Tuesday February 7, 2012 at 9:34am
Since we introduced energy rated windows across our full range of DIY conservatories we have seen an upturn in demand and they have generated a great deal of interest. The fact that we can supply them at no extra cost has also not gone unnoticed. We did our research and asked potential customers what were the biggest disadvantages of owning a conservatory. Virtually everyone said that keeping it warm at this time of year was a costly process.
With the addition of our standard C rated windows in....
Friday February 3, 2012 at 10:23am
Now that the exitement of Christmas is a distant memory, this is the ideal time to start planning for your new DIY conservatory. I know that the weather is munus 9 degrees at the moment, but it will not stay that way for long and before you know it, Spring wiil be upon us.
The planning of your new conservatory is best done now. Building work in these conditions is not ideal, so why not wander around the projected site and start measuring up. Also check for problems like manhole covers and waste....
Tuesday January 31, 2012 at 10:53am
We have been asked in the past about what options we have when it comes to the doors that we supply with our DIY conservatory kits. Obviously most people go for the standard French door which opens out but this is by no means all that we can supply.
I have just quoted a conservatory with French doors in the front wall and two single doors one at each end. It makes no odds to us if they open in or out - we can provide both options. We were also asked if a standard single door could be adapted to....
Friday January 27, 2012 at 6:01pm
Before even starting out on the design of your new conservatory there are a couple of things to bear in mind. When we design the DIY conservatory we obviously use a number of computers. These do not understand feet and inches so please use metric measurements throughout! We also require accurate measurements - a customer came in today and asked us if it would be ok if he was a couple of inches out here and there. We don't think so!! So in order to avoid any awkwardness, please measure things sev....
Thursday January 26, 2012 at 2:07pm
Just to let you all know out there, Prior DIY conservatories are the leading DIY conservatory company supplying the West Midlands. We have been manufacturing our self builds now for twenty five years and have seen a marked increase in sales recently since we started to incorporate energy rated windows in each of them.
There are very significant advantages in useing these windows in a conservatory and it seems that the public have realized this! For your chance to get the coservatory that you al....
Tuesday January 24, 2012 at 12:28pm
We have never said that we are the cheapest at Prior DIY conservatories. Rather we are mid range when it comes to pricing. However what you get for paying that little, and it is only a little, extra is a superb conservatory of your style and choice of size which has been specially manufactured just for you here in South Warwickshire.
It is down to this bespoke aspect that we are so successful. We will not provide a 3 x 3 Edwardian and tell you to like it or lump it just because you actually wan....
Friday January 20, 2012 at 3:48pm
We occasionally have quite a laugh here at Prior Conservatories! I have been quoting a conservatory for a very discerning customer over the past few days who quite rightly went and got other quotes from the major national double glazing companies.
My aim is to keep the price as low as possible whilst giving the customer the very best DIY conservatory possible. After all we use energy rated windows in all of ours and very high quality PVCu profiles from Rehau Ltd. We use the best available roof ....
Thursday January 19, 2012 at 2:28pm
When you receive the specification sheet for your new Prior DIY conservatory it will list the roof glazing, window frame glazing, handle colours and any extras like roof vents. Which parts of the conservatory do we supply or not?
If your conservatory is a full height variety with or without panels, obviously you will get everything from the cill upwards. This would typically include all of the frames for the sides, the entire roof and roof glazing, all rain water goods, hinges, handles for wind....
Tuesday January 17, 2012 at 8:35am
DIY conservatories are finding favour more and more these days with people who want to extend their living space. Compared to a brick built extension, they are cheap, lighter inside, more versatile in their design and can truly bring your garden into the house. With general DIY skills, they can be easily erected and if you already have an existing base, most of the hard work has already been done.
Prior DIY conservatories are available in a wide range of styles and there is bound to be one that....
Wednesday January 11, 2012 at 3:11pm
If you are looking for a DIY conservatory but are on a tight budget, please take a look at our heavily discounted ones on this site.These modular conservatories are dicounted to trade prices with up to 65% off!
All we would add to the prices shown is the delivery charge, which works on a post code system. Give us a call and see how much conservatory you can buy for how little outlay!....
Tuesday January 10, 2012 at 1:37pm
We are often asked how easy or hard it is to build a DIY conservatory. It is not very difficult but obviously the instructions we provide are there to be read. The vital part is the basework. As long as the base is built exactly to our plans, then the rest is easy. We will provide extensive plans to help you with the frame attachment, the roof assembly and glazing the conservatory.
In addition on this website there are a good number of guides to assist with all aspects of conservatory construct....
Monday January 9, 2012 at 11:49am
Now that is is the second week of the New Year and everyone is returning to work and a state of normality, this is the ideal time to think about your new DIY conservatory. If you had the whole family over for Christmas, you ought to know how much extra space you could do with. A Prior DIY conservatory is a superb way of extending your living space without costing the earth.
Also, unlike most other companies, we fit all of our self build conservatories with energy rated PVCu double glazed w....
Tuesday January 3, 2012 at 11:23am
Well by now you have seen enough turkey to last until next Christmas and the endless re runs of films should have put you off watching the telly for weeks. The beloved family will have gone their seperate ways and at last you have the house back to yourself!
Remember how cramped it was this Christmas with all of those people sitting around and argueing? Now is the time to think about that extra space that one of our superb Prior DIY conservatories. As we have had many years of experience in all....
Thursday December 22, 2011 at 8:21am
The entire staff here at Prior Conservatories would like to thank all of our existing customers for using our products over the past year and beyond. We have had a fantastic response since introducing energy rated windows to all of our self build conservatories and we know that you have felt the benefits!
To anyone planning a new DIY conservatory for the spring, now is the time to think about the design, the size and contact us from January 3rd to get the process underway. You will be assured o....
Wednesday December 21, 2011 at 2:36pm
Rather than move house, why not gain a load of extra space cheaply with a Prior DIY conservatory? Over the Christmas period we get loads of enquiries for bespoke quotes as people have had the time over the holiday to realize that they need more space and also have had the time to draw up some rough plans.
When we start back up on 3rd January 2012, we will begin the processs of converting those rough sketches into something that looks like a conservatory. We will then email the results back to t....
Monday December 19, 2011 at 4:34pm
Just to let you all know, we are shutting down for Christmas from mid day on the 22nd of December until January 3rd 2012. If you have requested an online quote and have not had a reply, this will be the reason for it. We would normally reply within 24 hours but please allow us some time to catch up on the backlog in January!....
Wednesday December 14, 2011 at 11:45am
In case you have not noticed, you have now run out of time to order a Prior DIY conservatory for this year. I would hazard a guess that you have other things on the go at the moment, what with Chrismas and how to contain the in laws over the festive season!
However, this is a good time to start thinking about next spring and over the Christmas break, if you are lucky enough to get one, would be an ideal time to start planning a new conservatory for the New Year. As we offer a wide range of stan....
Thursday December 8, 2011 at 3:53pm
Well, by now you will have been through the worst winds that we have encountered this year, with gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour. If you are sat in your Prior DIY conservatory in the warm and dry, you can afford to pat yourself on the back for following our building instructions and having an extremely strong and weatherproof conservatory as a result!
It is at times like these that the advantages of a DIY conservatory from Prior Conservatories becomes clear. Very strongly constructed and o....
Wednesday December 7, 2011 at 2:29pm
The Met Office have just issued severe weather warnings for most of the country starting from tomorrow. Winds in excess of eighty miles per hour are possible across parts of the country, with snow following on behind it.
If you have one of our DIY conservatories and you have assembled it as per the instructions that we provided then all of this wil not bother you and you will still be able to get full use out of your DIY conservatory throughout the festive season and beyond.
