I have a Four Season's sunroom. It is about 20 years old and was added on by the previous owner. We strongly dislike it and think it looks like the front end of a Wendy's. Thank goodness it's on the back of the house! Speaking of Wendy's, you might pay attention to those sunrooms on many of their older restaurants. You'll probably notice that many of them have had the glass removed or covered, or that roofs have been built over the top of them. There's a reason for that. They leak, are drafty, and are very difficult to heat and cool. They also move ALOT! As they heat up under the sunshine, they pop and creak as they expand. With that much glass you will have expansion and contraction. As fruit stated above, they are hotter than he!! in the summer and Siberia in the winter. About ten years ago we spent 10k to re-glass the entire thing with the best glass available- it made no difference. Unless this is a very small addition, Save your money. Ours is about 20x 12.

Also, you might want to do a little Googling. A number of years ago there were a series of lawsuits against the company. Apparently the reflective coating on the glass combined with the angle of the glass relative to surrounding structures was magnifying and bending the sunlight as it shone on the glass panels and setting adjacent structures on fire. No kidding.

Fruit and Fraker, thanks for the comments. The guy from the local company is coming tommorrow to give our free estimate. I may ask him about a different type of model than the solarium unit with the curved eaves. I do want light from the roof coming in, but they can put a large skylight on a room with large windows. This unit, whichever type we choose, will be on the smallish side. We aren't rich. I may use a heater that will keep things 40F ish in the worst of winter. We have our roof slanting down on half of the area where the "garden room of choice" will be, so I don't know how they can add the Garden room on where we want it. In all the photos I've seen of solariums and garden rooms, there is never a roof overhanging that the room has to be built near. I am not sure how they can do it, but they likely know how to do it. I'll see tommorrow I guess.

Fruit and Fraker, I have gotten their estimate, and it is too much. They started with the cost of $28,000. And after several rebates and cost cutting crap, they said $21,500. Our budget was $12,000. This being for a (rounded off) 7X9 ft structure. So the next local company, "Patio enclosures". I emailed them all the specs. The 7X9 ft size we want, the energy glass and our small budget of $12,000 bucks. We also need our floor redone with a wooden deck fastened onto the cement/concrete existing poor shape porch, so the building can be secure. This new flooring will be for us to fix, not the "patio enclosures" companies job. We have an overhang, which will take up about half of the roof space in the eventual growspace. So the new structure will have to join onto the original roofs overhang. My mom will not budge on cutting it off. Anyhoo, I just emailed this info to the "patio enclosures " company. If anyone reading this knows a good builder (not expensive) that could build a new deck anchoring into our existing cement/concrete porch, near Pittsburgh, speak up. We will need a skilled worker with references, with a legal contract etc. No bullcrap, no "dayworkers" if you get my drift.

Sorry, but our budget is now $8,000. I am guessing It will be a while until we get our sunroom built. Well, I guess my south facing basement window will have to do for now. WE'll get one, I just think it will have to possibly be a little smaller, or an independent contractor can do it cheaper. I was thinking of skylights added to our home, but, other family members aren't in agreement. WEll, sorry to be boring. We will eventually get a sunroom.

I don't know where you live but building a solarium yourself and buying glass from these guys will save you a ton of money. http://kissourglass.com/ They are in western Wisconsin but their pricing is amazing so a road trip is easily justified if not over 500 miles.

The advice about not full glass on top is incredibly important, you will have no chance of keeping it cool with a glazed roof. Skylights maybe, I would frame it for skylights but not cut them in, just shingle or use metal roofing on an insulated stud roof. Then later if you feel you need skylights you can cut them in using the framed openings you covered over and it won't cost you a fortune. Also consider roof overhangs so summer insolation is shaded and winter insolation is not. Classic passive solar design stuff.

Ricksindoorg, I am in SW Pa. Not sure how close to Wisc. offhand, but, we have no truck to carry the windows. I think that being that the sunroom will be about 19 ft long by 7-10 ft out from the house, we will try to get some windows locally, unless these windows are SUPER cheap, and even then I can't see me renting a truck and driving from Pa to Wisc. Thanks for the info, if we were closer to Wisc, it may be a good idea. We have planned to start the project in spring or summer. And are going to likely have a guy my mom knows redo the porch flooring, and build a room with mostly long windows, and a skylight or 2, and a door. We will be saving more money to add to the project. The size of the room may change to be more square than the current dimensions etc. I can't wait to get it done. I have to stop myself from buying a bunch of plants for the sunroom. I have a Norfolk Island Pine, and had to force myself to not buy more, our main floor is too dry for lots of plants in the winter, the air zaps many plants, as for the heat in summer, it will be opened with just screens covering the windows, a fan blowing to circulate air in summer also, and a heater to keep it at 50F ish min winter. It will be added to our brick house, so with good windows, it should be okay ( I hope) maybe costly in the worst of winters, being a month or month in a half, when we have bad winters. I think maybe an extra $100.00 a month for a heater to run in the worst of the winter. Well, that is how I think it will go. If a skylight is too much, I can spray paint it white. It should be easier to heat and cool than a green house out in the open anyways. Thanks again Rick poaky1

