Can I temporarily insulate a conservatory roof?

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the positive feedback.
I did get an email from the forum, but I'm a regular visitor to the forum despite not being a regular poster.
Anyway, I can honestly say the insulation job is the best move I've made.
*No problems with condensation
*Conservatory is a now a perfectly usable room, kids spend most of their time in there
*I just have an oil filled electric heater in there during the winter, and keeps the place nice and warm. Next step might be to fit a radiator from the central heating system.
*Really don't miss the light coming in the roof, plenty windows in the conservatory and not much difference to be honest. Also doesn't destroy the furniture.
*Devil's Advocate is spot on with his comments about overdoing the insulation. Problem is, I researched it too much. Couldn't find reliable info about the blanket and the u-values didn't look as good as the Kingspan, on paper anyway. The blanket would provide sufficient insulation, but at the time I found the 25mm Kingspan on Gumtree, think I ended up paying £25 for 5 sheets, so went for the belt and braces approach.
If you look online, most specialist firms tend to just use the blankets, but they also tend to plasterboard on top, far too messy and awkward for me!
Quick price list, off the top of my head-
Insulation blanket £160
Kingspan £25
Batons £15
Cladding and trims £120
All in about £320, and well worth the money.

If anyone needs any more info, please don't hesitate to ask!

 

Hi Gormac

We have purchased white upvc cladding and are waitimg for insulation panel (Kingsmill 25mm foil backed), however my husband temporarily put up one piece of upvc paneling ( rows of three on each panel) and cut the next piece to start to go around the first corner !

We cannot get the mitre corners to match no matter what he does?

He's now thinking we have wasted our money!

I will upload a photo of one end of the roof to show the angles we have.

He is not putting up battons which you did and I noticed that you reduced the five angles to three?

Any advice?

 

Hi DA

Have posted to gormac about insulating conservatory roof, can you have a look at my questions, Ive included a picture showing three straight windows and small window diagonal to join two straight windows on the front.  thanks any suggestions would be helpful

 

I wouldn't start trying to cut mitres until the kingspan is in place - the lengths will change slightly.

How are you planning to fit it all if not using wood battens? Screwing into the ali rails? I think battens first will make life a lot easier. Unlike what the other cove appears to have doen, I'd have thought that vertical battens would makew more sense - just screw one to each of the ali roof rails going up to the ridge. (Drill smallish holes in the ali and hopefully ordinary wood screws will self-tap into them)

Anyways, When you first try and fit the Kinhspan, you can use whatever method best suits you to make the angles fit - either make paper templates, or measure accurately, or cut roughly-butt-them-up - and keep trimming to make it fit. The latter ain't the best way. Anyways, tape over the insualtion joins to draught-proof it.

Depending on how neat you made this part, you might wish to draw a felt-pen line down the tap to give you a dead-straight line in the corner to measure to for the cladding. Hold a length up (or use a small offcut to transefer measurements) and use a straight edge to tansfer the line to the cladding. Visualise also the angle the actual cut edge will need to have to meet the next length as neatly as possible. You can mark this on the edge of the length as a sloping line. Get you fine-toothed saw and cut. To test it, also use an offcut to make the matching piece around the corner. Think through the angle you'll be holding the saw at whilst you make the cut, whilst also - of course - following the mitre line for the corner.

Just try it using offcuts. Hold them up in place against eachother and go "AaaaAAAaahh - I see now!" when they don;t quite match. Work out what needs to be tweaked, and tweak it...

It doesn't have to be perfection. Small gaps up to - ooh - 15mm can be covered using worktop sealing strip. Have a look in your local cheapo hardware store - they will likely sell rolls of theis stuff; white plastic, self-adhesive strip about 25mm wide with a fold line in the middle. I reckon that should look pretty neat.

 

Good old Devil's Advocate beats me to it every time.......... with almost exactly the same reply I would have posted!

I would really recommend fitting the vertical batons. As mentioned, you will need to drill a small hole through the aluminium to fix them.
Not only will it give you a good guide and gap to cut the Kingspan to fit, it will make life so much easier when it comes to attaching the cladding.
From your post, it sounds like you're trying to mitre at every roof rail, such as the small diagonal panels? Or have I picked that up wrong? You only neet to cut mitres at every corner, or angle. Keep it as simple as possible. That's why mine looks like I've reduced the angles to 3. If you look at the shape of the conservatory, it is only 3 angles, with a bar in the middle of each, if you know what I mean.