Prior DIY co....
Monday December 5, 2011 at 11:31am
There is no earthly point ordering one of our DIY conservatories not with a view to having it all up and running for Christmas. There are several reasons for this. If you have laid a new concrete base and built a dwarf wall, the condensation would be so bad at this time of year with the floor drying out that you may as well be in a tropical rain forest!
In order for the floor and dwarf walls to dry completely, plenty of ventilation is required. At this time of year that is something that you ma....
Friday December 2, 2011 at 4:29pm
Just occasionally we are asked if we could produce a DIY conservatory in something other than white, rosewood and golden oak PVCu. The latter two variants are already available with white on the inside of the conservatory. Well, it just so happens that we can!
We can offer eleven different colours, all with white on the inside and a wood grained effect on the outside. We have no problem with making these for you, but as we have to order the PVCu profile individually for each one, these are not ....
Thursday December 1, 2011 at 4:39pm
Well ok, it is still a few weeks away but it seems that certain people are not content with perfume or a new pair of socks as a present. We have had a flurry of last minute orders for our DIY conservatories! This is all well and good if it stays mild enough to do the groundwork but if not, then they are going to sat at home over the Christmas break looking at our lovely shiny PVCu double glazed windows and dreaming about next year when they can finally put it up and use it. ( We have been saying....
Tuesday November 29, 2011 at 2:59pm
Since loads of people have ordered a Prior DIY conservatory in the past few weeks, we were looking to see if there were any particular areas of the country that our self build conservatories seem to be going to on a regular basis. The results were quite odd to say the least!
Here we are, based in the heart of South Warwickshire so you would expect a lot of orders from the local area. This has been true as we have sold a few in Worcester, Alcester and other local towns and cities. However, there....
Monday November 28, 2011 at 4:35pm
If you sent in your pictures of your completed Prior DIY conservatory, many thanks for your time. Over the next weeks we will be adding them to our gallery. As promised none will be identified but you can bet that you will recognize yours when you see it. Just click on the image for a larger picture.
Many thanks once again.....
Friday November 25, 2011 at 10:00am
When we supply your new Prior DIY conservatory you get the fixing kit as well. Good job because there is now way that you would be able to put it all together without it! So what do we supply in the fixing kit?
We include the large wall anchors that fix the conservatory to your house brickwork and all of the various screws needed to attach the frames together. All silicone is also supplied so that there is no need to rush off to your local hardware store to pick up tubes of goo. Enough is suppl....
Thursday November 24, 2011 at 2:17pm
It would appear that virtually everyone who has bought one of our DIY conservatories has found them easy to fit, and quick too. The only problem that we ever encounter is where someone has not read the very detailed fitting instructions that we always supply.
The roofs come in numbered packs for ease of assembly. Starting with number one and using the contents until there are none left, you then start on pack two and so on. We do it this way so that you are not confronted with loads of strange ....
Wednesday November 23, 2011 at 2:46pm
After the trouble we take to make sure that your new Prior DIY conservatory is exactly as you would like it and is also of top quality, it is nice to hear from our customers and to find out what they thought of the whole experience of dealing with us here at Prior Conservatories Ltd.
Normally this would be found on our testimonials page, but we are altering the layout to make the testimonial section much better. So send us your photographs of the competed conservatory and send us a few lines ab....
Tuesday November 22, 2011 at 12:43pm
Because Prior DIY conservatories are not confined by buying in frames and selling on as many companies are, we can offer a full conservatory design and build service. We are not worried about odd sizes and slightly out of the ordinary designs and many of our customers have had this type of bespoke conservatory.
It is just as well that we do manufacture our own conservatory frames here as quite a number of customers have had quotes from other companies who cannot make what the customer actually ....
Monday November 21, 2011 at 11:01am
Most of our customers want to use their conservatory all year round. Now in the old days this would have meant huge heating bills due to the flimsy polcarbonate roofs that other companies would have used and either single or bog standard double glazed windows. Heat would escape from these as fast as you could put it in thus adding to Global warming and not doing your bank balance any favours.
With the rapid rise in energy prices, this is simply no longer an option. Our philosophy is somewhat de....
Wednesday November 16, 2011 at 12:21pm
When you get a Prior DIY conservatory, you should be aware that you are not getting a simple cheap clip together structure made with cheap components and sat on a prefabricated base. We do not like them and as a result, we dont' manufacture them.
What you are getting is a very accurately manufactured conservatory made from Rehau S706 PVCu profile, fully galvanized steel reinforced and made in large chunks. If one side of your new conservatory is say 3 metres long by 2.1 metres high, it wi....
Tuesday November 15, 2011 at 11:19am
We have had a full order book this year and we think that the reason for that has to be the introduction of our energy rated windows in our DIY conservatories. This is something that hardly anyone else does. Also a lot of orders have been recommendations from existing customers to other members of their friends and family.
If you are quick though, there is still time to order and have the conservatory up before Christmas. This assumes that we do not get snowed on to the extent of last year and ....
Tuesday November 8, 2011 at 2:01pm
We are quite regularly rung up by our customers after their Prior DIY conservatories have been delivered saying that the frames supplied by us are smaller than they should be! This only happens when the conservatory is sat on a dwarf wall.
We then have to explain that if the frames were exactly the same size as the dwarf wall, nothing would fit. You have to remember that the conservatory will sit on the inside of the outside brick of the cavity wall, so obviously the frames are not going to be....
Friday November 4, 2011 at 2:57pm
The above heading applies particularly if you are digging out the footings for your new DIY conservatory from Prior Conservatories, and trust me, there are quite a few of you doing this at the moment! Todays' heavy rain, flash floods, squalls and plagues of frogs are just what the ground needs after the very dry time that we have endured this year.
When digging out, the wetter is the better, without turning your footings trench into a moat, that is. Many of you get worried about concreting in t....
Wednesday October 26, 2011 at 1:52pm
Quite a few of our Prior DIY conservatories are South facing and as a result of the heat build up in summer, we regularly supply them with roof vents. These are ideal for letting the heat out from the top of the conservatory and thus generating a gentle breeze from the French doors and other opening windows.
These vents come in various flavours from manually operated by means of a brass or anodized pole connecting to a worm gear to electrically operated ones. The manually operated ones are the ....
Tuesday October 25, 2011 at 2:04pm
In reality, there is no 'best' design for a new conservatory. It entirely depends on what you want, what type of house you have and what space you have available. For the maximum amount of useable space there are three main designs, the leant - to, Edwardian and gable fronted. With straight walls these designs enable you to best furnish the conservatory whilst retaining the maximum living space as well. Also with the gable fronted and Edwardian styles, the extra height inside makes for a light a....
Wednesday October 19, 2011 at 2:34pm
Thats right folks, just a couple of months away from the annual visit from the inlaws, their friends and other family members that you thought you had forgotten about. What a lovely prospect, all shut up in your average sized house with no means of escape for a week or more. It's enough to make your blood run cold!
However at Prior Conservatories as usual, we have the answer and it is not too late to take our advice and make it happen. You know secretly that what you need is much more spac....
Monday October 17, 2011 at 9:42am
Although on this website we are obviously best known and focus upon our DIY conservatories, this is by no means the whole picture. We manufacture a complete range of modular and bespoke Lean to, Edwardian, Victorian, Gable fronted and P and T shaped DIY conservatories an these are available in a range of colours as well. We have also introduced our superb range of BFRC energy rated windows in all of our self builds.
These offer a significant advantage over standard PVCu double glazed windows us....
