Flooring Ideas and Options for Your Sunroom
Published: June 24, 2021
Types of sunny spaces
True sunrooms are regular exterior rooms that receive abundant natural light through their direct outdoor access. Three-season rooms lack heat or air conditioning and probably aren’t as well insulated as the rest of your home. Enclosed porches turn what started out as an outdoor stoop into a screened-in “room” that’s more outdoor than indoor.
Fundamentally, whether or not your sunroom provides insulated space with access to heat and air conditioning determines what kinds of flooring options you can choose.
Real sunrooms
Truly indoor rooms – real sunrooms, that is – can use any type of flooring that you’d use in another room of your home. That assurance comes with a few caveats, however. First, because of the sunroom’s direct outdoor access, you need to consider the practicalities of muddy feet or paws, and the prospect of color change in sun-sensitive flooring options, such as laminate and vinyl plank, from light exposure. You don’t want your lovely floor looking like a sun-bleached photo. Install good shades and keep them drawn during peak sun, and you vastly expand your options.
For a busy family with pets, carpet tiles can add warmth underfoot and make it easy to replace any areas that become stained or damaged. Regular tile offers the dual benefits of resistance to scuffs and scratches – and with proper grout, it’s waterproof as well. For a wide palette of looks with waterproof performance, look at vinyl plank, which can “be” just about any surface you like: wood, stone, tile and so on.
Three-season rooms
The three-season room falls between the sunroom and the porch. It’s an interior space, but it’s probably not connected to your comfort system and may not be fully insulated. Temperature swings are unkind to some types of flooring, as is the humidity that easily seeps in, so these rooms require special care to choose a workable solution.
Enclosed porches
If your sunroom is more of an enclosed porch than a traditional room in your home, you’ll have to contend with water, temperature extremes and a long list of inconveniences that put thumbs down on most of the flooring options you’d otherwise select. On a true enclosed porch with concrete floor, you’re probably better off just finishing or painting the concrete, adding some attractive doormats like miniature area rugs and remembering to wipe your feet.
The great outdoors
Remember that any sunroom comes really close to being an outdoor space. Plan to clean up quickly after tracked-in grime so you can avoid damage. You’ll want to pay especially close attention to floor manufacturers’ use and care guides when you install their products in a space like this, so you don’t end up using cleaning products that void your warranty. (For an in-depth consideration of how to clean, see Use as Directed: Protect Your Floors and Preserve Your Warranty, and for more about waterproof versus water-resistant flooring, see Waterproof Vs. Water-Resistant Flooring: Vinyl Vs. Laminate).
Whichever direction you choose, from ruggedly casual to refined, the pros at Kermans can help you find the ideal flooring for your special sunny space. Set up an appointment with a design consultant today and let us help you make your vision a reality.