How To Make Your Conservatory Thermally Efficient

• April 12, 2019|
• News|
• Darren Clarke

Having a conservatory built at your Oldham home is a huge investment and certainly not a task to be undertaken lightly… but it’s also definitely worth doing as it can drastically increase your living space and really push the value of your home up at the same time.

But before you call out the professionals and enlist the services of a conservatory installation company, you’ll need to sit down and have a long hard think about what you want to use your new space for, as well as making lots of design decisions.

These days, with climate change a growing concern for all, it makes sense to try and ensure that your new conservatory is as thermally efficient as possible and able to withstand anything and everything the great British weather has to throw at it.

If this is a top priority for you then you do need to factor it into your plans at the very beginning, including where you plan to put the extension in the first place. If having a south-facing wall is the only option available to you, however, then try to use strategic planting to provide a bit of screening.

Appropriate insulation is also a must, since heat wants to escape from buildings and does all it can to achieve this! By insulating your new extension properly, you’ll make it more eco-friendly and keep your energy bills to a minimum as well.

It might also be worth considering an internal ceiling pelmet that has been filled with mineral wool, which will help to keep heat in the house where it’s supposed to be – and also make your conservatory feel more like a real room, as well.

In turn, think about the amount of glazing you intend to use in this new part of the house. Of course, the unique selling point of conservatories is that they come with a huge amount of glass, but if thermal efficiency is a key concern limiting the amount of glass walls would certainly help in this regard.

Something else to think about is condensation and how you can ensure that the ventilation of your conservatory works to combat this.

There are several ways in which you can ventilate this space, whether you choose to install trickle vents to help air escape outside, add manual or automatic roof vents, install tilt and turn windows, or opt for sliding or bi-fold patio doors to help create a large space for air to travel through.

If you’ve already got a conservatory at home and want to make it as environmentally friendly as you can, your first step should be to consider replacing the glass.

These days, such products come with coatings that can make panes less prone to temperature extremes, keeping conservatories cooler in the summer and warmer in winter. They work by reflecting the sun and preventing UV rays from coming into your home, thereby reducing the solar gain.

Find more conservatory energy-saving tips on the This is Money website.