How Strong Are Conservatory Roofs?

How Strong Are Modern Conservatory Roofs?

Many people wonder if you can stand or walk on a conservatory roof. While your conservatory roof may be strong enough for you to stand on it and take your weight, Ultraframe would never recommend that you test this by climbing onto it or standing on it. It is extremely dangerous if you were to put your weight onto the glazed areas of your conservatory roof as this could lead to the sealed units breaking and serious injury.

Can You Stand On A Conservatory Roof? 

Once you have added a conservatory to your home, regular maintenance is essential to keep it performing as it should for many years. As you start to think about maintaining your conservatory roof, you may be wondering if it will take your weight, as climbing onto the roof may, at first, seem the most obvious way of cleaning it properly.

While the glazing bars of a conservatory roof can take the weight of an average adult, the danger comes if you put weight onto the glazing, as it does not have the same load bearing strength and could shatter.

How to Safely Maintain Your Conservatory?

Now that you know whether you can stand on a conservatory roof or if it will take your weight, let’s look at how to maintain it safely without putting yourself in danger.

As a conservatory roof is not designed for people to stand or walk on, the safest way to get into a position where you can review and carry out maintenance is to use a conservatory roof ladder specially designed for this purpose. This will ensure that you do not accidentally stand on any glazed areas. It will also prevent you from needing to test whether a conservatory roof can take your weight and keep you safe.

You might want to buy your own conservatory roof ladder, or you can hire one from various shops such as HSS. Further information about maintaining and looking after your conservatory can be found on our conservatory cleaning page. 

Other Reasons to Consider 

So far, we’ve looked at the main reason people tend to query whether a conservatory roof will take their weight, and that is for maintenance purposes. There are many other reasons, though, why homeowners might ask how strong their conservatory roof is and if it will take their weight and one of the most common is the weather.

Homeowners who live in areas subjected to heavy snow and wind often wonder about the strength of their conservatory roof and how it can withstand the worst of the elements. Some people think that finding out if a conservatory roof can take their weight or if they can walk or stand on it will answer their question. However, the answer is much more complex.

Firstly, as already stated, Ultraframe would never advise someone to test out whether their conservatory roof can take their weight or to stand or walk on their conservatory roof. During the design of every Ultraframe conservatory roof, the wind and snow loads of the specific postcode where it will be installed are calculated, and the roof is designed to be able to withstand the worst that mother nature can throw at it.

While this means that the conservatory roof is engineered to be as strong as it needs to be for its specific location, this does not necessarily mean it is also strong enough to take the weight of an adult, all on one small section of the roof.

The moral of the story is that regardless of how strong your conservatory roof is, you should never try to test whether it can take your weight by standing or walking on it.

Accessing Your Conservatory Roof Safely With Ultraframe

Yes, your conservatory roof will be strong enough to take your weight, but if there is one thing that we’d like you to take away after reading this article, it’s that you should never check whether your conservatory roof can take your weight by standing or climbing on it. This is extremely dangerous and could result in a large amount of damage to the conservatory glazing and serious injury to yourself.

If you genuinely need to access the roof of your conservatory, make sure you do so safely by using proper access equipment, such as a conservatory roof ladder. Do not attempt to test whether your conservatory roof can take your weight by climbing on it; no matter how strong your conservatory roof is, it is not designed for this type of load.

Industry Leaders of Conservatory Roof Systems

Ultraframe has been the UK leader in the design and manufacture of conservatory roof systems for over 35 years. Our roofs are widely acknowledged as the most technically advanced and strongest on the market. 

Whether you need help and advice, a new conservatory, or a replacement conservatory roof, Ultraframe is here to help. You can start by finding a local installer to unlock your dream conservatory. 

Testing Conservatory Roofs

To demonstrate the technical superiority of our roof, Ultraframe approached Wintech. This independent, UKAS accredited testing laboratory and certification body enabled us to display the standard of quality we were offering homeowners for their property. We understand that sometimes talking about something isn’t enough, you need to be shown.

