Sunroom stumbling blocks: Code officials sometimes stand in the way of construction

In some municipalities around the country, it can be a challenge for sunroom and patio-enclosure manufacturers to obtain building permits for their products. Fairfax County, Va., for example, does not accept an engineer’s seal that a product meets code if the product is not identified in the code itself. Instead, the manufacturer must provide an evaluation report from International Code Council Evaluation Services Inc. of Whittier, Calif., says Syndee Grace, code enforcement coordinator II  for the office of Building Plan Review at the county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.

“We deal with counties east of the Mississippi and as far north as Canada, and Fairfax County tends to be the most stringent about its requirements,” says Michael Luttkus, a trainer with PGT University, PGT’s corporate training center in Nokomis, Fla.

Fairfax may be in the forefront, but it is not alone. Las Vegas, Miami-Dade County, Fla., Long Island, N.Y., and the suburbs of Chicago all have been noted for their strict interpretation of building codes in this regard.

Not well-defined

The way code is enforced depends on a department’s resources, experience and the code itself. “Building codes are not iron-clad documents and sunrooms are not well-defined in most building codes, leaving room for questions and shades of gray,” Luttkus says.

Indeed. Some building code inspectors are satisfied with little more than “a sketch on the back of an envelope while others want you to give over your first-born son,” says Kevin McGrath, vice president of engineering at Four Seasons Solar Products LLC in Holbrook, N.Y. His company works with officials in 17,000 municipalities around the country.

“Think of the ways people interpret the Bible. ... Code is much more complex,” says Brian K. Pitman, director marketing and communication of the National Sunroom Association in Topeka, Kan.

The NSA officials labor for the consistent application of code to sunrooms and patio covers. They want the ICC to refine and include definitions for such structures in its codes.

One obstacle has been achieving consensus within the industry. “It has been a contentious issue,” Pitman says. Luttkus agrees. “It’s been an uphill battle because not everyone is comfortable with the definitions.”

“The definition can be tricky because a single word can offset exactly what you’re trying to accomplish,” says Robert A. Walz, director of engineering at TEMO Sunrooms Inc. in Clinton Township, Mich. As a company, he reports, TEMO would like to see a section of the building code devoted to sunrooms.

Michael D. Fischer, technical director of the NSA, submitted a proposal to the ICC’s code-development committee last spring that would define and draw distinctions between patio covers and sunrooms. NSA officials suggested that patio covers be considered “a one-story structure, covering or enclosing nonconditioned, nonhabitable recreational space, with open, screened or glazed wall area in excess of 40 percent of the gross area of the structure’s exterior walls.”

A sunroom, on the other hand, would be “a one-story structure attached to a dwelling, enclosing habitable space, with a wall glazing area in excess of 40 percent of the gross area of the structure’s exterior walls.” In addition, the industry proposed wording concerning thermal isolation. “Taken together, all of these modifications provide clear direction for code officials who often struggle to determine just what the requirements for these rooms should be,” Fischer wrote in the proposal.

The ICC code-development committee disagreed. In February, its members discussed the changes and rejected them, concluding the expanded definition of sunrooms was not substantiated, and that it was uncomfortable with the proposed definition of thermal isolation. In addition, ICC officials said “the terminology would be very confusing,” insisting “additional clarification is required to explain the differences between patio covers and sunrooms, and where these units can be attached.”

The NSA officials did not rebut the ICC decision or rewrite their proposal before the end of the public comment period June 16. However, they may submit new code language for consideration in March 2006, Fischer says. Meanwhile, the current ICC code on sunrooms will remain for the foreseeable future.

That may come as a relief to some industry executives. Walz argues that defining a sunroom as a habitable space may raise more problems than it resolves. “The minute you start defining it as a habitable space, you open up the entire code book and you need to comply with every single page,” he says.

Matters of interpretation

In Fairfax, the issue centers on resources, not definitions. One of the fastest growing communities in the country, Fairfax now boasts a population of nearly 1 million and an average annual household income of $90,000. Initially, growth was so dramatic, Grace recalls, the county could not hire inspectors fast enough. As a result of the shortage, Fairfax had to train each inspector to be a Jack-of-all-trades, able to inspect the mechanical, electrical and plumbing aspects of a structure. Growth has slowed but “we don’t have the manpower to dissect every plan that comes in,” Grace says. Fairfax requires evaluation reports issued by the ICC-ES, because during this process a company has to demonstrate effective quality control of its manufacturing. Not so with an engineer’s seal, she explains, “nine times out of 10 that engineer was not in the factory when the product was made.”

However, the county is democratic in its approach. Every product not in the code faces the same standard. The first time its inspectors saw composite decking, they demanded a report. The manufacturer had to change the product’s chemical composition three times before it earned approval. When several manufacturers introduced fiberglass columns, only two received evaluation reports. The problem was some columns compressed under load.

In Grace’s experience, most sunroom and patio-cover manufacturers are on top of their game. However, she has seen communication breakdowns between manufacturers and installing contractors. Sunrooms are one-story structures by definition, and she has stopped efforts to make two-story sunrooms. Or she insists on stick construction for a two-story structure, rejecting the use of foam panels. Other problems occur when people try to convert a structure designed not to be air-conditioned into an air-conditioned space. If you install heating and cooling, she says, the humidity may get so bad, “the customer ends up with a tropical rain forest.”

