How to Plan a Sunroom Addition | Home Guides | SF Gate

A sunroom provides a place to relax and take in the nature around you.

There are many benefits to building a sunroom addition onto your home. A sunroom can offer you a wide, panoramic view of your yard while providing abundant natural light. It can allow you to harness the power of the sun to heat your home. And a sunroom can act as a greenhouse in the winter, providing a place to grow plants that could not survive outside during the winter in your locale. A sunroom addition can be expensive, however, and properly planning the project can save you thousands of dollars in building costs. When deciding on whether to build the sunroom, consider your location in the Bay Area. For example, a sunroom my be more practical in sunny Contra Costa County than in parts of San Francisco where fog is a regular occurrence.

Set your budget for the project, and how it will be financed. Remodeling Magazine states that a 200-square-foot sunroom addition can cost over $70,000 at the time of publication, so this project isn't cheap. Setting the budget and lining up the financing before beginning planning and construction allow you to know the financial limitations you face when designing the sunroom.

Determine the position of "true south" in relation to your home. True south is not magnetic south, as indicated by a compass. To determine the position of true south, hang a plumb bob on the corner of your home and follow the direction the shadow casts at the exact midpoint of the day between sunrise and sunset. Aligning the sunroom as close to true south as possible can provide you with the maximum heating and lighting potential for the sunroom.

Decide the location of the sunroom. While you want to orient the sunroom as close to true south as possible, you also want to place it in a location of your house where it will be used and minimizes the impact on the existing structure. You may have to choose between placing the sunroom closer to true south and putting it in a location more appropriate for your needs.

Contact your local zoning board to obtain the permits you need to build the sunroom, and learn the building codes and zoning laws that must be followed when building the sunroom. The building codes cover safety issues regarding the construction, as well as the aesthetic regulations you must follow.

Choose the features that you want the sunroom to have. This includes the size of the sunroom, how you will access the sunroom from the house, design elements such as the type of material used for the floor, and how the sunroom will be heated and cooled. The heating and cooling system can play a large role in the cost of the project -- not only in construction, but in the ongoing operating costs. Using thermal glass and a stone or tile floor can capture the sun's energy to provide heat, while ceiling fans and vents can cool the sunroom, preventing you from having to extend your home's heating, ventilation and air conditioning system out to the sunroom. The style of the doors and windows also plays a factor in the design. Using exterior doors that contain a screen that can be removed or covered, as well as double-doors (such as French doors) or sliding doors on the wall between the house and the sunroom can help with the ventilation during the summer. Glass is often a better choice for the windows than plastic because it can trap more heat energy, keeping the sunroom warmer during the winter, and it won't turn yellow over time, like plastic windows will. Using vent skylights can also help with the ventilation while allowing sunlight into the room. Take into account the microclimate in your section of the Bay Area when designing the sunroom. If you live near the coast where it tends to be cooler and cloudier, using materials that retain heat is a bigger priority than it would be if you lived further inland, where the weather is hotter and sunnier in the summer.

Design the plans for the sunroom. One option is to use software such as a computer-aided design program. This program can create the plans that the contractors follow when constructing the sunroom. Another option is to hire an architect to design the plans for the sunroom. The architect will take your ideas and incorporate elements required by building codes to create blueprints for the contractor to follow during construction. The fees will vary by architect. The software program will cost less than hiring the architect, but the architect can bring the professional knowledge and experience that you lack to the project, which can make the process go much smoother.

Carson Barrett began writing professionally in 2009. He has been published on various websites. Barrett is currently attending Bucks County Community College, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in sports management.

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How to Plan a Sunroom Addition | Home Guides | SF Gate