Why Get A Quote In Fall

Most of the pictures you see of people in Calgary enjoying their sunrooms will be in the midst of summer in the city, but what you don’t see is the legwork that went into getting the sunroom ready for the new season. There are several reasons why starting the process in fall is the right time to get your sunroom project rolling:

• Faster permits – when you decide that you want to build a sunroom in Calgary, there are a variety of city permits that you (or your sunroom contractor) will need to secure before you can start building. However, you’re always going to be fighting City Hall red tape along with everyone else who is looking to add an extension to their home. Scheduling your sunroom in the fall means you’ll be applying for permits during the slower building time of year. This can reduce the time it takes to get the permits for your sunroom by a factor of weeks. 
• Off-peak scheduling – your local sunroom contractors will get busy very quickly as winter rolls into spring, as many Calgary homeowners look to make the most of their outdoor space. If you also wait till this time, you can find yourself at the back of the line for scheduling meaning that you’ll have to kick your sunroom dreams down the road. You can avoid this heartache by scheduling your sunroom quote in the fall, and once you’ve confirmed your design and budget, yours will be one of the first sunrooms built in the new year. 
• Design clarity – There’s a lot of excitement when you first decide to build a sunroom. It’s easy to rush into decisions, especially if you’re trying to get the design finalized in early spring to beat the scheduling rush. Rushed decisions can leave you with buyer’s remorse, and there is nothing worse than walking into a sunroom and instantly seeing the decisions that you regret making in haste. By choosing to start the conversations with your local sunroom contractor in fall, you’re giving yourself plenty of time to map out your goals and make all the essential design decisions necessary to build the sunroom of your dreams. 

The Solarium Difference

For many Calgary homeowners, the words sunroom and solarium are used interchangeably, but for those in the industry, they are two different home extensions. A sunroom is an actual room with solid walls and a solid roof. The main features are big windows and usually a glass door out to your garden. A solarium gives you the same square footage as a sunroom, but typically the walls and ceiling are all glass panels, giving it a greenhouse vibe. It’s clear to see that a solarium is much more at risk from Calgary’s fall weather given the large glass surface area.

Fall-Proofing Your Solarium

Owning a full glass solarium in Calgary can seem like an invitation to broken shards as the weather starts to turn in fall, but your Calgary sunroom contractor will have tips on how to get your room ready for the change in season. Some of these include: 

• Clear the gutters – first up, your external gutters can pose a big threat to your solarium as the first frost approaches. You need to make sure that rainwater has the ability to run off the ceiling glass and down the gutters to the ground. Leaves and debris can quickly clog up your gutters, which in turn will freeze and put heavy weights on the outside of your solarium. Keeping your gutters clear of fall debris will be an ongoing project all season long. 
• Check the caulking – the edges where the glass meets the frame, and where the frame meets the external wall of your home can shrink as the evenings get darker and colder. You extend the life of your window panes by reapplying caulk before cold air starts to seep into your solarium. Be sure to check either last thing at night or first thing in the morning when the outside temperature is coldest. 
• Replace broken weather strips – another way to fall-proof your solarium is to keep an eye on the weather strips around any external doors and windows that can open. These rubber gaskets are susceptible to drying out and becoming brittle, meaning that they lose their effectiveness quickly. The only way to deal with these is to replace them, and fall is the perfect time for this preventative maintenance. 

In a similar vein, you can add some soft furnishings to help keep the cold out and the warm in. Thick drapes on your windows and heavy duty plush rugs will not only give you a cozy vibe in your solarium, but will keep the inside naturally warm, reducing the impact on the joints and seals of your solarium.

Sunroom Assumptions

For the purposes of this article, we’ve done the initial work of playing with the price estimator tool to save you even more time. All the numbers here are based on a simple 10 x 10 sunroom addition that attaches to the long side of your trailer. This gives you a 100 square foot extension with a 132 square foot roof to take care of. Let’s dig into what the various options will cost.

All Season Upgrades

In terms of the number of decisions and options, picking an all season trailer sunroom is the easiest option. Once you’ve got your dimensions set, you only have to worry about whether you want a glass transom or kickplate as an upgrade, and how many skylights you want. A base price for an all season sunroom based on the assumptions above is around $32,000, with each of the transom and kickplate upgrades adding around $8000 each to the total cost. Finally, you’ll want to think about adding a skylight or two, and you’ll put an additional $1500 or so for each one that you add to the design. Of course, you’ll then have to factor in heating and cooling costs as well as decor and furnishing.

