A sunroom is not a new architectural addition. The form has existed throughout the centuries under various names. It is a sunroom, solarium, solar room and a green house. It has been used as a conservatory, a living area, a greenhouse, an exercise room and a place to put pools or hot tubs. People have read quietly there, drawn by the bright light and greenery.

If you are thinking of adding a sunroom consider, first, what you intend to do with it? What I will be its purpose or function? Is it practical, affordable and/or a structure that adds to both the amenities and value of the house?

Sunrooms can have gained in popularity for some very good reasons. According to some experts, yield between 70 and 110% of your original investment. Simply stated, they make excellent financial sense.

In a world environmentally conscious and worried about rising energy costs, the sunroom is considered a partial solution. If constructed properly, it can supply solar heat for the home. This practicality is abetted by the charm a sunroom can add to a dwelling.

What draws many people to choosing to build a sunroom is not the solar ability, but the simple elegance of the structure. Glass combined with light, attractive frames and natural material provides a feeling that nature is near at hand.

A sunroom brings the outdoors, indoors. It encloses you in a psychological as well as a physical sense. In capturing the maximum amount of sun possible or allowed, it helps people who suffer from seasonal disorders to live a little less depressed throughout the darker half of the year.

The very basics of the sunroom: glass, light and open structure, encourage the growing of plants. This in turn helps improve the air of a living space and creates a relaxing atmosphere in which to work or relax and read.

The type of glass available these days helps make the sunroom more affordable and durable. These structures can also come prepared. Some companies specialize in designing and erecting sunrooms of various sizes and shapes, customizing them to you and your home's needs. There are kits easily erected.

If you are thinking of erecting a sunroom, there are a couple of other things to consider. Make sure it is designed to use to its full potential. A sunroom can be utilized for three or four seasons if properly designed and constructed. There are a wide variety of framing materials, glass types and foundations from which to select. Aluminum, wood, steel, masonry, double- or single-glazings, laminates and newer and more durable synthetics can ensure the sunroom is strong, resilient and aesthetically pleasing.

Further attention must also be paid to the interior. This is a sunroom and subject to consistent, strong rays. A hard-surfaced floor will last longer under the glare and add a passive-solar heat gain for colder days, absorbing sun as it does.

The d'cor must also recognize the power of the sun. Furniture should be able to withstand the sun, not rapidly fading away.

Sunrooms fulfill a number of needs. They are visually pleasing, charming examples of architecture calling back to an earlier time. They are perfect places to entertain, live, relax and contemplate life. They are also a little bit of nature's warmth on a cold winter's day.