Custom sunrooms in Riverside CA - a room planned around how you'll use it
Your patio sits unused half the year, or the house is short a room. We plan one around how you'll actually use it.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free on-site estimates.
- We respond within 1 business day.
What goes into a custom sunroom in Riverside?
A custom sunroom in Riverside is a room we build onto your house or over your patio. Its walls can be screens, glass or clear plastic, or it can be a fully closed-in room you heat and cool, and we plan it around how you'll actually use it.
Most people who call us want to close in a patio they already have or add a room off the back of the house. If you're in the first group, our patio-to-sunroom conversion page goes into more detail. The price moves with the room type and its size, the windows and roof you pick, whether what's there now can carry the room, and whether it needs electrical or heating and cooling work. The schedule depends mostly on how quickly the design gets settled, whether a permit is needed and when the other trades can come out. The written estimate I send after the visit gives you your own figure.
Is it time to close in your patio or add a room?
A patio you only use at night
If the afternoon sun keeps you off the patio, the patio cover alone isn't doing enough, and the space usually needs walls and better glass to be comfortable. Each summer you wait is another season of a space you're paying for and not using.
A room the house is missing
Maybe you need an office, a family room or somewhere for a parent to stay, and the back of the house is the only place it can go. That usually points to a heated and cooled room open to the house, and it's easier to plan before you're squeezed for time.
An old enclosure that leaks
Water stains or damp spots along the floor where the room meets the slab or the house usually mean the seal at the base has failed. The longer it goes, the more water reaches the framing and the floor, and that turns a reseal into a rebuild.
How we build a custom sunroom
We start by asking how you'll use the room. It might be a shaded place to sit in the evening, a family room you heat and cool, or something in between, and we let the frame, roof and windows follow from that choice. Then I check what the room will sit on, whether that's an existing slab, a deck or new footings, the concrete pads that carry the posts, because a room is only as steady as what's under it. We build the frame and roof and set the walls and glass. We take the most care where the room meets the floor and the house, since that's where water gets in if it's going to. If the room needs power or heating and cooling, we bring in licensed trades for that part.
If you already know the room you want and just need it built well, that's our sunroom construction work. If you have a sunroom that leaks, runs hot or doesn't fit how you live anymore, sunroom remodeling is usually a better place to start than tearing it out.
Screened or glass-walled room
This suits you if you want a shaded, bug-free spot for most of the year and don't plan to heat or cool it. It costs less to build and keeps the patio feel, but it won't feel like part of the house on the hottest days.
Heated and cooled room
This suits you if you want an office, a family room or a guest room that's open to the house and used every day. The windows and the build have to do more work, so it costs more. If you're torn, I'd lean this way, because changing a room's type later usually means rebuilding much of it.
Plan your custom sunroom, with a written estimate
We respond within 1 business day to set up a visit. Estimates are free, done at your home and obligation-free. After you send this, I come out, measure and talk the room through with you, then send you a written estimate.
(951) 394-2905What Riverside's termites, storms and energy rules mean for a custom sunroom
The City of Riverside's design criteria rate termite exposure here as very heavy. Where wood is part of the build, we choose it and protect it with that in mind rather than hoping termites never show up. The city's criteria also plan roof drainage for hard bursts of rain, so we set the roof slope and gutters for a heavy storm, not an average day. California's energy code sets window and door efficiency standards based on the climate zone a building sits in, so we check what applies where your house is before we settle on glass.
We're based in Riverside and work in many of the cities around it in Riverside County and San Bernardino County. We build the same way on jobs in Moreno Valley and Corona, where we see plenty of older patio slabs and covers that homeowners want to close in. If you don't see your city listed, ask us.
What happens after you call us about a custom sunroom?
Call or send a request
Call (951) 394-2905 or use the form, and we'll get back to you to set up a visit at your house. We answer seven days a week, from 7 AM to 10 PM.
I measure and talk it through
I come out, measure, look over the patio, deck or wall the room will tie into and ask how you plan to use it. Then I send you a written estimate for that room, so you have the room and its price on paper before you decide.
We handle permits and build
When your job needs a permit, we find out which office covers your address, prepare and file the paperwork and meet the inspector on site. We'll tell you what we know and what's still up to the city or county, and then we build the room.
Walk through the finished room
When the room is done, we walk through it with you, open and close the doors and windows and go over how to look after it. That's the time to point out anything that doesn't look right to you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a screened room and a heated or cooled sunroom?
Screened rooms and rooms closed in with glass or clear plastic aren't treated as living space and have no heating or cooling, while a room designed to be heated or cooled and open to the house counts as living space. That's how the sunroom industry's own specification sorts them. It also holds the heated and cooled room's windows to standards for air leaks, water leaks and how well they keep heat in or out. If you want the room to feel like part of the house, plan for that from the start.
How much does a custom sunroom cost in Riverside?
A sunroom in Riverside usually costs about $95 to $130 per square foot. That's the going rate across the area, not our price. Where your room lands depends mostly on the room type and the windows you choose, and the written estimate I send after the visit gives your figure.
Do I need a licensed contractor to build a sunroom in California?
Yes. You need one if the job is over $1,000, needs a permit or uses a hired crew, and that covers just about any sunroom. California's licensing rules allow unlicensed work only when all three are true: the job is under that amount, it needs no permit and the person doing it employs no one on the project.
How do I care for a sunroom so it lasts?
Check the roof and gutters once a year, keep the door and window tracks clean inside and out, and keep the weep holes clear. Weep holes are the small drain holes along the bottom of the frame, and they need to stay open so water can drain. That's what one sunroom maker's owner guide suggests. The guide also recommends a pure silicone spray on the tracks, since oil-based lubricants tend to pick up dirt.
How do you keep a new sunroom from leaking at the floor?
The step that matters most is sealing under the floor track, the channel the walls stand in, and inside each of its joints. One maker's installer training calls that sealing critically important, because a leak there can only be fixed by taking the sunroom apart. That's the part of the build I watch most closely.
Can you build a sunroom on my existing patio slab in Riverside?
Often, yes, but I check the slab first, because the whole room will sit on it. A building handout from the City of Milpitas advises finding out whether a ground-level slab is a post-tension slab before anyone saw cuts or breaks it. A post-tension slab has steel cables pulled tight inside it, and cutting one can be very dangerous and expensive to repair. It isn't a Riverside rule, but it's worth knowing before any saw touches your patio.
Riverside, CA
Tell us about the room you want
Call (951) 394-2905 or send the form with the room type you have in mind, its rough size in square feet and whether it would sit on an existing slab, so I come to the visit with the right questions.