Picking the right roof for your conservatory needs some thought and
consideration. Designers often concern themselves with the actual design
or look of the building while builders are focused on the construction
itself or how familiar there are with certain materials, e.g. tiles. A
key consideration though is the material you use for the roof. Although
there are different materials one can use, ranging from budget
polycarbonate to lantern roofs you must remember not to make the choice
based solely on the initial cost of construction.
Cheaper roofs may be cheaper to install but often their owners end up
being unhappy with them because they become too hot in summer and too
expensive to heat in winter. This effectively reduces the amount of time
you can use your conservatory and reduces the actual value of your
investment – something to consider when thinking of selling your house
on.
With conservatories, the main choice of material will be glass. This in
itself also needs consideration since there are different options that
need to be considered. These include:
Heat reflective glass
Laminated glass
Self clean glass
We will look at each one in turn.
HEAT REFLECTIVE GLASS
This glass allows you to use your conservatory in the height of summer
without it turning into a type of greenhouse. It also reduces the glare
from bright sunlight while allowing light to come through on dull days.
In recent years heat reflective glass has proved very popular.
It is also known as ‘energy efficient glass’ or ‘low e-glass’. It has a
metallic coating on one side that makes the glass have a slight
brown/gray tint to it. In effect this coating allows the sun’s energy to
pass through from the outside but then reduces the heat loss from the
inside. What is important here is that it does not provide heat
insulation on its own and needs to be part or a double or triple glazed
unit to provide substantial insulation.
Heat reflective glass comes in two types, sputtered (or soft-coat) and
pyrolytic (or hard-coat). Sputtered glass is susceptible to damage by
air or moisture so is usually used on sealed double or triple glazed
units. Pyrolytic is more robust so therefore does not have to be sealed,
but is less effective at keeping the heat out of your conservatory when
it gets hot outside.
LAMINATED GLASS
Laminated glass adds strength to your glass to stop it easily breaking –
which makes it great for security and safely. What’s key to know here
is that it is different from toughened glass because it does shatter
when you absolutely need to break it, say with the advent of a fire. You
may be familiar with this sort of glass because it is often used in car
windscreens. So when hit with force, the glass will smash into tiny
pieces and not huge chunks that can cause damage.
Toughened glass on the other hand is strong also, but either won’t break
when you need it to, or with enough force, will break into larger more
dangerous pieces.
Laminated glass is slightly thicker than normal but does have better insulation properties to both the cold and noise.
SELF–CLEANING GLASS
Self-cleaning glass sounds great and is actually very clever. It works
by having a very thin photocatalytic coating on its surface. The sun’s
ultraviolet rays then hit this coating and steadily breaks down dirt and
grime from the glass so it can be washed away when it rains. So with
the sun acting as a sort of cleaner (photocatalytic) and the rain acting
as a sort of rinse aid (hydrophilic) you end up with cleaner glass for
much longer.
Self-clean glass can also be specified with heat reflective glass so ensure you consider both options before you purchase.
In conclusion, you need to think through how you could potentially use
your new conservatory. If you like the idea of adding more months to the
year when you can comfortably use your conservatory then you need to
carefully consider the types of glass you can have.
Choosing a conservatory roof
