Sunroom additions in La Palma CA - a room built around how you'll really use it

Most people who call us have a patio, deck or older sunroom they don't get much use out of, and they want a room they can sit in for more of the year. The price mostly turns on the size of the room, whether it needs a new base or can use the one that's there, the glass and insulation, and whether you'll heat and cool it. The schedule turns on the city's plan review and inspections, and on whether the base needs work before we can build on it. When I come out, I look at what the room will tie into and write up the room type, the options and the price for your job.

The first thing I ask is how you'll use the room, because the biggest choice is whether you want a room you'll heat and cool or one you'll use without either. We settle the insulation and glass at the same time, before anything gets built, so the room you end up with matches the way you live in it. Then I look closely at what the room will sit on and tie into, and if you want to build on an old patio, I check it carefully first, since a worn base can let water in later. Once the plans are approved, our own crew builds the room, ties it into the house and cleans up when we're done.

A room you heat and cool is one of our four season sunrooms, and it works like another room of the house. A room without either is one of our three season sunrooms, which suits light and shade on mild days. If you can see yourself out there in the heat of summer or on cold evenings, I'd lean toward four season, because a room you can't stand to sit in half the year isn't worth building. Otherwise three season is a sound choice, and the call is yours.

Almost every improvement plan in La Palma goes through plan check at the city's Building and Safety office before a permit is issued, and Bureau Veritas North America runs that office for the city, so that's the name you'll see on the review. Plan check starts with three sets of plans and a fee, and some plans also need Fire or Health review. The city's Planning Division handles residential remodels and design review, and whether your sunroom goes through it as well is something we find out once your plans are in front of the city. Either way, we prepare the plans, file them with the city and book the inspections. State energy standards for windows, doors and the walls and roof depend on which climate zone a house sits in, so we choose a heated room's glass and insulation with those standards in mind.

We're based in La Palma and work in many of the cities around it, on both the Orange County and Los Angeles County sides. A lot of the homes we see here already have a patio cover over a slab, so we look at whether that cover can become part of the room or whether the room needs its own roof, and the same question comes up on jobs in Cypress and Buena Park.