Three Season Choices

You get a lot more choices when you choose a three season park model sunroom. The first thing you’ll notice is a dramatic drop in the base price, starting at around $23,000. This is due to the lightweight wall construction and the fact that you can’t add heating or insulation. You’ll need to pick a roof style, which range from $5000 for a V-pan, W-pan or flat pan, to $7000 for an insulated roof and $9000 for a full skylight roof. For the pan roofs, you have the option to add mitred and scalloped ends which each add $3000 or so. Lastly, you have the same glass transom and kickplate options as the all season room, giving you a wide range of customization options.

Why Buy In Fall

Fall is the best time to buy one of our trailer sunrooms because it’s still warm enough to work outside, and you can extend your vacation time quickly and easily with these home extensions. You’ll find our contractors have more availability in the schedule meaning that you could easily enjoy fall and even winter in your new all season sunroom. 

How A Park Model Sunroom Works

A sunroom is a one room extension to your park model home that typically extends off the side with the main door to your home. The main feature is the big windows that allow natural sunlight and heat to enter the room throughout the day which then keep the room warm into the evening. You can install skylights to make it feel like you’re sitting outside, or choose a solid roof if you want to create a more cozy space. The main goal of this park model add-on is to extend the time you can spend out in your trailer as it will keep you dry and warm as winter gets closer. 

Choosing The Right Sunroom

When you’re looking at adding a park model sunroom, you’ll have two main options to pick from: a three season sunroom or an all season sunroom. Each of them comes with their own benefits so you’ll want to find the option that works for you and your park model needs.

Three Season Sunroom

If you’re on a tighter budget, then a three season park model sunroom is the way forward. You get a similar square footage extension to your home, but the simple vinyl and aluminum frame is considerably cheaper to construct. It can be built directly on top of your existing park model deck or patio to save money on excavation costs, and it’s easy to heat with a space heater or just relying on the trapped heat from the day. If you’re looking to extend your park model vacationing into October but not much further, a three season room will keep you warm in the evenings until the snow starts to fly.

All Season Sunroom

If you’ve got more flexibility with your money, or you want to be able to use your park model all year round, then an all season sunroom is the way forward. It also can be built directly onto your deck or patio, but comes with hollow walls that you can fill with insulation to hold the heat better. These walls also allow you to install piping and radiators directly into the space, allowing you to connect it to your existing heating and cooling system. Your park model all season sunroom will quickly become the focal point of your home and you’ll be able to spend all your vacation time up in your new space.

Outdoor Coverings

When you’re looking at providing some much needed shade for the space directly outside your home, you’ll see a variety of options if you’re looking for a free standing addition. One of the most common is a patio umbrella. This is a free standing structure which looks like an enormous umbrella. It can be raised and lowered to save space, and most models can swing round to help you match the movement of the sun. The other most common option is a pergola with a cover. A pergola is another free standing structure that you can attach directly to your patio or deck. It’s a simple post and beam structure, with the beams creating a beautiful lattice structure. The cover can be made from fabric or vinyl to provide the shade you’re looking for.

Why Choose a Pergola

When you’re picking between your free standing options, it quickly becomes clear that a pergola with a cover is the smart option every time. It gives you the following benefits:

• Permanent shade – the most obvious reason to pick a pergola with a cover over a patio umbrella is that you get permanent shade all year round. A sun umbrella has to be put up and down each day, and you then have to spend time rotating it to just the right position to get the right amount of shade. A pergola provides a broader and more complete level of shade across your whole patio, keeping things cooler all afternoon. 
• Framing your space – a pergola will also help you to frame your outdoor space and create an aesthetically pleasing look from both inside and out. While it’s unlikely that it will cover your entire patio, it can easily take up 75% or more of the space. The posts will give your patio some structure, and you’ll find that you’ll naturally congregate underneath the shade of a pergola making it feel like an outside room. 
• An opportunity for growth – finally, you can create a whole new vibe under your pergola by buying some climbing plants and placing them at the base of each of the posts. You can then train these to twist up each post and across the lattice to give your pergola that classic Italian trattoria feel as well as giving you some additional shade. Jasmine and wisteria are common plants for this and will both give off a lovely perfume in the hot late summer afternoons. 

What Is A Patio Cover?

A patio cover is exactly what it sounds like: a cover that fits over the top of your patio to provide some much needed shade during the summer months. It’s a permanent structure that attaches to the outside of your home which means you don’t have to worry about moving it around like with a sun umbrella. A patio cover can either be made from fabric, like a porch awning, or from more solid materials like vinyl to give you stronger protection from the sun. 

Solid And Lattice Patio Covers

When you start looking at different Calgary patio cover options, you’ll quickly see that they fall into two main categories – lattice covers and solid covers. A lattice cover is a great look when you want a more dappled effect on your patio. They don’t provide as much shade coverage during the hot afternoons, but they do let more air circulate which can help cool things down. A solid patio cover, on the other hand, provides a much higher level of shade as well as protecting your patio during sudden summer storms (and even snow when the summer finally ends!). It’s harder to feel a breeze with a solid patio cover, so if you go this route, you might want to invest in an outdoor ceiling fan to get the air moving. 

