Sunrooms
Encyclopedia
A sunroom, sun parlor, sun porch, or sun lounge is a structure
, usually constructed onto the side of a house
, to allow enjoyment of the surrounding landscape
while being sheltered from adverse weather conditions such as rain
and wind
. The concept is popular in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In Great Britain
, the term conservatory
is usually used to refer to a sunroom despite not being used as a greenhouse as traditional conservatories were. However, sunrooms with opaque roofs may be considered distinct from conservatories with transparent or semi-transparent roofs. In general the term conservatory and particularly English conservatory evoke the image of an ornate structure, echoing the traditions of the Victorian era
of conservatory building.
room, solarium, conservatory, patio enclosure or Florida room. It can be constructed of brick, breeze block, wood, glass or PVC
. The brick or wood base makes up the main support for the PVC, referred to as the "knee wall", which is attached to the top of it. The glass panels are large and often clear instead of frosted. The roof may be of glass panels but is more usually of a plastic material which lets in sunlight. Some sunrooms are designed for scenic view, while others are designed to collect sunlight for warmth and light. These, usually called solariums, are found in Northern (low sun angle) or cold (high altitude) locations. Solariums have walls made up of glass (or plastic), often curved joining windows, and glass roofs. Sunrooms tend to have conventional roofs.
Newer rooms are typically constructed of aluminum framing with tempered glass as the primary structure. The room system is normally constructed of aluminum insulated panels or glass for the "high-end" options. Skylights may be included in the insulated panels. The outside of the roof is normally constructed with a shingled roofing material.
Whereas the majority of Florida rooms or sunrooms of the past appeared to be disassociated with the home, newer public taste places a great deal of emphasis in blending the sunroom into the architecture of the home.
With the latest technologies of glass and heat resistant technology, sunrooms are now able to be used as efficiently in the southern states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona as is possible in the colder, northern states.
row homes featured a covered porch as a place for the user to sit and relax. With the suburbanization
of America
, families increasingly used their back patio
s and garden
s for this purpose. However, weather conditions often made patios unusable at times, providing an incentive for families to cover and screen in their patios for privacy and for shelter.
As this trend evolved, so did improvements in glass manufacture, making it possible to attach storm windows
together to enclose a patio space.
During the 1960s, professional re-modelling companies developed affordable systems to enclose a patio or deck, offering design, installation, and full service warranties
. Patio rooms featured lightweight, engineered roof panels, single pane glass, and aluminium
construction. These versatile patio rooms extended the outdoor season, provided protection from rain, wind and insects, and gave homeowners extra space. The interior of a sun room warms quickly in sunlight, even on cold days, and may provide a means of heating the part of the main house into which the sun room or conservatory opens. Furniture and plants located in a sun room/conservatory should be resistant to temperature change.
As customers became more energy conscious and building technology aware, patio and sunrooms became available with insulated
glass, vinyl
and vinyl-wood composite framework, and more elaborate designs. Many American
companies also began to offer greenhouse
s and conservatories
, which were popular in Europe
.
hand-held devices.
Another market is for specialised flooring in sunrooms. In earlier sunrooms, floors were often tiled because of the possibility of roof leaks, and cold air entering resulted in the room becoming chilly. Floors with heated pipe and insulation are now available. Types of flooring are available in a wide variety of materials and forms and customers are no longer restricted to tiles. Older sunrooms which are not structurally sound may be prone to leaks and draughts, so traditional tiled floors are still in demand.
Newer pre-engineered sunroom designs must meet strict criteria to obtain building permits and product approvals through various agencies. Certain features such as thermal breaks and glass that is designed to meet the high demands of a sunroom will greatly aid in the utilization of the sunroom in a manner that will prevent leakage and allow for full year 'round usage.
Structure
Structure is a fundamental, tangible or intangible notion referring to the recognition, observation, nature, and permanence of patterns and relationships of entities. This notion may itself be an object, such as a built structure, or an attribute, such as the structure of society...
, usually constructed onto the side of a house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
, to allow enjoyment of the surrounding landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
while being sheltered from adverse weather conditions such as rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
and wind
Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
. The concept is popular in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
In Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, the term conservatory
Conservatory
Conservatory may refer to the following:*Conservatory , a large, highly detailed residential solarium or a greenhouse where plants are cultivated*Music school or a school devoted to other arts such as dance...
is usually used to refer to a sunroom despite not being used as a greenhouse as traditional conservatories were. However, sunrooms with opaque roofs may be considered distinct from conservatories with transparent or semi-transparent roofs. In general the term conservatory and particularly English conservatory evoke the image of an ornate structure, echoing the traditions of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
of conservatory building.
