". . . little shall I grace my cause

In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience,

I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver . . ."

(William Shakespeare's Othello, I.iii.88-90)

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Our "Sun" Room

THEN



NOW

So I'm trying to figure out why they call these things 3-season rooms. They're too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Spring and fall are nice, though (except when it rains, but that's a different post).


This room does not have its own heating (or cooling) source, so in the winter we run a greenhouse/contractor's heater in it at night to keep the window panes from breaking (we've had that happen a few times) and the plants from dying. We don't heat it to a toasty warm human-friendly temperature--it's too expensive. When the sun comes out things warm up somewhat during the day. But at night, it's frigid without the heater running, especially when it's NINE BELOW as it is in Chicagoland this morning (is it really just the FIRST day of winter?).


That heater has been running all night and the room is still in the forties. I'm not looking forward to the next electric bill.


Oh well. We may not have much use for this room right now. But my 5-year-old sure has fun breaking off the icicles and turning them into swords!



3 comments:

Stephanie said...

Wow. It's nice to see a place that has seasons. Our yard looks like the first picture year round! HA HA I think that's why my husband and I like to take winter vacations where there is snow.

Elephantschild said...

Well, it *was* a three-season room, back when it wasn't drafty and leaky!

(and lest anyone think I'm being mean, I've visted Cheryl's house lots of times. I covet her sunroom, leaks and all!)

I wonder if there's a more economical way to keep it above freezing...

Cheryl said...

EC, it used to have a combination heater/ac window unit (kind of like the things you see in hotel rooms). When that played out we looked into replacing it. But those kinds of units cost in the thousands of dollars. So we use the heater ($100 unit) in the winter and open the windows in the summer.