To explain the value of added mass to your conservatory, I use the following analogy. Think of your glasshouse as an airtight glass box that has been heated to say, kitchen temperature and then taken outside on a freezing day. It would be cold in a short time. If the box were heated up again, but this time with a quantity of bricks inside, it would stay warm for a lot longer.

This obvious analogy shows that by adding mass (bricks) to the structure we can retain heat and lake the structure a less temperature-volatile place. Added mass not only stores free heat from the sun but also stores the expensive bought kind. Mass can be incorporated into the structure in several ways. Firstly the brickwork of an area of house will be enclosed within the conservatory. Then the base walls of the conservatory will add more and if a side has no view or faces North, an eaves high wall could be considered on that side also.

Finally and most importantly, we can put the existing mass of the floor slab to effective use by insulating it from the cold ground below; in effect turning the floor area into a giant storage heater. This works well because the concrete slab, the screed and the tiles really do add a large mass to the glass hosue, but it should be noted that the floor must not be carpeted or covered in any other insulating layer. It is also worth remembering when choosing tile colours for your conservatory floor that warm colours absorb heat better than white.

Further information on this, and other common sense approaches to glasshouse design can be seen at www.frostconservatories.co.uk