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Sunrooms are a great addition for any homeowner wanting more space with a view that typically costs less than the cost of adding on other rooms to a home. You can use sunrooms in a variety of ways, from relaxing and reading to working out, watching TV, and growing plants that require a lot of sunlight. While there are a lot of different uses for a sunroom, there are also many different types of sunrooms and materials one could use to build it. If you’re considering adding a sunroom to your house, here’s what you should know as you’re planning your addition.
The terms sunroom and four-season room are often used interchangeably — is there a difference? Although the overall concept is the same, there is a slight difference between sunrooms and four-season rooms, along with two other common types of transitional indoor/outdoor rooms. Before you can dive into any more details of your sunroom, you first should understand the differences between the types of sunrooms.
While it is an enclosed attachment to your house, a true sunroom doesn’t have heat or air conditioning. These types of rooms are also called solariums or conservatories, relying on the sun coming in from the windows to heat the room. Although these types of rooms do cost less without the HVAC hookup, they are not as comfortable to use during Iowa’s harsh winters or extreme summer temperatures. Either way, they can still offer protection from the outside elements, and with so many windows, you’ll still feel like you’re surrounded by nature.
Four-season rooms and sunrooms are very similar, which is why those names are used almost interchangeably. While four-season rooms are also enclosed with numerous windows, they’re temperature-controlled with heat and air conditioning. So, as the name suggests, they can be comfortably used any time of the year. Even with the regulated temperature, the numerous windows found in four-season rooms still make it feel like an outdoor oasis.
An attached greenhouse is a more extreme sunroom built for plants and designed to trap in the heat and humidity. Even though it’s designed with plants in mind, it’s still a great space to spend time in. Your plants will probably take up a majority of the space, but you can still include some comfortable chairs for reading and enjoying the warmth and sunshine.
A screen room or porch is the most blended indoor/outdoor space one can have attached to their home. Typically, these rooms or porches are covered with mesh windows or walls instead of glass, keeping out bugs but still exposing you to the outside elements. Without heat or air conditioning, these rooms are used most during fair weather conditions. While they don’t regulate temperature, they still provide shade and protection from pesky bugs while you’re trying to enjoy the outdoors, making it more enjoyable when the weather is nice.
Now that you’re aware of the main different types of sunrooms, there are a number of factors you should consider when you’re deciding which type is the right fit. There are a number of factors, such as the materials and your budget, to consider when you’re planning your residential sunroom addition.
It’s important to pay attention to the location of your sunroom both inside and outside of your home. Your sunroom’s main function is to bring in light while enjoying your backyard, so you should consider what the view is and the amount of sunshine that hits this part of your yard. Inside, you’ll need to consider what room or space you want to walk through to get to your sunroom. Maybe you want it as an extension of your living room, or maybe you want it off of your kitchen for entertaining purposes. Either way, you need to strategically place this room to make it functional and cohesive with the rest of the house. By combining both your ideal indoor and outdoor spots, you’ll be able to narrow down the overall best spot for a sunroom in Iowa.
How you want to use your sunroom plays a factor in deciding what type of sunroom to build and where you should build it. For example, if you want to use your sunroom comfortably year-round, then you’ll have to build a four-season room with heating and cooling. If you want to build an attached greenhouse, you probably won’t want to build this off of your living room so you don’t potentially track dirt to your furniture, carpet, or rug. Furthermore, if you want a more private sunroom, consider building this off of your master bedroom.
Your ideal sunroom ultimately depends on your budget. For example, a four-season room requires heating and air conditioning, which would obviously cost more than doing without. The material you use also plays into your budget — a glass-wall sunroom would cost more than a mesh-wall screen porch. It’s important to talk to a residential contractor to discuss what materials and features would work with your budget.
Get in touch with a general contractor who provides superior design and construction services to homes in and around Des Moines. At Premier Construction, we specialize in stick-framed, four-season sunroom construction. We build your sunroom to fit the style of your home, matching all materials so the addition looks original to the home. Get in touch with our team and we can help design a sunroom or patio space that best fits your needs and your budget.