Recognised by a wide range of global institutions, Wintech provided us with the necessary testing services to ensure our conservatory roofs comply with the CE Marking in line with the Construction Products Regulations. There’s no need to settle for anything less than complete peace of mind when you opt for a conservatory roof system from Ultraframe.

Testing Conservatory Roof Quality

The challenge was to test how the Ultraframe conservatory roof performed under extreme wind loads compared to competitor alternatives. We invest heavily into the research and development of all of our conservatory roof systems to ensure they lead the way in terms of performance, aesthetic and structural integrity.

Wintech are renowned for their extreme tests of iconic building facades such as the Gherkin and the Bull Ring in Birmingham, but never before had they tested a complete structure - once again, Ultraframe were the keen pioneers of the conservatory industry - testing in a way that had never been done before.

Here are the facts about the tests:

Independent fitters, appointed by Wintech and working to each manufacturer’s guidelines, built each conservatory roof onto a common set of industry standard sideframes. The conservatory footprint/size selected for the test was a Georgian style with jack rafters, 4.5m width x 3.5 m projection (typical of the hundreds sold each and every day of the week.)

As a dedicated roof systems company, with over 20 years experience and over one million roofs out in the market performing in exemplary fashion, Ultraframe wanted to specifically look at the effects of wind uplift and examine key joints on the roof, like jack rafters and eaves beam to glazing bar to see how the quality remained consistent.

The test consisted of an aero engine in combination with positive pressure from an internal fan (trying to blow the roof off from the inside) resulting in a combined overall effect of wind uplift equal to 130mph. These modern tools allowed us to test our conservatory roofs in accordance with the demands and expectations of the modern day.

Conservatory Roof Manufacturer's Testing | Ultraframe Conservatories

Wind from the aero engine hits the conservatory from the side and the wind current travels up and over the roof. As the air current travels over the roof, there is an uplift force on the glazing bars and glazing material in the roof due to the pressure of the wind - IE this current is trying to lift the roof off.

The aero engine can supply air currents up to a maximum of 90mph and so to continue the testing beyond this point, further pressure was pumped into the conservatory using a fan. The name for additional pressure pumped into a structure in this way is positive pressure. The positive pressure pumped into the conservatory acts as a second force trying to lift the roof off the conservatory.

Working in tandem with the force from the aero engine, the combined wind speed reached by using the aero engine and the internal fan was 130mph. With such high winds hitting a concentrated area, it’s easy to assume that the conservatory roof would see some damage, especially with wind damage being so prevalent in hurricanes.

However, It is important to stress that at this point the Ultraframe roof did not fail - the test 'maxed out', IE. it was not possible using the equipment available to us to apply any further pressure to the Ultraframe conservatory roof. Wind loads are measured in KN/m2. During the tests at Wintech the Ultraframe roof was subjected to a force of 1.4 KN/m2 before the test 'maxed out'.

The Glass Conservatory Roof

Our glass conservatory roof is the result of over 30 years of engineering innovation and progression, constantly refined by customer feedback and testing processes. Comprising a market-leading glazed roof system, a unique weathering shield and a design that has been installed over 1.5 million times across the nation, this conservatory roof offers more.

To increase performance further, this conservatory roof can be installed onto our thermally insulated columns. These columns are inspired by the traditional architect of the Italian Renaissance, offering an eye-catching, period charm that can easily be tailored to a suit a wide range of property styles. These columns are also five times more thermally efficient than their brick pier counterparts.

Find Your Nearest Conservatory Roof Installer

As illustrated by the test by Wintech, our conservatory roofs excel in offering you more for your home. We are proud to offer the most technologically advanced conservatory roofing systems in the current market, excelling in all areas of heat retention, aesthetic, durability and structural integrity for quality that delivers over the years.

Finding your nearest Ultra Installer allows you to enjoy a home improvement installation that is handled as it should be. To ensure exceptional quality throughout, all of our Ultraframe specialists are vetted and assessed before we approved them, allowing you enjoy the peace of mind that only exceptional quality can bring.

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