Sunroom - let the sun shine in!
Looking into a sunroom? Let's hope it's your own!
A sunroom (or a conservatory as it is known in the UK) is a superb way of extending your property and its usage at relatively low cost. A simple dwarf wall and some PVCu glass panels can make all the difference between enjoying your garden for a few short summer months and being able to use it all year round - even in the middle of the coldest winter's night.
There are different sizes and styles of sunroom - the most popular being Edwardian, Victorian, Georgian or Mediterranean but most suppliers will customize a sunroom to meet your exact specification. You can choose to build your sunroom yourself with a DIY kit or you can get in a contractor to do it for you.
Like everything else in life you get what you pay for in your choice of sunroom. If you opt for a quality product, it should come with toughened glass and with ultra-violet filters to keep out the harmful rays but let the sunshine in. Cheaper glass will probably need to have screens fitted.
If the sunroom you are looking for is not standard, then find one of the many websites which offers a free conservatory design service. You can even upload a picture of your home and superimpose your new sunroom over the top of it! This will help you decide which sunroom design looks most in-keeping with your house and garden.
All-year round sunshine will also warm-up your house so, not only will you benefit from the extra space, the improved usage of your property, you will also save on fuel bills by using the warmth of the sun to give you free heating.
Before you go ordering a glass conservatory, you do need to speak to your Local Authority. The chances are that if your house has not had any other extension made to it and you intend to fit the conservatory at the rear, then there should be little problem in getting permission. If you are buying a sunroom kit it is also highly unlikely that the contents will not be of a high enough standard to comply with Building Regulations but you should check this with both the Local Authority and the supplier before buying. Do not part with any money or start any work on your conservatory until you have permission.
Usually the first step in the construction of a sunroom is for a contractor to dig a fairly shallow foundation trench around the perimeter of the new sunroom. They will then lay a concrete strip, build up a dwarf wall off of it (and to a height of about 60 cm to 100 cm above ground, put down hardcore and concrete for the floor and install any surface water drainage which is required.
The conservatory is then installed on top of the dwarf wall (which can be stone, block, brick or masonry to suit the property) and the joint between the house and the sunroom sealed with a mastic joint sealant to prevent damp entering.
It is possible to go for a cheaper option whereby the sunroom is fixed directly to the floor slab thus bypassing the dwarf wall. Unfortunately this has two main drawbacks - firstly the joint between the concrete floor and the PVCu is very difficult to keep watertight and secondly the PVCu is prone to damage at the base. Ideally try to orientate the conservatory so that it faces south and gets the maximum amount of sunshine.
A sunroom takes a couple of weeks to install from start to finish so it is not a major project by any means. Obviously it depends on whether you are going to do the job yourself or entrust it all to a contractor. If you aren't sure about what you are doing then definitely get the groundworks done by a professional and don't forget to get scaffolding or staging when you are working on the glass roof of the conservatory!
The price of a sunroom kit starts at about £1500 ($3000) and it will almost certainly add several times that to the value of your property. As investments go and associated benefits go, it is hard to beat the installation of a sunroom.
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