When many of us think of sunrooms, we think of them as places to spend the spring and summer months enjoying the sunshine. Believe it or not, sunrooms are actually great additions for the fall and winter, as well. With the proper type of glass in your windows, you can take advantage of the sun’s rays for both heating and cooling purposes.
Using Natural Light to Your Advantage
Not only is sunshine good for your health, but it’s good for your heating and cooling bill, too. The vinyl windows and doors with insulated glass, along with proper weather stripping, means you don’t have to directly heat the new space that often. The sunroom addition helps regulate the temperature of the indoor air of your home by absorbing the heat of the sun’s rays in the winter and deflecting heat in the summer. Having this multi-purpose space gives you additional indoor square footage which allows you to not have to be cooped up when it’s too hot or too cold outside.
The Quintessential Multi-Purpose Space
One of the more popular sunroom additions is to include a pool within the space. This way, you can enjoy your pool year-round. It’s especially popular with the kids and guests. Whether you decide to include a pool or not, one of the other popular uses of a sunroom is to use it as a playroom for the kids. This way the kids aren’t cooped up in their rooms or stuck watching TV in the living room during too hot or too cold days. A sunroom is also a good place for pets to play, especially when temperatures are too extreme to let them enjoy the outdoors. Other people will enjoy the use of the space as a game room, exercise room, or even an entertainment space with a big-screen TV.
An Indoor Garden, Solarium or Conservatory
Ever wanted to have a garden without leaving the comforts of your home? If you have large trees, call the local Tree Removal service professionals and ask them to replace those area with small plants. Is your area not right to grow the plants you want? With a sunroom, you can. Growing plants inside is great for the general air quality of your home, since they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. It’s also cool when you can grow fruits and vegetables in the climate-controlled conditions. Not only does this save on grocery bills, but you can’t beat the quality and freshness of home grown fruits and veggies. You do have to do a bit of extra work to pollinate them yourself, but the end result is worth it.
Cost vs Value of a Sunroom
Because sunrooms of any style offer additional square footage to your home and are multi-purpose spaces, they have quite a bit of value. However, when it comes to resale value, they are typically expected to only recoup about half of their construction costs. Then again, sunrooms built with maximum energy efficiency can actually help your heating and cooling costs for most months of the year. If you are building a sunroom, build it for the emotional and practical benefits that you will get out of the space. Those benefits can’t always be expressed in dollar signs. If you’re looking to build an addition and the conditions are right for a sunroom, it’s a great emotional and practical investment for your family.