Sunroom contractor in San Bernardino - closing in the patio you already have

Most of what we see in San Bernardino is a patio slab or a deck someone built years ago, and the real question is whether it can carry a room. A slab poured for a barbecue area is often thin at the edges with no footing where new walls would sit, and an old cover's posts were sized for shade, not for a roof that holds up glass. Before I plan anything on top, I check the thickness, look for cracks and settling, and mark where we'd need new footings. I came to this trade late, after years as a maintenance supervisor fixing other people's shortcuts, so this is the part I'm stubborn about.

On older one-story houses, the eave over the back door often sits low, which leaves little height for the room's roof to slope away from the house. We work out the roof pitch at the visit, because it decides whether the room can attach under the eave or has to tie into the roof itself.

In San Bernardino the permit comes from the city's Building and Safety Division, which issues permits for structural, electrical, plumbing and heating and cooling work, and a sunroom attached to your house is structural work. Larger rooms need plans the city reviews for code before it issues the permit, and some need plans from a California registered architect or engineer, so the schedule turns on that review more than on our calendar. The city only issues permits to contractors who hold the right state license and a current city business license, and a contractor with employees also shows proof of workers compensation insurance, so ask whoever you're considering for all three. We're fully licensed and insured, and on jobs that need a permit we prepare and file the paperwork and meet the inspector on site.

As a sunroom contractor in Riverside, CA, the price questions we sort out here are the same ones we sort out at home: the size of the room, the glass and insulation, whether your slab or deck can carry it or needs new footings, how the roof meets the house, and whether you want power or heating and cooling. Your written estimate is where you'll see your own number. We do the same work in Jurupa Valley and Grand Terrace, where a different office may cover the address, so we confirm which one before we draw anything.

San Bernardino is a big city, and on our jobs here we see everything from older one-story houses in the established neighborhoods to newer tract homes with a bare slab out back. Up toward the foothills the lots slope more and the decks sit higher, and people often want the glass facing the mountains and the Arrowhead above the city. We also build next door in Colton and Highland, and the houses there raise many of the same questions.

What that means for your job is that two rooms of the same size here can be very different builds. A newer slab may only need its edges checked, while an older patio or a raised deck may need new footings before any wall goes on.