There is quite a bit of partial information in these comments that do not really fit within the context of solariums today, especially the wendy’s comparison or stating these rooms move a lot. We are currently supplying curves for patio enclosure rooms to patio enclosure customers who cannot get curves through patio enclosures. Even IG curves from regular suppliers are taking longer to get, and they are expensive. In additon to them being expensive, they allow more relative heat gain than flat glass. Slope glazing is not the same as a random window in vertical wall. We service curved rooms, however we do not build new curved rooms due to the shape and proprietary supply issues. IG solariums are a luxury item, and they will require some service. Do not build with polycarbonate unless it is a garden or outdoor facility.

I ended up getting a greenhouse that I bought already put together and got it delivered to my yard. Thanks for replying though. IF I ever get rich someday I'll try and get a solarium built onto my house. I'd still like to have one for more tender plants, my greenhouse has gone down to 39F on 2 occasions before when the outside had been 8F.

We are in the middle of replacing a lot of broken glass on an already built Four Seasons Sunroom. We put a tin roof above in the meantime to keep out the rain but I'm concerned about once we take off that roof and have just the glass. If put in correctly, will it stay leak free for a long time or does it tend to leak anyway? After reading the comments I'm rethinking replacing the top part of the sunroom and just keep the tin roof on. Any advice is welcome.

Have a four season summer room for twenty years no issue with the glass leaking! Love the room!

Do you happen to have a full size door on yours? Ours is only square windows to step out of. We'd like a full door. Any suggestions???

helenlibs, thank you so much for your comment, that makes me feel better. Dianne, We have a full size door on either end of the sunroom but there is a foot of wood between them so I don't have any suggestions. Not sure how you would make a door THROUGH the windows without taking some out and redoing that part completely.

This thread seems to have been ressurected, so I’ll make a quick clarifcation to my earlier comments. In my reply I was referring specifically to a Four Seasons Sunrooms branded solarium- not a generic four season room that may have been installed by any number of vendors.

I also think its important to recognize that the location of a Four Seasons Sunroom plays a significant role in its performance. Mine has a southerly exposure without any adjacent shade trees. The home is all brick as well as one interior wall. The solar load is significant.

Does anyone have experience with installing Four Seasons (brand) curved windows and what putty or insulation to use if the fit is a bit off?

Fraker -- Hope you're still on this site from time to time. We're in the process of possibly buying a home in N NV that has an installed Four Seasons sunroom -- a big one -- about 1300 sq ft. It's 10 yrs old and the local installer folded 7 years ago. The structure appears to be in good shape but I'm no expert & the seller (owner) notes they had to make three "cosmetic" repairs where there were leaks (where the sunroom structure attaches to the house) last month prior to listing it for sale. I cannot see where they leaked or where the repairs were made. It appears professionally done.

Does your unit look anything like this one? You can see the owners installed 2 extra heaters and good quality sunshades on all the horizontal windows. Thanks! MG

I have 2 four seasons sunrooms, no issues and one is a bedroom and one a living room. heated and cooled perfectly year round in NC.

As time has gone,

Thier have been inprovements as in any products,

Built in 2016 and 2020 and no leaks,unless you spray under the seals with a powerwasher. I hand wash and gently spray. Seals over time can become weak and may need to be resealed as some point, that is normal, Nothing is ever perfect forever, But very happy so far! for sure my favorite rooms!

Thanks so much for your reply, your sunrooms are beautiful! Funny, we have almost that same pergola!

Thank you! pergola is Dream spaces NC ( Four Season sunroom NY)

Four Seasons sunroon/ Dream Spaced Spaces NC NC- Love my new room 2020

Perfect in heating and cooling- nonissues no issues Built in 2020 - Dream Spafes NC ( Four Season sunrooms NY) They are conconstantly improving thier products- I love mine!