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Sunrooms and porches can
help you take
advantage of summer in the Upper Valley
while it lasts. By Kim J. Gifford
Now that summer is here, people throughout the Upper
Valley are gathering on porches for barbecues,
lemonade, and relaxation. This quintessentially
American pastime is not only evocative of summer but
of a simpler past, of a Norman Rockwell painting.
If you are thinking about adding a porch or sunroom
to your home to enjoy with your friends and loved
ones (or your morning newspaper) you would be wise
to first consider the basic options—the open porch,
the screened-in porch, the enclosed porch, or the
sunroom.
Before work began, Rowse and Trumbull-Nelson planned
the renovation in stages. “That created too many
headaches,” said Dave Harrison, Trumbull-Nelson’s
project manager who has worked with site
superintendent Rob
White from the outset. “It became
a continuous piece of work, especially when we
removed the walls and ceilings and saw that revealed
several peaks that reached to the roof.
“When we opened the walls we found structural
problems. Some of the beams supporting the roof had
been weakened during earlier renovations, and rooms
were actually tipping. We spent about two months on
roof re-framing to restore support and, in the
process of leveling the house, we had to create
several small ‘step-ups’ in the floors.”
Dave Robinson, an engineer and friend of Rowse,
provided solutions for various structural issues.
“Dave was very helpful getting us through the
toughest of the roof framing issues,” said Harrison.
With the exception of the floors, a small pantry,
one built-in cabinet in the kitchen, and the
surrounds for two large fireplaces at either end of
the expansive living room, all of the new woodwork
and cabinetry in the house came from
Trumbull-Nelson’s Millwork Shop.
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Clockwise from top left: the classic
porch swing; a screened- in porch for
summer dining; synthetic materials
replace porches of wood; a beautiful
spot to read a book. |
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Types of Porches
An open porch is a wonderful thing—an outdoor deck
or patio protected by a roof from the rain. Millions
of Americans enjoy the outdoors from their open
porches during the warm seasons’ pleasant nights and
mornings. The drawback with open porches is that
while they offer protection from the rain, they
don’t protect you from wind, uncomfortable
temperatures, and insects.
For those who live in buggy areas, screened-in
porches add key protection. The downside of
screened-in porches is that the screens dull the
sensation of being outside, and, like open porches,
their use is restricted to the warmer months. An
increasingly common solution to this limitation is
screened-in porches that can become enclosed porches
by simply replacing the screens with glass during
the colder months.
Many people think of enclosed porches and sunrooms
as the same thing, but that is not the case. Keith
Raymond, owner of Claremont Glassworks in Claremont,
New Hampshire, sells and installs pre-fabricated
sunrooms by a company called Four Seasons. He says,
“a porch usually doesn’t have an insulated floor or
roof. But a sunroom is constructed with the same
principles as a house: it’s a four-season room, only
its walls are largely made of glass,” he said.
Sunrooms, as well as porches enclosed in glass,
protect users from both bugs and the elements.
However, during the summer months they tend to
gather too much heat, like a greenhouse. “You need a
way to dissipate this heat, especially in the summer
so that they do not become unusable,” says Bob
Jackman, manager of LaValley Building Supply in West
Lebanon, New Hampshire. A common solution to
overheating sunrooms are window air conditioning
units.
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Sunroooms can either come pre-fabricated
or be constructed by a contractor.
Sunrooms also go by many names including
Florida rooms and solariums. |
Making the Right Choice
The first consideration when choosing the type of
porch or sunroom you want to build is how you plan
to use it. Are you building it because you want to
feel as if you are outdoors? Do you want to use it
year-round? Will you be hosting many people?
“If [you are building purely for the sensation of
being outdoors] you certainly don’t need to spend
$20,000 on a specially customized sunroom made of
glass, because you can get that out of a porch,”
said Jackman. On the other hand, if you want a room
with a lot of sun that you can use year round, an
insulated sunroom could be the way to go.
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When possible experts recommend locating
a porch on the east sideof the house. |
Location is another factor in determining what
type of porch to build. Does the location afford
beautiful views? Is it buggy, windy, or sunny?
What time of day is it exposed to the sun? These
questions are important to think about—as they
could even make you realize that you should be
building your porch elsewhere. When possible,
experts recommend locating a porch on the east
side of the house. If you are able to do so, the
morning sun will warm the porch so you can eat
breakfast out there, and in the evening when you
get home from work, it will be in the shade and
cooler.
Another obvious consideration when thinking
about adding a sunroom or porch is cost. Believe
it or not, many builders recommend their
prospective clients to envision their dream
sunroom or porch without considering cost. From
there, they can cut the cost by peeling away the
least important elements of their dream design
until the price becomes manageable.
If all these considerations have your head
spinning, don’t worry. Once you get to thinking
about them all, you’ll realize that much of the
decision-making is out of your hands and
dictated by your home, location, and budget.
Moreover, consulting with one or more experts
will also lessen the burden. No matter what you
end up with, you’ll have a space where you can
sit back and take pleasure in the great outdoors
from the comfort of your chair and in the
company of those you enjoy.
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The Great
American Deck Syndrome
One local contractor describes the
problematic result of not fully weighing
your options before moving forward with
a deck, porch, or sunroom. He calls it,
“The Great American Deck Syndrome.”
First, someone decides to build a deck
off their home because they want to
enjoy the outdoors. Shortly after the
deck is built, they realize that when it
rains they can’t sit on the deck, so
they have a roof added and make it a
porch. Before too long, they can’t stand
the bugs any longer and decide to screen
it in. All is well for a while, but as
time goes by they decide they want more
living space and so they winterize their
porch and finish it off.
“After that, they sit in this new room
and say, ‘we ought to build a deck.’”
Although this epidemic isn’t always
avoidable due to changing needs and
desires, the further ahead you can
anticipate your needs, the sooner you
will be able to enjoy the option that is
right for you—and the less you’ll pay.
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Choosing Materials |
Open & Screened-In Porches
The type of materials to build with are
determined by a number of factors,
ranging from whether the space will be
exposed to the elements to whether it
will be heated and what type of house it
is being built onto. Pressure-treated
wood will protect an open or screened-in
porch from rain, and Jackman recommends
using pressure-treated wood near the
bottom of walls and for the deck to
handle water coming in through the
screens. Trumbull-Nelson’s Tony Instasi
cites the increase in composite material
to prevent rot and the need for
maintaining wood.
Enclosed Porches and Sunrooms
If, on the other hand, you plan on
building a sunroom or an enclosed porch
that you will heat year-round, the floor
will need a solid foundation like
concrete, which can later be topped with
hardwood flooring, tile, etc. PVC is a
cheaper alternative than wood for the
walls of sunrooms and enclosed porches.
That said, the classic aesthetic of an
older home might dictate the use of wood
and more traditional materials |
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