The short answer is yes. A properly built solid roof is the single most effective way to stop a conservatory being unbearable in summer and freezing in winter. But you shouldn’t have to take that on faith, so here’s the why, backed by independent industry figures rather than our own marketing.
Why your conservatory is too hot and too cold
Most conservatories have a roof made of polycarbonate or glass. Both look bright and airy, and both are poor insulators. In the cold months they let your heat pour straight out, and on sunny days they let solar heat flood straight in. That’s why the same room can feel like a fridge in January and a greenhouse in July, and why so many people end up shutting the door on a room they paid good money for.
The roof is the main culprit. The Energy Saving Trust, an independent organisation, estimates that a typical uninsulated home loses around a quarter of its heat through the roof. A conservatory is worse than a typical room, because nearly the whole roof is a thin, single skin of glass or plastic with almost no insulating value at all. That’s also why heating one in winter costs so much, and why condensation and that cold, damp feeling are so common.
The science: what a U-value tells you
The cleanest way to compare roofs is the U-value, the industry’s standard measure of how quickly heat passes through a material. The lower the number, the better the insulation. The figures speak for themselves:
- A standard polycarbonate roof: roughly 1.6 to 2.4 W/m²K
- A typical glass roof: roughly 1.0 to 2.8 W/m²K
- A modern insulated solid roof: around 0.15 W/m²K
That isn’t a small improvement, it’s a different league. A solid roof at 0.15 lets through only a tiny fraction of the heat that an old polycarbonate roof at 2.0 does. This is the physics behind why a solid roof works, and it’s the same physics whatever brand is on the box.
What the building regulations require
This isn’t just marketing maths. Since June 2022, England’s Building Regulations (Part L, which governs the conservation of fuel and power) require a replacement conservatory roof to reach a U-value of 0.15 W/m²K. In other words, the standard a proper solid roof has to meet is set by law, not by the company selling it.
Better still, you don’t have to take the installer’s word that a roof meets that figure. Leading warm-roof systems are tested by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), an independent body that verifies thermal performance. When a roof’s U-value has been checked by the BRE rather than simply claimed in a brochure, you know the number is real. It’s also worth knowing that a solid roof replacement is notifiable work: it has to be signed off by building control, so a compliant installation comes with a completion certificate you’ll want when you eventually sell.
How the Aura roof achieves it
Our Aura lightweight tiled roof is built to clear that 0.15 target comfortably. Rather than a single thin skin, it’s a layered system: two layers of foam insulation, a structural OSB board, your choice of tiles or slates on top, and a plastered ceiling beneath. Each layer does a job, and together they turn the weakest part of your conservatory into one of the best-insulated parts of your home.
Pick up a sample and you can feel the difference in your hands. It’s the difference between a tea towel and a duvet.
And the proof on the ground
Theory and regulations matter, but so does experience. We’ve fitted over 700 conservatory roofs, of every shape and size, on every type of property, facing every direction. North-facing rooms that never warmed up, south-facing rooms that cooked all summer: the result is the same. The room becomes comfortable and stays comfortable.
That consistency is why we’re confident enough to guarantee it. With an Aura roof you’ll be able to use the room comfortably, and affordably, 365 days a year, and it’s all backed by our 10-year guarantee.
The honest bit
A solid roof isn’t magic, and we won’t pretend otherwise. You’ll lose some of the bright, sky-lit feel of an all-glass roof, though we can add roof windows to keep plenty of natural light coming in. And because good insulation keeps warmth in, on the very hottest days of the year you’ll still want a window or door open, just like any other room in the house. What changes is that the extremes disappear: no more furnace, no more icebox.
The bottom line
A solid roof solves conservatory temperature problems because it fixes the actual cause, an uninsulated roof leaking heat in both directions. The independent figures from the Energy Saving Trust, the standard set by the building regulations, the independent testing carried out by the BRE, and over 700 of our own installations all point the same way. Get the roof right, and you get a proper room back.