Building a green sunroom

[b2run]

I've been investigating building a sunroom in place of our back patio to pull in some natural heat during the long winter. After some initial research, I've come to a road block. What I found out is that there are two kinds of sunrooms; three season and four season. The four season sunroom becomes a part of the house and therefore you have to heat it all winter. Not green.
The three season sunroom typically has a solid roof to prevent it from overheating in the summer thus blocking out a lot of the sun. If you go with a glass or equivalent roof, it becomes a sauna in the summer. Does anyone know a way around this problem?

[shiela_robins]

Couldn't you just have the room completely sealed so that when it's not in use in summer or winter it doesn't affect the rest of the house?

[thegreenlivingplace]

b2run

There are many possible answers to your question, but basically it comes down to your budget for adding your sun room. The type's of designs you have mentioned are the basic off the shelf designs. Most companies will be happy to include 24 inch removable panels in every other 48 inch wall section, for a little extra cash of course. This works very well with a ceiling fan installed to pull the hot air up and out through the openings. This is even better in you install a solar panel to power the fan during the day.

There are also retractable awnings that can be opened out during the summer when you don't want the sun coming through a glass roof.
Then retracted during the months you want the sun. This way you control the environment inside.

There are also the type of enclosure used in the house boating industry. These have about 24 inches of canvas at the top and bottom with a clear plastic covering between. They come in 36 to 48 inch sections that are zippered to connect them together. They can be unzipped and rolled to the top or removed completely for storage when not needed. This type enclosure will run about $3000 USD for a 12 ft x 12 ft three sided enclosure. These can be adapted to a lot of different roofing and flooring combinations.

There are a lot of possibilities out there to build sun type rooms that are as useable as you want them to be. As with most things about trying to live a greener life, we have to "think outside the box" and take the standard designs made for other industries and adapt them to our needs.