FCW JOURNAL

Conservatories have become one of the more popular ways to extend our homes. The high cost of moving and the more relaxed legislation on planning permission are the various reasons why many people choose to extend, and a conservatory supplies the added benefit of natural light. If you’re extending a north-facing property then light is known as a real concern as any extension would darken the existing living room. A south-facing conservatory, however, presents a different problem, because here there should be too much sunlight. This article takes a brief look at a different option to the conservatory extension, the garden room, which can even be a good all-round solution.

To many, the garden room is an alternative idea, but in actual fact they’ve been around for your time. The essential difference to a conservatory is that the garden room is known for a solid roof rather than one made from glass or translucent plastic. The benefit of natural light is retained in an important garden room, but this is provided through large glass windows together with a glass gable front. The gable is the part of that roof that forms the triangle, as you look at the top of the roof. The roof itself is then tiled or slated just as with a regular extension.

Advantages of a Garden Room
One of the use of a garden room over a conservatory is that it do not become so hot in the summer, a common problem designed for south-facing conservatories. In such cases many people find that after their first good summer they want to either install blinds in their conservatory or have air-conditioning included. This demands both added expense and another task to perform when you probably plan to sit and enjoy looking out onto your garden. The solid roof to a garden room instead of a glass one can provide a balance of day light over too much heat.

Then there is the opposite situation that all conservatory owners experience in the winter – several heat through the glass roof. Glass generally loses heat faster than a tiled or slated roof which could be long-term cost benefit of a garden room. There is also less maintenance along with a solid roof. Whereas glass and plastic needs regular maintenance, there is always little cleaning required for a tiled or slated roof.

At long last, there is the issue of taste. For many people a conservatory roof renders the extension in concert that will always look like a ‘bolt-on’ addition. This is specially true for more traditional homes, where the modern conservatory clashes considering the classic feel of the existing building. The glass roof is oftentimes the culprit for this clash of old and new. A garden room can assist with a solution here, if a matching roofing material is used the new and old can be blended so that after some weathering the extension looks like it ‘belongs’ where it is without a doubt.

Sometimes the term garden room is used to describe a free-standing building located literally with the garden. To save confusion, however, these buildings are increasingly labelled as ‘garden houses’.
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