Conservatory V Extention

[Moira Mc]

Hello there,

I am reallyafter some advice please.

I really need a play room built as having so many children in the house is driving me mad and the little ones are wreaking my front room, If I am in the kitchen I can't see them and no matter how many times I say "dont touch" they just can't help themselves!

I have had a quote for a consevatory for £9,400 and an extention for £25,500

I really cannot justify 25K for a playroom but i am so worried that a conservatory is going to be way to hot in the summer as it will be facing the sun all day.

Please can you guys tell how you are getting on with your conservtories?

I would rather not do anything than really regret it as will have to get a new patio etc...

Thank you

Moira x

[nokidshere]

We had the same dilema and eventually plumped for the conservatory. It does get warm in the summer but because it leads to an enclosed and safe garden we just leave the doors and windows open all the time - we also have blinds to stop the glare and keep it a little cooler.

[pinkbutterfly]

I would go for extension. It will bring the value of your house up for starters. You will not need to heat it as much in winter. My friend has a conservatory but it is unused in winter as the cost of heating it is just too high. I would get more extension quotes if I were you.
25K is quite an extension I think ... I paid around 60K for my extension which included roof conversion (2 bedrooms and a bathroom) and adding 3 new rooms at the back of my house.

[hollyvilla]

Hi,

We have a conservatory which faces west, it is absolutely freezing in the winter and boiling in the summer. I am sure it costs us hundreds to heat and is totally unusuable when it gets hot. An extension would win every time.

[rickysmiths]

I would go for an extension every time. It will add more value to you house.

It will be easier to control the temp. You can close the blinds and make it dark for a sleeping child. You can have large or even two sets of doors onto the garden and windows so it will be light. You can also have velux roof windows this is what we have and the room is light an airy. Don't just have opening doors remember ventilation if you don't want the doors open if it is pouring with rain for instance.

With regard to heating you will only be allowed underfloor heating in a conservatory which can be very expensive to run especially in the very cold. If you have an extension you will be able to have a radiator.


Oh and an extension will last a lot longer and you won't have all that glass to keep clean.

[CH1957]

I'm desperate to replace my conservatory with a proper extension. My conservatory faces south so is lovely in Spring and Autumn, but unbearably hot in the summer and freezing in the winter.
Ive been quoted £14,000 for a 4m x 3m extension which includes 2 velux windows, so is reasonable but just cant afford it just yet. :(

[blue bear]

As a conservatory is a temporary structure obviously the extention is a better long term solution if you can afford it.
We went for the conservatory as we didn't have the money for an extention, I use it every day with the little ones, have had it 10 years now so have an enormous radiator in it and whilst it can be cold enough to need a jumper in winter it's never freezing.
Blinds and open windows/doors are essential in summer or it would over heat.

I just love having that dedicated space as we have no other storage space for all the resources.

The conservatory will either need to be replaced or taken down in time as it would devalue the house where an extention would only add value.

[Chimps Childminding]

Given a choice and if money wasn't an issue, I would plump for an extension! I would love one put one the back of our house rather than a conservatory, but as DH is currently out of work, neither will be happening any time soon :(

[Moira Mc]

Ahh guys, this is not what I wanted to hear from you all. I was hoping of loads of replies saying, "Yeah go for the conservatory, they are great"!

You are only saying what we already thought but I was hoping you were going to prove me wrong. If it was another double bedroom for £25K I wouldn't mind but it is loads for a playroom.

I know an extention is 10 times better but hoped that a conservatory would be still be OK. Like value beans are not your first choice but they are still fine.

Thanks for your help.

Boo hoo x

[sarah707]

I got a conservatory - it's a lovely space and the children love it.

It gets hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

With hindsight I wish I'd had a bit extra money and gone for an extension... :D

[Chimps Childminding]

Don't get me wrong, I would be happy with a conservatory, just would prefer an extension :D!!!

I suppose at the end of the day it comes down to what you can afford!!! Either way more space in form sounds good to me, especially when the weather has been as rubbish as it has lately, I swear my house is shrinking!!!!! :eek:

[Moira Mc]

With hindsight I wish I'd had a bit extra money and gone for an extension... :D

See if it was just a bit extra money i could go for it but its 16K more, thats what i can't understand. Is there nothing in between?

