Sunroom Insulation

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kimkim

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Hi,

I know there are threads on sunrooms but I cannot find exactly the information I need. We are thinking of putting a sunroom on to the back of our house which is north facing (need extra space for a playroom). As it is north facing, we are concerned about insulation - we would need to use it year round and also have it open plan with the kitchen, so don't want the kitchen to get freezing cold either. Are there recommendations for what U-Value we should be looking for in windows, and what type of unsulation to have in the roof etc?

I see that Irish Conservatory and Deck Centre have an offer of over €18,000 for a 12 x 12 sunroom at the moment. Sounds great but need to know if it's suitable for north facing, year round use. Has anyone used theis company?

If anyone could recommend someone reasonable and reliable, please let me know or PM me.

Thanks,

Kimkim
 
Hi Kimkim,

I can't advise on insulation but why put a "sunroom" on to a northfacing wall when you will have no solar gain at all? Why not add an extension to the north wall roof it and put windows in but in my opinion not too many as it will never get the sun. I know I have one north facing bedroom with two windows, one faces south west the other north if I had my way I'd block up the north facing one as it is no value at all.
 
Our garden is not north facing so I don't know about that point but we have been looking around for a while now about getting a sunroom and we went recently to see the sunrooms in that company you mention but we were not impressed with the package. We didn't like the tile effect roof as its not the real thing.

We also went to look at the sunrooms in Conservatory Solutions off the Naas Road and Johnstown Living up at Johnstown. Of the three Johnstown appeared to be the most professional but probably the dearest.

There are recommendations as far as I know on this site for all three companies so its hard enough to know which would be best.
 
Hi all, thanks for the advice. The reason we are putting a 'sunroom' and not a regular extension is because its the cheapest option. It doesn't bother me that it won't get much sun, I'd still like there to be plenty of glass though as it would feel more spacious and it would be nice to be able to see out into the garden. Will chck out those recommendations though.
 
We put a sunroom on a north facing wall, was the only option given the orientation of the house. I was very worried about the lack of sun as other posters have said. However with the builder putting in the most insulaton he could ( don't know what values, sorry ) and with a tiled roof & 2 veluxes, facing west & east, we get an amazing amount of morning & evening sun. The room has also added to the heat of the rooms it adjoins, as the room leading to it had been a very cold one but is now much warmer. Actual sun per se is not the necessary thing, it's overall insulation & the heating system you're connected to that matters. A south facing sunroom might have more sun but would, without proper ventilation, become unbearably hot at times. Our sunroom is connected to existing kerosene system with one regular and one fan assisted radiatior. I also installed ( belt & braces approach) electric undertile heating mats which allows you to heat that room without having to use the rest of the heating system if you want.

The only thing I'd wonder about is that adding a sunroom because it's cheaper than a converntional room, just for the sake of the extra room might not be the best option long term unless you plan to use it for it's main purpose - sunroom, relaxation. If it's a playroom now, then a sunroom would do fine. But later on you can't really use a sunroom as, say, a bedroom if you had to. So I'd give long consideration to the converntional build too. The sunroom might have less walls but the cost of the extra glass & structural work might not make a huge difference in the end. Check both options.
 
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