Insulated Walls and a Tiled Roof Turn an Unused Conservatory into a Working Utility Room

The customer had an older conservatory off the kitchen that was being used as a utility room. On paper it worked. In practice it was too hot in summer and too cold in winter, so the room never got used the way it was meant to be.

The Challenge:

She had already had a conservatory upgrade done on the side of the house by another company, and it had been a bad experience. That made her careful about who she used this time. The room itself was small, so anything that ate into the floor area was a problem. The kitchen next door also drew a lot of its daylight through that space, so the end project had to not leave it darker than it started.

Our Approach:

The base walls were in good order, so we kept them. Rather than build a second skin on the inside, we lined them with insulated backed plasterboard. It does the same job for warmth and takes far less off the floor, which counts for a lot in a room this size. For the roof we moved to a pitched curved double Edwardian. The extra height gives a small footprint room to breathe once you are stood inside it. We specified a fully insulated tiled roof so the room holds its temperature and rain overhead is no longer something you can hear.

The Results:

The finished room looks like part of the house rather than something bolted onto the back of it. The tiles were matched to the existing roof, and the insulated walls and roof hold the temperature, so it works as a utility room all year. Swapping the Velux for a large fixed pane was the smart change. It provides far more daylight into the kitchen than the original design would have.