8 Factors When Planning an Eco-friendly Home Conservatory

Sustainability is becoming a greater concern for homeowners. The National Association of Realtors found that 32% of people bought homes with green features in 2022. But what does that entail?

There are a lot of things that you want to take into consideration if you want to have an eco-friendly home. One thing that you may want to think about is building an eco-friendly home conservatory.

There are going to be a lot of factors that you have to take into consideration when building an eco-friendly home conservatory. You have to think about using eco-friendly materials and making sure that it will be energy efficient.

Although it’s fantastic for homeowners to have such a wide range of conservatories to choose from, and so many experienced NAPIT Approved Installers available to get the job done professionally, it does mean that more meticulous care and planning must go into choosing the right type of conservatory to match both your home, and your needs.

With this in mind, here are 8 factors to keep in mind when planning a home conservatory:

1.      Size

While you don’t want your conservatory to dwarf your home, you do want it to be big enough to be able to enjoy the space comfortably, and to fit all the furniture that you want, into it.

2.      Sunlight

While sunshine is a wonderful thing, you should carefully consider where your conservatory goes in accordance with its exposure to direct sunlight throughout the day. You need to think about how it affects your property. This could not only influence where you have the conservatory installed, but your choice of interior design, too.

3.      Glazing

To maintain a comfortable temperature in your conservatory all year round, its windows must be double glazed, and with the help if glass classed as low emissivity, or Low-E, you can minimize any loss of heat further.

For south or west facing conservatories, having solar control glass installed in the roof and sides of the structure, will be beneficial. You can choose from tinted glass, in which the colour is able to absorb the sun’s heat, or glass coated with a metallic substance. The latter is beneficial in that it doesn’t obscure the view thanks to its neutral appearance, while still being able to effectively reflect the heat of the sun.

4.      Roofing

Homeowners in the UK can choose from glass or polycarbonate roofing. In the case of glass, this will of course give you a clear view through to the sky above, and is available with solar control, or coatings that self-clean the glass. When it comes to polycarbonate roofing, this helps to create an effect that’s softer visually during spells of intense sunlight, but it’s worth noting that during rain or hailstorms, it can be quite noisy.

5.      Ventilation

To avoid your conservatory being plagued by condensation, it must have adequate ventilation. Modern roofs now come with trickle ventilation systems built in, and there are even technological advances which enable the installation of openable roof vents controlled by a thermostat, with rain sensors in-built.

6.      Sound control

From heavy rain and loud music, to the drone of a strimmer or overhead planes; how much you can hear inside your conservatory, can have a significant impact on your enjoyment and comfort levels when using the space. Consider using glass that helps limit sound pollution, such as regular laminated glass, or laminated glass with insulation that has been acoustically enhanced. As an added bonus, laminated glass also helps reduce UV light transmission, which means your furniture and soft furnishings won’t be bleached by the sun as much.

For more detailed guidance on making your conservatory a quiet, peaceful space, click here.

7.      Cleaning and maintenance

Keeping the glass of your conservatory spick and span all year round can be quite a task, but with self-cleaning glass, you can help keep it looking clean for longer, which can be particularly helpful for areas of the roof that are tricky to reach.

8.      Comfort and convenience

To keep anyone using the space, warm and cosy during the long, winter months, you may want to extend the central heating system within your home to the conservatory, or invest in separate heaters for the space. That said, by positioning the conservatory optimally, a lot of seasonal discomfort can be naturally reduced.

There are a whole host of reasons for adding a conservatory onto your UK home, and for any aspects of the installation that you have further questions about, do get in touch with a local installer who will be happy to give you additional guidance.‘