The ideal time for conservatory roof repair work is in the spring or summer, when the weather conditions are more likely to be optimal for the job and you can sit out in it enjoying the sunshine under a beautiful new cover. 

However, sometimes the roof sustains so much damage in winter that fixing it becomes an urgent task, while in other instances, it may have gradually deteriorated over a period of several years to the point where it is starting to become leaky, draughty and at risk of disintegration in high winds or if struck by debris.

 

Does The UK Ever Get Hit By 100mph Winds?

A prime example of this is when storm damage takes place, which is usually something encountered in autumn and winter. 

Although meteorologists will tell you that climate change has made these more likely and increasingly severe, there has always been a risk of winter storm damage, as those who endured the Great Storm of October 1987 will recall.

Although the infamous statement by BBC weatherman Michael Fish on the evening before that the coming weather front would not be a hurricane was technically true, winds of up to 100 mph swept across the southern half of England. 

Such extreme weather might seem like a once-in-a-lifetime event, but people living in Cornwall and the Scilly Isles know this is anything but the case.  This month (January), 100mph winds hit southern England once again when Storm Goretti swept in from the Atlantic, prompting the Met Office to issue a red weather warning. 

In the event, wind speeds reached as high as 123mph and there was widespread structural damage across Cornwall. Many a conservatory will have been damaged, along with house roofs, with the county also hit by power outages, fallen trees and damaged vehicles.

While all sorts of repair work to conservatories and other structural damage is carried out across Cornwall and beyond, it will be a very reasonable question to ask how durable repaired roofs will be against future storms.

 

How Many Storms Does The UK Get Each Year?

The number of storms per winter is part of the equation, but this can vary significantly. For example, the Met Office Storm Centre figures show: 

  • There were six named storms in 2024-25
  • There were 12 named storms in 2023-24
  • There were four named storms in 2022-23
  • There were seven named storms in 2021-22, including what was then a record strong gust for England of 122 mph over the Isle of Wight

Other variations include wind speed and the location of storms, with different regions being hit. However, what Goretti, and indeed the Great Storm of 1987, show is that the south of England is often vulnerable to severe storms that sweep in off the Atlantic.

Our approach to conservatory repairs is to ensure that these are not patch-up jobs that will not survive the next case of high winds. Indeed, if a whole roof needs replacing, we will recommend that, as this will provide the robustness that sticking plaster solutions cannot offer.

Of course, few conservatories could withstand something as serious as a huge tree falling on it, but it can be made strong enough to handle smaller pieces of debris hitting it with little or no damage.

This point is important if you need conservatory repairs now, either because Goretti, albeit weaker in places like Hampshire and Wiltshire, still did some damage, or because accumulated wear and tear over many years has left it increasingly weak and vulnerable to poor weather.

 

Why Is It Vital To Use High Quality Conservatory Roof Materials?

That means you should certainly be looking for repairs that use high-quality materials, often amounting to a significant upgrade in quality from what you had before. 

A further consideration is something that can be rather less dramatic than a roof coming off or being smashed by a falling tree; lesser damage might not leave a trail of broken glass and other debris, but it would leave your conservatory roof leaking like a sieve. 

The consequence of this can be serious water leakage. If you have anything not entirely waterproof, such as rugs or soft furnishings, these may be damaged, while cold air leaking in may harm plants not able to withstand low temperatures. 

This kind of inundation does not have to happen in a named storm; if the roof is damaged, it can happen anytime it rains heavily, which is why, even if the rest of the storm season is relatively event-free, there will be good reasons to act now and get things fixed.

Getting the roof fixed when the sun shines may be a preference, but in a stormy winter, you cannot allow a damaged or weak roof to remain vulnerable.