A three seasons room is a perfect way to enjoy the warmer Wisconsin seasons and avoid being eaten alive by the “Wisconsin State Bird”—the mosquito. The woods, the water, and the amazing foliage is all beautiful, especially here in southeastern Wisconsin, and with our cold winters we like to spend as much time as we can outside when it’s warm.
As you can see by the photos below, the homeowner has a beautiful house near lots of trees. He called James Allen Builders because he wanted to relax in the backyard and avoid those pesky bugs. He wanted a three-seasons room.
The First Challenge: Sloping Backyard
This project came with many challenges, but the first set of challenges centered around building the three-seasons room at the correct angle and height for the house. To start, the height of the patio door, the slope of the ground behind the house, and the distance of the main body of the three-seasons room from the house made for some tricky framing. The angles of the house made it difficult to ensure that the three seasons room was square.
The Second Challenge: Aligning the Roof to the House
The next challenge came in designing the roof. Once the proper height and level of the three-seasons room was determined, we needed to align the roof of the structure properly for the fourth Wisconsin season—winter—and the snow that accompanies it. Connecting the roof of the three-seasons room to the roof of the home required us to pay close attention to the pitch so the snow and rain would flow down the roof line and away from the house.
The Third Challenge: Exposed Ceiling Rafters
The homeowner wanted a slightly rustic look to the three-seasons room and decided on exposed ceiling rafters. This meant that the rough framing had to be a little less rough and a little more clean cut. To solve this problem, we used a bead board as the ceiling plywood. Then in anticipation of a possible conversion to a four-seasons room sometime in the future, we installed 1.5” of foam and then put .5” OSB on top of the foam, so the three-seasons room could be converted to a four-seasons room in the future. We also ran electrical underneath the plywood so a ceiling fan could be added later without seeing the wiring in the exposed ceiling rafters.
The Finished Three Seasons Room
The room addition was completed with a stepped walkway to the garage service door. Cedar shakes were also used along with screen windows and headers to complete the look of the room and to offer additional protection again the elements.
To look at the photos of the whole project, click on any of the images below to view a larger slideshow.
