Sunrooms 101

There is nothing that we love more than to bring a little light to our current Valley Windows and prospective Valley Windows customers. Ignore the double entendre – we know that we provide a better view, leveraging our best-in-class windows and doors. But what fun is that alone, knowing the wealth of knowledge that we have – and want to share with you. Prior to the launch of this blog, we thought, “how on earth can we show our community our passion for contributing to your dream home?” While the answers were aplenty, we know that a blog with regular posts about all things related to said dream home might make the mark. At least for right now.

Installing a variety of windows and doors, we grow accustomed with pretty much every room in your home. Some are staples – kitchen, bedrooms, social spaces, etc. But what about when you just want to escape, be able to enjoy the outside from inside and just generally have some “you time”. Enter the sunroom.

Sunrooms are a storied piece of the home’s architecture. Historically, they’ve also been called a garden room, patio room, sun porch, three season room or solarium – among many other names. Three season room is the most interesting name to us, we’re guessing that those who call it such aren’t properly insulating the space and have to flee into the home when the weather is at its most cruel.

By definition, it’s a room adjacent to probably your living room, dining room or kitchen on the ground level of your house that thrives on maximum amounts of natural light. They’re frequently constructed from transparent tempered glazing, which sits on top of brick or wood. The brick or wood is called a “knee wall”. Alternatively, you may see examples of sunrooms made completely from either PVC or wood or aluminum – glazed on each side of the space. Now, if your sunroom faces directly into a neighbour’s yard or the street, we recommend that you explore frosted materials, which give you much more privacy.

Okay, you’re thinking… this is all well and good, but what do I actually do with this space. The short answer is – anything you want. The Valley Windows team has most commonly seen them used for reading or napping nooks. There are fewer things better in our opinions than napping in the sun and knowing that you’re still in the confines of your home. On rainier days, a sunroom takes on an entirely different name and purpose… it’s simply a multipurpose room with which you can do absolutely whatever you want.

We just have a couple of recommendations – we wouldn’t promote having major electronics like televisions in a sunroom. The glare will be heavy on sunny days, causing you to draw the drapes, entirely defeating the purpose of the space. We’d also recommend that you’re strategic about the paper or paint colour that you use on the walls, and any art that you’d like to display. For the same reason, it can easily fade.

Questions? Let the Valley Windows team know. We’d love to hear from you.