Three Season Room Project  – March 21st 2010

On March 21st we broke ground on a three season room project. With today’s rising fuel prices, it makes more sense to find that  “get away” feeling without having to leave home.  This project may help you learn how to accomplish some basic planning, demolition and construction tasks which could help make your dream of a three season room more affordable.  Always check with your local town or village and get the proper building permits. We already have plenty of living space, so the three season room option was better than a four season room which could increase our property taxes. Our back patio area really needed a face lift and by adding the roof, screens and vinyl windows, we’ll be able to use our hot tub more in the cold snowy winter months.

Last year we had several contractors bid on this project, but they were all way overpriced while using what I considered “cheap” construction methods using SIP panels, which are fine, but not my favorite construction technique.  This three season room design uses traditional stick construction built on top of a traditional deck frame.  The roof system consists of 8 engineered trusses with a  6/12 exterior pitch and a 3/12 interior pitch which will provide a nice inside cathedral ceiling that will later be covered with cedar or bamboo boards. Since there will be a hot tub inside the structure, I am building the deck and wall framing with all pressure treated lumber. The floor will not be decked, but rather covered in 3/4″ treated plywood sub floor, then covered with a yet to be determined floor covering. The prices we were quote for this projected ranged from $25,000 to over $47,000.  My three season room plan will cost around $8k to complete.

We will be using “Eze Breeze” vinyl screen windows and transom windows to prevent too many birds from crashing to an untimely death. Our current patio windows seem to be a favorite place for birds to crash & burn into. This entire three season room design idea will eventually be offered as a detailed plan set at barplan.com – but for now, this blog series will help any do-it-yourself builder proceed on their own with confidence.

The image at left shows the CAD rendering of the completed three season room.

Designed for upper Midwest region (snow loading) using engineered scissor truss (6/12 – 3/12)
Room dimensions: 14′ deep x 30′ wide. 24″ overhang.

Contractor price quoted as: 25k – 47k
My DIY cost, about 8k complete.

Use this article as the basis for your own three season room plan. It’s easier than you think and a little elbow grease will save you thousands over a contractor and will provide a nice bit of sweat equity in your home.

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Once this project is completed, we will offer this as a plan set with 3D CAD drawings and many more photos.

Follow along with us for the next few weeks while we knock this project out. Click here to view all of the three season room construction project entries. You can also see my now completed 2008 Garden shed & greenhouse project under the Construction category.

We were recently quoted several prices on added a 14′ x 30′ three season room to the back of our converted duplex. The prices ranged from about $20,000 up to $50,000 without the roofing (shingles & tie in to existing roof).  This was quite discouraging since it is not all that complicated to build for the average do it yourself woodworker. So, I set out to design my own set of plans to build a three season room to save a substantial amount of money. I have already built two garage structures and or course our entire home bar and home theater areas in our basement, so how hard could it be?
The first step is to develop a detailed design from the foundation to the top of the roof. The foundation is the most critical aspect of this type of project, so you may have to get a professional involved. I also suggest you open the phone book and have a few contractors come over to discuss the project. Who knows, you may get a super cheap deal to build it for under about 15k, but I’ll show you my  plans that can havie it built for well under 10k. In fact, my material cost for the base structure is about $4,000.  The roofing, which I hired a contractor to do will add another $3,000 for a total base price of $7,000. This does not include windows and doors which will add another $2,000 or so. The interior finishing will be stretched out over time  as the base materials are paid off.

You can follow the entire building process by clicking the “Three Season Room Project” link at the top of this post and by using the page navigation at the bottom of each page. Thanks & Have Fun!