Friday October 14, 2011 at 12:26pm
We nearly had heart failure earlier today. A customer had had all of the plans for her new Prior DIY conservatory and that included comprehensive plans of the base. All of this had been signed off and we had manufactured the conservatory and roof and all was ready for eventual despatch when we had a call from the customer to say that the base, eg, dwarf wall was 160mm out on one end!
She asked us what we could do or suggest. Well the obvious thing would be to knock it all down and start afresh.....
Thursday October 13, 2011 at 4:49pm
When you are in the process of ordering one of our Prior DIY conservatories, we will at all stages provide you with up to date CAD images and base plans. This way we can adjust anything that needs it and you have a record of how far we have come with the design. It is all done by email for speed and ease and this way we can rapidly refine the conservatory until it is as you want it. We then send the final CAD images over to you to sign off and hey ho, away we go!....
Wednesday October 12, 2011 at 4:37pm
As the autumn advances slowly towards winter there is still plenty of time to get that concrete base laid or those footings dug out. In fact, after the dry summer, a little more wet weather would make the whole process easier as the ground is less likely to feel lick the concrete you are trying to put down!
As the base work is the most time consuming part of the whole build and must not be rushed for fear of making a mistake with the level or dwarf wall, we allow plenty of time for you to do th....
Tuesday October 11, 2011 at 11:08am
Not every DIY conservatory that we do is straight forward. There are sometimes things that get in the way of the conservatory site such as drain pipes or soil pipes. Normally with a little skill these can be moved or relocated so that they will not foul the conservatory.
However, there are other ossacles that can be more of a challenge. These would include central heating boiler flues which although placed at a reasonable height, would cost the earth to have moved. Another favourite is the good....
Monday October 10, 2011 at 1:54pm
One of the things that we like here at Prior Conservatories are the letters that we get from our customers. It should be remembered that virtually all of them have never had to put up a DIY conservatory before and the results are very often stunning!
" Martin, please find attached a photo of the conservatory we bought a few months ago. We are both absolutely delighted with the complete service you provided and the quality of the conservatory - we could not have been happier."
I have ....
Friday October 7, 2011 at 4:36pm
It is a well known fact that our customers go hyperactive at the weekends, digging holes for footings and generally mixing and pouring large amounts of concrete to get their bases ready. We here on the other hand have also been busy welding up the frames for their DIY conservatories and making certain that everything will go together as planned. At the same time we have been designing and fine tuning quotes for potential customers who are about to order.
We always allow three weeks from order t....
Wednesday October 5, 2011 at 2:57pm
We are not quite sure what has happened in the past few weeks but when it comes to our DIY conservatories, we have been rushed off our feet. Maybe it was the spell of nice weather or the fact that there is still time to erect a Prior DIY conservatory but we have been amazed.
The telephones have not stopped ringing and the demand for Edwardian and Victorian self builds has been great. These have been the bulk of our sales in the last month with the ever popular Lean-To coming a very close secon....
Friday September 30, 2011 at 3:08pm
As almost all of our DIY conservatories are bespoke and some by no means 'bog standard', it is very important that we get the design and finished sizes right. We never want to be in the awkward situation where we have a call from a customer saying that the conservatory does not fit.
So the way we deal with this is to allow the customer and / or their builder plenty of time to check out all of the detailed CAD images and plansa that we email them. This way, the customer gets it right and we know....
Wednesday September 28, 2011 at 11:52am
All of our DIY conservatories are supplied with 'C' rated windows as standard. This is because we like to do things a little differently and offer our customers more than just a standard double glazed conservatory. The advantages are obvious - heating a self build conservatory is much easier if the side windows do not let all the heat out as fast as you pump it in. Also, the reverse happens in the hot weather as they are very good at keeping the heat out as well..
However, as some of our custom....
Thursday September 22, 2011 at 3:23pm
Ok, the nights are drawing in well now, but there is still plenty of daylight at this time of year for doing the building work for your new Prior DIY conservatory. After all, it takes us three weeks to manufacture the conservatory from date of order, which will give your brickwork and concrete plenty of time to go off.
If you are worried about how long it takes to erect one of our DIY conservatories, well most can be put up in a weekend with a couple of people working and a good supply of tea. ....
Wednesday September 21, 2011 at 4:38pm
This does not happen too often, but it did today! We were asked to supply a DIY Prior conservatory to a customer up North. Nothing particularly unusual in that so we designed it and got the go ahead from the customer. However, at the last moment the customer sounded a little awkward and asked us how he would seal the polycarbonate roof around a six inch soil pipe.
Normally this is one of the first things we are asked and the answer is simple. Firstly, can the pipe be redirected? In this case th....
Monday September 19, 2011 at 2:21pm
Thats right folks, it is coming up to that time of year again when all of the savings you made during the spring and summer regarding your heating bills is going to be wiped out again! However, if you have a Prior DIY conservatory, this will be much less of an issue as it is fitted with BFRC approved energy rated windows as standard. This means that the conservatory is going to be easier to heat than the rest of your house.
The simplest way of keeping the conservatory at a reasonable heat level....
Thursday September 15, 2011 at 3:53pm
Not long ago we designed a conservatory for a customer in Cheltenham. At first it appeared to be a very straightforward affair - a good size and a fresh modern layout. Then we came across a series of little issues that left unchecked would have resulted in a conservatory that could not be fitted and the customer would quite rightly have asked for their money back!
Because we have no intention of getting into this position with any of our DIY conservatories, we asked for more specific measuremen....
Tuesday September 13, 2011 at 8:57am
We must be doing something right as the interest in the Prior DIY conservatories has shot up just lately! Possibly because we are now getting a lot of recommendations from existing customers to their friends and undoubtedly because of the use of our energy rated PVCu double glazed windows.
Hardly any other company offer this upgrade as standard and even fewer even manufacture their conservatories in the first place. This has certainly given us the edge as we have our own factory in South Warwic....
Friday September 9, 2011 at 12:39pm
We have been using our energy rated windows now for some time with our Prior DIY conservatories. Why do we do this? Simple - we can as we manufacture the windows ourselves. However the main reason for fitting them as standard to our conservatories is that hardly anyone else does.
We feel that there is no point having a nice shiny DIY conservatory that is too cold in winter or too hot to use in the summer. There is no point as it becomes almost unuseable for half the year. However with energy ra....
Thursday September 8, 2011 at 4:22pm
When it comes to designing a conservatory we are excellent at doing it. We are not shackled by modular sizes as we manufacture our own frames and as a result can design the conservatory that our customers want.
If the design is going beyond the safe scope of a self build, we will advise you as well. We do not want to sell you something that you need a degree in engineering to put up! After all, a lot of the pleasure in owning your DIY conservatory is the fact that you put the thing togeth....
Tuesday September 6, 2011 at 2:17pm
There is a very good reason why we allow three weeks mininum from order to delivery of our DIY conservatories. As the concrete base will have to be created usually from scratch, you need to allow sufficient drying tome for the base before the conservatory is added.
As mentioned in the last post, condensation can be a real issue until the base has dried out completely. As a rough guide you should allow a minimum of three weeks in the summer and longer if fitting in the winter for the base to dry....
Monday September 5, 2011 at 12:00pm
At this time of year where day and night time temperatures differ quite a lot, and with the shortening of daylight hours there is a chance od developing condensation in your conservatory. If it has only been up a few weeks the floor will probably not yet have completely dried out. By leaving the fanlights on lightvent positions, there is sufficient background ventillation to clear the excess moisture away overnight.
Wide variations of heat in the conservatory caused by turning the heating on an....
Thursday September 1, 2011 at 2:36pm
There is no denying that it was distinctly cool this morning. Thoughts turn inevitably to winter - long dark freezing nights and short, not quite so freezing days. However it is not all doom and gloom. People seem to be gearing up for erecting DIY conservatories before the foul weather hits us.
