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Article 10-27-2010

What to do with the Florida Room

Living in the Sunshine State means that you very well may have a room in your house that falls somewhere between an actual room and an overstated screened in porch. The Florida weather makes having one of these rooms that’s not quite inside, yet still not outside, a feasible possibility. A lot of the construction in Tampa, or even surrounding areas likes St. Petersburg and Clearwater, has this addition built on to it. In other cases you might be living in a house that originally had a porch that has since been enclosed or extended. Whatever your scenario, the name for this area of the house is a Florida room. As homes get older and need renovations or as homeowners look to add some value to their properties, these rooms often become a focal point.

The problem with most Florida rooms is that they are not entirely sealed. They may be screened in, or even surrounded by older unsealed windows, but they don’t keep heat out. This might have been acceptable in the 1950’s but let’s face it, today we like to be able to control the temperature. No one wants to sit in a Florida room in July or during one of our colder Februaries. So what do you do with this space? The way we see it, there are two viable options: seal it in as if it were a room but leave screened windows for the pleasant months, or focus on the outside and convert it into a glass room. In either case, it is a pretty big job so you are going to want someone who is really handy around to oversee the process.

The Glass Room
Glass rooms can be great. You get to combine natural sunlight with controlled temperatures. They are great places to keep plants or even to set up a table for impromptu meals in the sun. You will only need lights at night time, and they can make for enjoyable places to read or relax. So long as you use storm proof glass you will not have to worry yourself much about storms breaking the glass (but we do not recommend taking refuge in this room during a storm). Let’s run down the pros and cons of a sun room really quickly.

Pros

• Natural light
• Aesthetic value
• Type of living space not every house has
• Great place to keep plants or a herb garden

Cons

• Lack of insulation will increase cooling/heating bills
• Fully glassed in rooms do not have a roof to provide shade
• Monetary costs of converting to a sun room could be high

Seal in a Screened Room
This option is one that many homeowners choose. In essence a Florida Room already has a foundation and a roof. Sealing in the exterior walls modernizes the Florida room and makes it more likely to be used. You can put a significant amount of windows to mimic the outside feel of a glass sun room but it won’t have the same feel. The trade off of course is the extra usable space. Consider the pros and cons of this choice.

Pros

• Extra living space (if it is insulated you can add it to the square footage of your house at resale)
• Ability to open windows if you do want fresh air
• Cooling/heating costs are less than a sun room

Cons

• The construction time may last longer as insulation and new walls may be needed
• You do not get as open a feel as a sun room

In the end it comes down to personal preference. If you need a room purely for enjoyment, you may choose the glass room. If the house is getting cramped with a growing family, maybe you need to close in the room for extra space. Either way you will add value to your house with this renovation.

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