Design
The structure is often referred to as a patioPatio
A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of the sort found in Spanish-style dwellings or a paved area between a residence and a garden....
room, solarium, conservatory, patio enclosure or Florida room. It can be constructed of brick, breeze block, wood, glass or PVC
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
. The brick or wood base makes up the main support for the PVC, referred to as the "knee wall", which is attached to the top of it. The glass panels are large and often clear instead of frosted. The roof may be of glass panels but is more usually of a plastic material which lets in sunlight. Some sunrooms are designed for scenic view, while others are designed to collect sunlight for warmth and light. These, usually called solariums, are found in Northern (low sun angle) or cold (high altitude) locations. Solariums have walls made up of glass (or plastic), often curved joining windows, and glass roofs. Sunrooms tend to have conventional roofs.
Newer rooms are typically constructed of aluminum framing with tempered glass as the primary structure. The room system is normally constructed of aluminum insulated panels or glass for the "high-end" options. Skylights may be included in the insulated panels. The outside of the roof is normally constructed with a shingled roofing material.
Whereas the majority of Florida rooms or sunrooms of the past appeared to be disassociated with the home, newer public taste places a great deal of emphasis in blending the sunroom into the architecture of the home.
With the latest technologies of glass and heat resistant technology, sunrooms are now able to be used as efficiently in the southern states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona as is possible in the colder, northern states.
History
Farmhouses and urbanUrban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
row homes featured a covered porch as a place for the user to sit and relax. With the suburbanization
Suburbanization
Suburbanization a term used to describe the growth of areas on the fringes of major cities. It is one of the many causes of the increase in urban sprawl. Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, choosing instead to live in satellite communities called suburbs...
of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, families increasingly used their back patio
Patio
A patio is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a residence and is typically paved. It may refer to a roofless inner courtyard of the sort found in Spanish-style dwellings or a paved area between a residence and a garden....
s and garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
s for this purpose. However, weather conditions often made patios unusable at times, providing an incentive for families to cover and screen in their patios for privacy and for shelter.
As this trend evolved, so did improvements in glass manufacture, making it possible to attach storm windows
Storm windows
Storm windows are windows which are mounted outside or inside of the main glass windows of a house. It may also refer to a small openable flap found in the side window on light aircraft....
together to enclose a patio space.
During the 1960s, professional re-modelling companies developed affordable systems to enclose a patio or deck, offering design, installation, and full service warranties
Warranty
In business and legal transactions, a warranty is an assurance by one party to the other party that specific facts or conditions are true or will happen; the other party is permitted to rely on that assurance and seek some type of remedy if it is not true or followed.In real estate transactions, a...
. Patio rooms featured lightweight, engineered roof panels, single pane glass, and aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
construction. These versatile patio rooms extended the outdoor season, provided protection from rain, wind and insects, and gave homeowners extra space. The interior of a sun room warms quickly in sunlight, even on cold days, and may provide a means of heating the part of the main house into which the sun room or conservatory opens. Furniture and plants located in a sun room/conservatory should be resistant to temperature change.
As customers became more energy conscious and building technology aware, patio and sunrooms became available with insulated
Thermal insulation
Thermal insulation is the reduction of the effects of the various processes of heat transfer between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Heat transfer is the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature...
glass, vinyl
Vinyl
A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...
and vinyl-wood composite framework, and more elaborate designs. Many American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
companies also began to offer greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s and conservatories
Conservatory (greenhouse)
A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...
, which were popular in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Niche markets
European companies discovered a niche market where customers wanted extra privacy. This meant that blinds and curtains were specially developed to be fitted into the sunroom without damaging the stability of the structure. This has proved a profitable industry where blinds can now be controlled from electronicElectricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
hand-held devices.
Another market is for specialised flooring in sunrooms. In earlier sunrooms, floors were often tiled because of the possibility of roof leaks, and cold air entering resulted in the room becoming chilly. Floors with heated pipe and insulation are now available. Types of flooring are available in a wide variety of materials and forms and customers are no longer restricted to tiles. Older sunrooms which are not structurally sound may be prone to leaks and draughts, so traditional tiled floors are still in demand.
Newer pre-engineered sunroom designs must meet strict criteria to obtain building permits and product approvals through various agencies. Certain features such as thermal breaks and glass that is designed to meet the high demands of a sunroom will greatly aid in the utilization of the sunroom in a manner that will prevent leakage and allow for full year 'round usage.