Discern which “outdoor room” best suits your Chicagoland home and lifestyle.
As Chicagoland residents, we have a deep understanding of seasonal weather changes, and how to best make it through a full year of indoor and outdoor activities dictated by Mother Nature. If you have considered adding an indoor/outdoor room to your home but find yourself unsure of what really best serves your Chicagoland home and lifestyle, Archadeck of Chicagoland is here to help plan, design, and build your ideal outdoor living room!
A screened porch will protect you from things like insects, hot, direct sunlight, and even a little wind and light rain. Screened porches are very popular extensions of our homes and can add value to the way we live. They are great flex spaces for use as an extra TV room, overflow dining space for parties and holidays, or even a great area for the kids to play in on rainy days in warm weather months. Adding a fireplace and ceiling fan to circulate warm air will extend use into cool weather months, such as early spring and late fall. Using an additional space heater will likely buy you a bit more time on colder days, but bundle up, because that Chicagoland wind will still whisper (or roar) through the screen.
.jpg)
.jpg)
What types of indoor/outdoor rooms are actually suitable as the temperature dips down here in Chicagoland? You can achieve a higher level of protection from cold weather elements with our Eze-Breeze rooms. Like screened porches, Eze-Breeze rooms can have interior flooring but will offer protection from the open air of the screens by enclosing them with a special Eze-Breeze vinyl panel window system. An Eze-Breeze room gives homeowners the option to open windows on warm weather days, and allows wonderful, warming, nurturing sunlight into your indoor/outdoor space in any season. Again, as with screened porches, Eze-Breeze rooms are made more suitable for cold weather with the addition of a fireplace, fan, and space heaters. Rooms with a retractable window system are less expensive than an actual room addition, but the trade-off is similar to that of a screened porch. You will lose the winter months in the space as there is no insulation and no heat source worthy of heating the entire room nor keeping pace with the dropping Chicagoland temperatures. The cost-to-build savings would be a trade-off for sacrificing cold days inside your home.
If your family doesn’t mind spending time completely indoors on extra-cold and blustery days, and Eze-Breeze room could be for you! If you like the idea of having even greater protection from wind and rain in the warm weather months, and Eze-Breeze room is a great choice also. You will get a few extra days of cold weather in an Eze-Breeze room, but a full four seasons is better spent in an actual sunroom addition.
.jpg)
Chicagoland sunrooms or full room additions can be used year-round. The distinction between a 4-season room and a sunroom addition is in the way they are built. A sunroom addition will have insulation and include HVAC. While it can have the feel of outdoor space with large windows, a sunroom addition will have more wall space than an Eze-Breeze room, hampering the flow of sunlight. However, sunroom additions can be built with an outdoor flair, and give you the feeling of being surrounded by the outdoors in any season. They can be rustic-themed, take on a very organic aesthetic with a stacked stone fireplace, and use richly colored wood finishes. Sunroom additions are a more expensive investment, but the extra cost will buy you year-round use. There can be a few logistical differences with a room addition. Setback requirements may be different than with a porch. Different permits and inspections will likely be required.
If your home needs more living space for all seasons, a climate-controlled sunroom addition is a solution for your home and family! If you are looking for a room that gives the air of being outdoors even on extreme weather days, the protection of a sunroom addition will deliver.
If you are ready to discuss options for adding a 3-season, 4-season, or sunroom addition, Archadeck of Chicagoland is here for you! Design options are customizable and virtually endless! Sign up for a free design consultation or call Archadeck of Chicagoland at (847) 250-4100 to speak with a design consultant and begin creating your new dream space.
