff.

I'll be left to make the choice so that when there are problems it will all be my fault. Just love selective womens lib

This being a DIY newsgroup why not build your own? There are plenty of systems available. I built a 40m squ conservatory. Took a couple of months & cost around 2000 for materials. Composite structure, own design integral to house.

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Reply to
harryagain

harryagain put finger to keyboard:

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What's the 'hole' in the house? (Bottom right of photo)

Reply to
Scion

Ask around locally for recommendations of local suppliers rather than the national rip-off merchants.

Reply to
Peter Crosland

I've ordered mine but not yet had it built but when I was looking around, the glass seemed to be the main thing that had moved on. The vertical glass is going to be triple glazed and the roof is self-cleaning glass (Pilkington Activ-Blue ISTR).

If you like such things, it might be worth asking about fitting a wood burning stove.

Matt

Reply to
matthelliwell

Just access to under the suspende timber floor. I have fitted a ventilated door now.

Reply to
harryagain

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