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Conservatories
Each Amberwood conservatory has its own individual benefits. Life can be lived to the full in an Amberwood conservatory. We have a fabulous range of conservatory designs for your home at our showroom in Aldermaston, Berkshire.
Conservatory Styles
Whilst many different materials can be used in the roof and sides, the secret of a successful Conservatory build is the quality of the basework and installation. High quality frames installed badly, result in a poor quality Conservatory. So many factors need to be considered. Such as different family uses and whether the Conservatory is in the sun or in the shade.
Conservatory Designs
Conservatories come in virtually any shape or size you could imagine but generally the designs fall into certain categories.
Lean to
The traditional and original design. From low pitch for bungalows and steep pitch for houses, contemporary designed Lean-To is becoming very popular.
In recent years people prefer more adventurous types of roof but recently steep pitched lean-to’s have become more popular. Ask us to use the same base plan but draw a Lean-to roof on one and a hipped or Georgian roof on another.
Hipped
Basically this is lean-to with the sides of the roof hipped. It is like and Edwardian but without the ridge and cresting, a popular design when a lean-to is not required and the conservatory is too wide
for a Georgian design.
Georgian
A very popular design because there are interesting shaped panels in the roof and the square corners allow for maximum use of the floor area. Many people like a high ridge to give a feeling of space but also because lighting and ceiling fans can be installed at high level.
Some people find that the cresting on top of the ridge is difficult to clean and so we are leaving off the offending cresting and just installing the pointed finial at the front of the ridge.
Victorian
This design was the most popular until the last 5 years. Although angled corners are preferred by many people as opposed to square, the loss of space in a small conservatory is too much for some
and therefore the Georgian design has become the preferred choice.
Wide facet Victorian
If the preferred choice of style is a Victorian design but the loss of space is of concern, a good compromise is the wide facet Victorian. Shaped corners satisfy those who do not like square but as the space lost is reduced this design is becoming increasingly popular.
Gabled
Imagine a square-cornered Georgian but instead of the roof at the front hipping backwards the
front of the conservatory continues up vertically resulting in a triangle over the front elevation.
This design is particularly useful if there is an attractive view at high level. Fitting roof blinds to the
triangle can be troublesome.
L-Shape, P-Shape, T-Shape
Combine a Victorian and a Lean-To design and you have a P-Shaped design.
Add a Georgian to a Lean-To and an L-Shape is created.
Join a Lean-To each side of a Georgian or Victorian design and you have a T-Shape.
Any design you can imagine can be designed using a combination of the above shapes.
Roof Glazing
During the 1960’s 10mm thick honeycomb acrylic materials were mostly used for roof glazing. Improvements in technology allowed layered polycarbonate to be used. Only a small % of Amberwood’s conservatories incorporate polycarbonate roof glazing. It is now 24/35mm thick allowing for superb insulation and privacy without the need for blinds, however, the 98 % of customers who choose glass for the roof do so for various reasons.
Your choice may depend on the intended use of the conservatory.
If you wish to use the conservatory, as a room for summer and sunny days, then polycarbonate is fine.
If you want to chill out in the conservatory and like a view of the sky then glass may be the choice.
If the area is to be used for dining a heavy rain shower could cause you to cease talking until the rain stops.
Here is a brief summary of the benefits of both polycarbonate and glass.
The Benefits of a Glass Roof
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Better thermal insulation
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Better sound insulation
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Better view of the sky
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Easyclean or self-cleaning glass is available
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High security
The Benefits of a Polycarbonate Roof
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Lower cost
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Privacy
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Better glare reduction
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Lower security
Cooling a Conservatory
Both polycarbonate and glass can be coated with a solar-reflective coating providing around 70 % reflection of the sun’s heat rays. What is often overlooked is that a great deal of heat enters the conservatory through the sides. Virtually clear solar-reflective glass is now available and is very affordable. During hot weather solar-reflective materials can reduce the temperature inside the
conservatory by 15 degrees centigrade, however if the reduced temperature is still 30 degrees this is still too hot if you intend using it for dining.
This being the case a climate control system can be installed that provides warm as well as cool air.
If the unit is used for cooling then considering the number of times the system is likely to be used you should not suffer high running costs.
Heating a Conservatory
If the sun shines then heating is not required even on a winter’s day. Some of Amberwood’s customers have installed log-burners, open fires, electric convectors and air-source heat pumps.
An air-source heat pump can be installed easily, need not be expensive to fit and can be economical to run because many have a coefficient of heating of over 3. This means that for every single unit of energy the system consumes it provides you with 3 units of energy. This is a simple explanation but I have been advised is an acceptable claim.
Electric underfloor heating is expensive to install and relatively economical to run. Many of our customers are delighted with the comfort of this form of heating.
Amberwood Guidelines
Although new Government guidelines have resulted in many Conservatories not requiring permission,
many authorities refuse to supply a letter confirming this.
You will require a written confirmation to sell your property, so it may be that some form of application is required. Director Roy Ward will advise you if call him.
Show Site:
Open Mon-Fri 8am-5pm
Sat 10am -3pm
Amberwood Designs,
Ground Floor, Estate Offices
Youngs Industrial Estate
Paices Hill, Aldermaston
Berkshire, RG7 4PW
Tel: 0118 9820300
office@amberwooddesigns.co.uk