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Old 25 Nov 20, 12:49 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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Talk to me about conservatories (And bi fold doors)

So we are looking into putting a conservatory on the back of our house. The primary purpose would be to house DHs home gym, but also to use as a living space extension. Ideally we'd like to put bi fold doors between the living room and conservatory so we could open it up into one space and let DS have more room to roam as he'll be walking soon.

So, please talk to me about everything conservatory! Styles, materials, costs? Reccomendations? Things to avoid?

Here's my very technical diagram of the house and what we'd want.



It would be in use all year so is a tiled roof better? The sun comes pounding in the living room during the day in summer so I imagine it would make the conservatory very hot? Any way around that?

Any idea if us only needing two walls of conservatory and using the two walls of the house makes it cheaper?

Also please talk to me about bi fold doors- pros and cons and cost? We really want to be able to open up the living room into it and double the space. Otherwise we'd have to go round into the extension and use the French doors to access it.

Thanks!

Edited at 12:52 PM.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 01:13 PM  
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Floridatilly
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I don’t want to point out the obvious or teach you to suck eggs so please don’t take offence. But if the conservatory is mainly a home gym then please don’t let toddler in there. I won’t go into details but it’s incredibly dangerous.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 01:18 PM  
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pinkbelle
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I think my first thought is, do you want a home gym at the end of your living room?

What do you use your current extension for? Perhaps have that as a home gym, and extend your living room.

My experience of conservatories, is too hot in summer too cold in winter.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 01:21 PM  
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Floridatilly
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Originally Posted by Floridatilly View Post
I don’t want to point out the obvious or teach you to suck eggs so please don’t take offence. But if the conservatory is mainly a home gym then please don’t let toddler in there. I won’t go into details but it’s incredibly dangerous.
I hope I didn’t offend with this comment 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Having a proper roof of the conservatory makes a huge difference. Also a lot better fir when it rains as conservatory roofs can be very noisy.
As another poster asked, what is currently in your extension?
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:19 PM  
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parisdisneyfan
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We’ve inherited a p shaped half brick conservatory at the end of our lounge and love it. It is about 11-12 years old and has a polycarbonate roof. Ideally we would change this to glass as love the light. It faces north and has rads on the central heating system. We have used it as a dining room every day we have been here (just over a year) and find it fine temp wise. Although it does get cold quickly when the heating goes off in the evening. It is noisy when it rains, seriously noisy as the Google Home quite often asks us to repeat something even though we haven’t asked😳 It has no underfloor heating and no room for it either so will be putting Karndean type floor down to try and insulate it a bit. It also has the original outside brick walls so we are having them plasterboarded and skimmed to make it cosier.
We have just replaced the ancient 40 year old aluminium sliding doors with oak bifolds and can’t believe the difference, the lounge is warmer and the way the space opens up even with a step is fab.
Dh was going to put his rowing machine in there but decided not to, we enjoy having views of the garden from both rooms, so personally we wouldn’t have it as a home gym. If you have room in your garden I think one of the garden rooms is about the same cost and probably much more sensible for a gym. I’ll try to add some photos

Other door opens into the utility currently but will be double french doors opening into the kitchen when it is all done.

Good luck with it all and hope I’ve helped.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:21 PM  
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400ixl
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Remember that the type of door and materials can be the difference between whether you need planning permission or not.

Ours has been up for 25 years now. If I was doing it today I would do it as an extension, not a conservatory. As in solid walls and a tiled roof with large doors on the exterior.

Edited at 02:24 PM.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:42 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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Originally Posted by pinkbelle View Post
I think my first thought is, do you want a home gym at the end of your living room?

What do you use your current extension for? Perhaps have that as a home gym, and extend your living room.

My experience of conservatories, is too hot in summer too cold in winter.
Don't have a problem with a home gym joining on to our living room- it would mean we can all be in the same space more if it all opened up. His equipment will be stored at the edges so it'll be a multi purpose space.

I don't think we can afford a proper extension wouldn't it be a lot more than a conservatory?

The current extension is long and thin and is seperate into a utility room and cloakroom so he can't use that space.
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:44 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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Originally Posted by Floridatilly View Post
I hope I didn’t offend with this comment 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

Having a proper roof of the conservatory makes a huge difference. Also a lot better fir when it rains as conservatory roofs can be very noisy.
As another poster asked, what is currently in your extension?

No offence at all. My husband uses Olympic weights which are far too heavy for him to interfere with, but part of having a dedicated space is so we can store them in fixed safe racks. At the moment he uses the dining room and they are just in stacks on the floor (meaning we have no dining room! ) He wont be throwing weights around in there at the same time the baby is running around.

Thanks for the advice on the roof. As mentioned in my other reply the current extension isn't suitable for a gym
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:50 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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Originally Posted by parisdisneyfan View Post
We’ve inherited a p shaped half brick conservatory at the end of our lounge and love it. It is about 11-12 years old and has a polycarbonate roof. Ideally we would change this to glass as love the light. It faces north and has rads on the central heating system. We have used it as a dining room every day we have been here (just over a year) and find it fine temp wise. Although it does get cold quickly when the heating goes off in the evening. It is noisy when it rains, seriously noisy as the Google Home quite often asks us to repeat something even though we haven’t asked😳 It has no underfloor heating and no room for it either so will be putting Karndean type floor down to try and insulate it a bit. It also has the original outside brick walls so we are having them plasterboarded and skimmed to make it cosier.
We have just replaced the ancient 40 year old aluminium sliding doors with oak bifolds and can’t believe the difference, the lounge is warmer and the way the space opens up even with a step is fab.
Dh was going to put his rowing machine in there but decided not to, we enjoy having views of the garden from both rooms, so personally we wouldn’t have it as a home gym. If you have room in your garden I think one of the garden rooms is about the same cost and probably much more sensible for a gym. I’ll try to add some photos

Other door opens into the utility currently but will be double french doors opening into the kitchen when it is all done.

Good luck with it all and hope I’ve helped.
Thank you that's all super helpful! Were the oak bifolds very expensive? The gym equipment in question is Olympic weights and a bar so can be stored at the edges most of the time, so hopefully shouldn't impede our view so much. The conservatory would cover both the kitchen and living room windows so wouldn't want it blocked as you say!

We have actually looked at garden rooms as well and do have room for one, however as he works out every evening we liked the idea we could still be together this way! Although sometimes the idea of banishing him to the garden appeals 😂😂
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Old 25 Nov 20, 02:52 PM  
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SquishTheWhale
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Originally Posted by 400ixl View Post
Remember that the type of door and materials can be the difference between whether you need planning permission or not.

Ours has been up for 25 years now. If I was doing it today I would do it as an extension, not a conservatory. As in solid walls and a tiled roof with large doors on the exterior.
I imagine an extension would cost a lot more though wouldn't it?
Didn't know that about the planning permission thanks!
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