For those of you who enjoy being warm and cozy during the cooler seasons of the year, a sunroom can be a fantastic place to escape the elements, relax, unwind, and enjoy views of your garden.
Sunrooms are designed to not only provide amazing views outside, but as they feature so much glass, they can also magnify the sun’s rays and help keep you warm when the temperatures drop and the air turns chilly. Unfortunately, as we’re now in the midst of fall, with winter right around the corner, they can get a little too cold.
Tragically, a lot of people that are lucky enough to own a sunroom don’t actually get to enjoy it during the fall and winter months as the temperatures simply get too cold. Instead, they have to wait until the spring. It doesn’t have to be that way. Turns out there are plenty of ways of heating a sunroom without spending a fortune.
Here are a few DIY tips on heating a sunroom, along with a few cost breakdowns along the way.
Propane Heaters
If you want a quick and easy way of heating your sunroom this winter, a portable propane heater offers a simple, no-fuss heating solution.
Portable propane heaters run on a small amount of propane, as you might expect, and although they’re not the most aesthetically pleasing to look at, they do a great job of heating small spaces relatively quickly.
With a propane heater, ensure the heater is in full and safe working order and well ventilated. You will also need to ensure you’ve a good supply of propane on hand, otherwise you can’t run your heater.
Propane heaters aren’t always the most cost-effective heating solutions, but they do work very well.
Baseboard Heaters
If you want a heating solution that’s a lot more inconspicuous and aesthetically pleasing than a portable propane heater, baseboard heaters for your sunroom are a great alternative.
Baseboard heating systems are installed directly into your baseboards at the foot of your walls. They function by drawing in cool air and converting it into warm air, usually via a heating element, or even via hot water. Think of them as reverse air conditioning units and you’re in the right ballpark.
These long modular units are ideal for sunrooms because they’re small and don’t stand out so they won’t clash with the décor of your sunroom. They’re also energy-efficient and cost less to run than a lot of heating solutions. This means you can leave them running for a long time and not spend a great deal of money.
Because sunrooms can often get breezy with a lot of airflow, baseboard heaters are great as they can take cool air and convert it into warm air.
Thermal Curtains
If you want a very cost-effective way of keeping your sunroom nice and warm this winter, thermal curtains should be one of the first things you purchase.
Thermal curtains are not only aesthetically pleasing, but they are also a great way of trapping warm air inside the room and preventing it from escaping, while also blocking cold air from entering the sunroom from outside.
In an evening, closing thermal curtains inside your sunroom means that residual warm air inside the sunroom stays inside, rather than being lost outside. It also means that, come morning, your sunroom will be nice and toasty, rather than a freezing ice cave, so you’ll be walking into a warm and inviting space.
New Windows
Okay, this may seem like a pretty excessive DIY tip, especially for people looking to keep their costs down, but fitting the right windows to a sunroom can make an enormous difference when it comes to heating and energy efficiency.
With a sunroom, single-pane windows are just not energy efficient. They do not offer any insulation, they let warm air escape, and they let cool air flow into the room from outside. To prevent this, you want double, or even triple-pane windows instead.
By fitting new windows to your sunroom, not only can you boost the aesthetic appeal, you can also help to reduce your energy costs and heat the room more effectively. If possible, go for windows with window insulation film added, as this will help to insulate your sunroom further.
Insulate, Insulate, and Insulate
Perhaps one of the easiest, most effective ways of keeping a sunroom warm during the fall and winter months is to insulate as much as possible.
Seal or replace any gaps around the windows or window seals with weatherstripping or caulk, check for any drafts by doors, windows, or vents, and block them off accordingly.
If you’re starting a sunroom build project from scratch and your budget allows for it, we also recommend insulating the walls, ceiling, and floor. This will help to lock in warm air, prevent cold air from getting in, and it will also help with your energy costs as your home will become more energy efficient.
Throws and Blankets
Finally, one of the easiest, and arguably cheapest, ways of keeping a sunroom warm in the winter, is to go ahead and wrap up warm with throws and blankets.
Okay, technically this won’t actually keep your sunroom warm, but wrapping yourself in a blanket will help to keep you warm, and it costs nothing if you already have a spare blanket laying around the home.
You could also use a small portable plug-in electric heater on particularly cold days, which, along with the blankets and throws, should do a perfectly fine job of keeping you nice and warm.
Average Sunroom Heating Costs
Of course, we can’t give you an exact figure when it comes to heating a sunroom because in all honesty, there isn’t one. Figures will vary from state to state, and of course, it depends upon your chosen heating methods.
Putting a blanket over your knee as you read a book in your sunroom for example, is going to cost far less than stripping out your old windows and replacing them with new ones. Buying thermal curtains will be cheaper than running a portable propane heater for days on end during the winter.
With that said, we can give you a few rough cost breakdowns when it comes to heating a sunroom.
If using a portable propane heater for example, propane prices can vary but typically you’re looking at around $0.30 – $0.80 per hour. If you’re replacing the windows with double-pane glass, depending upon the size of the windows, the costs will be roughly $250 – $1300 on average.
With baseboard heaters, the average cost is between $30 – $130, plus heating costs.
Generally, heating a sunroom could cost anything from $100 up to $2,500. How much you spend depends greatly upon your chosen heating methods.