[ChocolateChip]

I had a conservatory built last year to be an art/messy room plus storage, it has low walls most of the way round so there are lovely wide window ledges to put pots of pencils, brushes of the house and other exciting things on, the one full wall has Ikea storage all across it :D
It is quite shady at the back of my house, before the conservatory the full sun never hit the back wall so have not found it too bad in the summer, just opened the windows, roof vent and sometimes left the doors open.
For the winter I got an oil filled radiator which I find fine, it is on wheels so I can manouver it to a safe position, I would give it a quick blast on full in the morning and then put the thermostat on low before I let the kids in there so it's not too hot to touch for the rest of the time. I take it out altogether in the warmer months.
It is a lovely sunny space, and an added bonus is that the sun reflects off the roof panels and we actually get sunlight across my kitchen floor which we never did before, so where I was worried about it blocking daylight it actually enhances it. I often sit there and do a bit of paperwork of an evening. I can also stay in there to tidy up and let the kids in the garden and still see them

Not saying I wouldn't like an extension round the front as I would love a downstairs toilet/ utility and somewhere to wheel buggies straight in but I wouldn't swap my conservatory for one, and it will still add value to the house.

Sorry got carried away but I love my conservatory!!

[uf353432]

well I have neither - I have a covered and enclosed deck, it keeps out the weather but not the cold but we do use it all year round in different ways. I love it though, its a great space and it provides an excellant stepping stone to being outside.


I personally would get a few more quotes for your extension because the quote you have received is significantly larger than the cost of a conservatory - but if you could do the extension for say only 5k more - then it would seem a more reasonable investment
for a small increase in repayments over the term of the loan.

Whatever you decide you will make the space work for your setting - but I think if you are already going to be investing in 10k for the business how much would you invest on top for the home - because long after you finish childminding the space will become part of the family living space.

[nikki thomson]

Hi, you can get special glass for your conservatry that deflects the sun, we went to the ideal home show and the guy was telling us all about it, obviously it costs abit more but my friends current conservatry is south facing and it's like an oven even when it's not that warm. You can also get air conditioning unit fitted and blinds which help, you just have to weigh up whether it's worth the extra cost against an extension.
You can get some lovely extensions now with glass roofs and bi-folding floor to ceiling doors which bring in lots of light so lots of options. X

[miss mopple]

Ive jut moved into a house with a huge conservatory and love it :thumbsup: yes it can get a bit chilly in winter (we moved in Nov) but a plug in radiator and putting old carpet on the floor helped heaps and the kids love it out there:thumbsup:

[francinejayne]

We have a conservatory, it is now 12 years old, and 18 months ago we had a new solid type roof put on it - the roof has lightweight tiles on the outside - is a metal structure and is plaster boarded on the inside with loads of insulation packed into it. It looks just like a proper roof, and the conservatory now looks just like a proper extension. the roof cost us £3k and has been worth every penny! the room still gets a bit hot when the sun is blaring, nothing like it used to and that doesn't bother me anyway as I just open the door to outside. the best part is that it now retains the heat, it is just as warm as the rest of the house throughout the coldest days and nights - which is good as we opened ours up to the rest of the house.

here is a link to the company we used - http://www.catalystroofs.co.uk/gallery.html

the photos of the solid roof on there are older than mine, I didn't particularly like the tongue and groove roof so mine has a normal plastered (vaulted) roof with down lighters in it - I 100% recommend it.

so maybe you can have your cheaper conservatory with a slightly different roof that would make it better and easier to live with?

[miffy]

[QUOTE=francinejayne;109602

so maybe you can have your cheaper conservatory with a slightly different roof that would make it better and easier to live with?[/QUOTE]

that sounds like a great compromise.

Miffy xx

[Kezzle]

I'd love to be able to extend at the back of our house not just for minding but because our house is only a '2bed' terrace anyway, but it does have a loft conversion and the previous owners had extended it slightly and not brilliantly to make a very tiny utility, i'd love to be able to extend on it but i think it'd cost too much and may ruin the kitchen which is only 2 years old. :/ Also would mean taking up the tiny patio space and making the garden feel even smaller! Shame but we live with what we've got.

[Boris]

I had a conservatory built for minding and I am really happy with it. Yes it is a bit chilly in winter but I have put down a thick foam underlay under the laminate flooring and rugs ontop of that and I found that a small fan heater was fine for keeping us warm all through the winter. I just open the doors and use a ceiling fan in the summer. Lovely and bright too. I have painted pictures on the windows which I love!