Outdoor living spaces are meant to combine indoor comfort with an outdoor experience of sun and fresh air. Patios, sunrooms, screened-in porches or four season rooms all have their ways of integrating the two together. If you are remodeling your home to include one or more of these spaces, Home Artisans of Indiana has pooled their experience of the outdoor living remodel process to give you some ideas to consider:

PLUMBING FOR OUTDOOR KITCHENS:

“Picking the appropriate plumbing material is essential when it comes to outdoor kitchens. There are finishes that are meant to “weather the storm”, while others will rust and stain quickly. Your outdoor kitchen will be exposed to all the elements that come year-round, so plan for a way to drain the water and winterize your plumbing to avoid frozen and broken pipes.” Cathy Stegemolller, Steg Plumbing and Diana Dinges, Ferguson Bath, Kitchen & Lighting Gallery

HEATING AND COOLING IN A FOUR SEASON ROOM:

“Homeowners typically have two options for heating and cooling a four season room. One is to tap into existing systems and run ductwork to the new room. The downside to this is that the four season room typically needs more cool air in the summer because of the amount of sun it gets. Tapping into the existing system doesn’t give the room enough conditioned air. The second way is to install a dedicated system specifically for that room. Increasingly common for this dedicated system is a ductless mini split. This is a system that has an interior man-mounted distribution unit, which is connected to an outdoor compressor.” Brian Schutt, Homesense Heating & Cooling

ROOFING AN ADDITION:

“When you are adding a new sunroom, screened-in porch, or what have you, you may be worried about matching the shingles to your existing house. I would not spend too much time on this, as the age of your home’s roof will make your addition look new anyway. More importantly, you want to make sure that the roofs are tied in correctly.  If valleys are created by the addition’s roof, make sure the shingles that are two to three feet up the entire valley are removed, put in an ice and water shield, and then install the new shingles. If the new roof meets a wall, make sure it is flashed correctly, or you will have a big leak issue on your hands.” Millie Hindes, Watergate Roofing

OUTDOOR AUDIO AND VISUAL SOLUTIONS:

“Enjoying music or a movie by your pool or patio is very possible these days. Outdoor televisions can be installed in many places such as on one wall of a house, on a fireplace in an outdoor kitchen area, and even on a pole next to a pool. These TVs are designed to be completely outdoors year-round, come rain or shine. For a high-quality sound system, there is the option to use a combination of subwoofers and satellites that evenly distributes sound throughout your space.” Ray Rice, Digital Sight & Sound

WINDOW TREATMENTS FOR PATIOS:

“Drapes look lovely even outside; however, they need to be in a relatively wind free space to prevent them from blowing around. Special outdoor roller shades give you the sun glare protection you need and have wire guides to keep them stationary. We recommend keeping the drapes decorative so they can be tied back to prevent blowing around, then use patio shades for sun glare protection.” Caryn O’Sullivan, Drapery Street

For more information on these and other home remodeling ideas, visit Our Members page on homeartisans.com to contact our home improvement experts.