Cindy, The view into your kitchen is a beautiful picture! I like the symmetry of the lights and the backsplash behind the stove. Thanks, I really want to make this work. Fantastic. Judy

With poor quality windows, insufficient HVAC, and no insulation, the typical "sunroom" like mine will be nothing but an oven attached to your home that darkens the interior. Good quality triple glazed windows are expensive, as is spray in foam insulation, and the extra HVAC system needed for a sunroom. That's why this fall's project is to remove the wall between it and the home and rebuild it as an open room that is an integral part of the house rather than as a separate room. I will have more windows in it than the rest of the house, but less than when it was a sunroom. The windows will be of higher quality, and there will be wall space with actual insulation in it. We are having to redo the 30 year old HVAC, so it's not a stretch to have the additional space calculated into the new requirements. We also had to pour a new footing and rework the roof and it's support with LVLs and I beams in order to remove the wall between the current sunroom and family room. It's not a cheap project to do this, roughly 30K for materials alone with our DIY labor (labor would probably be at least 40-50K in addition to the material costs), but I'd recommend that you think of doing something similar rather than doing a "sunroom". It will still darken your kitchen to make it the interior room rather than the exterior one, but if there isn't a wall between the two, and it's one large space, it can keep most of it's brightness without the direct light. And, as any addition, it's a lot more expensive to remodel than move if you can't DIY the project. If you are looking at doing such an extensive remodel to your home, take that 100K that it will cost and see what you could buy with it after you've sold your present home. Major remodels are only for people who are going to live in their home long term and who don't care about spending extra money for their comfort while living there. Remodels lose money if you look at it from a purely financial standpoint rather than the intangible benefits one.

I go with the sunroom, too, and here's why. You can build a shed for cheap at some point, and until then you'll probably keep one car inthe driveway, and all the bikes and basketballs in the garage along with the yard and snow tools. The sunroom will make a great playroom while the little ones are little. I've seen that sunroom with nothing in it but a low-pile play rug and Lego. Or balls. Or plastic hockey sticks. Or those big Little Tykes (slide, trikes, trains) Or Hot Wheels. Or dollhouses. Or art projects (easy-to-clean tile floor). Usually just one or two of those. But a great playspace, near you but not, outdoors but not. After they are done with those types of toys, it can be dining space and added living space. You don't need the shed until Boy #1 gets a car. Oops, didn't mean to scare ya lol! Upstairs, I wonder if you can steal some space from the game room to make a reach-in closet for Bedroom 2, and use its walk-in closet to expand the bathroom. 5 boys will need more counterspace, more drawer storage, and (I can't believe I'm saying this, I'm usually a 1-sink gal) 2 sinks. Downstairs, consider eliminating the study closet and adding a shower to the powder room.

Our floors were open to ground also. We had foam sprayed in from the underside. In some places, where it was a tall enough crawl, we had pink stuff, foil covered foam installed under the floor joists, taped and touch in foamed along edges. We did get occasional leakage between boards, once peeled out, ya don't even notice.