Conservatories

Conservatories are classified into a number of particular styles which is for the most part determined by the structure of the roof, as shown above.

Although ultimately, the design of your new conservatory is limited only by your imagination and the technical requirements of roof construction, there are a number of specific design groups which conservatories fall into.

Nevertheless, conservatories should, where the budget permits, be bespoke and individually designed to meet your requirements in terms of size, shape, specification and colour.

With the same rectangular or square floor space as Edwardian conservatories but without the hipped roof, Gable Conservatories have a continuous ridge from the house wall to the front of the conservatory wall.

This forms a high, angled glazed front wall section which creates a greater sense of space.

This in turn helps to keep your internal room brighter by allowing light to stream in from the high front windows – ideal in north facing conservatories where the internal room would otherwise be dark.

Most conservatory designs can be combined with others to form structures such as ‘P Shape’ or ‘T Shape’ conservatories by incorporating hips and valleys into the roof.

This style is ideal for larger homes where Combination Conservatories could be built across the rear of the property. They can provide two spaces with one used a dining room, the other a second lounge, for example.

Often it works well to install a single door to provide side entry / exit access and double doors, patio doors or bi-fold doors at the front to provide access to the garden.

A new style of conservatory has recently entered the market which maintains the ease of construction of conventional conservatories but which attempts to replicate some of the features of an Orangery.

Based on Edwardian conservatory, Orangery Style Conservatories have a deep aluminium gutter and fascia cladding system which conceals the ends of the glazing bars, and an internal Orangery style soffit or pelmet.

This gives the appearance of a traditionally built Orangery without the need for expensive parapet walls, flat roof sections and complex lantern roof structures.

The style of conservatory which homeowners eventually decide on is ultimately down personal choice but they really ought to suit the host house and garden in terms of style and size.   And it also needs to suit your budget.

We take the view that a conservatory should at least look as though it was built at the same time as the host property. In that way, your new conservatory should appear to be a credible part of the overall design of the house, whilst also being in harmony with the garden.

There are a number of conservatory roof companies which manufacture well engineered and well-designed conservatory roofs but at Just a Quote we tend to recommend just a handful of them.

Our installation companies will go into much more detail during a survey but you can guarantee that all of the companies we work with will have taken into consideration that in the United Kingdom, your conservatory during its first ten years will have had to cope with:

• almost 30 feet of rainwater,
• 200 days of snow and
• 3,650 days of temperatures ranging from 10º or 15º below freezing to, well at least sometimes, a hotter than average 35º.

A conservatory’s specification should take account of its aspect

At Just a Quote our installation companies’ conservatory designers also take into account the aspect of the conservatory. If your conservatory faces north it will probably need more insulation and if it is south facing, will need more ventilation.

Additional protection from overheating can be designed in with the correct type of conservatory glazing, by recommending heat reflective polycarbonate or anti-sun glass in the roof.

Our intention is to ensure that your new conservatory should be designed to be usable throughout the whole of the year.