A Sunroom Remodel Makeover - Details of a Home Improvement Project Part 1

About 14 years ago we purchased our current home, which was built in 1972. Sometime in the past a prior owner converted a backyard patio into a sun room, but one in desperate need of a complete makeover. Walls were added between support posts and a roof put on. The resulting room is about 12' X 32' and the builder filled the walls with 11 windows and an exterior door, but all were very low quality. Walls were covered with paneling from the 1950's and was damaged. Windows were of such poor quality that when the wind blew hard the glass panes actually bowed in with wind blowing the curtains around. Energy savings became a good part of the consideration - it had to be that way to provide space that we could actually use. The door kept out strange animals, but that was about all - it did not even have a threshold. The ceiling was particle board that was rotted out and falling from roof leaks. Part of our purchase agreement was a new roof over that room, so that much was done at least. The south wall was not covered - it had the original house siding on it still. There was one plug in, an exterior type on the south wall and one small light on the south wall that was the original exterior light for the deck. The room had the original sliding glass doors from our dining area and two windows into the kitchen, both on the south wall. One window is obscured on the inside of the house by a refrigerator and the other is a typical small window above the kitchen sink. There was no heat in the room unless the sliding doors were left open. The house had no central air conditioning and a hole had been opened alongside the sliding doors for an air conditioner that was still there. The concrete floor had a typical slope for a deck, one concrete step at the sliding doors and a 3' square stoop at a second house entrance on the north wall.

Shortly after we moved in I removed the rotting particle board on the ceiling and replaced it with drywall (sheetrock). In the process I added 6 new ceiling lights and one plug in on the north wall; I would have added more but didn't want to remove all the paneling at that time. I also added two 8' baseboard heaters for cold weather, with their own line voltage thermostat. Four of my "new" lights were salvaged from a mall remodel, the other two were from a yard sale designed to go over my pool table. Later I removed the pool table. I also salvaged some 15 boxes of new carpet squares from the mall remodel and used them on the floor. I added plastic sheets over the windows to help the air infiltration; for summer a window air conditioner was used. That left the exterior door. The slope of the floor was not objectionable; indeed the only time I noticed it was when playing pool. That furniture need shims under 2 legs. The slope caused a problem with the door however; a horizontal door does not fit will with a sloped floor. This problem was finally solved by ripping a 2 X 6 X 3' piece of cedar with a bandsaw to produce a wedge of wood 6" wide and 3' long, With judicious cutting and installation a level surface was produced to match the door. One side is perhaps 1/4" while the other is maybe 3/4" thick but I never notice when stepping on it and no one else has ever caught on that it is even there. The hole through the wall into the house was patched on the dining room side as we now had central air conditioning.

With that much work done, the room is functional if ugly. My son lived there for one year while going to college and though it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer he preferred it to a small bedroom. Electric bills went up in the summer and winter but it was livable. I had installed electrical conduit on one wall to accommodate the wiring for the baseboard heaters and thermostat and the old ugly paneling was still there. The windows into the kitchen looked funny, particularly with one showing nothing but the back of a refrigerator. Further work had to be put off as another family came to live with us; 5 additional people in a 3 bedroom house requires a play room for the children and the sun room filled that niche nicely for the time being.

With my extra family gone it was time to get serious, and first on the list had to be those hideous excuses for windows! This was not going to be easy as I needed to remove 11 windows and install only 4 in their place. I decided the best (only) bet was to replace all the siding as well - it is wood siding 12" wide and 16' long. As the exterior siding was still in good condition it was necessary only to replace from the bottom of the windows up; the rest could remain undisturbed. The first problem was getting the siding home; while I have a pickup it is a smaller one and in no way can it carry 16' boards. My solution was to have Home Depot cut them into a 10' and a 6' piece - I would have a few more joints but not too many with my 32' room having 2 windows down the long side and one each on the short ends. I also purchased two matching pair of windows of a size I liked from yard sales and craigslist for about $40 average each. They were all good, energy efficient windows with screens. One pair for the ends and one pair for the two windows on the long side. A few 2 X 4's would be necessary to frame in where some of the windows used to be; I started with a dozen as a good estimate. A 1 gallon bucket of suitable nails for the siding (yard sale at $2) and a couple of pounds of 16p nails for the studding would help. I had previously purchased a case of good caulking at a yard sale.

With the purchasing done I stocked the yard one evening with sawhorses, miter saw, circular saw, jig saw, hammer, etc. I also made two jigs for installing the siding as one person can't possible hold up a 10' board and nail it at the same time. The jigs consisted of a piece of 1/8"X1" flat bar bent into a small square hook at one end and extending up about 14" above the bottom of the hook. The idea was to screw a jig at each end of the new board onto a stud so the bottom of the hook was in just the right place to rest the siding on. The siding is then nailed on, except for the ends where the jigs are, the screws removed from the jigs and the jig slid down and out from behind the siding. They worked like a charm - I was amazed!

The next morning came the work. All necessary siding was removed from one 12' end of the room. The garbage was removed from the holes where windows should have been (meaning I took the old windows out) and carefully set aside as whole as possible. I eventually gave them away to someone building a greenhouse, saving dump fees. Placement for the new window was chosen to be in one of the previous window openings and the new opening framed in. Additional plywood was necessary to bring the semi-finished wall out flush with what was still there - some old chip board I had salvaged years before fitted the bill nicely.

Actually setting the windows in the rough opening was a two person job as I wanted the outside of the window flush with the finished siding. My wife helped me, holding a piece of siding up outside while I went inside and moved the window in and out until flush, then ran long screws through the windows into the studding. The 18V cordless drill handled the job with ease. The windows were caulked on the outside and new siding installed. I have a 12" sliding miter saw which I used for straight cuts; I also needed a circular saw for ripping the long pieces that fitted against the eaves. A jig saw (sabre saw?) was used to cut out openings for windows and the like in. The home-made jig noted above was a lifesaver as work actually proceeded faster than it would have with two people holding the siding and losing grip, moving 1/4" or so, etc. I was able to finish both ends in one day and the following day did the long side. A final caulking around the windows and it was ready for paint. I'm still waiting for the paint as wifey can't make up her mind what color to paint the whole house.

Eventually some yard work was done by replacing the small concrete stoop just outside the door with the installation of a flagstone patio.

That concluded the first half of my sunroom makeover. The second half - interior design and work was far more interesting and exciting as additional pleasant living space was added to our home. On a side note, if a project of this magnitude appears beyond your expertise you might want to read this hub about new homeowners. While aimed at someone new to doing repairs and improvements the message is still applicable to someone of a little more experience.