Improving a cold sunroom

ravendude

Hi there,
We have a sunroom off of our main dining and kitchen area. It is open plan in the sense there are no doors into the sunroom, just an open space in the wall the size of double doors. The windows would be from c. 2005 so I expect they are standard double glazed.
It has a high vaulted ceiling and french doors to a patio. There is insulation backed plasterboard (most likely polyurethane we're told) to the external walls according to the engineer that surveyed the house originally. There are 2 veluxes in the vaulted ceiling.

The whole area (sunroom, kitchen and dining) loses heat very quickly, less than an hour after turning off the heating and the place will start feeling a little on the cold side.

The area wouldn't see much sun in winter (from November to February really) as the sun is too low and there are some trees not too far off.

We're thinking of doing the following before looking into improving glass(costly I expect) or insulation in the sun-room:
1/ Decent double doors between the dining/kitchen and sunroom. At least then the sun-room can be closed off in winter. We might put good double or even triple glazing to these internal doors.
2/ Thick blinds with thermal backing (this is pricey in itself, c. 1500 euro) for the windows and curtains over the external french doors area.

We are not overly pushed about using this space during the height of winter as we have another living area.
Would we be better off replacing the window glass instead or improving on insulation first? Replacing glass could get very pricey I would think
Any thoughts, or other ideas?
Thanks!

martinn123

Two areas to look at initially.

Insulation in the vaulted ceiling area, is there any? can you get to the area, to see if its insulated at all.

The glazing if its c.2005 is probably standard Double glazed, possible Low E but probably not Argon filled, so it will have a high U Value compared to glazing avb. today.

So you are loosing heat through the glazing, and probably the roof.

Replacing the glass, may not be as expensive as you think, get some quotes. just the glass not the frames.

That's just for starters

ravendude

Is there a dramatic difference between modern lower U value glass and older (ie. c 2005) glass?
ie. Would it be very noticeable? I suppose in my mind I think glass still lets the heat out. There are 3 very big windows in there (it being a sunroom obviously).
I'm wondering whether decent blinds would make a bigger difference?

martinn123

ravendude wrote: »

Is there a dramatic difference between modern lower U value glass and older (ie. c 2005) glass?
ie. Would it be very noticeable? I suppose in my mind I think glass still lets the heat out. There are 3 very big windows in there (it being a sunroom obviously).
I'm wondering whether decent blinds would make a bigger difference?

A standard D/G unit would have a U Value of 2.9

Current D/G units, Argon Filled Low E or K Glass can be as low as 1.2,
Triple glazing will get you to 0.7, but at a huge cost, as your frames were designed for Double.

So yes a big difference, that coupled with possibly no Insulation in the roof space, is the most common cause of a cold Sunroom.
I am presuming the floor has insulation, and the walls.

I assume blinds will make some difference, but not really my area

ravendude

Wall cavities were done. I have no idea about the floors unfortunately.
Will look into it though, - not sure if there is any way to find out about the floors unfortunately at this stage without pulling up the expensive Junkers floor

Have an insulation guy calling tomorrow so will ask him about the ceiling.

MicktheMan

ravendude wrote: »

Any thoughts, or other ideas?
Thanks!

Very often the sunroom are you described is losing a lot of heat because of a lack of any airtightness detailing when the structure was built. The chances are that there is a lot of air leakage in the roof structure allowing warm air out and/or cold air in.
Have the house pressure tested first before spending money on glass replacements etc.
Btw, seperating the two areas with decent sealing double doors is a good idea expecially if you don't need/use the space in the winter.

ravendude

MicktheMan wrote: »

Very often the sunroom are you described is losing a lot of heat because of a lack of any airtightness detailing when the structure was built. The chances are that there is a lot of air leakage in the roof structure allowing warm air out and/or cold air in.
Have the house pressure tested first before spending money on glass replacements etc.
Btw, seperating the two areas with decent sealing double doors is a good idea expecially if you don't need/use the space in the winter.

I think we'll go with the double doors to separate the areas to start with.
I'm actually thinking of putting in external doors ( like these: http://http://www.munsterjoinery.ie/productdetails32 ) with low U value glass, is there any reason not to put external doors inside?