But what choices are there in the market, what are the advantages or drawbacks of each design what are the latest conservatory roof prices?
We aim to cover the answers to these questions in the following conservatory roof designs guide.
Originally, conservatories were designed to allow maximum natural light into the room. Whilst this is still the case in many modern conservatories, the transparent or translucent roof design is now giving way to solid roof designs.
So the options we will look at are:
For translucent conservatory roofs either glass or polycarbonate can be used, each one having very different properties to the other.
Various roofing products from concrete, slate & metal tiles to composite or synthetic panels can be used to give your conservatory a more “permanent” appearance.
Polycarbonate is a lightweight material that offers a very cost effective method of roofing.
It is generally made of multi-chambered panels which are shatterproof. Sometimes it can be referred to as Twin or Triple walled and is recommended to be at least 16mm thick, but can go up to 35mm thick.
You can also get polycarbonate sheets in different colours such as Bronze or Opal.
As a sound barrier, polycarbonate is no match for a double glazed conservatory roof. In heavy rain the polycarbonate can cause a lot of noise.
In terms of insulation, many conservatory owners with polycarbonate roofing will tell you that you can have problems with heat building up.
Depending on where you source it from, a single 35mm twin wall panel sized 1200mm x 2000mm may cost around £50 to £70.
Roof Size in mm | Specification | Price Guide |
up to 2400 x 3100 | twin wall poly-carbonate | £1,900 to £2,400 + |
up to 3100 x 3100 | twin wall poly-carbonate | £2,200 to £2,800 + |
up to 3100 x 3500 | twin wall poly-carbonate | £2,300 to £2,900 + |
A step up from polycarbonate, in terms of both performance and price is to have a double glazed conservatory roof fitted.
The double glazed sealed units provide a good level of sound insulation and energy efficiency. Having a good quality insulating roof will help to stabilise the room temperature so that you can enjoy your conservatory no matter what the weather is like outside.
Double glazed panels can vary in thickness with air gap sizes from 6mm, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 16mm, 18mm & 20mm. The glass itself is 4mm thick (2 panes) and therefore the thinnest will be 14mm (6+4+4) and the thickest will be 28mm (20+4+4).
The wider the air gap, the better the sound & heat insulation properties. The better the insulating properties, the less likely you are going to encounter things like internal condensation.
Some other modifications can be made to improve the performance, such as using metal oxide coated “low-e” glass and also by using Argon gas filled units. An opening roof vent will also give good ventilation.
Another useful option is to use self-cleaning glass to remove the need to get on top of the conservatory to clean.
Roof Size in mm | Specification | Full Glass Roof Price Guide |
up to 2400 x 3100 | Standard Double Glazed | £2,000 to £2,500 + |
up to 3100 x 3100 | Standard Double Glazed | £2,300 to £3,000 + |
up to 3100 x 3500 | Standard Double Glazed | £2,500 to £3,200 + |
The third choice is to go for a solid roof, and in most cases this means some kind of tiled conservatory roof design.
You can see this type of tile on houses all over the country and there is an enormous choice in terms of appearance and colour. They can be flat, contoured, smooth or textured and are easily available from virtually every builder supply outlet that you can think of.
Concrete tiles are quite heavy and can absorb water to become even heavier during prolonged wet periods, so you will need a good strong supporting structure to cope. This “heavy-duty” nature of a tiled roof translates into making this option costlier than polycarbonate or glass roofing designs.
Using natural slate is not going to be cheap, but you get a covering that can almost last forever. It looks super and, in our opinion, gives the conservatory a lot of class.
The market for lightweight & synthetic tiles is rapidly growing, with several companies specialising in this area. Many replacement conservatory roof companies only offer lightweight & synthetic tile systems.
Made from materials such as recyclable plastic, rubber, mineral dust, limestone or cellulose fibres they can be manufactured using injection moulding.
A distinct advantage over concrete tiles is in the lightness, but also synthetic tiles are strong, long lasting and if they are coloured they are fade resistant. Concrete tiles can break easily and they lose their colour by fading relatively quickly.
You can find designs that are indistinguishable from real slate, shingles or clay tiles. This gives a lot of scope in how you can make your conservatory look.
It’s quite tough to find a disadvantage for this type of conservatory roof.
Difficult to put together a comparison table of prices for tiled conservatory roofs, but you can expect to find Conservatory Roof Prices in the region of £4,500 to £8,000 for a replacement roof.
In terms of Conservatory Roof Prices for a “new build” conservatory, the individual cost is built into the overall cost. However, one way to identify the difference in price between polycarbonate, glass & tile is to get a quote for each design and then you can judge the cost of each and compare.
Which are the best conservatory roofs?
The answer to which is the best type of conservatory roof is very subjective, and is going to depend on your personal preferences and requirements.
We have installers all over the UK and we can arrange quotations for you, just click the quote request link below.