Conservatory Insulation

Since the conservatory is made up in the majority of glass it has to be treated differently than a normal brick built house extension. What you have to achieve is a conservatory that you can use the whole year round and the conservatory does not want to be cold in winter and unbearably hot in the summer. The only way to create insulation in a conservatory is to use special types of glass rather than the standard double glazed units.

The best glass to use is Low E glass (low emissitivity), which is sold under the trademark of Pilkington K glass. Low E glass has a microscopic coating on one side of a special metal which acts as a reflector. It will allow the short waves of sunlight to penetrate the glass but the longer heat waves generated by household heating will be reflected back into the conservatory. Since the glass is warm to the touch the levels of condensation in the conservatory are reduced. The next step up from using Low E is having the Pilkington K window units filled with argon gas. They ensures that the conservatory is even better insulated that a normal house extension and not for much more expense.

The roof of the conservatory is normally made from 16mm or 25mm polycarbonate, which is very strong with a six skinned reinforced webbing structure that provides very good insulation. If you would like your conservatory roof to be glass to allow even more light to enter, then you would need to use Low E glass again and this option for a roof can be costly due to the cost of the glass compared to the polycarbonate. If a glass roof is installed in your conservatory then you will need to invest in some roof blinds as well.