Hope all this makes sense so far!!

Sounds like the same cladding I used, and fitted with a staple gun. You might think you can staple them directly to the frames, but I tried and failed.

I had a hell of a job getting the mitres right myself, and had plenty wastage to begin with.
For the joints, buy the 'H' profile jointing strips from the cladding supplier. This will hide any gaps really well and when you come to the final piece, simly cut it lengthways to get a 'T' profile, and silicon it in place.
 
Finally, sounds like you both need a bit of moral support with this project. I put a lot of thought into it so if you need any more info, give me a shout and I'll help you out if I can, that's what the forum is for. Don't give up, and just remember, the cold weather is coming and for once you'll be able to use your conservatory this winter!

 

There may be hope for our old conservatory yet??!!

 

Hi Gormac, was wondering if you'd have any advice for us... We need to insulate our lean-to conservatory in the hope of using it as a playroom and were hoping we'd be able to adopt the method you used. However our conservatory is uPVC so do you think we'd still be able to attch batons and cladding as you described?

many thanks in advance

 

UPVC is just the cladding. There will be aluminium framing inside.

 

duh - god, I feel stupid!!! thanks for that - thinking about it now has just had me lauging at the thought of a roof supported by plastic struts!!

 

hi gormac ive been reading your post on insurating your concervotaty roof and i quite like your idea, so i plan to do this on my roof soon,just a question thou in notice in your picturse that you did not put any foul right to the top of the roof, was this done to help stop condensation?,when i do my roof i think i will only use super quilt insuration foul as it is desighed for this but it does cost about £120 a role, my conservortary is about 10f x 15ft so i my need two roles,as its some time since you post your article  i hope you read this as im still not sure on cutting the angles of the cladding, many thank ged

 

Hi gedvan, Only reason the foil doesn't go to the top in the pics is because of the width of the roll. I stuffed it with offcuts before I put the kingspan in place.
My conservatory is 10ft x 12ft, so you might get off with 1 roll.
If you're only using the foil, you might need to run the batons vertically, in order to attach the cladding afterwards.
Angles for the cladding is no bother once you get started. Just keep the door shut in case the kids hear all that cursing!
Good luck with that 'insuration foul' !!

 

thank you gormac for your reply,i intend to put verticel battons and horizontel batons on, just a question i was going to stick the insurlation inplace with foul tape first and the put the horizontal battons on, im not quite clear how you did your,did you put the battons on fist and then thread the foul through them to keep it in place? now that youve done yours for some time now is it proving to be ok many thanks for your help

 

Och, chust like Santa, Gormac comes around about once a year

Gedvan, I think what I would do - tho' I haven't done this job and Gormac has - is to cut timber battens (2x1's or maybe slightly smaller) to suit each vertical roof rail. Obtain screws (from our hosts...) that are around a quarter to a half inch longer than the timber thickness, and use them to fixe these battens to the rails. You'll have to drill pilot holes in the roof rails so's the screws start to bite and then cut their own threads. You don;t want them going much more than a half inch into the aluminium rails, I reckon.

Mark the battens all so's you's can refit them easily, and remove them...

Get your foil and use wee bits of tape to firstly hold them in position and then to seal them to the very top roof ridge and to the horizontal rail wot runs above the windows, making sure that it's positioned so's it'll be covered by the cladding later. Where you join the foil together, tape that too. The idea is that there will be a space above the foil, between it and the poly glazing which will be partially vented by a trickle draught since these roof panels are never 100% air tight. But also you will all hopefully seal the roof from the actual conniw room so all the moisture in there won't get past the foil up to the roof. (There's nothing to rust up there's anyways...)

Once the foil is in place, refit the battens and they'll be very secure.

Then start to fit your lightweight cladding (perhaps Gormac can recommend a supplier or manufacturer?). You should be able to use the wee white-capped nails you get for the job.

Cut a length that'll fit near the bottom. That way, once it's trimmed to suit the corner, it'll still be long enough for the middle or top...

