Solid Roof Conservatories

A room, not a conservatory

The distinction that matters here is not the roof material, it is what you end up with. A solid roof conservatory is designed and built as a room off the back of the house, with an insulated roof, a plastered ceiling and a thermal performance close to the rest of the building. You furnish it like a room, you heat it like a room and you use it in February.

That changes the design conversation completely. Instead of choosing between Victorian and Edwardian roof shapes, you are deciding where the daylight comes from, how the space connects to the kitchen, and whether the ceiling is vaulted or flat.

Getting the daylight right

This is the whole craft of a solid roof build. Take the glass out of the ceiling and you have to put the light back deliberately, and in the deep shaded valleys around Abercarn, Bargoed and Pontypridd that matters more than it would on an open Cardiff plot.

• Roof windows positioned on the brightest pitch rather than symmetrically
• A vaulted ceiling to carry light deeper into the room than a flat one
• Full height glazing on the garden elevation instead of a dwarf wall
• A glazed apex or a run of glass panels where a view of the sky matters
• Wide bi fold or sliding doors so the connection to the garden does the work
• Pale plaster finishes and light flooring, which change perceived brightness more than people expect

Base, frames and structure

A solid roof puts more load onto the structure below it than a glass roof does, so the base and the ring beam are engineered for it rather than adapted. Where we are building new, footings are dug and poured to the ground conditions on your plot, the dwarf wall is built in matching brick and the frames are steel reinforced. Where we are converting an existing conservatory that is beyond keeping, we will tell you honestly whether the old base is worth building on.

Heating, floors and how it gets used

Because the room holds heat, it can be run off the house heating system rather than a plug in heater, and underfloor heating becomes a realistic option because you are not pumping warmth into a roof that will lose it. Most of our customers use these rooms as a dining space, a family sitting room or a home office, and the office use is the one that has grown fastest since people started working from home three days a week.

How it compares with a rear extension

A solid roof conservatory sits between a glass conservatory and a full masonry extension on both cost and performance. Against an extension it is faster, less disruptive and cheaper, and it usually keeps more glass in the rear elevation. Against a glass conservatory it costs more up front and gives you a room you will actually use, which is the comparison that matters if you already own a conservatory you avoid for eight months of the year.