Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Traditional Orangery
Updated: 14 hours ago
Most problems with orangeries are decided before a brick is laid. The proportions were wrong on the drawing, the glass was bought to a price, the heating was left until the end, or someone said planning would not be needed and was mistaken. The same handful of mistakes account for nearly all the orangeries we are asked to look at:
An under-built base and structure
Glazing and a roof specified to a price, or too much glass
Materials and detailing that do not match the house
Assuming planning permission is not needed
A catalogue design that does not fit the house
Services left until the end
A quote that leaves things out
Here they are, with what to do instead.
Poorly planned foundations and structure
The mistake we see most is the one you cannot see. A traditional orangery is a solid structure with masonry piers and an insulated roof, and it needs footings and a slab designed for that weight, not the thin base a lightweight conservatory kit is laid on. Where the base is under-built the signs arrive within a year or two: door frames that twist, cracks at the junction with the house, floors that drop at the garden edge.
The answer is a site survey, an engineered design and a base built to it. An orangery must comply with building regulations for structure, and the base is assessed as part of that. Treat it as you would the foundations of a full extension, because that is what it is.
Under-specified glazing and roof
Glass is not all the same, and an orangery has a great deal of it. Standard double glazing with no coating, and no solar control on a south-facing build, gives a room that overheats in summer, chills in winter and streams with condensation between the two. The lantern is the worst place to economise, because it is the largest single piece of glass and the one facing the sky.
Every glazed unit should be specified for where it sits: low-emissivity coatings throughout, solar control on south and west elevations and in the lantern, argon-filled cavities, and thermally broken frames so the glazing bars do not bridge cold into the room. The roof perimeter should be properly insulated, ventilated and built with the drainage falls and the lantern upstand designed rather than improvised. A mass-produced lantern with snap-on trims is not a substitute for a roof engineered for the opening.
The opposite error is too much glass. An orangery is not a glass box: its solid roof perimeter and piers are what give it the shade and thermal mass a conservatory lacks. Design the room around its use. A dining room needs a wall for a sideboard, a kitchen needs piers wide enough for tall units, and a garden room needs shade in the afternoon.
Mismatched materials and poor detailing
Lightweight, off-the-shelf frames on traditional brick or stone piers look wrong on day one and worse after five winters, as the frames discolour or move against the masonry. We build in engineered hardwood, painted with breathable microporous coatings, on plinths matched to the house, with glazing bars, fascia mouldings and door furniture chosen to suit the architecture. The difference shows in a photograph and more in ten years; our guide to orangery materials explains the choices.
Assuming planning permission is not needed
"You won't need planning" is the most expensive sentence in the trade. Many orangeries fall within permitted development in England, but listed buildings, homes whose rights were removed, flats, and builds past the depth or height limits need consent, and in a conservation area the rights are more restricted. Our guide to planning permission for an orangery sets out the limits. Building regulations apply too: an orangery open to the house does not qualify for the conservatory exemption.
Generic designs that do not fit the house
A catalogue orangery attached to a house it was never drawn for is the one that looks wrong: too tall for the first-floor sills, too wide for the elevation, blocking an original window, or leaving an unusable strip of garden down one side.
Design begins with the house. Match its scale, align the fascia with its string course or its window heads, keep the roof and lantern below the first-floor sills, and use its brick and its paint colours. Done well, the orangery looks as though the house was built with it.
Leaving the finish to the end
Exposed cables and a radiator bolted to a pier are the signs of services left until the structure was finished. Lighting, heating and joinery belong in the design from the first drawing. Underfloor heating under the slab, a plastered pelmet around the lantern for concealed lighting, sockets in the piers, motor supplies for lantern blinds, and the extractor duct routed through the fascia are all decided before the roof deck is closed. Add them afterwards and they show.
Quotes that leave things out
The last mistake is a price that looks good because it is not the whole price. Groundworks, plastering, flooring, decoration, planning fees and building control charges are the items most often left off a headline quote, and the final bill arrives well above it. Ask for the base, structure, glazing, roof covering, plastering, floor, heating, electrics, decoration and permissions to be itemised; if any is missing, the quote is not complete. Our orangery cost guide explains what drives the cost, and every quotation we issue itemises design, structure, glazing, finishes, fittings and permissions.
Orangery problems questions, answered
What are the most common problems with orangeries?
Overheating and condensation from under-specified glazing, movement from an inadequate base, and rooms that cannot be used in winter because the roof was not insulated. All three are design decisions.
Do orangeries get too hot?
A badly glazed one does. Solar control glass in the lantern and on the south side, opening roof vents and, where needed, lantern blinds keep a well-designed orangery comfortable through the summer.
Talk to our design team
Our traditional hardwood orangeries are built to avoid every mistake on this list, and we are glad to look at any design or quotation you have been given and tell you honestly what it leaves out.
