The purpose of building codes
One obstacle homeowners face when planning for home additions is the area’s strict building codes. These requirements regulate the procedures and details of construction, in order for a home to be safe. When builders, such as LivingSpace dealers, build onto your home, it is important they do so while obeying the area’s building codes.
Building codes aren’t enforced to be annoying. In reality, they are there to protect your home. Building codes were adopted to combat large fires in densely populated urban areas. Since then, they have evolved to also address structure, electrical, ventilation, and construction materials.
Now, these restrictions make sunrooms a bit tricky. No matter how nice a 3-season, or even a 4-season sunroom appears, they don’t meet building codes. Which means they don’t count as actual real estate on your home. When it comes time to sell, they don’t count the way that the rest of our home does.
Selling your home
However, life happens, and very few homes fully meet building codes. Some have said that failing to meet building codes means you’re unable to resell your home when the time comes. This is a myth. If it were the case, very few houses would be on the market today.
Home inspectors only prevent resell if the code violation poses an immediate threat to the home or those living in it. In an extreme example, a code inspector would not allow a home to be sold if mild winds could rip its sunroom to pieces. Also, low R-values would be cause for concern. These types of violations are determined during construction, which is why it is critical to choose a contractor that cares about building codes and the materials they use.
The LivingSpace difference
Luckily, the LivingSpace sunroom creates a room that meets building codes in each of our dealer’s areas. This is because LivingSpace uses the best materials available. This is best exemplified by our ability to connect the sunroom with the rest of the home, like an actual addition, creating new real estate.
Typically, it is against building code to add a sunroom that doesn’t have a door separating it from the rest of the house, for a variety of code violations. The most common being thermal efficiency, subjecting the home to higher energy bills. Likewise, if an integrated sunroom collapses in inclement weather, the entire house would be exposed to the backyard.
Maximizing Equity
Because of LS sunrooms meeting codes, and expanding the footprint of your home, the value of your home instantly increases upon completion. If you were considering an addition, why not make it a sunroom? If you were considering a sunroom, why not make it an addition?
LS has had repeat customers in the past who have added our sunrooms to mulitple home for this exact reason, and it’s where we get our slogan!
It’s more than a sunroom, it’s LivingSpace.
So, LivingSpace created a better way to build sunrooms. Because of this, LivingSpace dealers can integrate your sunroom with the rest of the house by removing the door connecting them. Even better, we are able to do this while following local building codes. This is a testament to the quality of materials LivingSpace uses to build sunrooms. You can speak with a local LivingSpace dealer to learn more about materials and your local codes.
Since each region has a different code to comply with, it is difficult for national companies to promise 100% code compliance. Because of this, we work with local contractors that understand the building codes best. We partner with those who have years of experience working in your area to ensure a sunroom that will be safe for you and your home.
Hear about the LivingSpace product from one of our Premier Partners.