How to Convert a Covered Deck Into an Indoor Living Area

A pleasant way to spend time at home is spending time in your deck, especially if it is covered, it will even give you more extra convenient. Despite a covered deck can provide you with a pleasant way to spend time at home, the drawback is that when the weather is bad, or it’s the middle of winter, the conditions make the deck inhospitable. One solution is by converting the deck into an indoor living area, and by this way you can use the space year-round. In addition to that, the fact that the roof is already in place simplifies the project. Here are some steps that you can do to convert a covered deck into an Indoor living area.

Steps for Convert a Covered Deck into an Indoor living area

Step 1: Planning

In order to make the project go more smoothly, minimizing your costs and the inconvenience to your family from living in a construction zone, a proper planning is required. The first you need to do is to make is whether the deck is being converted into an all-season room or a three-season room. Each one has its own consequences. For instance, converting the deck into an all-season room means that your home’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system to the new room to provide heat and air conditioning are needed. In addition to that, you also need to determine your budget for the project, and how you’ll finance it. It is advisable to include all options available namely a personal loan, credit cards and a home equity line of credit.

Step 2: Design and Approval

You can go about designing the room, once the exact purpose of the room and your budget has been decided. The plans can be created by hiring a professional architect or do it by yourself by using a computer-aided design program that you can install on your home computer. Another alternative is you can also prepared the basic design on a CAD program, then turn that over to an architect for professional blueprints based on your ideas. There are several factors that go into the design itself, such as whether you want to living area to be more of a sunroom, or an addition to your home, with exterior walls completed to match the rest of the exterior. The design of the interior of the enclosed room should be an aesthetic fit with the rest of your home. It is important that the design also has to be complying and approved by your local zoning board, which bases its decision on the safety of the design, as well as the aesthetic aspect.

Step 3: Deciding Who’s Doing the Work

This is an vital part of the project. In this step you can decide whether you will handle by yourself or you need extra additional assistance, or even fully hire professionals. When you’re a do-it-yourself homeowner, you might have the skills and knowledge to complete the project yourself, however to some extent certain aspects of the project may be beyond your capabilities. Thus it is necessary to decide what parts of the project you can complete yourself, and what parts you need to hire a contractor for. In term of any electrical, plumbing or HVAC work, it is advisable to give the job and probably best left in the hands of a professional. The reason is that the professional will know the building codes that must be followed, and have the knowledge and experience to complete the task at hand.

Step 4: Building the Room

Construction can start, after the planning stages have been completed and you have acquired the needed permits. Some of the works that can be done such as remove it to open up the space when the deck has a railing. You build frames for the walls using two-by-four boards to fit in between the posts that support the roof. Place the frames in between the posts, and nail them to the deck, the sides of the posts and the bottom of the roof. Leave enough space for any windows being installed, when building the frames. Reinstall electrical wiring and HVAC ducts for an all-season room, and these tasks can best be done by a contractor. Next is installing a floor on the surface of the deck with carpeting, wood laminate or tile. Then, cover the outside of the framing with wood sheathing, like plywood or oriented-strand board, and a weatherproof barrier to protect the sheathing. Install an exterior surface over the sheathing to match the rest of your home with vinyl siding, stucco or brick or stone veneer.