How did we add a substantial 250 square feet to our listed home’s finished area in just 48 hours — without building an addition? The answer was simple: we installed a permanent heat source in our sunroom. That upgrade transformed the space from a three-season room into livable square footage that now counts toward our home’s finished area.
Our realtor in Richmond told us that, locally, a room only needs to be heated (not both heated and cooled) to be considered finished. The only thing keeping our sunroom from being included in the official square footage was the lack of a permanent heating source. So we contacted several electricians, requested bids for a six-foot hardwired baseboard heater, and chose the most reasonable estimate. The job cost $250 and the electricians completed it within two days. Just like that, our sunroom became a year-round living space.
Here’s the breaker box during the installation:
We’re glad we hired professionals. The installers had to work through the main panel and route wiring through the basement and crawl space, and they even drilled through the sunroom’s concrete floor. Attempting that while the house was on the market would have been risky and stressful. The pros completed the wiring safely and neatly, so we didn’t have to worry about permits, electrical code, or jeopardizing showings.
Updating our listing from 1,300 to 1,550 finished square feet felt almost as good as the warmth itself. Raising the advertised square footage improves the price-per-square-foot metric and makes the property visible to buyers who filter searches for at least 1,500 square feet. Our sunroom is one of the best rooms in the house, so it was satisfying to finally have it recognized in the official total.
The baseboard unit looks clean and unobtrusive at the base of the brick wall, and its simple dial — low, medium, high — makes it easy to control the temperature. For our needs, the baseboard heater offered the best balance of cost, simplicity, and reliability.
There were pricier alternatives — estimates for installing a one-room heat-pump system ranged from $2,000 to $3,000 — but our realtor recommended the baseboard solution. It’s an inexpensive, straightforward upgrade that typically satisfies the requirements for counting a sunroom as finished square footage in many localities. In our case, we gained 250 finished square feet for roughly a dollar per square foot, a small investment with a meaningful return in marketing and function.
Have you ever finished an “almost-finished” space to increase livable square footage or to improve a home’s resale value? We wish we had done this sooner — our sunroom could have been in regular use during the past few winters. That said, even late improvements can pay off when selling or simply enjoying the home.
Note: If you pursue this route, get an impartial appraisal so the updated square footage is verified and recorded. Also check local requirements: you may need to notify the county or update property records and tax assessments when finished square footage changes. We already pay taxes on our sunroom, garage, and basement as unfinished spaces, but we’ll double-check that all necessary steps are completed to have the sunroom officially count. Rules vary by jurisdiction, so confirm the regulations in your area before making changes.