Conservatory roof

If you’re going to have a conservatory installed that you can make the most of all year round, then glass is a great option. Of course, ensure you have appropriate heating and ventilation installed too.

All evidence and research from existing conservatory owners certainly points to glass as the chief roofing material.

With glass being transparent you can admire the night sky or birds flying overhead from the comfort of your new conservatory.

A slight downfall with glass roofs though, is that they’re heavy and would require strong beams for support. If it’s double glazed or triple glazed, this will just add to the weight.

Heat reflective glass

This can also be called energy efficient glass or low-e glass, and has a metallic coating on one side to give it a slight brown or grey tint.

What this does, is it allows the sun to pass light through as normal, but restricts heat to the conservatory. However, heat reflective glass can’t act as insulation itself and needs to be part of a double glazed or triple glazed unit.

There are two types of heat reflective glass you can opt for in your conservatory. Firstly, there’s the sputtered or soft-coat glass which can be easily damaged by air or moisture. For that reason it has to be on the inside of a glazed unit.

The other type is the pyrolytic or hard-coat glass which does not need to be installed into a double or triple glazed unit. However, the glass is less effective at keeping heat out of the conservatory, especially during the summer months.

Another bonus with heat reflective glass is that glare is reduced on the bright sunny days. But light can still enter your conservatory.

Self-cleaning glass

Another form of glass you could have installed into your conservatory is self-cleaning glass. It has a thin photocatalytic coating that uses the sun’s rays to break down organic dirt. This process loosens grime from the window.

The glass also has hydrophilic properties, whereby rain can wash away the grime. This means your conservatory will remain cleaner for longer than normal glass. Therefore, less maintenance is required.

This self-cleaning glass can also be combined with the heat reflective glass. But make sure you specify this to the designer as early as possible.

Tiled conservatories, often called sunrooms or garden rooms, are popular because they blend in much better with traditional homes.

In fact, it’ll be a lot easier to gain planning permission for one of these conservatories, especially if you live in a listed building or in a conservation area.

They’re also very suitable no matter if you have a north or south facing house. If you’re north facing, the tile roofed conservatory will be a lot more economical to heat. And if you’re south facing you don’t have to worry about overheating problems in the summer.

Another great advantage is that in a built-up area you don’t have to worry about prying eyes, and can keep your life private.

With a tiled roof you can still enjoy the conservatory all year round and provide your home with plenty of interior light.

Partially flat conservatory roofs could be needed for a number of reasons. You could have an issue about the access to a window above, or Building Regulations could deny the construction if it limits escape in case of an emergency.

You may also spend a lot of time in the upper rooms and want a conservatory roof with an attractive finish.

Lead, zinc and copper are some of the more traditional choices for roofing materials as they provide a beautiful finish, but can be quite costly to implement.

So if you’re budget can’t accommodate a lead roof, you could find a weather-proof synthetic material more to your liking.

Solar glass serves a good purpose all year round, in the winter as well as the summer. The way it’s treated when manufactured makes it perfect for controlling the amount of heat in your home.

The properties on the outside of the glass reflect unwanted heat away from the conservatory, stopping it from overheating. This is great in the summer when you don’t want to be subjected to sweltering heat.

And the inside of the glass is made in such a way that it reduces heat radiation. This means a reduction in heat loss, so the conservatory will stay warm without you having to spend more on energy bills.

This in turn saves you money in the long run, and reduces the amount of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.

The polycarbonate roof is another material that helps to prevent your conservatory absorbing too much heat. In fact, it can deny as much as 80% of the sun’s rays, keeping the conservatory a comfortable temperature throughout the summer.

The polycarbonate roofs will also reduce glare by 86%. This style of roof is great in the winter too as it stops heat escaping and keeps your home warm. That’ll reduce energy bills and lower your home’s carbon footprint.