Why Choose A Hybrid Patio Cover

If you can’t choose between a solid and a lattice patio cover, then a hybrid patio cover might be the right option for you. A hybrid patio cover gives you the best of both worlds, with some of the patio being under a lattice cover, and the rest of it under a solid roof. Some common ways to use a hybrid patio cover include:

• A central lattice – this option is great if you have a firepit out on your patio. The central lattice not only gives you better air circulation, but by putting the firepit underneath it, you create a central focus for your outdoor area.
• Lattice edges – putting the lattice part of your hybrid patio cover at the edge of your design creates a transitional visual effect that blends the indoor and outdoor worlds.
• Alternative patterns – this blend of lattice and solid patio partitions gives you an interesting visual effect while giving you good air circulation and shade coverage as the sun tracks across your patio in the afternoon.

Hosting A Sunroom Party

Your sunroom is a fantastic place to host a Stampede party; to be honest, it’s a great place to host any type of party! It’s a separate space from the rest of your house, meaning that you can close the doors behind you and not worry about the noise interrupting sleeping children or folks who want a break from the fun. Your sunroom is also naturally heated from the large glass windows, and the glazing and insulation will keep your sunroom long into the July evenings. Finally, your sunroom will have less furniture in it than in the rest of your home, meaning that you can add more Stampede themed stuff without taking away from the space for your guests.

Make It Western

The whole vibe for your sunroom during Stampede Week should be to make it feel like a continuation of the Western parties in downtown Calgary. While it’s not feasible to have a hitching post outside your sunroom, or to park a chuckwagon on your lawn as a focal viewpoint for your guests, there are some easy ways to bring a Western aesthetic to your sunroom.

Hay Isn’t Just For Horses

While they can be messy, nothing screams cowboy or cowgirl at your Stampede Week party than having a few hay bales around your sunroom. You can choose whether you use them for decoration, as additional tables or even extra seating, though if you choose the latter you probably want some sort of covering to make them less scratchy to sit on! You can find places to rent them from if you’re hosting a one off party, but if you’re celebrating with friends and family all week long, you might want to consider buying them outright. 

Barrel of Laughs

Having a centrepiece for your sunroom will make your Stampede Week party pop. Pick up (or rent) a full or half whiskey barrel to use as a serving table or gathering spot. If you’ve got overnight guests, you could use it as a cooking surface for your electric griddle, so folks can gather in your sunroom while you make pancakes to give them vittles for the day. In the evenings, the barrel becomes a home for your whiskey collection or somewhere for folks to stand around and reflect on the fun from the day.

Accent With Art

The best thing about a Stampede Week party is that the theme is already picked out for you, so you can swap out the artwork in your sunroom easily to get a Western vibe. Whether it’s stills from famous Western movies, paintings of rodeo riders or simply commercial posters from previous Stampede Week celebrations, you’ll easily be able to find things to create the party vibe all week long.

Sunrooms In The Heat

A sunroom comes into its own during the hot Calgary summer months. It’s designed to be a naturally warm space, but there are ways you can adapt the sunroom design to make it a cooler space for breaks from Stampede Week fun:

• Window glazing – the big glass windows are the key attraction for a summer sunroom. They let plenty of light (and therefore heat) into your room and give you unparalleled views out over your garden all season long. However, you have to pay attention to the type of windows you install. Picking double glazed windows allows the light in and traps the heat for longer, warmer evenings. Going for triple glazed helps to keep the heat out more, leaving your sunroom naturally cooler while still being a bright and open space. 
• Ceiling fans – your sunroom is going to get warm, no matter what you do, especially when you have people in there breathing and moving. A ceiling fan is a great option, especially if you chose an A-frame sunroom style with a high vaulted ceiling space. A fan helps move the air around, pulling warm air up and pushing cooler air back down to you. There’s nothing like a cool breeze on your face after a day at the Stampede. 
• Connection to your HVAC – finally, if you install a four season, or all season, sunroom, you have the option of connecting to your home’s existing heating and cooling system. Instead of having to leave the connecting door open to allow some of the heat to dissipate into the rest of your home, you can create a hermetically sealed cool space set at whatever temperature you feel most comfortable with. This is the ultimate way to dodge the July heat and conserve your energy for more Stampede Week fun. 

