Sunrooms near you

Schedule 2 to the Building Regulations 2010 lists exempt buildings and work, and Class 7 covers extensions at ground level consisting of a conservatory, porch, covered yard, covered way, or a carport open on at least two sides, where the floor area does not exceed 30 square metres. The Schedule attaches a condition to the glazed ones: where the extension is wholly or partly glazed, the glazing has to satisfy the relevant requirements of Part K of Schedule 1, which deals with protection from falling, collision and impact.

The Planning Portal translates that into the conditions a conservatory has to keep. It must be built at ground level and be less than 30 square metres in floor area; it must be separated from the house by external quality walls, doors or windows; there should be an independent heating system with separate temperature and on/off controls; the glazing and any fixed electrical installations must comply with the applicable building regulations requirements; and it must be single storey.

Two consequences follow that owners frequently miss. The Planning Portal states that any new structural opening between the conservatory and the existing house will require building regulations approval even if the conservatory itself is an exempt structure - so knocking the back wall out is a controlled job whatever the glazed box in front of it is. And the exemption is not a one-off event: it describes a condition the room has to keep. Take the separating doors out later, or run the house heating into it, and you no longer have what Class 7 describes. Schedule 2 applies in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own exemptions.

Nothing about the building regulations exemption affects planning. A glazed room on the back of a house is an enlargement of the dwellinghouse, and in England it is assessed against the householder permitted development limits for extensions - the proportion of the land around the original house that may be covered, the depth and height limits for a single-storey rear extension, eaves heights near a boundary, and the additional restrictions that apply on designated land. Those limits are set out in our general contractor guide and are not repeated here.

Three situations change the answer. Flats and maisonettes have no householder permitted development rights at all. A listed building needs listed building consent for work affecting its special interest, and a large glazed addition usually does. And an article 4 direction or a planning condition on a newer estate can remove the rights entirely, which is a local document rather than a national rule.

Because the room is usually at the back, the neighbour question is less about planning than about daylight and overlooking. Where the sunroom runs up to a boundary wall shared with the house next door, the work may also engage party wall procedures in England and Wales - covered in our basement renovation and landscape design guides - and those notice periods belong in the programme rather than being discovered when the foundations are marked out.

The complaint about British conservatories is always the same and it is a consequence of the exemption rather than of bad building. A room that is mostly glass, thermally separated from the house and heated independently will overheat in summer and lose heat quickly in winter, because that is what a lightweight glazed box does. Solar control glazing, opening vents at high and low level, blinds and a shaded aspect all help; nothing makes it behave like a room with insulated walls.

Condensation is the winter version of the same problem. Warm moist air from the kitchen reaches the coldest surfaces in the house and runs down them. Keeping the separating doors closed is not an arbitrary regulatory requirement - it is what stops the conservatory becoming the dehumidifier for the rest of the house.

The third problem is the one that appears at sale. A conservatory that has had its separating doors removed, or that has been connected to the house heating system, has quietly become an extension built without approval. The remedy is usually a regularisation application, and the work needed to pass one - insulation, ventilation, sometimes a new roof - can cost more than building it properly at the outset. If the room you want is open to the kitchen and warm in winter, design it as an extension from day one.

What moves a price here is which of the three rooms you are actually buying. A separated glazed conservatory on a simple base is one thing; an orangery with a solid perimeter, a lantern and a structural opening into the kitchen is a different order of work. Beyond that: ground conditions and how deep the foundations have to go, whether there is a drain or a sewer in the way, how the new roof ties into the existing one, the glazing specification, whether underfloor heating and an insulated slab are involved, and how much of the existing rear wall is being removed and what has to carry the load afterwards.

LokalMatch handles only the introduction. Describe the room you want once, with your postcode and whether you want it separated or open to the house, and installers and builders covering your area will get in touch. Homeowners pay nothing to use the service and pros pay for the leads they receive. LokalMatch does not do the work, does not set prices, and does not vet, rank or recommend any business that replies, so satisfy yourself about their previous jobs and their insurance before you sign.