Bear in mind that a Prior DIY conservatory is fitted with energy rated windows as standard, so the ability to use it all the year round is already built in. But as you probably know, we do not just....
Wednesday August 31, 2011 at 12:33pm
Prior DIY Conservatories seem not to be going the way of the rest of the country. Maybe it is because we are putting BFRC energy rated windows in our DIY conservatories as a standard feature or maybe it is becuase these are top quality conservatories. We do not cut corners here and only manufacture the best Rehau S 706 based products.
Also, the conservatories that we sell seem to be getting bigger! This seems to be because people are not moving house anything like as much as before and want to ....
Thursday August 25, 2011 at 1:35pm
At Prior Conservatories we believe in doing things properly. As mentioned in the last post, the groundwork is vital to ensure that all remains in place for the life of the conservatory. We always strongly advise that in the case of a dwarf wall conservatory the footings are dug out to the correct depth and built in the right way to ensure complete success when building your new DIY conservatory.
We get asked every now and again about prefabricated steel bases. We know all about them and d....
Wednesday August 24, 2011 at 12:40pm
At Prior DIY conservatories we are always emphasizing the need to make certain that the groundwork on your conservatory are enough to support the weight of your new conservatory.
Our customers take heed of this stark warning but we have just heard from someone who went with another company and is now bitterly regretting the total lack of advise he was given. Most people thing that a conservatory will start to move if the ground is soaking wet. This may happen if the footings are not deep enough....
Tuesday August 23, 2011 at 11:40am
Whenever we send out a quote for one of our Prior DIY conservatories, we always email a small leaflet with the quote detailing the advantages of our PVCu double glazed energy rated windows. This leads to mote than the odd telephone call with people saying, 'I don't want windows, I only wanted the conservatory.'
Strangely enough, in most cases if you have the conservatory without the windows, there is not a lot left to hold up the roof which could conceivably be rather dangerous! We include the ....
Thursday August 18, 2011 at 3:22pm
We are based here in sunny South Warwickshire. You undoubtedly are not. Trouble is that sunny Warwickshire has suddenly not lived up to its' name and the heavens have opened today. Not only that but the BBQ we had planned for this Sunday looks to have gone out of the window because of the Met Office severe weather warning that had just flashed up on my screen! Poo!
You see there is a problem. I spend most of the week designing conservatories along with the rest of the team for you lucky people ....
Wednesday August 17, 2011 at 12:30pm
Most but by no means all of our Prior DIY conservatories are fitted with at least a single door, more usually a pair of French doors. The positioning of these is very much up to the customer and also depends on the conservatory site to a degree.
Most people opt for opening out French doors. This allows maximum use of the space inside the conservatory when they are open. We do offer inward opening French doors but seldom supply them for the reasons mentioned previously. We also get asked for sin....
Tuesday August 16, 2011 at 9:52am
For those of you who want something a little different, Prior Conservatories offer a range of feature glass units for the toplights of your conservatory. These range from leaded designs on clear glass to coloured designs on bevelled glass.
The full range can be seen on this website in the feature glazing section. So if you want to stand out from the crowd, this is certainly a way to do it. They look superb with the sunlight shining through them and at night they stand out when the conservatory ....
Monday August 15, 2011 at 4:38pm
We all know the Prior Conservatories do self build or DIY conservatories, but what else do we do? Well we think that you may be quite suprised!
How about a full range of energy rated PVCu windows in twenty colours, Bi fold doors in aluminium, Composite doors - a large range, Over door canopies, bow bases and canopies, a range of ornamental shutters, garden rooms, car ports in many sizes and shelters in various styles and sizes.
There you go! Not only do we have all of these products, but we ma....
Thursday August 11, 2011 at 2:57pm
We are always on the lookout for making our PVCu DIY conservatories a little better than the rest and recently we decided to use a different flag hinge on our French doors. This new one is slightly more robust and easier to adjust if the doors settle a little.
There does, howver, seem to be a little confusion, not about adjusting them, but how to get inside them for adjustment. So follow these steps... Open the doors so thay you can see the square recess on the inside of the hinge. With a flat ....
Wednesday August 10, 2011 at 3:46pm
If you want something a little different from our normal kind of DIY conservatory design, just let us know. We are used to designing almost anything within reason and if you wanted something unusual such as single doors at both ends and French doors in the middle, this is not a problem. This is another reason why Prior Conservatories are number one in the UK.....
Tuesday August 9, 2011 at 3:18pm
when you purchase one of our superb, easy to put up Prior DIY conservatories, obviously we offer a warranty. This applies when the conservatory has been fitted as per our instructions. The Rehau S706 PVCu frames are covered for a period of ten years against discolouration, warping or cracking. In practise they will last many times longer than this.
The glass double glazed argon filled units are covered for four years against seal failure provided that they have been fitted correctly. Again in p....
Monday August 8, 2011 at 12:15pm
I'm not quite sure how Sunday was for you but over here in sunny Warwickshire, the heavens opened in the afternoon. It was hard to see anything more than a few yards away and I discovered a major leak in my gutter that I didn't even know that I had.
This prompted me to think about gutters as you do. The rain was so ferocious that it was knocking the leaves from the Oak trees outside the house. I know from the photos that many of you have sent in to Prior Conservatories that a lot of you have l....
Friday August 5, 2011 at 1:58pm
We supply our DIY conservatories unglazed. The reason for this is twofold. The first reason is that the frames are large and would be very hard to handle with the glass pre-installed. We make our conservatories in as few frames as possible. Therefore in a 4 metre by 4 metre conservatory, at least two of the frames would be 4metres long and up to 2.1 metres high. Also, they are steel reinforced and with the glass in, you would not be able to move them!
The second reason that we supply the frames....
Thursday August 4, 2011 at 4:29pm
We are often asked how long it will take to finalize the design of a particular DIY conservatory. This rather depends on how good you are at measuring things, building brickwork, and agreeing on the exact design that you want!
We can design a conservatory from scratch in about fifteen minutes - that is the easy part. We would then email the CAD images of it to you and you will email back saying that a, it is fine like that, or b, wanting some alterations doing to it. We do not mind how long it ....
Wednesday August 3, 2011 at 12:13pm
You will most likely have seen almost every picture of a conservatory with an ornamental ceiling fan bolted into the roof space. Some are fans only and some are light and fan combinations. Are they needed?
Obviously the fact that many have lights would be a bonus in the dark, but as all of the fans are reversible, they also have other uses as well. In the winter they can be used to blow the trapped heat in the roof down in the Gable, Edwardian and Victorian style conservatories with a....
Tuesday August 2, 2011 at 1:59pm
As you may or may not have noticed, today is rather warm and the Prior Conservatories team are melting in amongst hot computers and printers. It has to be said that it is probably hotter outside. This time of year a conservatory can become like a blast furnace if a little forward planning has not gone into designing it.
Obviously if it is South facing, some sort of reflective polycarbonate roofing such as 'heat guard' will have been used, or in the case of a glass roof, one of the antisun grade....
Monday August 1, 2011 at 1:39pm
A number of the DIY conservatories that we are asked to manufacture are to replace existing timber or aluminium structures. For a company who buys in and sells on their conservatories, this would be almost impossible to do. Fortunately, for us this is easy as we do actually manufacture!
In our factory we have a team of highly skilled craftsmen who know the window, door and conservatory business backwards. To date, we have not had a problem with any DIY conservatory. This is because we are very ....
Friday July 29, 2011 at 1:37pm
This blog would apply to any conservatory - self build or supplied and fitted, but more important to the DIY 'er. In order to prevent some costly mistakes later, there are some very simple guidelines that need to be adhered to.
