Erin Crawford
Des Moines Register

Bill and Barbara Unger decided to add a sunroom shortly after moving into their Johnston, Iowa, home.

They paged through a few books and found the sort of room they wanted: lots of windows and a vaulted ceiling.

The finished sunroom is all windows on three sides, with a decorative Palladian window at the back. The room is attached to the house, connecting at the dining room. From the exterior, the siding and windows are the same. The airy feel gets extra lift from the high-rise ceiling, which is covered in pine planks. Extra light streams in from skylights.

“We use it as a sitting room,” Unger says of the new space, noting that it is their cat’s new favorite room, too.

Chris Brown, a salesman with Kinter Construction in Des Moines, Iowa, which designed and built the Ungers’ sunroom, says more homeowners are opting for sunny spaces that are usable year-round.

“You see sunrooms without foundations, but it’s easier to maintain with a foundation,” Brown says. “No movement, weeds or critters. You have heating and cooling and it looks more like the house.”

Other companies have noticed the same pattern.

“The trend has changed,” says Chris Perrin, branch manager at Screenbuilders in Iowa. “It used to be three-season rooms, but since the housing market went south, people want a four-season room.

“Instead of building their next big house, they’re adding on to their house and not making the next purchase on a new home.”

National retailer Home Depot also has seen the move toward sunrooms increase, says Richard Clarke, the general manager of Home Depot’s outdoor living and exterior programs.

Sunrooms are “a comforting, warm space” where residents can enjoy an outdoor feel, he says.

Clarke sees the trend as a “very affordable way of increasing value” in a house, as well as fitting the “overall general trend of moving living outdoors.”

And at Home Depot, the cost can range from $7,000 on the low end to quite high prices, depending on the complexity of the project and the market, taking labor costs and building codes into consideration, he says.

Even if homeowners aren’t adding a whole room to their home, they’re adding features that make their decks more multi-use.

Basics of Sunrooms

Decorating

For homeowners considering a sunroom or three-season room, here are features to consider:

Entertainment system-friendly design: Many homeowners who are adding a four-season room, and plan to use the space year-round, are considering how their favorite form of entertainment will fit with the new room.

Radiant-heat floor: The tile floor in the Unger family’s sunroom is comfortable to walk on, even on the coldest winter days, thanks to a heated floor controlled by a thermostat. The room’s many windows can make it the toastiest room in the house, even in winter.

The heating system also makes tile an acceptable flooring option in winter.

Composite decking: More expensive than building a deck out of wood, composite decking is low maintenance, never needing to be re-stained.

Specialty windows: Three-season windows open fully to give the room a screened-porch feel in pleasant weather. However, homeowners who opt for a four-season room typically choose windows that match their existing home.

What it costs

Screened porch: Expect to pay $60 to $80 a square foot for a basic screened porch.

Three-season room: Budget $80 to $100 a square foot for a fully enclosed deck space with windows.

Sunroom: This room is the equivalent of an addition to the home. More efficient than three-season rooms to heat and cool, they can cost $120 to $150 per square foot.