Do you want a 4-season Sunroom or a 3-season Porch?

Sometimes while discussing a 4-season sunroom with our Lancaster County, PA clients, we get on the discussion of an alternative option: a 3-season room. Most of the time people were not aware of the term 3-season room or what it was, even though they usually have seen one after we explain it.

Here is a quick rundown of 4-season and 3-season rooms, their pros and cons and even an idea if you’re considering your own addition!

What is a 4-season room? A four-season room is a heated room addition. These are structures added to your home. The most common types are sunrooms and mudrooms. With a sunroom, you have large windows to let in the sun! A mudroom is usually a place of entry into the home, used for umbrellas, shoes and storage, or even a nice breakfast nook!



These usually allow the perfect place to relax with your family during the beautiful sunny days, but no matter what the weather outside is doing you can enjoy these rooms 365 days a year.

Pros:
• Air-conditioned and heated for year round enjoyment.
• Enjoy the natural light. Sunrooms with a lot of windows give you an “outdoor” feeling with out leaving the AC!

Cons:
• This is a structure like your home, meaning it needs a foundation dug and footers laid. This adds to the cost of building the new room.

Ideas:
• Cover your whole sunroom roof with windows for a complete outdoor experience!

What is a 3-season room? A 3-season room is a windowed room that is not heated, therefore it is (usually) unusable in the cold winter months. They are however perfect for those cool nights of Spring and Fall, as well as being outside on a hot Summer day without the sun beating down on you and your family. You can either enclose an existing deck or porch, or build a completely new one.

Tip: When adding or enclosing a porch, use four-track windows for the best performance of the room.

Pros:
• Less expensive.
• Can take as little as a few days to complete an enclosure of an existing porch.

Cons:
• This room is usually not in use during the Winter months.

Ideas:
• Consider Sunspace four-track vinyl windows. They are custom, durable and affordable, so replacing the screens on your existing porch is a breeze.

I hope that covers it! If you have any questions or are ready for a sunroom or enclosed porch in Lancaster County, PA, please contact Mike Blank, CGR CAPS and MBC Building & Remodeling, LLC in Millersville!

MBC Project Spotlight #2: Mudroom Addition

What started as an idea to help keep the house clean turned into this beautiful mudroom.



This home addition was designed to allow family and guests a beautiful place to enter the home without having to go directly into the kitchen of this old Lancaster County, PA farmhouse. Not only could this bring dirt, mud and more into the house, the kitchen is for enjoying family and food, not for wiping your feet and hanging your jacket. The customer was understandably concerned with matching the style, look and feel of the home.



The room addition was much more than just a closet space though. Wood ceiling and slate flooring were chosen; don’t they accentuate the built-in breakfast nook perfectly? What would be more beautiful than starting your day with coffee and Lancaster County countryside?




MBC Building & Remodeling, LLC as a whole were thrilled to work on this project, and our passion poured through. Professional Remodeler’s from across the state of PA chose this mudroom addition for a Building Industry Association (BIA) Award of Excellence in 2009.