Sunrooms flooded with light and comfortable patio furniture are great places to unwind while enjoying a drink and a good book. These transitional rooms link your home to the outdoors while shielding your home from the elements, allowing you to experience the benefits of both outdoor and indoor living simultaneously. If you’re considering the addition of a sunroom to your home, consider all choices. There are various options regarding the type of sunrooms and opportunities for materials. This guide is your reference for all you should know about sunroom building.
Types of Sunrooms
There are several types of seasonal rooms. The standard types of sunrooms are listed below.
- Sunroom: This kind of space is a glass-enclosed living space typically located inside the house and accessible from inside. It’s intended to serve as an extra living space during moderate temperatures. But, since sunrooms usually don’t have a connection to the home’s heating or cooling systems, they will not be ideal in harsh winters or hot summers.
- Four-Season Room: Very similar to the sunroom, the space gets built to be cooled and heated. That means that it can get used all year round.
- Attached Greenhouse: With the same design and shell construction as an outdoor room or a four-season space, An attached greenhouse can provide light, temperature, and humidity levels specifically designed to be suitable for plants.
- Screen Porch or Room: You choose one with mesh walls or windows instead of glass. That gives the benefits of fresh air and no insects. As with the sunroom, this is usable only in pleasant weather.
Put Your Sunroom at the Right Place
The best place to build your outdoor space is the first step in planning the addition of a screen or glass. Take into consideration the typical weather conditions in your area and the direction the windows of your sunroom will be facing. A place with southern exposure is ideal since it gets the most sunlight throughout the day. But, having a southern exposure means cooling is needed, which could be expensive.
An east-facing orientation can alleviate cooling issues by allowing sunlight in the morning and shade throughout the day. However, a western exposure could expose you to intense afternoon sun that needs to get shaded.
A northern exposure provides less light and shades the majority of the time. That could make the space too humid and cold in the North. However, it’s a great option in the South and could remove the necessity of window blinds or further cooling.
Sunroom Material Types
Knowing the elements that make up the seasonal space will allow you to choose the style of room you’d like to have.
- Vinyl can be the most well-known material used to construct the supports of the sunroom. It’s the cheapest, requires little maintenance, and has outstanding overall durability and insulation. Most Vinyl supports are “multiwalled,” meaning they are reinforced internally with either galvanized steel or aluminum.
- Aluminum won’t insulate as well as vinyl and is typically more costly. However, most rooms with vinyl-coated vertical supports to add aesthetics or additional insulation use aluminum roof supports to provide extra strength.
- Wood requires regular maintenance to keep it in good condition and look great. It is by far the least costly option of structural sunroom materials. However, it’s a suitable choice for screening rooms due to the ease with which you can connect the screen mesh to the timbers.
Roof and Wall Ideas for a Sunroom
Sunrooms, four-season rooms, and greenhouses get surrounded by glass and are topped using glass. Glass roofing is significantly more expensive. Yet, it offers the highest level of clarity. Check the U-value of the glass or polycarbonate; it measures how much heat it can conduct. The lower the value, the less heat passes through; therefore, choose the lowest U value to get the most energy-efficient space.
Glass walls should be double-sealed, A-rated, and identified as “tempered safety” to ensure that they meet the requirements of building codes. The best options are:
- Double-glazed glass: It provides durability as well as insulation and reduces glare. The most common glazings include clear solar bronze, opal, and transparent from the most efficient and less efficient.
- Double-glazed glass with low-emissivity coating: Applying a “low-E” coating can help the mirror reflect heat and ultraviolet Rays. The coating lowers the U-value, which improves energy efficiency.
- Double-glazed glass with argon filling and low-E coating: Argon is an excellent addition to reducing the U-value.
Ideas for Heating and Cooling a Sunroom
Consider these possibilities if you can’t build your sunroom in the spot that would keep it the most pleasant or if you want extra hours to enjoy your all-season room:
- Install operative skylights to serve as heat dumps if the room becomes too hot.
- Glass roof panels should get dotted with prefabricated insulating roof panels.
- Build walls that have several windows that can get opened. Pick the windows that cooperate to ensure optimal airflow.
- Install ceiling fans to help air circulation. Select models with reverse and forward speeds for either summer or winter.
- Install shade tracks for the roof that can hold the rigid outdoor sunscreens.
- Pick window treatments that can be lowered and raised on the coldest or the hottest wall surfaces.
- Install the miniature gas heating system in the wall area you’ll use most often in the winter. To add a luxurious look, you can install radiant flooring heating.
Contact Ottawa Home Pros for an estimate on renovations, remodeling, and new home additions. Give our general contractors in Ottawa a chance to gain your confidence and business. Call us today at (613) 288-9145 or email us at info@ottawahomepros.com for your next home addition project.
