Month: May 2024

Top Tips For Making Your Conservatory More Secure

There are a lot of different priorities that go into the perfect conservatory choice, but whilst ensuring it fits the aesthetic of your home, is usable year-round and is big enough for any purpose you desire are important aspects to consider, security is also vital.

As the bizarre story of the South American Marmoset monkey found in a conservatory in Wolverhampton can show, unwanted guests can come in all shapes and sizes, but it can be difficult at times to ensure an older conservatory is as secure as possible.

Ensuring that you keep on top of conservatory repairs and practising care when it comes to leaving doors and windows open will help, but if you want to take your conservatory’s security to the next level with the help of experts in the field, here are some top tips for a more secure conservatory.

Match Security Standards To The Rest Of Your House

The first step should be with your locking systems and other security measures because conservatories are very popular entry points for intruders.

Part of this is because the glass is perceived (often incorrectly) to be less secure than other entry points of the house, but there is also an assumption that a conservatory with UPVC doors will have less secure locks than would be found in a conventional doorset.

Upgrading these locks and having security lighting in the back garden near the conservatory will do a lot to deter many intruders from attempting to break in.

Similarly, treat the door from the conservatory to the rest of your house like a door into the house, and make it as secure as your front door would be.

Fit Double Or Triple Glazing

On the subject of glass, most conservatories constructed today are fitted with double or even triple glazing for energy efficiency reasons, as well as generally helping with some of the thermal issues that can make a conservatory unpleasant in summer or the dead of winter.

However, it also helps with security, but if you want to improve your security further, fitting toughened glass in your door frame can help by providing greater impact resistance.

Whilst a suitably determined intruder could break into toughened glass, it would require the use of rather attention-grabbing methods, and the louder they are, the more likely it is that someone will notice and the police will be called.

Use A Dual Technology Alarm

Raising the alarm is a great idea if you are worried about a break-in, but one problem with some passive infrared alarms is that the more extreme temperature changes you get in a conservatory compared to the rest of the house can potentially create false positives, which can affect readiness.

Instead, use a dual technology sensor, which combines PIR with microwave technology, which makes it more reliable in warmer weather and helps you to know that if the sensor goes off, there is an intruder and it is time to act accordingly.

Remove Hiding Spots

Keeping bins in a secure, orderly place and trimming back large parts of the shrubbery may not seem to be all that important, but the fewer hiding spots available for burglars, the safer your conservatory will be.

How Your Conservatory Repairs Can Be Made To Last

There is no doubt that the UK has had some of its most prolonged periods of wet weather on record. Even by the standards of the UK, the inclement conditions have been tough to endure for anyone whose vocabulary extends beyond the word “quack”.

While some headlines have focused on the impact on this year’s likely agricultural output, others have noted how hard it has been to do any work on residential properties. The National Home Building Council has just revealed significant year-on-year drops in registrations and completions of new homes in the first quarter, partly thanks to the weather.

Just as it will have been hard to carry out work on building new homes afresh, so the weather may have hampered repair work. That will have been all the more galling for anyone needing conservatory leak repairs, not least as the reminders that these were necessary will have been delivered time and again, requiring lots of mopping and carefully placed buckets.

Hopefully, the weather will soon start playing ball and staying drier as Britain moves into summer. But hot conditions can also bring heavy thunderstorms, which can show flaws in the condition of many a roof.

Indeed, a huge cloudburst over Manchester on May 12th highlighted ongoing issues with perhaps the most notoriously leaky roof in Britain, that of Old Trafford Football Ground. The deluge that found its way through every weakness led to cascades of water onto seats, down the steps, and even into one of the dressing rooms.

Of course, a problem on that scale is much greater than most people’s homes will ever face. That is, after all, a huge stadium, and the roof is just one of many shortcomings that have led to suggestions that the whole edifice may be rebuilt or replaced with a new one next door.

That is way beyond what you would want to have done with your home. But it does beg a question; whatever was done to the stadium roof to tackle a long-standing problem was clearly not adequate. Could your conservatory similarly, albeit on a smaller scale, suffer the same, with repairs coping with a bit of rain but not a heavy storm?

The answer lies in having the most skilled, experienced professionals carry out the task. Leaky spots need to be sealed effectively. Drainage that siphons water away needs to be sufficient for heavy rain, which is why keeping gutters clear is so important.

A claim made at Old Trafford was that the drainage system was simply overwhelmed by the volume of rain, with more falling in one storm than in the whole of May last year. But if a changing climate means storms like this – and rainfall levels in general – are going to be more common and more severe, excuses won’t cut it.

That means your repair work should not just be a mere patching-up job, but something that can add extra drainage and resilience to help your conservatory cope. That way, it will withstand lots more wet weather next winter and beyond.

Indeed, it could be that the repairs will be sufficiently robust and enduring to still be keeping your conservatory dry by the time Manchester United finally sort out their stadium – and even build a team worthy of playing in it.

When Should A Conservatory Be Replaced Rather Than Repaired?

For the most part, it is much better to repair than replace. It is often more affordable, more convenient and less wasteful to make what you currently have better than to demolish it and start afresh.

This is very much the case with conservatories, and repair should always be the first step a homeowner considers, as a lot of extensive work can be done by experts to make your existing conservatory the best it can possibly be.

Many common complaints of older conservatories such as the heat in summer, cold in winter, leaks, draughts and the glare of the sun can be worked around through extensive repairs.

However, there can be times when a replacement conservatory becomes more than a preference and instead becomes a necessity because the ageing conservatory as it exists is effectively unusable.

It Is Not Big Enough

Repairs can make a space more comfortable, and refurbishments can make it more functional, but if the conservatory is fundamentally too small for your needs, there is not a lot you can do about it other than replace it.

Generally, this happens when a conservatory is made for one purpose and then needs to be retrofitted into another. A lot of older conservatories were exceptionally small sunrooms that typically only fit a small number of people into them.

It was a particular style that was popular during a time when homes having a sunroom were seen as something of a novelty, but over the years as needs change and houses change owners, size can be a major problem.

If There Is A Significant Issue

Most conservatories can be refurbished, upgraded and given a new lease on life with new doors, windows or even roofing. However, if the base or major structural elements have deteriorated, then it may be unsafe to keep it in its current condition.

Depending on the exact problem, certain elements may need to be replaced, there may need to be a like-for-like replacement, or the foundation base the conservatory is built on may need to be replaced. Each of these options has different cost implications.

You Wish To Sell Your Home

Typically, extensions to your home are beneficial to house prices, because they offer additional space and added value to a property, but this tends to primarily be the case for newer, bigger conservatories. In fact, the wrong conservatory can have the opposite effect on house prices.

Part of the reason for this is that a bad conservatory gives a poor impression of a home. Even if the rest of the property made an excellent impression, a poorly planned or designed conservatory can deeply discourage a potential buyer.

A prospective homeowner will be looking for potential, and if they cannot see much of a future in the conservatory that already exists, it is going to put them off as they know they will need to spend more to get rid of it, need to get planning permission for this work and delay moving in.

It can just be easier to replace the conservatory entirely, but discuss this with an estate agent first before you take such a big step.