For Housing

Sun Room Nightmare

Have you ever taken on a project thinking you had all avenues covered and in check, only to find out you missed it by a mile.  I will share this story with you in hopes that it will help some of you avoid the pitfalls I experienced.

As a young contractor just starting out, we sold a job of adding on a sun room to gain additional space for the homeowner.  We had pretty extensive experience in wood structure room additions, garages and even building houses.  This, however, was our first experience with installing a glass/aluminum sun room.

Doing the preliminary/prep work for the sun room was no problem.  Digging footings, installing the block foundation, termite shield, structural floor etc., was a breeze.   We ordered the sun room as a complete unit that included doors, windows, etc.  The sun room was ordered three weeks in advance of the prep work with a promised delivery time of the same.

We covered the floor with visqueen to protect it from the elements and awaited the delivery of the sun room.   We waited, and waited, and waited.  This is when our troubles began.

Delivery of the sun room from the manufacturer was delayed another three weeks.  When it finally did arrive, we were surprised – more like shocked – to see that it did not arrive in panelized units requiring very little assembly. Instead it arrived in numerous wooden crates; aluminum frame work in one crate, glass in another crate, doors in another and a very large amount of hardware & caulking in yet another.  All of this accompanied by a very short, 1 page instruction sheet for installation.

We knew we were in serious trouble.  There was no way we could install this sun room in a professional quality manner.  So we did the only thing we knew to do; we contacted the sun room company begging their help for assembly and installation.

To achieve maximum exposure, the sun room had been planned for the south side of the homeowner’s ranch style house.  When planning these additions, it is important to remember that sun rooms get very hot.  Hence additional vents, unplanned I might add, were required.

While the project turned out beautifully and the customer was extremely happy, we the contractor, did not fare so well.   Good-bye profits, hello job loss.

So, in closing I offer these tips to the inexperienced sun room installer:

1)      Make sure you can assemble all parts, if need be, and install accordingly

2)      Plan additional vents for heat relief

3)      Blinds/screens are additional cost and usually not included in the package

4)      Serious consideration for air conditioning

Home Improvement