Ottawa sunroom builder.
Three seasons. Four seasons. Every season.

The Code's energy standard for houses, Supplementary Standard SB-12, covers housing "intended for occupancy on a continuing basis during the winter months." A four-season sunroom fits that description, so it becomes part of the heated house and has to meet the standard. A three-season room does not.

Your existing exterior wall stays the line between heated and unheated space, and SB-12 Sentence 3.1.1.10.(3) asks for one thing at that line: the door from the house into an unheated enclosed room needs an insulated core and weatherstripping.

Glass is where the two rooms differ most. A room that is mostly glass cannot meet SB-12's ordinary window limits, so Sentence 3.1.1.11.(3) gives a one-storey sunroom addition its own route, on condition the glass is better: doors, windows and walls at a maximum U-value of 1.4 W/(m²·K), or 1.2 in a house with electric space heating, and roofs and skylights at 2.6.

A three-season room sits outside that standard, which is why single or double glass is a normal choice there.

Heating comes with a target of its own. Article 9.33.3.1 of the Code asks the heating in living spaces to hold 22°C at the outdoor design temperature, and Supplementary Standard SB-1 sets Ottawa's at −25°C (the January 2.5% value for City Hall). A four-season room used as a family room or office is sized to hold that. A three-season room has no heat to size.

The foundation rule applies to both. Table 9.12.2.2 puts footings on clay, or on soil nobody has identified, at least 1.2 m below finished grade and never shallower than the frost reaches. On rock there is no minimum, and Sentence 9.12.2.2.(5) allows less where the foundation is designed for it.

The Code leaves frost depth itself to "local experience" (Article 1.1.3.2). The low floating deck is the exception people ask about, and Sentence 9.12.2.2.(7) only frees a deck from frost depth when it is not supporting a roof, so a deck built that way cannot simply be closed in.

The roof carries the same Ottawa snow either way. SB-1 lists the 1-in-50-year ground snow load as 2.4 kPa at City Hall, Barrhaven and Orleans and 2.5 kPa in Kanata, plus a 0.4 kPa rain load.

For a light-frame roof, Article 9.4.2.2 turns the City Hall figure into a design load of 0.45 × 2.4 + 0.4 = 1.48 kPa where the whole roof is no wider than 4.3 m, and 0.55 × 2.4 + 0.4 = 1.72 kPa on anything wider. That is about 31 and 36 pounds per square foot, whether or not the room underneath is heated.

Ottawa is hard on sunrooms. Temperatures swing from +35°C to −30°C in a single year, annual snowfall routinely exceeds 220 cm, the ground snow load is 2.4 kPa (requiring reinforced roof engineering), and the frost line reaches 1.2–1.5 m (requiring deep concrete footings).

Many of the off-the-shelf sunroom kits Ottawa homeowners see marketed from national brands are rated for milder climates farther south and fail structurally, fail thermally, or develop severe wall-cavity condensation when installed here.

Dream Touch's heated sunroom Ottawa specification is our four-season sunroom builder Ottawa build standard.

Every heated sunroom Ottawa we build uses triple-pane low-E glass with argon fill (U-value ≤ 1.3), R-24 wall insulation minimum with continuous exterior rigid foam to eliminate thermal bridging, R-40 ceiling insulation, properly detailed air and vapour barriers to prevent winter condensation inside the wall assembly, and either an integrated HRV or HVAC tie-in to manage humidity year-round.

All four-season sunrooms are engineered, stamped, and permitted as Ontario Building Code-compliant living space, not as "accessory structures."

Every Dream Touch sunroom is backed by a 1-year workmanship warranty and up to 25-year manufacturer warranties on glass and mechanicals. For projects that qualify as new living space additions, Tarion-equivalent structural coverage applies.