Building your own conservatory comes with countless benefits: you can tweak the design as much as you’d like, gain a sense of pride in a job well done, and save thousands on labour fees. Of course, it does come with a fair few challenges. One of them is figuring out how to make it as energy-efficient as possible.

Thanks to their glass-heavy design, conservatories often fall short when it comes to insulation. This results in excessive heat loss during winter and overheating in summer. Beyond impacting the overall comfort of your home, it also means you’ll need to run your heating or air conditioning for longer, driving up energy bills and making your space less eco-friendly. Luckily, there are plenty of steps you can take when building your conservatory to boost its insulation and make it a comfortable year-round space.

At Trade Price Warmer Living, we’re here to support both new and seasoned DIYers in maximising the benefits of their new home addition. Below, we’ve explored the four best ways to improve the insulation of your conservatory.

1. Invest in an energy-efficient roof

Conservatory roofs are wide, spacious areas constantly exposed to the elements, which is why a poorly insulated roof is the biggest reason a conservatory will lose heat in winter and gain it in summer. To tackle this, it’s essential to invest in a high-performance, energy-efficient roof that will act as a barrier to heat transfer.

At Trade Price Warmer Living, we offer DIY extension kits that come with state-of-the-art Warmer Roof technology. Our advanced roof system includes 125mm multi-foil honeycomb insulation layered with an additional 53mm of insulated plasterboard. This premium insulation improves energy efficiency while helping regulate the temperature inside the conservatory, resulting in a consistently cosy space throughout the year.

2. Choose the right frame materials

The frame is the backbone of your conservatory – it’s the skeleton on which all other components are built. For this reason, choosing frame materials with high insulation properties is crucial.

Timber comes out as one of the best options because it efficiently traps heat within small air pockets, reducing conduction and boosting thermal efficiency. Even better, choosing sustainably sourced timber frames (like the ones supplied by Trade Price Warmer Living) gives you extra eco-friendly points compared to other choices.

3. Install double-glazed windows and doors

Single-glazed windows and doors are notorious for letting energy escape, causing rapid heat loss in winter and letting in too much heat during summer. In contrast, double-glazed windows and doors – that is, windows and doors with two panes of glass separated by an air or gas space – are much better at preventing heat transfer. They create an insulating barrier that helps keep a consistent temperature in your conservatory, making it more comfortable throughout the year. This is why we only supply double-glazed windows and doors in our DIY kits.

4. Add blinds or curtains

Blinds and curtains serve as dynamic barriers against heat gain and loss. In summer, they can effectively block out sunlight and prevent the conservatory from becoming uncomfortably hot. In winter, when sunlight is more scarce, blinds can be drawn to trap heat inside, reducing reliance on artificial heating. It’s even better if you can integrate your blinds inside your double-glazed windows, as they’ll leave even smaller gaps between themselves and your window panes.