Sunroom Planning

Planning to build a sunroom but don't know where to start? Here are some tips to help you get started.

Decide on a location for the sunroom. When planning a sunroom, this is one of the first decisions you need to make, whether you're building a glass or screen sunroom. To take advantage of the most light in a northern climate, southern exposure is the optimal choice because this will result in the most light on a daily basis.

Northern exposure is a bad idea for northern climates because hardly any light will enter the room and for most of the day you'll only receive partial light. A cool and damp sunroom isn't what you want.

However, in hot climates too much sun means you'll have to spend a lot of money on cooling the area down each day. In this case, eastern exposure provides the best of both worlds – sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon to cool the area down. Of course, if you want to enjoy the sun after work, this may not be ideal for you. Western exposure will provide plenty of afternoon sunshine but you may require some shading to control the amount of light coming in.

Northern exposure in the south can work well and you may not need to use special window treatments or install a cooling unit.

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Depending on your climate and the exposure you end up choosing, you may need to consider heating and cooling options during the planning process. Even with the ideal exposure, you may want to use the sunroom at all hours of the day no matter what the weather or level of light, which is why there are ways to control the temperature in the room.

• To deal with a sunroom that has a tendency to become too warm, install operative skylights to act as heat dumps.
• Install insulation in the roof, in addition to the glass roof panels. Prefabricated insulating roof panels with R-factors R-16, R-24, and R-32 are best.
• Walls should be constructed with windows that can open to allow airflow.
• Ceiling fans can also encourage better circulation of air – nest models allow you to change speeds for both summer and winter temperatures.
• Exterior roof shade tracks holding rigid exterior sunscreens provide more options for shading.
• Select window treatments that will give you the most flexibility for blocking out sun – and letting it in.
• To enjoy your sunroom no matter how cold it gets, install a small gas wall heater or radiant floor heating to keep you warm and toasty.

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