Three season sunrooms in Redlands CA - a lighter room on a base built to carry it

Most people who call us have a deck or slab out back they barely use and want more room without a full addition. The price mostly moves with the size of the room, glass or plastic panels, how the roof ties into your house, and whether the base can carry the room as it is or needs work first. The schedule turns on that same base, on the building office, and on when the panels come in from the maker. If you want a room you heat and cool like the rest of the house, that's a four season sunroom, which is a heavier build. I'll put your own number in a written estimate that lists what's in it and what isn't.

We start at the base, because a three season room is lighter than an addition but still needs a sound base and a careful install. I check that the deck or slab is level and square and that the footings, the supports underneath, are in good shape. Then we set the floor frame, stand the walls, and tie the roof into the house, flashing that joint with the metal and membrane that keep water out where the room meets your wall. The panels and doors go in last, and we seal the tracks so water runs out instead of in. We put the room in to the maker's instructions, because that is what their warranty asks of the installer, on their terms. One maker's installer training lists what a room like this calls for, from footings and framing to flashing, roofing, electrical work and flooring, and before we start I'll tell you how each one is handled on your job.

Some houses are better served by something else. If you already have a solid patio cover and mostly want to close it in, patio enclosures can be the simpler path, and if your house calls for an odd footprint or a roof line a standard room won't fit, we look at custom sunrooms instead.

The City of Redlands sends home addition, patio and deck permits to its Building office, and the city's permit list names additions, patios and decks but not three season sunrooms, so the list alone doesn't settle what your room needs. We take care of the permits the building office asks for on our jobs, whether that office is the city or the county, and the contract says in writing that we're handling them. Where the room sits on your lot matters too. On a corner lot in a residential district, the side yard along the street has to be at least the district's required front yard and at least 15 feet, so a room reaching toward the side street may need to be narrower or placed differently. The city also maps a local fire hazard severity zone, and while you're planning it's worth looking up whether your lot falls inside it.

We're based in Redlands and work in many of the cities around it in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. On older homes we often find a deck built for a grill and a few chairs, or a slab poured for a patio and not a room, and we see the same thing on jobs in Highland and Yucaipa.