Sunrooms in Arlington, TX

A sunroom is a room with glass walls under a solid roof, built onto the house where the patio used to be. In Arlington the house it joins is often decades old. Older lots bring big shade trees, narrow side gates and aging utility lines, and the slab out back was poured as a patio, not to carry walls.

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How does Cross Timbers soil change the slab under an Arlington sunroom?

Arlington is on Eastern Cross Timbers ground: sandier loam sitting on clay. It digs more kindly than the black prairie further east. The catch is that the sand drains onto clay that does not, so grading and drainage get solved before anything is built on top.

The slab is the bigger question. A patio slab poured as flatwork was never meant to hold glass and a roof, and ground movement shows up fast as a door that sticks or a crack in the corner. We check the slab first and tell you whether it needs footings added or a new pour.

You can run a quick test yourself. Lay a straightedge across each crack. A lip you can feel with a fingertip means one side is still moving. Our post on patio enclosure mistakes that cost money explains why a rigid frame bolted across that crack will rack.

What do older Arlington lots mean for a sunroom build?

Arlington is a post-war boomtown whose population grew fastest between 1950 and 1990. It spans a lot of build eras, from post-war ranch lots to newer south Arlington, so what a backyard needs changes street to street.

On the older lots, three things get checked at the first visit. Big shade trees decide where the room can go and where the crew can work. Narrow side gates decide how materials get to the back. Aging utility lines decide where we can dig for footings.

The roof tie-in matters too. A sunroom joins an existing roofline, and how it ties in is one of the main things that drives cost. A tree close to the slab is also one more reason to check the concrete and the drainage before any walls go up. Our guide to why DFW patios crack explains what a large tree does to the ground near it.

Is a sunroom usable in an Arlington August?

Only if it is built for it. A three-season room with single glazing and no insulation will sit above 100°F on an August afternoon. A usable room needs insulated glass with a low-E coating, an insulated roof panel rather than glass overhead, and its own heating and cooling.

That is the line between a sunroom and an all-season room. A sunroom is lighter built and meant for the milder months. An all-season room has insulated walls, roof and glazing, and it can be tied into heating and cooling so you can use it in January as well as July. It is worth being clear which one you are buying.

Should you check the flood map before building near Johnson Creek?

Yes, and early. Johnson Creek and the Trinity River both flow through Arlington. Near a creek or river it is worth checking the flood maps before a slab is placed, not after the room is designed.

The same goes for water on the lot itself. On Cross Timbers ground, rain soaks through the sandy top layer and stalls on the clay below. The slab and the grading around it should send that water away from the new room and the house.

Do I need a City of Arlington permit for a sunroom?

Plan on it. A sunroom is an attached structure, and an all-season room counts as an addition in the eyes of most cities, so expect a permit and inspections. In Arlington that review sits with Planning and Development Services: Permitting & Inspections, listed on the City of Arlington permits page.

Longhorn files the permit and handles the inspection. The work runs through design and measure, engineering and permit, any slab or footing work, framing and roof, then glass, trim and electrical, and a final inspection. Our permit guide covers the usual steps, and our Arlington page explains how we work there.

Questions from Arlington homeowners

It depends on the room, so we do not quote a range blind. Cost is driven by the size, how much of the wall is glass, the roof type, how it ties into your roofline, and whether you want power, lighting or conditioning. Slab or footing work adds to it. A free design visit gives you a firm number.

Sometimes. A patio slab poured as flatwork was never meant to hold glass and a roof. We check the slab first and tell you whether it can carry walls, needs footings added, or needs a new pour.

If you mostly want the room in spring and fall and are fine closing it off in the extremes, a sunroom is enough. If you want to sit out there in August and January, choose all-season. It can be heated and cooled by extending your system or adding a separate unit.

The roof takes the hit, which is one reason we build sunrooms with a solid roof rather than glass overhead. After a big storm, look at the roof panels, gutters and flashing, and call us if anything is dented or leaking.

Start with the solid roof, which does most of the work. Then think about orientation, shading on the west glass, a ceiling fan and good glazing. On an older lot, a mature tree to the west can help with that shade. If you want the room on August afternoons, choose an all-season room tied into your cooling.

More in Arlington: Sunrooms across Dallas–Fort Worth · all of Arlington