Firstly there is the site its self. Think about access to the site and remember that our conservatories are made in as few seperate frames as possible. Therefore some of them are going to be big. These are not suitable for taking through the interior of your house! You w....
Thursday July 28, 2011 at 2:01pm
Energy rated double glazed PVCu windows are the latest and best developement in PVCu window technology. The aim is to save a dramatic amount of heating fuel during the colder months and by so doing lessen the impact on the climate and the release of greenhouse gases.
If the whole of the UK had these windows fitted, the major energy companies would not be making the truly massive profits that they are at present. ( However, I am quite sure that they would find a way to redress this situation! )....
Wednesday July 27, 2011 at 12:21pm
Always a good subject to get people going is the need for planning permission for a DIY conservatory! There are clear indicators to be found on the internet about what you can and cannot do or have. On of the main ones is whether you are allowed to have one at all. Believe it or not, there are areas of the UK where it is forbidden to build a conservatory, or even put cladding onto an existing property.
If you live in certain locations you can either give up on the idea and move house or see how....
Tuesday July 26, 2011 at 9:24am
The short answer is that you do not have to have it. Some people prefer a flat ridge because it gives a nice smooth outline to the conservatory roof and has a more 'modern' look to it.
There are a few practical reasons for having cresting on the roof though, but I am not entirely convinced . It is said that birds will not land on the ridge if cresting is used, and subsequently will not poo all over your nice self cleaning glass roof. I am not too sure who came up with this theory because my nei....
Thursday July 21, 2011 at 2:01pm
When someone orders one of our DIY conservatories from the website direct, they end up with a VAT inclusive price for the conservatory. It should be noted that this does not cover getting the conservatory from a to b.
Whilst we are situated in the heart of rural Warwickshire, obviously a lot of our customers are not. To make the delivery charge fair on everyone, we have a scale of charges relating to the customers' post code. Therefore if you live in the local area, say Coventry, Worcester, Ban....
Wednesday July 20, 2011 at 3:52pm
Here at Prior Conservatories we can usually come up with a bespoke solution to a conservatory design problem. However, with many years of experience behind us, we know when the design the customer wants has gone from being a DIY job to a professional fitters domain. Therefore we do occasionally explain to potential customers that the job that they are looking at will end in tears unless a fully qualified fitting team are involved. This obviously detracts from the whole point of a self build cons....
Tuesday July 19, 2011 at 2:32pm
Despite being careful planners, sometimes things work out a little odd, to put it mildly. Take todays' deliveries for instance. Yes we knew about the delivery to West wales - that was planned, along with the one to Brecon, which after all was on route so no problem.
So how did one end up in Plymouth? Lots of head scratching later and we realized that another conservatory for Taunton had been moved back two weeks because the builder did not have the base in any kind of state to put the DIY conse....
Friday July 15, 2011 at 11:02am
Looking at the title of this post, the obvious thing would be furniture. However, although this may be the case in ninety nine percent of conservatories, some of our customers have gone one better!
We have one customer who is a fish fanatic and every side of his North facing conservatory is lined with fish tanks with tropical monsters in them. We did mention that there would be an issue with condensation, but he is not bothered.The conservatory resembles a sea life centre, but that is how he l....
Thursday July 14, 2011 at 11:59am
At this time of year when the grass is growing strongly - or would if we had any regular rain, we get a lot of calls from existing customers asking about replacing double glazed units. Not just for the fun of it, but rather that their mower has picked up a stone and hurled it through one of the toughened double glazed units in the conservatory
You can bet your bottom dollar that it will have hit one of the large ones as well, such as in French doors! These toughened units are by no means cheap ....
Wednesday July 13, 2011 at 11:27am
Although our DIY Prior Conservatories normally come supplied with a minimum of two top opening windows, there is no reason why you should only have this type of opener in them. Another option for better ventillationn would be a side hung window as lng as it is not too large, or a top hung window that pushes out from the bottom.
Just let us know what you want and we will incorporate these other opening windows into your design. We recently made a conservatory with every other window being a tilt....
Tuesday July 12, 2011 at 2:45pm
The main reason that people visit our DIY conservatory website is to price up and order our superb bespoke self build PVCu conservatories. However, as one of our DIY conservatory customers have just found out, we do a little more besides!
Our parent company, www.priorproducts.co.uk can supply a complete range of top quality BFRC energy rated PVCu windows in various colours,along with residential front and rear doors, French doors and Bi - fold doors in aluminium. We also do a range of timber wi....
Monday July 11, 2011 at 2:55pm
By 'Eke, the weekend soon vanished and here we are again! Well, this is a normal Monday having spent all day sorting out quotes for DIY conservatories and having interesting discussions with prospective customers ironing out the finer points of DIY conservatory design.
So here we are twelve quotes later and still more to do! Never mind - we really don't mind as they are selling well, particularly after we started putting energy rated windows in them. Trust Prior Conservatories to be at the fore....
Friday July 8, 2011 at 3:02pm
Well the weekend is almost upo us again, and as I have mentioned before, we do not work at the weekend. So what are we up to this weekend? Digging the garden? Doubt it! Get plastered - well that would be a good possibility but no, not quite...
I am going to jump on the trusty motorbike, go to Gloucester and help a mate of mine put up his Prior DIY conservatory - then the pub!....
Thursday July 7, 2011 at 4:04pm
Thursdays are normally quite busy in the mornings as it our main order day. Making sure that we have sufficient PVCu profile to cover the windows, doors and conservatories is essential and because we are fully computerised when it comes to production, this is reletively easy to achieve.
Our software allows us to print out a set of sheets for the amount of PVCu we need, what colour, how much steel for reinforcing the frames, right down to the number of handles and hinges that each conservatory n....
Tuesday July 5, 2011 at 3:19pm
Although we actually sell our Prior DIY conservatories right across England and Wales, we have noticed some strange results when analyzing the areas of our sales.
Obviously because we are based in the heart of Warwickshire, we sell a lot to Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and North Oxfordshire. However thereafter things change! Kent, Sussex and Cheshire seem to be the main hot spots, with Yorkshire and South Wales coming in close behind
We no longer go to Scotland because of the....
Monday July 4, 2011 at 2:43pm
There is a section on this website where we offer standard sized 'special offer' diy conservatories. Not only have these proved very popular due to the price, but for another reason which is not immediatly seen!
To all and sundry they look like any other conservatory on the market, but our have one tantalizing difference. All of our conservatories are fitted with genuine energy rated windows. We are not just saying this to try and sell them - each window has our BFRC label on it and if you go o....
Friday July 1, 2011 at 12:07pm
I had an interesting email today from an interested party regarding the size limits on our conservatories. I did say that no more than 5 metres by 5 metres was the safe limit, however, this person wanted a Lean To at 6.5 metres by 3 metres.
On the lean to style, you are not as restricted as the Edwardian or Victorian,where any larger than 5 by 5 is asking for trouble. The lean to can be much wider but the thing to watch out for is the projection, especially if you are planning to use a glass ro....
Thursday June 30, 2011 at 2:26pm
After the fun of assembling and finishing off the building of your new Prior DIY conservatory, it is time to think about the interior decor. Obviously you will have thought about the furniture that would suit and the flooring that you like.
Many of our customers fit Venetian or roller blinds to keep the heat of the sun out on hot days and to create a cosy feel in the evenings. It is important to make sure that the blinds that you are planning to fit are suitable for fixing to a PVCu conservator....
Wednesday June 29, 2011 at 3:02pm
If you are anything like me, you like to grow the odd plant. If you are anything like Karen, our secretary, you like to plough up and plant acres of land!
