floor heating for sunroom

Most sunrooms would use #2.

If your floor is insulated properly, you dont need heated floor. Also, how can a heated floor system replace the AC unit ?

its a 150 sq feet sun room and i was hoping to get a nice little fan that will blow cool air. its afterall its a sun room. I am more concerned on winter heating vs summer cooling.
after 2 pm, its generally shady on that side of the house today.

Have you considered a mini-split heat pump?

Is #2 forced air? I'd go that route, depending on what they're quoting. 150 sq ft of well built additional space shouldn't tax your existing furnace/AC too much if the ductwork can be run efficiently.

More detail on what they're proposing for $2.3K would help make the decision.

Give noise some consideration. Nice thing about forced air and radiant is they're generally silent. Radiant heating in the space is targeted, so you can keep it cooler when it's not in use.

At 150 sq ft radiant heating should be cheap and you might consider having it as well as forced air. You could close off the air registers in the winter and use the radiant heat which is very nice under foot and have the forced air AC to cool it in the summer.

I'd imagine radiant heat would be about $1.5K for that space. The spool of wire and thermostat would be about $500 I expect, and then you just lay it out and embed it in a layer of thinset. You'll need a dedicated 15A circuit for it.

Some of this depends on your choice of flooring.

buysell2008 wrote: ↑ its a 150 sq feet sun room and i was hoping to get a nice little fan that will blow cool air. its afterall its a sun room. I am more concerned on winter heating vs summer cooling.
after 2 pm, its generally shady on that side of the house today.

I think it depends what direction facing is your sunroom and the sunroom style. If it is facing west and you have one of those all glass sunroom, it will be very hot inside.

We personally like the sunroom addition style with just a couple skylights on the top, that can easily blend into the rest of the house. If we don't tell the guests who have never been to our house (before the sunroom built), they probably can't tell that is an addition

Back to your flooring question, if your contractor spray foam the floor, you shouldn't need to install heat under the floor. We went through the -30c days in the winter and it was fine.

how much heat loss do u get due to the windows? i have a heat vent on the floor leading to backyard. this will become the connector to sunroom. i am hoping to keep the glass door connecting living room to suroom open hoping it will heat up the sunroom.

buysell2008 wrote: ↑ how much heat loss do u get due to the windows? i have a heat vent on the floor leading to backyard. this will become the connector to sunroom. i am hoping to keep the glass door connecting living room to suroom open hoping it will heat up the sunroom.

If you have good sunroom grade windows, you shouldn't have to worry about the heat loss. For building a sunroom, I highly recommend you hire a sunroom specialized contractor instead of just any general contractor. A vent near the existing patio door will definitely help. a contractor usually install a standalone AC/heater unit in the sunroom just in case for the extreme cold/hot days. Thus, some contractors make it optional to keep the quoted price lower.

If you plan to install an all glass sunroom, I would be a bit concerned. Even sunroom contractors like Four Seasons sunroom claim their glass is specially designed for that, I doubt there is no impact in temperature inside the fully glass room. Depends on what you want and use the room for, I personally would not have full glass top for my sunroom addition which is used as part of the house.

Again, flooring should be fully insulated e.g. spray foam. No need to install the heated floor.

If you haven't hired a contractor, make sure you talked to at least 3-5 sunroom contractors. The more you talked to, the more ideas and understanding you will get to help making your decision. Honestly, I originally started off with a thought of just $20K simple sunroom. Later realized that the real price is at least 3-4+ more, and of course I want it bigger later on when I realize I can build it like part of the house (addition). I was even suggested to build from basement level up. But then more complications and of course more $$$ Thus, need to justify if/how I will use the additional basement space for the additional $$$ spent.

the price quote for a 10x16 sunroom (craft bilt) that i have includes
4 season doors/windows for 2 sides
insulated roof panels
1 insulated wall(facing neighbour)
4th side is my house wall with the living room leading to sun room

3/4" board for floor deck
insulation between joists

my current price with architect drawings for permit leads to 31k
flooring material is extra and i was recommended to use laminate for this.

does spray foam the same as insulation for joists?

FYI, $31K is considered very cheap. All custom built 4 seasons sunroom addition will start with $75K+

buysell2008 wrote: ↑ the price quote for a 10x16 sunroom (craft bilt) that i have includes
4 season doors/windows for 2 sides
insulated roof panels
1 insulated wall(facing neighbour)
4th side is my house wall with the living room leading to sun room

3/4" board for floor deck
insulation between joists

my current price with architect drawings for permit leads to 31k
flooring material is extra and i was recommended to use laminate for this.

does spray foam the same as insulation for joists?

i did speak to 2 different providers(craft-bilt and lifestyleproducts) and 4 season lands at 30-35k all in. of course these are small ones 10x16 or 10x12 respectively