Hold it up against the battens and make sure it's horizontal. Get yer other 'alf to mark the corner slope line on to it with a pencil or similar. Cut it. Use a fine-tooth saw.

Don't worry about it being perfect 'cos there are nice stick-on trims that'll cover it all very nicely. One such trim I found in my local Wilkinson's - it's actually designed for the back of worktops and stuff. It's a roll of flexible plastic; a dual strip that folds in t'middle and is very sticky on t'other. Cut and stick over the join.

Now, for a large dram...

 

thank you very much devils advocate, im ordering my insurlation from supper quilt they sell a kit which include the foil tape and staple gun for i think £120 this will do 15sq meters,.im glade you posted your help as i was going to put the foil right up agaist the poly roof,at the moment the coney if freezing cold no one is using it at all so im hoping this should help, anyway thanks again for you help ged

 

You're welcome.

Hmm, that's a point. I wonder if it's best to have the foil taped to the aluminium roof rails and then batten on top (my first thought above) or else batten first and staple the foil over the wood battens before cladding. It would certainly be easier that way, and I doubt there's much to choose thermally between both methods - so, just fix the battens, and staple the foil over it! Then add the cladding.

But, seal the quilting on to the rail above the windows, but just below where the roof panels meet this horizontal rail - you want the whole 'leaky' roof section to be sealed above the quilting.

I suspect it'll make a considerable difference. Not only are the poly roof panels the worst part - thermally - of the connie, but they also tend to be a bit draughty.

What side of the house is the connie on?

 

its facing north west blimming cold this morning even the dogs wont stay in there long,that may be a good idea thou never thought of that,but like you said i will have to make sure where the insulation meets the bottom near the wall its well coverd,you would be amazed how drafty it is there,i did put some bubble wrap up last year and it did make a hell of a differance when you put your hand the other side of the wrap you could feel the cold and a big draft so this is a must do job its got to make a big improvment,sorry about the spelling not my strong point, ged anyway thanks for you help cheers have a dram on me

 

Hey Advocate,you're some kiddy. Beat me to it every time!
You're kinda right in a round about way, over a couple of posts.
I actually cut the foil into sections, passed it under the already fitted batons and sealed it up with foil.
The foil is very heavy if you try to do it in a oner, far easier if you cut it into manageable sections and tape it up.
You don't need the capped nails.
You can staple each length in place on the lip that goes under the next section (confused yet??) as it's very light and easy to work with. It'll all make sense when you buy it.
I used a local supplier, who stocks various upvc stuff like guttering, etc.
He had all the end trims, joining strips, etc....
Stapling the foil ain't as easy as it looks either, especially with all that weight bearing down. I let the batons take the strain.
I maybe didn't give it as much of a gap as I should have, on the roof side. I was a it concerned with this for a while but no condensation problems, and we're a year on now.
Again, I'm always available if anyone needs help.

ps.....I don't just come around once a year.............. I'm always lurking in the shadows.........

 

I wasn't aware that the qult was so awkward to use. In which case perhaps the easiest way to fit it is after the vertical wood battens are secured. Then just staple the barsteward to the battens. That'll leave a nice air space behind it, bertween it and the roof panels. I think that would be useful as it'll keep it vented and hopefully prevent condensation forming in there (there should be plenty draight on that side of the foil.)

But inportant to seal the quilt top and bottom, not only to prevent draughts, but also to stop moisture in the connie from getting up to that now-covered roof void where it would condense.

I see what you mean by the cladding fixing method - yep, that's much easier. Staple it through each flat in the 'groove' before the next 'tongue' is inserted? Did you use a leccy stapler?

 

ok this is what im going to do, position the battons first with evostik sticks like sh===t, when its set i will drill and fix with screws,then like advocate said i will staple the foil to the vertical battons and tape top and bottom,then i will cut and fit the cladding to the horizontal battons i might need to use a slighty deeper size batton for this to make sure i can fit the cladding over the foil if you know what i mean, so thats it what do you think i was going the fit the foil under the batton like gormac but thinking about it like you said doing it this way might help prevent condensation,sorry about going on about this but i just want to be clear on how to go about this for myself and anyone else reading this ged,ps just a point gormac what did you cut the foil with as you said its very thick might struggle with a stanly,