When life
was slower and simpler, many houses had substantial front porches.
These were places to relax, catch up on the latest neighborhood
gossip, or cool down on a hot summer night.
But
with the industrialization and inventions of the 20th century the
desire for front porches waned. By the 1930's, real porches were being
replaced by small entries or simple canopies for the front door.
A
modern variation on the porch is the sunroom or sunspace,
conservatory, greenhouse, or solarium. Although these all-glass
enclosures are seldom used as front porches, they serve some of the
same purposes as an enclosed porch. When used as a breezeway, a
sunroom can also link an addition or garage to the house.
Sunrooms have frames of aluminum or decay-resistant red cedar that
hold the glass panels. Glazing may be single-pane, but in newer, more
energy-efficient sunrooms, double-glazing is nearly always used.
Sunrooms generally rest on a concrete foundation and slab floor.
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