Selling Sunrooms Agawam MA

Source: REMODELING Magazine
Publication date: February 1, 2006

By Nina Patel

Sunroom, solarium, patio cover, porch enclosure, garden room, country room, three-season room, all-season room, conservatory. These are among the many names given to the glassed-in additions that have become popular remodeling accessories. Typically, these structures are discrete units consisting of aluminum extrusions with insulated glass and foam panel infill.

But even among prefab units, there is a wide range of types and quality. According to Steve Pickens of Champion Windows, which sells and installs patio rooms through 55 showrooms nationwide, the terms "patio room" and "sunroom" are often used interchangeably by his staff to refer to a room surrounded in glass, creating a category that's distinct from a screened porch. In other companies, a sunroom has glazed roofing, while a patio room does not, and a room completely surrounded by glass may be called a "conservatory."

Code Category

Call it what you like, says Mike Fischer, technical director of the National Sunroom Association based in Topeka, Kan., but to a code official, it's either a patio cover or an addition. "Everything else is just a marketing term."

Appendix H of the International Residential Code defines "patio cover" as a one-story structure under 12 feet in height with at least 65% of the longest free-standing wall open or glazed.

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