With sunshine and warmer summer temperatures, going about daily life is so much more pleasant. We can enjoy the garden, whether that’s tending to plants or watching the children play.
Enjoying the summer in the conservatory is what it was meant for, but for some older conservatories, this isn’t possible. Escalating summer temperatures means slowly roasting in uncomfortable heat in the conservatory.
Tips for staying cool in the conservatory
Install a ceiling fan
Contributing to uncomfortably high temperatures in the conservatory is still air. If you don’t have a through draft in your conservatory, it will feel oppressive and unusable. Keep cool and carry on with a ceiling-mounted fan that creates a pleasant downdraft of air. Moving the air around the conservatory, you can leave the fan switched on throughout the day.
Throw open the conservatory door as soon as possible (and leave it open)
Before the heat of the day really takes hold, suck in vital fresh air by opening the conservatory door and windows. With the ceiling fan gently rotating, creating movement of air can keep the temperature at a more pleasurable and enjoyable level.
Shading
People love their conservatories for all kinds of reasons, one of which is the vast expanse of glass, light and the view it allows of the garden.
However, sunlight pouring in is harsh – bleaching soft furnishings in the conservatory, as well as increasing the temperature to ‘roasting level’. Shading the conservatory is certainly an option worth considering.
Light isn’t blocked completely but blinds at the window filter both the harsh light and temperature, perfect for enjoying the conservatory throughout the summer.
Air conditioning
Keeping cool in the conservatory is an issue many homeowners face. Keeping it cool in summer and warmer in winter can mean changes, especially when homeowners have inherited a conservatory when they bought their property, something @ThisIsMoney recently explored.
When replacing the conservatory isn’t an option, introducing an air conditioning unit is an option worth exploring. In simple terms, the air conditioning unit sucks in hot air, circulates it around an internal system that removes the heat and allows cooler air to be circulated in the conservatory.
They work best when the doors and windows are closed, and can be useful for keeping the conservatory cool when not in use. You can opt for a stand-alone system or invest in an integral system if excessive heat in the conservatory is a real issue.
Cool colour palettes
A cool colour in the conservatory can also help to create the feeling of a cooler space. Ditch vibrant white that tends to reflect heat and light around the conservatory, opting for cool pastel shades instead. Light blue is perfect for a cool interior, as is a pastel yellow shade.
A too-hot conservatory is frustrating because it stops you from enjoying the space at the time of year it was really meant for. A refurbished or redesigned conservatory may be the best step forward.