Sunroom vs conservatory: the glazed-room spec
A sunroom and a conservatory both add a glazed room, and the difference is in the build and the specification, not the name. A conservatory is a traditional construction with a wall base, a glazed roof and often a style that has to match a period house; a sunroom in our range is an aluminium-framed glazed space — a wall-and-roof system built like the rest of the envelope, insulated and sealed to the same standard. The choice sets the roof, the base, the thermal build and the planning route.
The structural difference
A conservatory carries a dwarf wall base and a roof that is glazed or part-glazed, and it is usually an addition with its own foundations. Our SR-200 sunroom is a framed glazed space: the walls and the roof are aluminium systems, insulated and gasketed like the windows, so it performs as part of the envelope rather than as a glazed lean-to. The structural difference drives everything downstream — the base, the roof, the thermal values and the way the room is used in winter.
The thermal build
The sunroom is built warm: the frames are thermal-break, the roof is a thermally broken glazed or insulated panel, and the space is sealed and drained to the same detail as the windows. That is what makes it usable through the year in a way the traditional single-glazed conservatory is not. The specification names the U-value for the walls and the roof, the solar-control build for the glazed roof, and the ventilation — because a glazed roof without shading or air becomes a greenhouse by mid-afternoon.
Planning and the base
The planning route differs by market and by whether the room is an extension or a permitted addition. A conservatory on a dwarf wall can fall under different rules from a full-height framed sunroom, and the base follows: the conservatory needs its wall base and foundations, the sunroom needs the slab and the structural frame the system fixes to. The drawing office sets the base detail with the system, because a framed sunroom carries its load to the slab, not to a dwarf wall.
What to put on the schedule
- The construction route — conservatory-style or framed sunroom — because it sets the base and the roof.
- The U-value for the walls and the roof, and the solar-control build for the glazed roof.
- The ventilation and shading, so the room does not overheat on a sunny afternoon.
- The base and fixing detail, which the builder forms from the drawing.
Questions
Not in this range. A conservatory carries a dwarf wall and a glazed roof as a traditional addition; the SR-200 sunroom is a framed, thermal-break glazed space built into the envelope. The base and the thermal performance differ.