Well, if you have an eye for the exotic, try growing tropical plants in your new DIY conservatory from Prior Conservatories. If yours is South facing though, remember to ventilate it well, as even the more hardy tropical plants have their limits. If yours is North facing and you do not want to loose the lot when it turns colder, make sure tha....
Tuesday June 28, 2011 at 12:38pm
As soon as your DIY conservatory order has been confirmed and the deposit has been paid, we get started on the manufacturing side of things. The reason that we say allow a minimum of three weeks between order and delivery is that we want to make certain that your conservatory if fabricated to the exact sizes that were agreed.
The other reason that we ask for three weeks is that Prior Conservatories also manufacture doors and windows for the retail and trade markets, and we have to tie all of th....
Monday June 27, 2011 at 11:12am
Although we are best known for manufacturing a full range of bespoke DIY conservatories, we have many more strings to our bow than just conservatories!
Our parent company Prior Products Limited, www.priorproducts.co.uk offer a comprehensive service from trade PVCu windows, doors and conservatories to a complete supply and fit service throughout Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, the South West Midlands and North Oxfordshire.
Not only that but we also supply and deliver car ports, d....
Friday June 24, 2011 at 2:14pm
As is well known, we supply our DIY conservatories with either a single opening in or out door or the far more popular French doors opening out. We have however been asked a good number of times about Bi fold doors being used in conjunction with our conservatories.
I was asked the other day if a Bi fold could be fitted across the entire front elevation of one of our lean to designs. Well, technically it could be done, but this is no job for the DIY'er or novice fitter! They are remarkably hard ....
Wednesday June 22, 2011 at 12:14pm
Like all things there is a limit to how large you should be thinking of going if you are using the DIY route with your projected new conservatory. For example a 4000 by 4000mm Edwardian would be fine. In fact you could go up to 5 metres on the width. The same sort of thing applies to the other styles such a a lean to or Victorian.
What you should be aware of is that going much over this kind of size makes the construction less of a safe DIY project and more of a job for a professional window fi....
Tuesday June 21, 2011 at 3:43pm
When ordering your Prior DIY conservatory we will supply the full fixing to enable you to assemble the conservatory. However, we do not provide flashing. The reason is that there are a number of options open to you.
The obvious choice is the traditional lead flashing. This will last for many years providing that someone does not come along in the middle of the night and remove it! It has the advantage of being easy to work and it will stay put. Another much cheaper option is called conse....
Thursday June 16, 2011 at 11:25am
GETTING STARTED
The best way to start designing your new Prior DIY conservatory is to sketch a plan view and side elevation view of the proposed site of your conservatory. Make sure that you show all existing windows, pipes, drains, soil pipes and any other possible obstructions.
The ideal site would be free from obstructions of any kind withis the boundry of the proposed build. Although this is not always possible, there is usually a solution to the problem. If you have any doubts, we would b....
Wednesday June 15, 2011 at 4:46pm
We have been manufacturing our Prior DIY PVCu conservatories for many years now and are very quick to implement the latest improvments in them such as energy rated windows as standard.
We will supply them to anywhere in England and Wales, but not to Scotland or Northern Ireland. The simple reason for this is transport costs. The whole idea of building your own conservatory is to get a top notch product and build it yourself to save a massive amount of money.
When we have to add four or five h....
Tuesday June 14, 2011 at 12:03pm
It seems that no matter where our customers come from across England and Wales, they have very similar tastes in conservatories. Without doubt the most popular style is the Lean to. This is probably because it offers great value for money and is easy to fit in almost any location. This is particularly the case with bungalows.
The next most popular DIY conservatory from Prior Conservatories has to be the Edwardian. We sell an equal number of these as full height, full height panel or dwarf wall.....
Monday June 13, 2011 at 3:07pm
Always on the lookout for ways to enhance our DIY conservatories, we thought it would be a good idea to upgrade the window frames. As we are manufacturers of doors, PVCu windows and odf course conservatories, we are able to pass on some of the latest advances in double glazing to our conservatories.
All windows that we manufacture are BFRC 'C' energy rated windows. These are now our standard window that we use in the conservatory. We can also upgrade to our top spec 'A' rated windows at extra c....
Wednesday June 8, 2011 at 12:19pm
The question of planning permission for a DIY or for that matter, any conservatory depends on a number of things. Firstly it depends on where in the country you live. If you live in what is known as 'designated' land, then your chances of even erecting a garden shed may be somewhat limited! Designated land includes areas like National Parks, The Norfolk Broads and surrounding areas, conservation areas, areas of outstanding natural beauty and World Heritage Sites.
Fortunately most of us don't li....
Tuesday June 7, 2011 at 3:56pm
No matter what you are looking for with your new self build conservatory, we can normally arrange a design that keeps you the customer happy without being too difficult to build. We would however recommend that if you are looking for a large and exotic conservatory, you get experienced fitters to erect it unless you are that person!
We will talk you through any issues you may have with the location of the conservatory, alter the design as we go along and arrive at a stage where everyone is happ....
Friday June 3, 2011 at 2:11pm
There are several things that will affect the roof glazing on your projected new Prior DIY conservatory. These are listed below:
1. Cost
2, Position of the conservatory
3. Roof colour required
4 Ease of construction
If the choice is purely down to cost then a polycarbonate roof will always be the cheaper option. The polycarbonate roofing that we use is 35mm thick and very durable. As well as this, if you have a South facing conservatory, then solar control polycarbonate, also known as heatg....
Tuesday May 31, 2011 at 4:26pm
When it comes to the design of your new Prior DIY conservatory, most of it will be done here in the office and emailed to you so that the design can be checked. Please be aware that we always view the structure from the OUTSIDE.
If you are having slightly different designs to our normal, such as single doors rather than French doors, it is worth bearing in mind that they are always viewed from the outside. The point of the arrow on the doors denotes where the hinges are and therefore which way ....
Friday May 27, 2011 at 4:43pm
When ordering our DIY conservatories with French doors there are a couple of things to think about. Are the doors going to open in or out? Most of the time, people have them opening out. Next, are there going to be opening toplights in the vacinity of the door arc?
We normally recommend that on open out French doors, you do not have an opening toplight where the door sings round as if caught by a gust of wind, the door leaf will hit and damage the vent. Our doors will open back until the handle....
Wednesday May 25, 2011 at 9:39am
After you have taken delivery of your superb new Prior DIY conservatory we like to know how you got on with erecting it. After all, they are designed to be easy to assemble and over the years we have had remarkably little in the way of problems with their construction.
This is even better when you consider than virtually none of our customers have ever done anything like putting up a conservatory in their lives before. As we often tell them, the secret is not to rush them and to follow the inst....
Friday May 20, 2011 at 9:34am
If you have any doubt about building the base for your new Prior DIY conservatory, please contact us as we can supply you with very accurate plans and instructions for the base construction.
This will allow you to work out the quantity of concrete needed, and will also calculate the number of bricks required if a dwarf wall is involved. This will save wastage and in return save you money, which after all is the whole reason that you are building the conservatory yourself.
You will need hard co....
Thursday May 12, 2011 at 2:19pm
If you have ever tried to keep any conservatory warm enough in the winter for all-year-round use, the chances are that you will be paying a lot to heat it. Whether it is heated stand alone, or connected to your domestic central heating, they can be hard to heat.
By using the same PVCu energy rated double glazed windows in our conservatories that we would supply and fit in our retail installations we know that they will make a huge difference to the heating aspect of the conservatory. We know th....
Wednesday May 11, 2011 at 12:39pm
At Prior we are always trying to do better with our supply only DIY PVCu conservatories and now is no different. As we already use Rehau profile which is amongst the best profile of the market, and we already manufacture BFRC approved A and C energy rated windows for supply only or supply and fitting,we have now applied this hi - tech approach to our self build conservatories.
