Deck-to-sunroom conversion in Hacienda Heights CA - a room on a deck that can hold it

Most people who call me have a deck that gets plenty of sun and not much use, and they want a real room out of it. The price turns mostly on what's under the room, because a deck that needs a few more posts costs less to build on than one that needs new footings or a full rebuild. After that it's the size, the glass and whether the room gets its own heating and cooling. The schedule follows the same pattern, since deck work and any permit come before the room goes up, and your written estimate puts your own number on all of it. If you're working with a ground-level slab instead, patio-to-sunroom conversion is the page for you.

I start underneath, because a sunroom is mostly glass sitting on whatever holds it up. I look at the posts, beams, joists and footings before we talk price, and sometimes I'm the one telling you a new deck makes more sense than propping up the old one. I'd rather say that at the estimate than halfway through the job. Once the deck is reinforced or rebuilt, my crew and I frame the walls, put on the roof, set the glass and doors, finish the inside and clean up before we leave.

If you want the room comfortable in July and January alike, our all season rooms page walks through that build. If your outdoor space is a patio at ground level rather than a raised deck, enclosed patio rooms start from the slab instead.

If your address is in unincorporated LA County, LA County Public Works issues permits for additions, alterations and electrical work. Its list names adding a room and doesn't name sunrooms, so the list alone doesn't settle your job, and the county is the place to ask. Larger projects need plans that show what's being built, and the county office tells you whether those plans go through plan check, its review of them before work starts. LA County Planning also reviews zoning for property outside a city, including rules on hillsides and plants, and if your property falls outside the county's jurisdiction, another office may handle the permit. We look up which office handles your address, and when the job needs a permit, we take care of the paperwork and work through the inspections with you.

Plenty of houses here sit on sloped lots, so a lot of the decks we look at are raised, with tall posts on the downhill side. Those posts and their footings get the closest look, because that's usually where settling shows up. We see the same raised decks on hillside lots in Whittier and West Covina.