Solarium installation in Anaheim CA - a glass room you can use all summer

A solarium is a fully enclosed room that's heated and cooled and has all-weather windows, while three-season rooms and enclosed patios usually have no heating or cooling and use uninsulated windows or screens. That's why a three-season room can feel fine in spring and fall but not on a hot August afternoon. If you want the room in every season, the solarium is the one to look at.

Building a sunroom in Orange County usually costs about $120 to $170 per square foot, and that's the going rate across the area, not a quote from us. Larger rooms that need a foundation and come with heating and air conditioning fall toward the higher end, and since a solarium is heated and cooled, it tends to lean that way. Your own figure comes from measuring your space and settling the glass and size.

Pick glass with a low SHGC, the rating for how much of the sun's heat gets through, and shade the glass from outside where you can. National guidance for warm climates points to low-SHGC glass, and low-e coatings cut summer heat gain and air conditioning costs without losing much light or color. Outside shade works best, though it does less on east and west walls where the sun sits low, so the glass has to carry more of the load there.

Either can work, and it's the first choice to make because so much follows from it. An industry specification treats a sunroom that's closed off from the house with its own heating or cooling as non-habitable, and one that's open to the house as habitable living space. A closed-off room stays its own space you step into, while an open one becomes part of the house, and I'll lay both out side by side so you can decide.

Build it in from the start, because highly insulated windows and insulation in the walls, floor and roof are much easier to put in while the room goes up, and adding them later can often cost more. That's why we settle those choices with you before construction starts. The state Energy Code also sets efficiency requirements for additions, so it's fair to ask any installer how it applies to the room you're planning.

The Contractors State License Board's C-17 glazing class covers installing all kinds of glass, along with glazing frames, panels, sashes and doors, in any structure. That's the class written for the glass work itself. When you're comparing installers, ask each one how their license covers the glass on your room.