So from now on every diy conservatory that we sell will have energy rated 'C' windows in it regardless. If you wanted t....
Saturday May 7, 2011 at 12:27pm
The quick answer is that with a bit more of it, the ground will soften up enough for those all important conservatory footings to be dug, without resorting to a stick of dynamite!
Make the most of the damp - mark out and dig your footings or base work, and then when the weather heats up again, you can pour your concrete and get that dwarf wall up!....
Friday May 6, 2011 at 10:58am
Great news! Prior Conservatories are pleased to announce that as ever, we are offering that little bit more with our DIY conservatories.
As we already manufacture 'A' and 'C' rated windows for both the trade and retail markets, we thought that it would be a nice idea to now offer this enhanced glazing in all of our DIY conservatories.
We are now including 'C' rated 28mm Argon filled glass units as standard - something the other companies do not do. This will give you a better deal with our con....
Wednesday May 4, 2011 at 12:51pm
When you order your Prior DIY conservatory, we provide the fixing kit to enable you to build it. There are a few things that you will need yourself. The first one is a good cordless drill / driver. Also a 6mm masonry drill bit for drilling the pilot holes for the frame anchors. A large Phillips head for the drill driver is also a good idea as the frame anchors are 100mm long!
A small selection of standard drill bits would also be a good idea for pilot holes in the frames and corner po....
Tuesday May 3, 2011 at 3:50pm
We are often asked what sort of timescale is required for erecting one of our PVCu DIY conservatories This obviously varies with the type of conservatory involved, but for a low pitch lean to or standard Edwardian design with a polycarbonate roof and two people working on it, a weekend should be enough.
Having said that, we have just been contacted by a customer who put up her lean to in one day. Bear in mind that these people have never built a conservatory before!....
Thursday April 28, 2011 at 3:55pm
After the hard work of building the footings and dwarf wall or concrete base for your new DIY conservatory, the next thing to think about is what are you going to use as flooring. The options are many and various. You could be laying ceramic floor tiles, laminate flooring, carpet or lino - yes, some people with small children still use it! The key thing here is to get the concrete floor as flat, level and as smooth as possible.
Also, make certain that you know where the finished floor level w....
Wednesday April 27, 2011 at 12:40pm
Since the base of your conservatory is the only thing that is going to bear the full weight of the finished structure, it is vitally important to get it right! This is not difficult but does require some thought first. There are several things to work out before you even cut the first sod. In this blog, we will look at what needs to be taken into account when designing and building the basework.
Firstly, what kind of conservatory are you going to have? There are three types; full height, full h....
Friday April 15, 2011 at 2:48pm
We are asked time and again here at Prior Conservatories about prefabricated bases for our DIY models. The reply is always the same.
If you want to go down that route, expect the unexpected at some time! These bases sit on adjustable jacks, which sit on whatever you have that constitutes a foundation. Great if they are on a nine inch raft of solid concrete, but put one up on some paving slabs and wait to see what happens...( especially if it rains a lot ).
We never use these - they may be chea....
Wednesday April 13, 2011 at 4:40pm
If you have any problems with your DIY conservatory after a couple of years, contact us and we will be able to help you. If a glass unit gets broken, the chances are that you can source it locally to where you live, but in order to get it to match the existing ones, ask us and we will supply full details of sizes and makeup.
The same applies to hardware. We carry small stocks of window and door handles and in the event of a failure, we can get a replacement to you. We pride ourselves on our cus....
Wednesday April 6, 2011 at 2:03pm
Well, it is definately warming up now and so are our sales of Prior Conservatories DIY conservatories. n the last two hours, we have sold one in Essex and another in North Wales.
Edwardian and Victorian DIY conservatories seem to be the favourite at the moment with white being the predominant colour. Of course we offer them in rosewood and golden oak as well, with polycarbonate or glass roofs.
This is the right month to build one as well with so many long Bank holiday weekends before the....
Tuesday April 5, 2011 at 2:37pm
When you price up your conservatory online, the website gives you a total figure including VAT. The only extra charge that there will be is a delivery charge. We work this as free delivery on any conservatory within a 50 mile radius of Stratford upon Avon.
Beyond this, we use your postcode to set the delivery charge. Obviously the further away from us you live, the more the delivery charge will be. We never use a carrier - we only ever use our own dedicated transport to ensure that your conserv....
Wednesday March 30, 2011 at 1:33pm
With our bespoke conservatory design service we can accomodate most designs since we manufacture our own frames. It may be that you only want a conservatory front and one side, the rest butting up to house walls. It could be that you do not want French doors - again we can offer single doors opening in or out.
A number of people do not want to be overlooked by the neighbours. In this case we can offer a solution in the form of solid panels for privacy or various styles of obscured glass to let ....
Tuesday March 29, 2011 at 11:16am
Designing your DIY conservatory is easy because we do the work for you! However, there are a number of options that do require some thought. The roofing material is one of them. There are two options - glass or polycarbonate. A lot of people see this as 'expensive' and 'cheap'.
However this is only part of the story. Both have advantages and drawbacks. Glass is without doubt more expensive, particularly if you go for self cleaning or the blue active vatiety. As a DIY'er, it is also much harder ....
Thursday March 17, 2011 at 3:43pm
As most of our customers have a good idea of what they want, but have never had to think about conservatory design before, this is where we come in. There are quite a few things to consider such as the style, the overall height where the conservatory will join to the house - is there a window in the way? Other common problems are manholes where the base is going, boiler outlet flues and waste pipes in the way.
Although it is up to you to arrange to have these things sorted out, it is nothing th....
Wednesday March 16, 2011 at 4:49pm
A single sliding pane patio door is fine for our DIY conservatories, but anything over this, such a four pane patios we will not supply. This is because they are designed to be used in conjunction with a lintel,and are not designed to bear the weight of a conservatory roof. French doors are by far the prefefed option.....
Thursday March 10, 2011 at 11:44am
Here at Prior we have managed to hold off numerous increases such as the VAT, fuel increases, profile increases et al. However from the beginning of April, we have no choice but to very slightly increase our self build conservatory prices. Even after we have, you are still getting superb value for money as we have absorbed most increases ourself.
However, for unbeatable prices, order today and you will get a superb DIY conservatory at an outstanding price!....
Thursday March 3, 2011 at 11:29am
We are very well known for our stunning DIY conservatories, otherwise known as self build conservatories. We manufacture these to order and ship them across England and Wales. Double glazed in top quality Rehau PVCu, the conservatories are designed from the ground up to last for ages.
However, what many people do not know is that we also have a huge range of over door canopies, bay window tops and bases, garden rooms and car ports. To see the full range please vivit www.priorcanopies.co.uk
....
Wednesday March 2, 2011 at 12:37pm
When you have assembled your new Prior DIY conservatory and glazed it, you may find that after fitting the glass units into the French doors, a small degree of adjustment may be required. We do actually strap an instruction sheet to each door that we sell, but there is a good chance that this will be lost during the build.
If this is the case help is at hand. Just give us a call and we will email you the instruction sheet. Our Trojan flag hinges that we use are easy to adjust once you know how ....
Friday February 25, 2011 at 4:04pm
Now that hopefully the worst of the winter weather has passed, now with all of the rain we are having, would be a good time to get out the stepladder and look at the guttering.
If you are anywhere near any trees, this is particularly important as there may well be a significant build up of dead leaves. Left unchecked, this will eventually cause leaking from the gutters or worse, leaking into the conservatory.....
