Sunroom contractor in Tustin, CA - patios turned into rooms you'll use
Lightcraft Rancho Santa Margarita Sunrooms builds sunrooms, patio enclosures and all season rooms for Tustin homeowners, mostly by turning an existing patio, deck or worn-out screen room into a room your family actually uses.
- Fully licensed and insured.
- Free in-person estimates.
- Replies within 1 business day.
Services in Tustin, CA
Patio-to-sunroom conversion
Most of our Tustin calls start with a concrete patio out back, and closing it in is usually the simplest way to add a real room without a full remodel. We check what that slab can carry, then frame the walls and set the glass on a base that's ready for them.
All season rooms
If you want a room you'll use every month of the year, an all season room gets insulated walls, roof and glass so it can be heated and cooled like the rest of the house. We plan it that way from the start, because a lightly built room is hard to warm up later.
Three season sunrooms
For a room off the kitchen that mostly gets used spring through fall, a three season room with lighter glass and less insulation keeps the cost down. I'll tell you plainly if the way you plan to use it calls for more than that.
Sunroom remodeling
Plenty of Tustin houses already have an older sunroom or enclosure with cloudy panels, sticky windows or a roof that drips where it meets the wall. We replace what's worn and redo that joint to the house so the room is worth sitting in again.
Patio cover installation
When the old cover over your patio is past saving, we build a new solid one, and we can size the posts and beam so walls and glass can go under it later. That way you're not tearing out a cover you just paid for if you decide on a room in a few years.
Deck-to-sunroom conversion
A raised wood deck off the back door can hold a sunroom, but only if the framing and footings underneath can take the extra weight of walls and a roof. We pull back boards to see what's there and rebuild the frame where it falls short.
Tustin, CA properties and local conditions
Behind a lot of Tustin homes we find a plain concrete slab with an older patio cover over it, usually wood that's dried out or aluminum that's seen better days. A slab poured for a grill and a few chairs wasn't always poured to hold up walls and a roof full of glass, so I check how thick it is and what's going on at the edges before we plan anything. When it comes up short we add footings, concrete pads dug in under the new walls, rather than hope the old slab holds, because cracks in a finished room are a much bigger headache than a day of digging.
The other thing we watch here is the roof line. On many single-story houses the eave sits low, so the sunroom roof has to tie in at a gentle slope, and that decides which roof panels work and how much headroom you end up with. Which way the back of the house faces matters too, since a room with lots of glass on the sunny side can get too warm to enjoy, and I'd much rather sort that out at your kitchen table than after it's built.
What we've learned building sunrooms in Tustin
In Tustin, the city's Building Division issues the permits for room additions and handles the plan review and inspections that come with them. Plans have to go in and get checked against the city's zoning, grading and building rules before any building starts, so that review sets your start date more than anything we do in the yard. We find out what the division needs for your project before plans go in, prepare the paperwork and pull the permit as your contractor, and if your home is in an association we help put together what its review asks for. We're fully licensed and insured. Price mostly turns on the size of the room and how it's built, the schedule turns on the city's review and any association's, and my written estimate gives you your own figure.
Tustin's a straight run up from our home base in Rancho Santa Margarita, so getting out for a site visit or being on hand for an inspection is easy for me and our crew. It's the same crew and the same way of working we bring to Lake Forest and Costa Mesa, and all the way down to San Clemente.
Your Tustin sunroom, measured and priced in writing
We get back to every call and message within one business day, and then I set a time to come out to your Tustin home myself. The estimate is free and done on site, you get the plan and the price in writing, and there's no pressure to book.
(949) 353-6626How it goes when you call us about a Tustin sunroom
Call or send a message
Call (949) 353-6626 or use the form, and we'll talk through how you want to use the room, whether that's morning coffee, a playroom or a spot to watch the game. That conversation tells me what to look for when I come out.
I measure what's there now
I come out myself to measure and look at what you've got, whether that's a slab, a deck or an old cover, and how a new roof would meet your house. It helps if you're home for this, because it's where we figure out which kind of room fits.
We settle the plan together
I put the plan and the estimate in writing, check what the city and any association will want, and we settle the design before anything goes in for review. You see exactly what you're paying for before a single page gets submitted.
Our crew builds, we walk it
Our own carpenters and installers do the build with a lead carpenter running the site each day, and since a Tustin permit is good for 180 days unless the work is active and moving, we plan the start around it and keep the job going. When the last panel is in, I walk the finished room with you before we call it done.
Frequently asked questions
Does a patio cover or deck need a permit in Tustin?
The city's permit FAQ says solid patio covers, lattice patio covers and decks need a building permit. An older city guide exempted open concrete slabs and wood decks no more than 30 inches above the ground, as long as they aren't over a basement or a room below, so confirm the current rule with the Building Division before counting on that. Once walls and glass go on any of them, you're building a room, and we plan it with the permit in mind from day one.
How do I know if my sunroom needs a grading permit in Tustin?
Tustin requires a grading permit when a job moves more than 50 cubic yards of earth, uses a foot of fill, or cuts a slope more than 5 feet high. Most sunrooms on a flat back yard don't come close, but a room stepped into a hillside can. When one applies, the city wants grading plans and soil reports with the application, and I'll tell you at the site visit if your lot is headed that way.
How do I pay Tustin permit fees safely?
Pay only through the city's Citizen Self Service portal or in person at the Finance counter at City Hall. The city's permits page warns that fraud tied to permit fees is on the rise and says the city doesn't ask for a bank routing number or a wire number, so if someone asks you for one, don't send it.
How much does a sunroom cost in Tustin, CA?
It depends on the room, and the biggest factors are how big it is, whether it's insulated to be heated and cooled, the type of glass and roof, and whether your slab or deck can carry it as is or needs new footings. Lights, outlets and a fan add to it, and so does a tricky roof tie-in on a low eave. I put your plan and price in writing after I've measured, so you're working from a real number.
Do I need an electrical permit for outlets and lights in a Tustin sunroom?
Yes for new wiring, because the city requires permits for any new installation or change to electrical, plumbing or mechanical systems. An older city guide lists swapping an existing light fixture or outlet as needing no permit, but a sunroom usually means new circuits and outlets, maybe a fan or a heater, so we plan that work into the permit from the start.
Do I need a permit to remodel an old sunroom in Tustin?
Plan on one, because the Building Division issues permits for work that alters, modifies or remodels a building, not just for brand-new additions. Reroofing the room, moving walls or opening up new glass usually falls in that group, and we check with the division what your scope needs before we price it.
About Tustin, CA
Tustin stretches from the streets around Old Town, where a group of historic buildings on Main Street and El Camino Real goes back to the 1880s, out to Tustin Legacy, which mixes homes and shops with parks and schools and reaches over into Irvine. In between are blocks of single-family homes built in different decades, which is why no two back yards here look quite the same to us.
Older homes tend to come with older slabs and covers that need a careful look before we build on them, while newer homes usually have tighter yards where the room's size and shape matter more than how much we can squeeze in.
Explore the services
Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Tell us about your Tustin patio
Calling before you settle on a room type gives me time to see your slab and roof line, and those decide more about the room than any brochure does.