I wasted £3,000 trying to make my old conservatory usable — this is what I wish I'd done instead

I have hated my conservatory for more than a decade, and have spent thousands of pounds in the hope of resolving the issues that plague me.

Now, if I was to add a conservatory today, there would be lots of options available to help negate the problems faced by older conservatories — like solar control glass, a solid roof and better insulation.

But alas, when I bought my house, I inherited a conservatory that had none of that. And so for ten years, I have been navigating a space that is freezing cold in winter and roasting hot in the summer.

Trying to solve the problems, I have spent more than £3,000 and with hindsight, I feel like I made the wrong decision for my conservatory. So I want to share my experience, in the hope that it will help you avoid wasting your money in the same way.

How I wasted £3,000 on my conservatory

For a bit more context, my conservatory is quite large, has a non-tinted glass roof and sits in my south-west facing garden.

During the summer months, it gets the sun from about midday, until sunset.

One of my initial concerns when I first moved in, was how bright it was in there (which I know for a lot of people would be a major plus of a conservatory). I, however, have eyeballs that are very sensitive to sunlight.

I found I was having to squint every time I went in there, or wear sunglasses, which made me feel a bit ridiculous as I was technically still indoors.

I also moved in during a chilly February, and the conservatory retained absolutely no heat whatsoever, so I avoided it.

By the time the first summer rolled around, it was unbearably hot in there, rendering the space completely unusable again.

After doing some research and pulling together a bit of budget, I decided to go with one of my conservatory blind ideas to help with the brightness and to keep my conservatory warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.

The roof blind were expensive - I went for a pleated design with reflective coating on the one side on the hopes of preventing the space below from getting too hot. The shape of the conservatory roof also hiked up the price, as there needed to be an individual blind for each roof panel, and there were 11 of them.

While the roof blinds have undoubtedly helped with the brightness and likely saved my furniture from fading, in my case, they have not been effective in solving the temperature issue.

Admittedly, this could largely be down to how old my conservatory is. The same blinds may actually be completely effective when working in tandem with more technologically advanced materials, like solar glass, in a modern conservatory.

What I wish I'd done instead

Had I been able to scrounge the cash together at the time, I think the best solution for my space, and how I want to use it, would be to replace the conservatory roof altogether with a lightweight solid alternative.

While this would have been considerably more expensive than the roof blinds — around £14,000 according to one of my quotes — this would be much more thermally efficient thanks to the additional insulation, making the space below a much more comfortable temperature year round.

Considering I can only currently use my conservatory comfortably for about five months of the year, this is hugely appealing to me.

Is this the right way for me to modernise my old conservatory? Let me know in the comments down below.