Thursday February 24, 2011 at 4:21pm
Before you go ahead and order one of our superb DIY conservatories, make certain that you are allowed to put it where you wanted to. Planning permission can be a minefield so for top advice before consulting your local planning office, have a look at the section on this website which gives an overview of the rules and regulations.....
Tuesday February 22, 2011 at 1:46pm
Our DIY conservatories look great on the outside, but most of the work takes place on the inside. We use 70mm Rehau profile which is the best PVCu on the market. All of our frames are fully welded as opposed to being mechanically jointed. This makes them far stronger than the screwed together variety, and enables us to manufacture each frame to a tight size.
The Rehau uPVC is very strong on its' own, but just to make it even tougher we fully reinforce each frame with galvanized steel section. I....
Monday February 21, 2011 at 3:21pm
Huge savings can be made by buying a DIY conservatory over having one supplied and fitted by a company. We find that even when basework needs doing, the overall cost savings are still around 75% of a full retail conservatory.
Not that we compromise on quality - the same conservatories that we supply on a DIY basis are exactly the same that we supply and fit in our local area. For us to then put a full 10 year warranty on the retail conservatories, we do not want them cheap and shoddily made. So....
Tuesday February 15, 2011 at 12:48pm
When the time comes to have your Prior Conservatories DIY conservatory delivered to your door we keep you informed of its' progress. We will call you the day before delivery to confirm that we are coming and to make certain that you will be there when we are.
We also request that you have additional help to off load the conservatory when it arrives. This is particularly important as some parts are very heavy and fragile. You also need to have prepared the glass storage area in advance.Once all ....
Friday February 11, 2011 at 12:45pm
I have just had a 'phone call to ask if we supply and fit our DIY conservatories! Obviously the answer is 'no'. The whole point of a self build conservatory from Prior Conservatories is that they save you money!!
We do however provide you with all of the PVCu frames, glass units, roof assembley and all rainwater goods and all of the hardware such as window and door handles. Also we supply the full fixing kit to assemble the conservatory. All that you provide is the base and labour.....
Thursday February 10, 2011 at 1:55pm
We get many nervous calls from potential customers asking if our conservatories are simple to put up. They invariably add that they have never assembled one before and are worried the whole thing will fail.
Have a look on our testimonial page and you will see that complete novices can normally erect and finish a conservatory in one weekend. So the simple answer is yes, if you follow the comprehensive instructions we supply, you can't go wrong!....
Friday February 4, 2011 at 4:43pm
From point of order to delivery on our Prior DIY conservatories we normally allow three weeks. This enables us to manufacture the PVCu conservatory and fully inspect it before despatch. This way, you get the conservatory that you always wanted, and we know it will fit when it arrives at your house!....
Thursday February 3, 2011 at 8:40am
With each of our DIY conservatories we supply a complete fixing kit to enable the conservatory to be easily assembled. Prior Conservatories are well established in the self build market and have years of experience with designing an easy to build conservatory for everyone to own.
Apart from the DIY conservatories, we also manufacture a complete range of uPVC windows and PVCu doors as well. We can supply these for self fit anywhere in England and Wales. Recently we have added car ports, door can....
Monday January 31, 2011 at 4:20pm
Our conservatories are designed to be easy to put together by the average DIY'er with normal household tools. Apart from being at the end of the telephone at all times, and supplying comprehensive instructions for all stages of the build, we also have some rather usefull information on this website to show various stages of the building process.
If you are waiting for your delivery now would be a good time to take a look!....
Wednesday January 26, 2011 at 1:54pm
When it comes to designing a conservatory for a bungalow, there are obvious issues with the rear height of the conservatory that have to be addressed. With the low gutter height found on a bungalow, it is important to design your DIY project around this limitation.
Fortunately we can help in almost all cases. Upon request, we can email you a diagram which asks you for a few simple but important measurements. When we have had this back from you, we can then work out the correct frame heights and....
Tuesday January 25, 2011 at 2:39pm
Many people have never had to think about actually designing their own conservatory for self build. This is where we come to the fore! With 23 years of designing and manufacturing PVCu DIY conservatories in all shapes and sizes we are able to offer the novice a complete design service.
Just ring us up with the sizes of the conservatory, tell us what style you would like to go for and give us an indication of where you would like the French doors and opening windows. From this we will design and....
Friday January 14, 2011 at 12:12pm
With the amount of snow we have had over Christmas and beyond, now that it has cleared, it would be a good idea to get up a step ladder and check the flashing and guttering for any ice or snow damage. Things to look for are cracked gutter brackets which sometimes occur when a large sheet of thawing snow hits the guttering on the way down off the roof.
Also while you are up there, clear the guttering out if you have trees nearby. The chances are that last years' leaves have found their way ther....
Wednesday January 12, 2011 at 12:41pm
Before ordering your Prior DIY conservatory, please make certain that your measurements are spot on. Also in the case of building your own dwarf wall, in order for everything to fit correctly it must be true and of the required sizes.
Obviously we cannot go all over the country checking our customers' measurements, so if you are in any doubt, let a builder or building tradesman to help you out. We will manufacture the conservatory to the sizes that you give us and cannot be held accountable if ....
Tuesday January 11, 2011 at 9:21am
Happy New Year to all our readers! Judging by our inbox after the Christmas shutdown, the increase in VAT seems to have had no effect on people's desires of owning a DIY conservatory. We have been snowed under with quotes and enquiries!
As we always offer a cracking deal on prices and with a superb service thrown in, it is not suprising that we are so busy. With a fast manufacturing time and a top quality hand made product, we are getting many recommendations from existing customers to their fr....
Tuesday December 21, 2010 at 10:08am
If you are looking at your DIY roof and wondering how much snow it will stand, you will be pleased to know that all roofs used by Prior Conservatories are designed with this kind of weather in mind.
They all comply with the recommended snow loading levels and will not come down on top of you if the roof has been correctly installed. If you are in any way worried, just brush a bit off!....
Wednesday December 15, 2010 at 3:47pm
We received an email today from an existing customer after we commented on the superb job he had done putting up his DIY conservatory with no prior knowledge.
He said that with our conservatories, the secret was in the attention to detail. This is what we have always strived for so that when we deliver our self build conservatories, we know that they will fit together as designed and the building process will be as straightforward as possible for the novice conservatory builder. Let's face it, ....
Tuesday December 14, 2010 at 10:06am
When the DIY conservatory is almost fully assembled you may want to think about how you are going to light it. You could go the easy route and put in a couple of table lamps to create a pleasant atmosphere.
The more normal way of lighting your conservatory would be to fit a ceiling light or a combination of light / s and fan. Not only do you get a more even spread of light but you then also have the means to cool it in the summer and by reversing the fan, draw down the warm air trapped at roof ....
Friday December 10, 2010 at 11:09am
If by some misfortune you manage to break a glass unit whilst you are putting your conservatory together, it is very important to keep the label that is on the glass unit. This way when you contact your local double glazing supplier, you can give them the exact size and specifications of the glass unit.
If you think the price is too high try shopping around and you should be able to get a better price that way. If you are reasonably local to Prior Conservatories, just give us a call and we shou....
Friday December 3, 2010 at 2:54pm
The key to reducing condensation in your conservatory is ventillation. Ok, at this time of year you are not going to leave the French doors wide open for obvious reasons.
However, you can certainly ease the situation by using the night vent facility on your opening windows. All Prior self build conservatories have this on the opening windows.Just press the window lock button to open the window and move the sash out by about 8mm. Then lock the window in the slightly open position. This is perfec....
Thursday December 2, 2010 at 2:07pm
Here at Prior Conservatories we believe in giving our customers a good service. So, if you order your DIY conservatory from us between now and the end of the year, we will wear the VAT increase and sell you the conservatory at today's price.....