Greenhouses, Sheds and Sun Rooms - Patio enclosure

Does anyone have any experiences with companies like "Patio Enclosures" or similar type companies? I am interested in having an enclosed 3 season sunroom built. The size would be about 14x18 or 20 and I am wondering what the cost and quality would be, any help would be apprieciated.

Bob

Cost is going to vary a LOT, depending on things like where you live, who you have install it for you or if you get a kit and do it yourself, and what sort of options you might want to add, what sort of a surface you are installing this on, what wind and snow loads you have to meet (and what you have to do to meet them),...

I install them for a living. Do a lot of checking and looking before you decide which way to go (Contract it out or DIY). Unless you have done two or three, I would suggest that you consider going with a reputable contractor in your area. Miscut one part and you'll probably be waiting several weeks to get a replacement for it. It's not like being able to run to the lumberyard to get another 2X4!!!

$$$$$....hold on to your wallet. I just visited a showroom today and the sq ft cost is around $100.00
I can build a home at less than $100 per sqft
and this stuff is pre-fab. How can this be??

Depending on where you are and what options you put into a sunroom, $100/sq. ft. is in the middle to upper end of the ball park. Sure, you can build a house for less, but it won't have extruded aluminum rafters (purlins) or Lexan (instead of glass) for some of the windows (and tempered glass for the rest of the windows), or a roof that costs $5/ sq. ft. for the material (and never needs replacing),... On the other hand, I've seen houses that cost $200/sq. ft. -- just depends on what bells and whistles the owner or buyer thinks are "necessary". <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by quick6:
$$$$$....hold on to your wallet. I just visited a showroom today and the sq ft cost is around $100.00
I can build a home at less than $100 per sqft
and this stuff is pre-fab. How can this be??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Understand your points Lefty, but...still seems overinflated to me, the materials such as aluminum and foam are inexpensive and the pre-fab done at the factory should also help keep costs down. $100.00 per sqft of pre-fab materials still seems high to me.

The patio rooms and sunrooms that we install are anything but "pre-fab". our suppliers send us the parts that we order and make the windows for us. We don't alter the windows 'on-site', but everything else is cut to fit, on-site. It's up to the installing crew to adjust for things like the slope in the slab or deck we are installing these rooms on, out of plumb walls that we may have to attach to, getting enough roof overhang out of the way to acheive the necesssary pitch in the roof we are installing, juggling window and door locations to satisfy the whims of the customer,... It's not 'pre-fab' like bringing out a factory built modular home and plopping it down on the customers level lot, that's for sure. We have as much lee-way in constructing one of these rooms as a framing crew does in constructing a house, and in some cases, more. And each room is custom built to fit the particular location it is constructed at. It's no more 'pre-fab' than a site built home, where all the lumber is cut in a mill to specific specifications. What happens to that lumber on the job site is strictly up to the framing crew. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by quick6:
Understand your points Lefty, but...still seems overinflated to me, the materials such as aluminum and foam are inexpensive and the pre-fab done at the factory should also help keep costs down. $100.00 per sqft of pre-fab materials still seems high to me.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bob, I'd suggest checking out a product called EZE BREEZE. They have been in Florida for years and are now distributing through building suppliers in several other places. They manufacture clear vinyl windows, doors, etc., for enclosing patios. A relative had their patio in Sarasota enclosed with this material and I recall it lasting at least 20 years. I just got a quote to do my rear deck which would require the installation of a straight wall 50 feet long by eight foot high. The price quoted to me was $200 a running foot, installed, which works out to $10,000. Even that causes me to hesitate but at $100 a square foot it would cost me $40,000!
The quote I got was in Kentucky and did not include screens. The actual windows are much lighter than regular glass, acrylic or other hard-material windows. They can be raised and lowered, top and bottom. They can be installed with screens and are available tinted.