The county has developed a checklist for sunroom and patio-cover manufacturers to guide them through the approval process. “Fairfax is very proactive in writing code and enforcing it,” says Tony Bouquot, engineering director at Patio Enclosures Inc. in Cleveland. “They take great pride in being trendsetters.” In fact, he adds, “what you see in Fairfax, you start to see in the rest of the nation.”

However, getting an evaluation report is easier said than done, McGrath says. A fast turnaround on such a report is six months. It took Four Seasons three years to gain approval for two complex and innovative technologies. One sought approval for the use of glass as a part of the structural element of the room and the other was for the use of thermally broken extrusions in patio rooms.

The process also can be expensive. Terry Cavanagh, vice president at Terrapin Testing Inc. in Rancho Cordova, Calif., estimates that securing product recognition for a basic unit, such as an aluminum-skinned Styrofoam roof panel, could cost $12,000 in ICC-ES fees. The out-of-pocket costs, however, may soar as high as $50,000-to-$100,000 when taking into account in-house development and third-party engineering analyses and testing to assemble a package for ICC-ES review.

That’s too rich for Robert Howe, president of Abundant Energy Inc. in Pine Island, N.Y. Abundant Energy sells glazing—with the product name Pro-Seal—for the construction of sunrooms and patio covers. In California, the product is categorized as a prefabricated unit and subject to code requirements limiting heat transfer. His glazing cannot be used in some of California’s municipalities, Howe says. Like Fairfax, these government units require an ICC-ES evaluation report. “It’s a large expense,” he says, estimating the cost would be $10,000.

Sometimes, codes may be in conflict with each other. For example, California’s energy-sensitive code requirements favor the use of vinyl window framing, says E. David Walls, manager of the state housing law program in the Division of Codes and Standards of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. But in locations designated as urban-wildland interfaces that contain a lot of vegetation, vinyl window frames may be a handicap because they might melt in a wild fire.

As California suffers severe wild fires, its state officials plan to develop standards they can apply to its urban-wildland interfaces. “Every time there is a disaster, we react and refine our model codes,” says John LaTorra, division manager for building and inspection at Redwood City’s Community Development Department.

Similarly, in the wake of last year’s hurricane season, municipal officials along the Eastern Seaboard became increasingly aware of their vulnerability to storms with wind speeds of 120 miles per hour. These days, community planners along these storm routes adopt wind-load and impact codes that, in some cases, are as strict as those enforced in Miami-Dade County. There structures must withstand wind loads of 140 miles per hour and multiple direct hits from 2-by-4-inch missiles at high speeds.

Greg Header, president of Solar Innovations Inc. in Myerstown, Pa., considers this a hugely important development for the sunroom industry. Designing to such specifications demands thicker and, as a result, heavier, laminated glass. And it’s not a matter of changing just one element. Once the type of glass is revamped, extrusions and fasteners also have to be modified. “It’s almost a total redesign of your system,” Header says. “And every time you change your product, you have to get it retested.” He anticipates that research and development, paperwork, testing, certification and auditing will ring up at $250,000 for a single product line.

Given the growing cost of making and securing approval for sunrooms and patio covers that meet more stringent code requirements, Header expects manufacturers to develop specialties. For instance, a product designed to survive a hurricane may be overbuilt and too expensive to sell in other regions and the expense of carrying the inventory to supply each market could prove daunting.

And while he foresees customers paying more for their sunrooms and patio covers “in the end it will benefit consumers,” Header says. They will get more reliable and functional spaces and that, he insists, “will help give our industry a better name.”

Sources
Tony Bouquot, Patio Enclosures Inc., 700 E. Highland Road, Macedonia, Ohio 44056, 330/468-0700, ext. 2301, 800/480-1966, tony.bouquot@patioenc.com, www.patioenclosuresinc.com   

Syndee Grace, Fairfax County Building Plans Review, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, Herrity Building, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, Va. 22035, 703/222-0114, cynthia.grace@fairfaxcounty.gov, www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpwes

Greg Header, Solar Innovations Inc., 234 E. Rosebud Road, Myerstown, Pa. 17067, 717/933-4843, 800/618-0669, skylight@solarinnovations.com, www.solarinnovations.com

Robert Howe, Abundant Energy Inc., Box 307, Pine Island, N.Y. 10969, 800/426-4859, bjmhowe@warwick.net, www.abundantenergyinc.com.   

Michael Luttkus, PGT University, PGT Industries Inc., 1070 Technology Drive, Nokomis, Fla. 34275, 800/282-6019, mluttkus@pgtindustries.com, www.pgtindustries.com  

Kevin McGrath, Four Seasons Solar Products LLC, 5005 Veterans Memorial Highway, Holbrook, N.Y. 11741, 631/563-4000, kevinm@fourseasonssunrooms.com, www.fourseasonssunrooms.com   

Robert Walz, TEMO Sunrooms Inc., 20400 Hall Road, Clinton Township, Mich. 48038, 586/286-0410, bwalz@temosunrooms.com, www.temosunrooms.com.

Sunroom installation checklist
In Fairfax County, Va., the Land Development Services office in the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services recently published a brochure to guide homeowners and contractors in the construction of sunrooms and patio covers on new or existing construction. It goes through the permit and construction process step by step in a checklist format. For more information, write Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, Suite 659, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, Va. 22035-5506.