Posted By: djh

Posted By: SaintConversely replace some or all of the transparent roof panels with solid roof panels as is the norm in much of mainland Europe.
There are some very tasteful ones available, some even with acoustic layers within the panel to minimise rain noise.

Right but with a solid roof it's not a conservatory, or so SWMBO says, and SMBO.

One possible product I found - TIMax GL-PlusF - comes with an acoustic reduction rating.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'solid roof panels' that would warrant the description 'tasteful' though? A solid roof is pretty much the same as another solid roof isn't it?

Well the mainland Europeans seem happy with calling them conservatories, orangeries, sun rooms etc. in their own language of course but true in the UK the definition of a conservatory and hence if it could previously avoid having to be built to Building Regs is that it needed to have 50% of it wall area and 75% of its roof area being glazed but I did say replace some or all of the panels
The solid roof panels are insulated coloured sandwich panels designed to fit in the glazing beads as do the polycarb or glass panels although the sandwich panels can be thicker to provide greater thermal efficiency with just the edges thinned down to fit in the beads.
As for colours they can be any of the 200 or so RAL colours plus special finishes to look say like patinated copper. Whether they are tasteful is in the eyes of the beholder I guess