Your conservatory roof’s either well past its best or not maintaining a decent climate if you’re considering scrapping it and getting a new one put on.
The question always comes down to cost and time. Is it going to be so expensive that replacement makes zero sense? Create a mountain of building work? Even solve your roofing woes and put the world to rights? And so on.
When replacement is a waste of money
There are cases, of course, where replacement makes no sense. Such as the structure itself failing due to movement, or the walls and glazing growing mould and requiring a complete strip down to return them to anything like new.
A few scenarios:
- Your conservatory is old and beyond repair. It’s probably made from wood and rotting away, or the UPVC frame is brittle and yellow. If you had a brick base, it might have moved, and your structure is now leaning. Replacing the roof won’t fix your problem. You need to tear it down and build the structure again.
- You don’t plan to use the space anyway. Other ideas might be floating around your head, such as increasing your garden space or adding a gazebo to the side of your home in place of the conservatory. It doesn’t make sense to buy a new conservatory roof if, ultimately, you’re not happy with the space.
When replacement makes sense
But those drastic scenarios are not typical, and for most people, replacing a conservatory roof does make sense to solve one of these problems:
- The space isn’t temperate. It struggles to hold heat in the winter, and the sun bursts through in summer and heats the place well further than is comfortable.
- Condensation is a massive problem. It probably lines the roof and might even drip down and rattle the floor a few times when it’s really humid.
- It’s too bright inside. It’s the absolute worst when the climate’s fine. You can’t read or watch TV without squinting due to the amount of glare from the sun.
- You’re repairing the roof too often. Old polycarbonate and glazed roofs have seals that fail and can separate from the structure. Repairs only make sense to a point.
- External noise is ruining your quiet time, your house is probably near a road, neighbours with dogs, a school, or somewhere else, and the roof isn’t doing a good enough job at keeping it all out.
What to replace your roof with
The step up from a glazed roof is a solid roof, or warm roof system. These are glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) structures with insulation boards, engineered tiles, and a plastered interior, with or without skylights or windows.
Solid roof systems are prefabricated, meaning they are built to specification at the factory and assembled onsite.
Structural limitations that could make replacement a no-go
Not all pre-existing conservatory structures are suitable for new retrofit roofs. Wooden conservatories with polycarbonate sheet roofs cannot typically accept the load of glazed or solid roofs without some additional structural work.
Some conservatories erected during the 90s and 2000s were built using non-reinforced UPVC beams, meaning no steel lining or structure. It kept weight and manufacturing costs down. Today, it restricts retrofitting potential.
There is a requirement to have a survey done by a conservatory roof specialist, so they can advise on whether your existing structure is suitable.
The Leka roof system is a lightweight system compatible with over 90% of the pre-existing conservatories surveyed. Retrofitting it is a case of measuring, specifying the design, getting it fabricated, and building it onsite within a few days.
Where to go with your conservatory from here
Let’s have a recap of what a solid conservatory roof will fix overnight:
- Internal insulation. It reduces heat loss through the roof significantly. Also, it stops sound from bouncing around as much.
- External insulation. The sun can’t stream through and heat your space. External noise is much less of an issue.
- Glare reduction. Most of the crazy-bright times in your conservatory are from the sun. A solid roof reduces its impact.
- Condensation build-up. Condensation doesn’t form easily on GRP, and the lack of cold surfaces (plastered interior) slashes condensation.
Relate to those benefits, and you have good reason to think that replacing your conservatory roof is well worth it. Contact us to discuss your project, get expert advice, and book a survey to determine if the Leka roof is right for you.
