Conservatory owners all over the United Kingdom often ponder how they can better insulate their conservatory. When searching the internet one solution they will often see is conservatory foil insulation. But, what is conservatory roof foil insulation and where is it used?
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What Is Conservatory Foil Insulation?
Conservatory foil insulation is a sheet of foil type insulation that is added to the underside of a conservatory roof. It is installed between wooden battens as part of the conservatory roof insulation process. The product is highly insulating that comes in several different thicknesses depending on your preference and needs.
Foil insulation is designed specifically for insulating the underside of a conservatory roof. Therefore it has properties to stop any potential issues that could arise as a result of the installation, such as condensation.
How Is It Installed?
Conservatory roof foil insulation is the key component of the most common conservatory roof insulation process.
Generally speaking, the first part of the conservatory insulation installation process is attaching a frame to the underside of the conservatory roof. This is normally done by attaching wooden battens to the beams that run along the underside of the conservatory roof. The foil insulation is then attached to these wooden battens using staples.
Finally, the foil insulation and wooden battens are then covered up for a neat and tidy finish. This is generally done in 2 ways; uPVC or plasterboard and plaster. In our opinion, the plasterboard finish always looks best but this is a more costly and complex option.
Which Foil Insulation Should I Choose?
This all depends whether you are installing the conservatory insulation yourself or whether you are paying a professional company to complete the installation.
If a company is installing the insulation for you, you don’t need to worry so much about which insulation foil to choose. Most companies will always use the same insulation and some will even produce this themselves. However, it may still be worth asking which insulation they will be using. This will allow you to check they are using a reputable and certified product.
If you plan on installing the foil insulation yourself, choosing which product to use will be quite a big decision. The biggest consideration here will be the insulating properties of the different foils. They generally come in different thicknesses, the thickness is generally defined by how many layers the foil has. For instance SuperQuilt offer 2 conservatory insulation kits, EcoQuilt Expert has 6 layers and the YBS SuperQuilt has 19 layers. Obviously the more layers the foil has the more insulating it will be. If you’re unsure whether you need a thicker or thinner conservatory roof insulation foil, we’d recommend speaking to an expert.
Our one piece of advice for anyone installing their own conservatory insulation, would be that they purchase from a reputable retailer such as Screwfix, Wickes and SuperQuilt. All conservatory insulation products sold by these stores will be certified and will protect from any potential issues such as condensation.
Conservatory Foil Insulation Costs
If you choose to have a professional installer insulate your conservatory roof, the cost of the conservatory foil insulation will be included in the total cost. If the cost of the foil insulation matters to you, you can request a breakdown of the materials from the installation company. However, often they use trade only products so you may not be able to compare the price to online prices anyway.
When choosing to install conservatory insulation yourself, the cost of the actual foil insulation will be a lot more important. The foil insulation’s price depends on a number of different factors, such as the size of your conservatory (the bigger your conservatory the more it will cost) and the number of layers you want (the more layers the more insulating it will be).
Generally speaking for around 15m2 of high quality foil insulation, you will be looking at around £180 including delivery for a 6 layer foil insulation or around £250 for a 19 layer foil insulation. Often suppliers will also sell bigger size kits which will offer a slight discount.
As with any product, there are much cheaper alternatives on the market. However, you only need to read a handful of reviews to realise that these are much harder to work with and don’t insulate your room as well.
Is It The Only Way To Insulate My Conservatory?
No. Although using foil insulation is the most common way to insulate a conservatory, it is not the only way.
In general, when we talk about insulating a conservatory, we are talking about insulating the conservatory roof. However, you could also insulate a conservatory’s walls or even the floor, these wouldn’t be done using conservatory foil insulation.
Several alternatives to conservatory roof foil insulation exist when we are talking about a conservatory roof too. These include clip in insulation panels, conservatory roof replacement, conservatory roof blinds and solar film. All of these have pros and cons. For instance conservatory roof replacement is probably the best option in terms of insulating your room, however it is also a lot more expensive than foil insulation or clip in panels.
You can read more about the different conservatory insulation options.
Would Tin Foil Insulate A Conservatory Roof?
This is a question we have actually been asked in regards to conservatory roof insulation foil. We can see why someone may think it would do the job, however, it would work nowhere near as well as a purpose produced product. This is because purposely manufactured conservatory insulation has been specially designed for insulating conservatory roofs. Therefore it provides a guaranteed U-value. Unfortunately no matter how much tin foil you used it’s hard to see it providing the same guarantee.
As we said above, we would always recommend using a purpose produced conservatory insulation as this may stop potential issues down the line. If you used a DIY alternative you may suffer condensation issues for example.