Decorating For The Heat

You can also bring some interior design considerations to help combat the heat in your sunroom. Installing lightweight furniture such as wicker helps to keep you cool as you relax, as well as putting thinner fabric drapes or curtains so heat can escape more easily. You can also be mindful about the types and strengths of the lighting you put in the room; less is definitely more when it comes to heat management! Finally, you can add a small drinks refrigerator to the room so that you and your guests have the ultimate way to keep cool without having to move too far. 

GMB: Stampede Week is almost here! Keep cool in a brand new sunroom

X/Insta: There’s nothing like Stampede Week in Calgary, but the July heat can suck all the fun. Keep cool in a brand new sunroom. 

Facebook/LinkedIn: There’s nothing like Stampede Week in Calgary, but the July heat can suck all the fun. Keep cool in a brand new sunroom and keep your Stampede energy high all week long. 

Why Choose A Screened In Deck

A screened in deck is an increasingly popular home upgrade for Calgary citizens as it doesn’t require any additional digging or renovation. The simple post and beam structure gets erected on your existing deck and turns it from a space that is only usable in sunny weather when it’s not too hot and the bugs aren’t biting to somewhere that you will want to sit during all of your free time. The solid roof gives you day-long shade and protects your deck furniture from the Calgary summer thunderstorms, and the screens keep out the bugs and the worst of the strong winds. 

Further Benefits of a Screened In Deck

Beyond the benefits of living your best outdoor life while enjoying all the comforts of being inside, a screened in deck also comes with a variety of additional benefits.

Increased Property Value

In terms of returns on your initial investment, a screened in deck represents incredible value for money. The simple structure keeps the costs down, but a screened in deck dramatically increases the curb appeal of your home to prospective buyers who will envisage long summer days spent on the boundary between inside and out. It’s also a quick install, meaning that you can add it to your property in time for the real estate photos and you’ll see a jump in the asking price and offers.

More Space To Spread Out

With more and more Calgary residents opting for staycations to make the most of our wonderful city, a screened in porch offers you a significant bump to the square footage of your home without incurring an exorbitant cost. Whether you choose to make your new space the focal point for family gatherings or make it a full kid-free zone, the extra space will give everyone some breathing room during the summer. You’ll also find that a screened in deck makes the perfect “command centre” for your summer gatherings, providing shade for those who overheat quickly and a place to host drinks and snacks for those who want to run around in the sunshine. 

Increased Mental Health

There are a slew of scientific and psychological studies that have shown the positive impact of nature, and being close to nature, on our mental health. There are also studies that show that the busyness of modern life coupled with rampant technology use makes it harder for us to connect with nature. A screened in deck gives you the space to put the phone down and take some mindful moments each day to enjoy the natural beauty in your backyard. Its a great place to set up a yoga mat for a quiet morning stretch, or simply somewhere to curl up with a cup of something hot and a good book to fully decompress after a long day. 

How A Screened Porch Works

A screened porch is a great addition to your outside space because it’s such a simple structure to add. It’s typically built on top of an existing deck (or patio, at a push), and connects to the external walls of your home through screws and ties. The money saving part comes from its construction, which is basically a post and beam format with a solid roof and screen walls. The screens, made from insect proof mesh, is what makes it magical during a Calgary summer. You’ll get all the sunshine, cooling breezes and views out over your garden without having to worry about the strong overhead sun or the biting insects that can spoil any outside time in the city. 

Bring The Outdoors Inside

Your new screened porch instantly blends the boundaries between inside and outside given the lack of solid walls combined with a solid roof over your head. You can continue to bring the outdoors inside with some of these ideas:

• Choose outdoor textures – the overall vibe of a room is always about how you decorate the space, and this often comes down to which textures and materials you choose. Picking slightly rougher textures, such as a burlap rug, wicker chairs or driftwood picture frames, will conjure up the feeling of being outside from the comfort of your indoor space. You can complement these touches with some soft furnishings like a soft throw blanket to snuggle under or a large beanbag chair for younger family members to relax in during the summer evenings. 
• Find outdoor furniture – another approach to blend the boundaries between indoors and outdoors is to use furniture that you would typically use on your deck or patio. While this could include a set of comfy folding lounge chairs, it can also be an outdoor set of wicker arm chairs and a long sofa. For some extra warmth in the spring and fall evenings, consider a small electric fire pit to use as a central focus point for your screened porch.
• Bring the plants inside – finally, you can make you and your family feel like they’re stepping directly into the garden by bringing some of your potted plants from the garden to the screened porch, and put them next to some of your indoor houseplants that would thrive in additional heat and humidity. Consider having some hanging from the rafter and aim for a mixture of colours and sizes to create a unique visual effect. Finish the outdoor feel to your indoor space by picking out interesting plant pot designs; this can act as your artistic finishing touches while also looking after your plant babies all summer long.