Few things are as enjoyable as an unhurried summer lunch on a garden patio, or a drawn-out dinner under the colorful palette of an evening sky. Unless of course, the flies want your lunch and the mosquitoes are having you for dinner. But good times soon end, as fleeting days of summer give way to earlier sunsets and cooler temperatures. Eventually, outdoor furniture is moved into storage and families begin their retreat indoors to batten down for the long cold winter. Yet, this year is different. No bugs are invited to dine with you. And at summer’s end, your family is no longer banished to roam within the dimly lit walls of your winter fortress. This year, you relax and take your meals in full view of nature’s splendor, savoring every morsel as golden leaves descend from the sky and traces of snow wisp about the yard.
Not Your Father’s Sunroom
Far from the standard aluminum and screen “bug catcher” boxes that were hitched onto the backs of our parent’s homes decades ago, sunrooms are built today to accommodate every conceivable lifestyle, architecture, and taste. For those who plan a sunroom addition wisely, the versatility and value of their purchase can produce immediate, lasting and healthful benefits in their daily life. Of key benefit is the natural sunlight that envelopes and lifts occupants from the dreaded “blahs” – the temporary symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) that set in due to far-between days of good weather. Lifting spirits even higher is the fact that sunrooms can provide a healthy increase in a home’s resale potential – especially in regions like the Midwest where returns can be from 78 to as high as 100 percent of the original purchase amount.
Three-Season Sunrooms
If you simply want an outdoor retreat during nice weather, a screened sunroom enclosure might be right for you. For a bit more you can upgrade to a single-paned glass and screen enclosure that will extend the sunroom’s use. Glass windows and doors can be opened, giving the user flexibility as the weather varies. Recently, a sunroom customer in Pittsburgh initially resisted a salesman’s argument for the advantages of a glass-and-screen three-season enclosure. “I was looking to replace a rotting wooden screened porch that my wife and I had enjoyed for years. I was not convinced that I needed any more than a screened replacement. My wife wanted glass so I reluctantly went along. Later, I thanked the salesman for helping me make one of my best decisions ever. I love the sunroom and though my wife has passed away, my children, grandchildren and I use it for relaxing and family gatherings almost year-round.”
A Room for all Seasons
If you are looking for an expanded family or recreation room, exercise room or home office to use year-round, select an insulated enclosure or a solarium. Year-round sunrooms and solarium models are equipped with double-paned insulated glass and thermally-efficient framing, that when used in conjunction with a dedicated heating and cooling system, make the room available for almost every day of the year.
A Room with a View
Solariums are very unique sunrooms built with all-glass roofs. These rooms contain double-paned glass with aluminum frames, making them suitable for year-round use. Solariums generally come in straight or curved eave styles. Obviously, these sunrooms offer the best view of the outdoors, and correspondingly, are among the most expensive sunroom groups.
Shopping for price vs. shopping for quality
Sunroom prices can range from a few thousand dollars, to tens of thousands. Like most things in life – you get what you pay for. So, when deciding to add a permanent structure to your home, ask yourself - is it wise to go cheap? Personally, I think “The Three Little Pigs” should be required reading before building any house or sunroom. Some sunroom suppliers purchase standard-sized components such as doors and windows from other manufacturers, and then use “fill” to give the appearance of a “customized” sunroom product. This approach can lead to an irregular or “add-on” look that does not easily blend with the rest of the house. Consider this point carefully since your choice could actually detract from your property. The best value is a truly custom manufactured sunroom or solarium. These are by definition, designed for a specific customer, taking factors such as existing housing construction, customer taste, intended use, and available space into account. One of the oldest and best-known sunroom companies, Patio Enclosures, Inc., (Macedonia, Ohio) maintains an engineering design staff and its own manufacturing operation. This gives it the flexibility to employ a technique known as “custom manufacturing”, whereby walls and windows within every sunroom or solarium, regardless of cost or style, are custom manufactured to size and fit at no extra cost. By investing its efforts in precision measurement methodologies and quality control during manufacturing, installers eliminate the need for fill material and spend less time on the job site. This allows Patio Enclosures, Inc. to keep costs low and offer a competitively priced product.
A room to build a dream on
You can include just about anything imaginable for your sunroom from third-party vendors. Fountains, Jacuzzis, pool tables, and ceiling fans are just some of the items that are now popular. Low-e glass with treatments such as Azurlite® can help to lower energy costs associated with heating and cooling your room, and reduce harmful UVA and UVB radiation that can fade furniture, carpets and other materials within the sunroom. Because many leading furniture manufacturers now use fade-resistant fabrics, buyers have more decorating and furnishing choices than ever. Self-cleaning glass is another option that is becoming increasingly popular because it helps sunroom owners to reduce maintenance requirements. Lastly, because of the large expanse of glass present in a sunroom, it is imperative that glass be tempered as a safety precaution. In addition to making glass stronger, if a sunroom glass pane does break, instead of shattering into sharp shards that can cause injury to occupants, tempering causes the glass to crumble into smooth pebble-like pieces.
Window to the World
Overall, sunroom ownership can be a rewarding experience, improving your lifestyle and your fortune if approached thoughtfully and with an eye towards quality.