Glass or polycarbonate?
tinted or non-tinted?
pro's & con's Please!

In message , mmurph30
writes
Glass or polycarbonate?
tinted or non-tinted?
pro's & con's Please!

Just had ours put up this week. Gone for polycarbonate in a white tint.
Couldn't justify the cost of glass when all it seems to do is make rain
quieter. We can hear the rain through the french doors in the living
room, but it's actually quite pleasant.

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
http://www.toastyhamster.freeserve.co.uk
BONY#38

mmurph30 wrote:

Glass or polycarbonate?
tinted or non-tinted?
pro's & con's Please!

I'm not sure how much better glass is, but the poly roof on my
conservatory is ruddy noisy when it rains. It's so loud, in fact, it's
barely habitable when it rains hard of (heaven forbid) hails.

Dan

Glass or polycarbonate?

Glass:
Looks good. I mean really good.
Harder to install and more expensive.

Polycarbonate:
Looks cheap. I mean really cheap.
Sounds like a tonne of gravel in a concrete mixer when it rains.

There's nothing like being able to see the sky and clouds through the roof.
Vastly superior to the translucent appearance of polycarbonate. It is simply
the better, but more expensive option.

As I understand it, both double glazed glass and triple wall polycarbonate
have passable insulation value, making the room heatable in most cases.

Christian.

In message , Christian
McArdle writes
Glass or polycarbonate?

Glass:
Looks good. I mean really good.
Harder to install and more expensive.

Polycarbonate:
Looks cheap. I mean really cheap.
Sounds like a tonne of gravel in a concrete mixer when it rains.

There's nothing like being able to see the sky and clouds through the roof.
Vastly superior to the translucent appearance of polycarbonate. It is simply
the better, but more expensive option.

As I understand it, both double glazed glass and triple wall polycarbonate
have passable insulation value, making the room heatable in most cases.

Christian.



In the case of a South facing wall doesn't the glass have to be treated
to reflect uv and keep the conservatory at a liveable temperature? Not
relevant in our case as the premium for glass was going to end up being
such a large %age of the quote we decided early on that it wasn't an
option for us. We already have rain noise in garage and utility room
that can be heard in the kitchen - as there is a corrugated steel roof
over them, we're used to it. If we ever come to sell with a bit of luck
it won't be raining when people come to view :-)

--
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
http://www.toastyhamster.freeserve.co.uk
BONY#38

In the case of a South facing wall doesn't the glass have to be treated
to reflect uv and keep the conservatory at a liveable temperature?

I'm sure just using blinds would reflect most heat, although mine faces NW
and I don't even have blinds or a ventilator. It was cool enough just
opening the doors/window.

relevant in our case as the premium for glass was going to end up being
such a large %age of the quote we decided early on that it wasn't an
option for us.

Mine was Baltic Pine and they had an "extras half price" offer that we
totally hammered, with full height frames, wood paneled, double glazing
throughout, double glazed roof, in height fanlights with georgian bar (not
stick on jobs, they actually supply 3 glazed units per frame), beaded
arches, low maintenance capping etc.

It looks fantastic. Working backwards from the quote, we think the glazed
roof cost us about 400 quid extra on top of the basic conservatory quote,
although I don't recall seeing an itemised breakdown. The delivery driver
was not happy, though. The roof glazed units were quite phenominal in size.

The size was 3.1m x 2.6m, with the 3.1m being the slope, (lean-to roof).

Christian.

I would definitely go for glass if you can afford it. I have a
polycarbonate roof and although cheap and easy to fit it could do with
replacing now. However, It has lasted 18 years which I guess aint bad but
glass should last a lifetime.

Aesthetically glass wins hands down in my opinion but I probably won't be
able to replace PC with glass without rebuilding the roof.

Does anyone know of any other alternatives? Maybe a compromise denser,
fully transparent plastic which is manufactured for roofs? Done a bit of
research myself but most of the acrylic or perpex alternatives comes in much
smaller sheets which don't seem designed for roofing

Keith

In the case of a South facing wall doesn't the glass have to be treated to
reflect uv and keep the conservatory at a liveable temperature? Not
relevant in our case as the premium for glass was going to end up being
Mike Buckley
RD350LC2
http://www.toastyhamster.freeserve.co.uk
BONY#38

We're east facing at the back of the house, so we only get the sun in that
area up until about one in the afternoon. Waiting to see what the quote will
be. Thanks fot the advice :-)

If you go for nice clean see-through glass, think about how you're gonna keep
it that way

If you go for nice clean see-through glass, think about how you're gonna
keep
it that way

Agreed. I've got access from a window just above and can get pressure
washer/foaming hot brush to it. Because the structure has to be strong
enough for the glass panels, it is actually quite able to take a person's
weight up there. Indeed, the joist dimensions just about comply with Part A
for a habitable floor. Not that I'm proposing climbing on the roof just to
clean it.

Christian.