Renovations
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The thought of adding more space to your home sounds great but the prospect of spending months on the construction process, not to mention the potential costs, can be daunting. For many people, the hassle and expense of building an addition proves to be too much. More people, however, are realizing the value of having a sunroom installed. Surrounded by windows, sunrooms offer a beautiful outdoor living space that makes your house seem larger, costs less and takes less time to install than a room. “The biggest benefit of having a sunroom is having the added living space and the return on investment,” says Greg Bogart, owner of Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based Southern California Rooms. “Really, you’re getting all the things you’d get from a typical room addition without the cost or waiting.” If these reasons aren’t convincing enough, consider that the National Association of the Remodeling Industry estimates that across the nation, sunrooms pay back at resale more than 70% of the homeowner’s initial investment. What is a sunroom? Sunrooms are rooms of glass. It’s the most common name used for an enclosed area that isn’t made with typical stucco walls. Modern sunrooms come in a variety of styles and roof designs, including a slope roof; a gable roof built with foam or wood; solarium; and English-style Victorian and Edwardian conservatories with glass or polycarbonate roofs. “The quality of patio enclosures today is as good, or better, than some room additions,” Bogart says. While sunrooms are attached to the original home, they’re considered a patio addition and priced out as an accessory. This means that while city permits are required before building a sunroom, the space is not added to the home’s overall square footage so your property taxes don’t increase. Considerations Adding a sunroom to your home is an easy decision, but making sense of the many choices can be difficult. “Ask yourself what you want from this living space,” Bogart says. “Consider what your family’s lifestyle is and what you want out of your sunroom so that you can choose the one that best fits your needs.” Then, he says, consider the level of energy efficiency you want. This means choosing a glass system that fits the room’s usage. There are 2 basic glass types – single pane and dual pane, with varying levels of protective glaze. If the sunroom is an extension of the living space or an extension of your office space, you should consider a dual-pane system, also known as an insulated glass solarium. Generally, if you are going to heat or use air conditioning in the room, then the solarium glass will retain more heat in winter and control heat buildup better during the summer. For a sunroom that’s less expensive, a single-pane option will do. These sunrooms have sliding glass windows and screens in all of the walls to provide lots of ventilation. No matter which sunroom design you choose, the glass must be Energy Star-qualified, which means that it meets specific U-value and shading coefficient ratings for 1 or more regions of the United States. Ticket price The cost of adding on a sunroom will depend on its size, the amount and type of glass used, options for roofs, doors and windows, and labor. In Southern California, the price for a basic-but-nice sunroom would run between $12,000 and $29,000, according to Bogart. That might seem like a huge chunk of change but it’s cheaper (and easier) than adding on the traditional “den” or guest bedroom. Do-it-yourself kits are also available at two-thirds of the cost. DIY sunrooms are pre-built products that are often sold directly by manufacturers. Bogart, who sells a fair amount of DIY kits outside of Southern California, says he wouldn’t recommend them for everybody. “When you’re looking at an $18,000 job and it saves you $5,000, it seems like a lot of money, but not if you mess up a $13,000 job,” he notes. The sun has been known to cheer us up on dreary days. A sunroom can do just that and more. So let the sunshine in! Contributor Nguyet Le Thomas writes about home improvement ideas in Southern California. Do-It-yourself sunrooms If you are handy at home, you can order a do-it-yourself sunroom kit from any number of sunroom manufacturing companies such as SunPorch (sunporch.com), Betterliving (craftbilt.com/betterliving/), and C-Thru Industries (c-thru.com). Before ordering a DIY sunroom, figure out the measurements; this doesn’t just include the dimensions of the sunroom itself. It also includes knowing how many and what types of windows you want and where they’ll be placed. You’ll also have to choose the materials you want to use. If this seems too complicated, don’t worry. Many manufacturers have online design pages that will walk you through the choices available. The final kit, based on the design you created, will include customized installation plans. |
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