Ok, I sold my above half in half out 30 foot swimming pool. The back yard looks sad and empty. The asked me what do I want put in place of the pool. Naturely I said, a sunroom to house my figs! Well she didn't like the idea but I did sell the swimming pool and have money in hand to build something.

My personal budget is $4000. But I'm not sure I could get a 30x15 sunroom for that price. So, I'm wondering if any of my fig friends have a sunroom? If so, how much did it cost? What was the size? If you have one, tell me what you would do different? Any tips are welcome.

thanks!

Dennis,

A sun room of 30x15 would run at least 10X your budget i'm afraid and that would be if you did a lot of the work yourself.  Perhaps instead a lean to greenhouse?  

Sell cuttings to make up the rest of the $$ you need.

Just plant more outdoor figs.

Dennis look at growers solution user id on ebay, think they have a web site to. Know you could get a 16x20 greenhouse for about 900.00. Maybe a heat sorce and solar paneles just to run it might be somthing that works for you. And you should be able to come in under budget.

Just a thought. I have a 10x20 greenhouse but not the money yet to have a soal heat sorce. In lat feb I can start thing oout there with just a space heater.

I have a sun room, but I didn't build it. It was already on the house so I have no idea what the cost was.  Sits on the south side, it's about 10 feet wide by the length of our house. Cement slab floor(which we had poured, it was just perimeter footers with bricks on a sand base originally) with pergo on top, sliding glass doors along the whole south side and the west side, with a brick wall extension of the house on the east. The north side is the brown brick of the original back of the house. 2/3 of the ceiling is double wall polycarbonate paneling like Tom used on his sun room in the YouTube video he made, and the other 1/3 is covered roof. The whole roof surface is just a gentle slope extension of the original roof which was attached on, and composite shingle roll was used to breach the gap under the house shingles. The original roof structure of the house is unaltered.

I love it, it extends my season on both ends. I just ate my last perfectly ripened Petite Negra yesterday and have my last Hardy Chicago that should be ready in a few days(coming from a place where it has already snowed 2-3 inches twice, that's not bad).  I have a place to start my vegetables and all I have to do is walk out the sliding glass door. We have 2 sliding glass doors and another door on the back of the house, no matter what the temperature is outside, if it is sunny out(which most of the time it is in Colorado) we open the doors and turn the heater down and the sun room heats the entire house. It also adds a ton of useable square footage to the house. Our house a ranch style that isn't really big, so during the holidays when we entertain we put dining tables and a space heater or two out there and add a lot of comfortable square footage for guests. We are in zone 5-6 and it rarely drops below freezing in the sun room. On the coldest nights I bring the most tender plants in the house (like my pineapple for example) and  move the more hardy ones up near the wall of the house and they are fine.

I think the covered portion of the sun room is essential if it is big. In the summer it generates too much heat, even with all the doors open, if the whole thing was a clear roof...sheesh. It also gives plants a filtered light area that are adjusting to increased light. If we ever move, the ability to build a south side sun room if doesn't already exist is a must. I think I would use a very similar plan to one here. The only changes I would make is to install some sort of white blinds on the ceiling so I can decrease sun in the heat of the summer. Some sort of a roof venting window would help also. We installed Aussie blinds along the length of the sliders, but we put them inside the room and that was a mistake. They collect light energy and therefore generate a lot of heat into the room in the summer. So basically in summer you go in sun room in the morning and the evening only and nothing but screen doors are closed the whole time unless it's raining or really windy. Oh, and it's a nice place for a hot tub too. :)

You could also consider this technology if it's available to you:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/the-future-of-greenhouses-6534751

Probably cheaper than solar panels.

Does an old car on driveway in summer count as a sun room . ?

Sure....spray in some water and also could double as a sauna.  

How about a van?

My 1700 sq ft greenhouse built to the hilt cost $25,000 10 years ago. That's with 12,000 lbs concrete holding down each side. My 10ft by 18ft sunroom basically heats my house and cost about $50 per year average for materials. It's a porch covered with woven poly during the cold 6 months. I've grown figs and blueberries in there all winter. But it's not heated at night so I have to bring the plants inside on freezing nights.

I guess you guys live in a lot better neighborhood than I do....;-)

Wow! You guys ROCK! Except corny Martin....sorry Martin. :) But it was funny. Well, it looks like I need to rethink this sunroom idea. I know 4k is very low for a sunroom. But I might be able to pull it off if I built it using 2 x 2 and slide glass screen doors. I know a guy who can build it for $600 bucks. Plus I'm thinking about placing it on a deck floor with floating tiles. It might work. The main reason for the $4k budget is I also want to install one of those 5170 Watt Grid-Tied Solar Kits from Costco for $13k. And with a tax break, that kit will only cost me $9100. So for under $15k, I can get both. Something to think about.

Thanks for all the comments! You guys rock!

Good luck with your sun room.  We are a bit south of you and have a 10 x 30' sun room on our house that was built over a flagstone patio. We have sliding glass doors at one end and double glazed windows that come within 24" of the floor the rest of the way around.  With the heat that builds up during the day, I only have to use the heater for the 2 coldest months of the year and only when the temp really drops down. Usually its sufficient to move plants away from the windows to the inside wall where it will stay above freezing even w/o heat. It gives me a jump on my garden of about 8-10 weeks in spring.  I am sure you will really enjoy having one.  We have a ventless propane heater on the inside wall (with thermostat and fan) and other than for a few days a year, just keeping the pilot light on or turning it up to 1 has been enough to keep the porch warm enough to grow things.  In the summer we leave all the windows and doors open (all are screened) so we do not get a lot of heat build up. When the herd of kids and grandkids invade, it does double duty as extra sleeping space. It has a nice tile floor that is easily cleaned and its where I mix up most of my potting soils and set up racks to house rows of plant starts for spring planting. If you build one, you will probably be surprised at how many uses you find for it.