Many homeowners often ask us the same question, and that is: How to insulate a conservatory in winter?
The quick answer is that to do this properly, there are 2 ways. Installing conservatory insulation or to replace your conservatory roof.
We explore how both of these can improve your conservatory through those cold winter months below.
Table of Contents
Why Insulate A Conservatory In Winter?
There are several reasons why a conservatory may need insulating in the winter months. We’ve explored the main ones:
Protection Against Cold Weather
In the United Kingdom, we all know that winters can be cold. Maybe not as cold as in Norway or Iceland, but they can still be cold! Temperatures in November to February can regularly touch 0 degrees celsius or even minus temperatures. This means that our homes often get very cold inside, especially those areas that aren’t well insulated such as garages and conservatories.
Conservatories are notorious for being poorly insulated. Many are made of 70% glass, with both a glass roof and all round windows. Those without a glass roof will just have a thin polycarbonate roof which offers little to no more insulation than a glass roof.
This all means that the cold weather outside easily transfers into your conservatory, making it far too cold to sit in unless it has been heated for a few hours.
Costly Heating Bills
So, we know that cold weather outdoors can make poorly insulated conservatories almost unliveable in the winter months. But how do we make them liveable then? By cranking up those radiators!
Heating an extremely cold conservatory can take a couple of hours. This means it is a very expensive task. Imagine you are having to do this every day for several months – even more expensive! We all know just how much energy bills have increased over the past year, so this isn’t realistic for most families. This means conservatories will often go unused for many days throughout winter months.
Poor Energy Efficiency
The poor insulation of conservatories ultimately means they have very poor energy efficiency. Above, we have discussed that this can lead to a cold room and costly heating bills, but are other downsides to poor energy efficiency.
Poor energy efficiency is bad for your home and also bad for the planet. It means more energy is needed to heat your home and that more fossil fuels need to be burned. This all leads to global warming, something most of us are extremely concerned about.
Another negative of your conservatory having poor energy efficiency is the impact it may have on your home’s energy efficiency rating. When you come to sell your home this could put off potential buyers.
Noisy Rain
As mentioned above, over 90% of conservatory roofs in the United Kingdom are made of either glass or a polycarbonate sheet. Both of these materials are known to be poor insulators of both heat and sound. So when something falls onto the roof, such as rain drops they can make a conservatory extremely noisy and unpleasant to be in.
Unfortunately for most of us, rain is part of every day life in the UK. In fact, it rains for 133 days a year on average, totalling 885 millimetres. So that is 133 days a year where your conservatory could be unusable due to it having a poorly insulated roof. If you do choose to use your conservatory in rain, your experience watching TV or listening to music may be significantly impacted.
How To Insulate A Conservatory In Winter?
When it comes to insulating your conservatory for winter there are 2 options that will do this job properly. These are installing conservatory insulation or replacing your glass/polycarbonate roof with a more insulated option.
Conservatory Insulation For Winter
Looking to insulate your conservatory in winter? Conservatory Insulation is just what you’re looking for. As you’d expect with the name, this is one of the best ways to insulate your conservatory.
Conservatory insulation involves adding a layer of quilted foil insulation to the underside of your conservatory roof. This is then covered by either uPVC panels or plasterboard. These layers provide excellent insulation against both heat and sound pollution, remedying all of the issues discussed above.
Conservatory insulation is the cheapest way to insulate your conservatory, whilst also ensuring a high quality job is done. There are many professional companies who install conservatory insulation all over the United Kingdom, you can see how much that costs here.
Conservatory Roof Replacement For Winter
Another excellent option when considering how to insulate a conservatory in winter is conservatory roof replacement. This involves replacing your glass/polycarbonate roof with a better insulating material, such as roof tiles or a hybrid solid material.
Roof tiles or hybrid solid roofs are much better insulators than glass/polycarbonate roofs. This makes them ideal to protect your living space against the issues discussed above.
The cost of conservatory roof replacement does need to be considered though. This is a much more expensive option than conservatory insulation. It could often cost as much as £5,000 more to replace your conservatory roof, rather than to simply insulate it.
