Greenhouses, Sheds and Sun Rooms - Sun Room Weatherizing Help

BACKGROUND
I have an alluminum sunroom approximately 300 sq ft that was built over an existing deck. It probably sits 8 or so feet off the ground. Its all windows and sliding glass doors with an aluminum pitched ceiling. Its essentially a 3 season room with little need for conditioning here in Maryland. In the summer we can open the windows and run the ceiling fan and at worse run the wall air conditioner thats installed when its really hot. In the cold of winter that wall unit is a heater. The cost to run the unit is high and surely does not give an impression that its an integrated part of the house. There are exterior grade doors that open to the sunroom so we keep them closed as to not have to 'manually' heat and cool the room to use it. Oh and the windows are double pane.

GOAL
I want to weatherize the room such that I can use it all year round.

PLAN
(1) I am going to expand the passage between the house and the room, removing the 2 doors that open to the sun room and replacing the headers and a larger opening.
(2) although carpet is warmer I am replacing the exisiting carpet with 3/4 wood floor with its additional layer of floor board
(3) I am going to cover the lower windows which are like 1' x 4' rectangles with foam board insulation in the window gap betweenthe glass and some large wood trim and or drywall. The outside of those small windows will be covered with vinyl siding.
(4) lastly i will be extending ducks that run essentially right where the doors are to under the room and up on the far side of the room. they will need to be heavily insulated under the deck.
(5) I would remove the wall unit because frankly its unseemly and loud.

Thats as far as my plan gets.

HELP
My major concern is increasing the R factor of the ceiling and whether or not to cover the two large triangle windows above the main course of windows. I know this seems to defeat the purpose of the sunroom but there is still plenty of glass to go around and if we are closing if off for 4 months whats the point? I would rather constrain the view and use it 12 months than the current situation.

For the ceiling I have seen essentially bead board or planks affixed to the ceiling but I presume that would not provide enough R factor. There is probably a good 4" I could "drop" the ceiling, before it meets the window sill, with perhaps insulation, a 1x4 and drywall on top but how to hang that on an aluminum ceiling that you would surely not want to pierce. Liquid nails??

I just wonder if there is a kit out there for such a project.

booboo8227,

Welcome to DoItYourself.com and the Shed and Patio Room forum.

STOP!!

Your first stop has to be at your local bldg. dept.

You are proposing converting a non-condotioned space that sits on a deck into conditioned living space that sits on a deck.

Those last 5 words -- "that sits on a deck" -- probably means that you can't do it, at least not legally.

Check with the BD first and see what they say. If they give you the basic 'go ahead' for this, then check back and we'll offer some ideas.

Thanks for your concern Lefty but perhaps I underplayed the permanancy of the room. Its very typical around this area that these all weather sunrooms are built on top of exisiting deck platforms. In this way they leverage the raised infrastructure along with adding more pilings for the additional load. The structure is considered part of the house its just not conditioned 'automatically' via a thermostat. I'll add that I am on the architectual committe for the HOA we are under so I can assure you this is on the level. The inquire and the effort here is primarily asthetic with the needed goal of increasing R factor. I could simply take the interior doors off (which I tend to do in the Spring and Fall) and call it a day but i am realistic to the heating/cooling inefficiencies and subsequent cost.

booboo8227,

You're on the right coast -- I'm on the left. The differences in what's allowed in construction is even greater than that.

Your sunroom and mine are probably equally different. Both have aluminum framing, and I know what mine is. I've no clue about the details of yours.

I would never try to heat or cool mine. There is no thermal break between the interior and exterior sides of the aluminum in the framing. Aluminum is an EXCELLENT conductor of heat and cold. Mine is built on a slab. I would have no problem adding whatever material (and weight) to either the interior or the exterior of the walls to create a thermal break if I did decide to heat or cool it. Your's is on a deck. I'd be careful about how much weight I added to it.

The roof of mine has 2 different animals involved. The majority is roof panels -- 3" of solid styrofoam with an aluminum skin top and bottom. No problem heating or cooling that. Styrofaon is a great insulator.

But about every 4' I have this aluminum purlin that runs from the house wall to the outside wall of the sunroom. There is no thermal break in it. That would be a HUGE area of heat loss or heat gain.

If you're OK with your plan and don't feel that you are overloading the deck it's built on, then go for it. Just be aware that it WILL impact your heating costs. I would keep the doors in place between the house and the sunroom for the first year or two, just in case!!