DIY Advantages

As a DIY project, you can be confident in the final result of your conservatory. You can take as much time as you want on the building, paying attention to those bits you feel are necessary. Should you hire a contractor, you may be more likely to rush any sticking points or issues in a quest to save money. Though it is unlikely that your final result will be customised to your tastes (with most conservatories being pre-manufactured), the project is ultimately up to you.

You will also have the pride of knowing that the conservatory was your effort and hard work. You will be familiar with every millimetre of your conservatory, and can be justifiably proud of it.

You can also be your own project manager; either taking a week of work to complete the conservatory, or doing it piecemeal during the weekend and in evenings.

If you wish to build a conservatory yourself, you can follow these steps, although it is important to note that these are fairly generic, and so may not apply to your exact conservatory design. In this case, the guide is based on a simple conservatory attached to some patio doors on a single wall of a house.

1. Once you have marked out the area for your conservatory, you can begin to excavate the footing. You will need to dig to a depth of 450mm in order to provide sufficient stability and strength. You may need to dig deeper depending on the soil in your garden.
2. If your excavation uncovers a utility pipe, you should add reinforcement around it, such as a concrete mesh foundation, or concrete lintels over the pipe.
3. Concrete should now be poured into your footing trench; it should be at least 150mm thick. Ensure the concrete is free from air bubbles, and is smooth and level on top.
4. Build the inner half of the cavity wall up to floor level, before laying hardcore to a minimum of 100mm deep, and compacting it.
5. On top of this, sand should be laid to prevent any stones from tearing the waterproof membrane
6. Lay a membrane (a sheet of plastic) over the sand, and lap it over the inner leaf of brickwork. On top of this, you may add floor insulation if you deem it necessary.
7. Another layer of concrete should be added now; this one should be 100mm thick. This layer should be floated, so that it is suitable to lay tiles on. If you wish to carpet the floor, you should add a screeded floor finisher or a self-levelling compound.
8. You can now build the exterior wall. Try to match the material to your home as best as possible. The inner wall should be built to the same level, using the same bricks as the exterior wall.
9. The next step requires you to remove bricks from your house, in order to insert cavity trays, which will protect your conservatory and wall. While not essential, it is a worthwhile investment in the long term.
10. With the cavity trays positioned, you will need to replace bricks in the wall, and re-point the joints between the bricks.
11. You can now start building the PVCu conservatory. Start by fitting the sill to the dwarf wall.
12. You can now start attaching the side frames to the sill. The eaves can now be applied; these will attach differently depending on the fitting system you use.
13. Next, the polycarbonate glazing panels for the roof are inserted; though you may instead select double-glazing units.
14. You may now add the glazing units to the side windows.
15. You should now add any electrical cables for ceiling suspended light fittings or fans.
16. After inserting electrical cables, you can now apply fascias to the eaves, to complete the appearance of the conservatory.