Solarium installation in Santa Ana CA - a glass room you can use all year
A patio or deck you only use a few months a year can become a heated and cooled glass room you use every season.
What goes into a solarium installation in Santa Ana?
Solarium installation in Santa Ana means adding a fully enclosed room to your house that's mostly glass, so you get daylight and a view of the yard in a room that stays comfortable through summer heat and cool winter evenings.
Most people who call me about a solarium have a back patio or a deck that's pleasant a few months a year and too hot, too chilly or too buggy the rest. The price moves with the size of the room, what it sits on, whether it gets its own heating and cooling, and how much insulated glass you choose. The schedule turns mostly on planning, any work the deck or foundation needs, and the city's plan review and inspections. When I come out, I measure, look at what the room would sit on and write up what the price covers, so you're working from your own figure instead of a guess.
How we handle solarium installation
I start every solarium by deciding with you whether the room runs on its own heating and cooling, as a separate zone or on separate equipment, or joins the house and gets treated like any other room addition. That choice comes first because a room that's mostly glass gains and loses heat fast, and the answer changes the ductwork, the electrical and the price. Next we look hard at what the room will sit on, and if it's going on a deck, we have that deck checked before the plans go any further. We settle the insulated glass and the insulation in the walls, floor and roof before anything is ordered, since those go in much more easily while the room is being built and usually cost more to add later. Once the plans are set and any permit is in hand, our own installers build the base, frame the walls and roof, set the glass, tie in the heating and cooling and leave the site clean, and I walk the finished room with you.
Not every glass room needs to be a full solarium. If what you really want is shade over the patio without walls or heating, patio cover installation is a simpler job, and some homeowners start there and close it in later. If you haven't settled the size, shape or which way the glass should face, we work that out through sunroom design before anything gets priced to the dollar.
Why Santa Ana homeowners call us for solarium installation
One contact from measuring to finish
I come out to look at the job and measure it myself, our own installers do the build, and I stay your contact the whole way through. You won't be explaining your room again to someone new halfway into the job.
Planning rooms through since 2017
We've been in business since 2017, and before that I ran the schedule for a busy remodeling company and saw what one rushed step does to a job. That's why we plan the whole room before anyone orders a part or cuts into anything.
Licensed and fully insured
We're licensed and fully insured. The state license board has a glazing class that covers installing glass, frames, panels, sashes and doors in any structure, so on a room that's mostly glass it's fair to ask any contractor how their license covers that work.
Based in Santa Ana, building nearby
We're based in Santa Ana and work in many of the cities around it, including Orange, Tustin, Garden Grove and Irvine. Most of the calls we get around here are for closing in a back patio or adding a room off the house, so that's the kind of job we plan for every week.
On a solarium, the room you end up with is decided before anything's ordered, so the first visit matters most. Call (657) 205-6766, email hi@santaanasunroomsandpatios.com or send us a message, and if you can, have photos of the spot, a rough room size, any deck details and your heating and cooling ideas ready.
Get a free on-site solarium estimate
We reply to every call and message within one business day. I'll set a time to come out, measure and look at what the room would sit on, then you get a written estimate of what the price covers, free and with no obligation.
Solarium and glass room ideas
Questions before you book solarium installation
What is a solarium and how is it different from other sunrooms?
A solarium is a fully enclosed room with all-weather windows that's heated and cooled, much like a four-season room or a conservatory. That sets it apart from a screen room or a patio cover, which stay open to the weather and aren't built to be lived in year round.
How much does a sunroom or solarium cost in Orange County?
A sunroom in Orange County usually costs about $17,000 to $120,000 per project, and since a solarium is a heated and cooled sunroom, that's the range to look at. Larger rooms that need a foundation and have heating and air conditioning fall toward the higher end. That's the going rate in the area, not our price, and your estimate spells out what your room's price covers.
Can a solarium go on my existing deck in Santa Ana?
It can, but a sunroom on an existing deck will typically need added beams, posts or footings to carry the extra weight and loads. The national sunroom trade group suggests having a local structural engineer check the deck first, and we don't finish the plans until the deck has been looked at, because what it needs can't be known until then.
Which Santa Ana office issues building permits for a solarium?
The city's Building Safety Division issues building, plumbing, heating and cooling, and electrical permits, and it reviews the plans and inspects the work, so plan on time for review and site visits. The city's zoning maps show what's permitted on a property, which is a good first look at where the room can sit. When a job needs a permit, we prepare the plans, file with the city, meet the inspector and keep you posted along the way.
What is the best way to face the glass on a solarium?
For warmer climates, federal passive solar guidance recommends north-facing windows along with south-facing windows that are generously shaded. That's national advice, and on your lot it gets weighed against where the room can attach to the house and what the yard allows.
What causes fogging between the glass panes in a sunroom?
Fogging between the panes of double or triple pane glass may point to a failed glazing seal, the edge seal that keeps the space between the panes dry. The national sunroom trade group advises having a trained sunroom installer evaluate it, so if you're seeing it on a room you already have, give us a call and I'll come take a look.
Other work that often comes up with a solarium
- Patio cover installation
Worth a look if shade over the patio is the main goal and a fully enclosed glass room is more than you need right now.
- Sunroom design
Helps you settle size, shape, glass and the room's direction on paper first, so the build matches what you pictured.