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By: Andrew Caxton
Just as with any kind of home addition or feature, there
are a number of factors that can affect the price of your
sunroom. Not only does size make a difference, but so do the
materials that you use to build your sunroom.
Your specific home will have its individual aspects that
will make your sunroom construction options and sunroom pricing
possibilities different from your neighbor or family member’s
home. However, starting with people who already have a sunroom
is a good way to get an idea of what features you want your
sunroom to have. For example, if you want an aluminum sunroom
with few windows and a solid roof, you’re looking at
a much less expensive option than a full glass sunroom with
wood beam construction. So here are a few factors which will
affect your sunroom pricing when you are exploring sunroom
construction.
Foundation Considerations That Will Affect Sunroom Prices
When you are building your sunroom, you start with the foundation.
However, that foundation must be in compliance with the building
codes of your local area. These codes will vary in part due
to the climate that you live in. For example, if you have
a considerable amount of freezing during winter, then the
foundation will have to be deeper than in warmer climates.
This will mean more expense in labor and materials. Then you
will need to level or grade the area that you are preparing
for your sunroom. If you have an existing deck, certain types
of sunrooms can be built on top of them, saving you time and
money. But again, it depends on your local building codes.
However, if you are building an addition from scratch you
will do best for stability and insulation to start with a
slab foundation. It is a good base for all kinds of sun room
construction. If you cannot grade and level your construction
area, then you will need to build a framed foundation, with
concrete or cement block outer walls.
Roof Choices and Sunroom Cost
For many homeowners, the roof of their sunroom is not something
that they have to think about. They want it to be a solid
barrier from the sunlight, allowing the sunroom to get its
exposure only from the full or partially glass walls. For
others, however, they plan to have a number of skylights in
the otherwise solid room. And still more would like their
entire room to be made of glass so that they can take full
advantage of the room as a potential greenhouse as well as
a warm place to spend cool days. The cost of the framing on
the roof itself will be done in a traditional construction
manner, though the type of material used will affect the price
greatly. These material types will be discussed more in the
following section. But what’s important to remember
about the roof is that the more skylights you have, the more
expensive the construction will be.
Material Choices for Sunroom Construction
There are a number of choices in materials for building your
sunroom. The material you choose will greatly affect the cost
of your sun room – not just at construction, but in
the future in regards to heating, cooling and maintenance
costs as well. The first material is PVC. This is the cheapest
material that can be used for sunrooms. It has a number of
additional advantages as well; it offers a high level of insulation
in order to keep heating and cooling costs lower, it is available
in a variety of colors, and it takes very little maintenance.
The one drawback is that you will not be able to use it on
certain historic buildings. Next in cost is aluminum. An aluminum
sunroom is very similar to PVC, but doesn’t do quite
as good a job at insulating. However, it does have low maintenance
issues and can come in a number of styles and colors in order
to coordinate with your existing home covering. The most expensive
material you can choose is wood. For many people, they prefer
wood because it is more traditional, and because they can
stain or paint it to custom colors in order to match their
home exactly. However, there is one tradeoff besides the higher
cost – it will also require maintenance from time to
time.
A Major Factor in Sunroom Prices – Your Windows
Windows in a sunroom are probably the greatest variable in
sunroom pricing. Not only does the number of windows that
you choose make a difference, but so does the type. If they
are fixed, they will be less expensive than if they open.
If you choose a size window that is the standard type and
size sold, then you will have less expense than if you request
a custom-insulation. The type of glaze that you choose to
put on the windows will matter as well. You can get windows
that control the amount of sunlight that enters, ones that
block out damaging rays and even ones that help control the
temperature of the room. But the more your windows can do,
the more expensive they are bound to be.
About The Author
Andrew Caxton publishes articles at http://www.allsunrooms.com
. If you would like more information on this topic please
checkout his website at http://www.allsunrooms.com/prices.html.
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