Add a room

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">Does anyone here have one ?? Right now we use a free standing screened in room which has it's own pros and cons. I like the idea of an add a room under the canopy because it would give us more living space, especially when it is rainy. The tent room is nice, but it would be much more convienant to have something right by the door and not have to zip/unzip everytime we need to run inside for something. I think we would use it more often than the screen room. It would also come in handy for the dog to hang out in with us, no matter what the weather is like. I am concerned though about how they are attached to the motorhome. Do the snaps really stand out, and would that effect resale at all one day ?? I am also wondering if they make the awning more secure. I see seasonals that leave them all all season long. Anyone have any thoughts/advice ??</span>

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">Does anyone here have one ?? Right now we use a free standing screened in room which has it's own pros and cons. I like the idea of an add a room under the canopy because it would give us more living space, especially when it is rainy. The tent room is nice, but it would be much more convienant to have something right by the door and not have to zip/unzip everytime we need to run inside for something. I think we would use it more often than the screen room. It would also come in handy for the dog to hang out in with us, no matter what the weather is like. I am concerned though about how they are attached to the motorhome. Do the snaps really stand out, and would that effect resale at all one day ?? I am also wondering if they make the awning more secure. I see seasonals that leave them all all season long. Anyone have any thoughts/advice ??</span>

[Doula]

Hi,

By the looks of your photo, I'm thinking that my dh and I are close in age to you and your dh. We're also highschool sweethearts (class of '86 and '87) It's nice to "meet you".

You'll find many opinions on these rooms pro and con, but I thought I'd just share our own 9 years of personal experience. Our previous RV was a 30 ft. Class C, and we bought an Add-a-Room LTD from Carefree of Colorado for it. Once we learned how to set it up, we could have the awning out and room set up (including all contents) within 10 minutes. We loved it so much that we are getting ready to purchase a new one for our new-to-us 2000 Winnebago Adventurer 37G (ordering it on Monday, in fact). They do offer a snapless upgrade kit, which I highly recommend. We had this on our last one and will use this again. With the snapless kit, you don't have to have snaps all up and down your coach that would be unsightly; instead, a double rubber seal on the room wall presses against your coach wall to make a seal. You will have to install one bracket high up (very near where your awning meets the coach wall) and one lower down (above the trim piece over top of your bin door) on each awning side, in order to secure the side poles for the side wall attachment. Because we also think that our coach is beautiful and in great shape, we plan to purchase our RV paint colors and keep these brackets painted the appropriate colors so they won't be too noticeable when the room isn't on.

As for weather, we have never had a great deal of problems with leaving it up for weeks at a time when staying in one spot. We do cold weather camping during hunting season in Ohio (end of Nov.-beginning of Dec.), and we typically use the Add-a-Room for about two weeks straight during those trips. We have some portable electric heaters that we use to keep the room cozy during cold weather. If it gets too windy or rainy for the awning, we can lower the awning way down for a lower profile without having to take down the whole room. We usually do keep one end a little lower for rain regardless. Add-a-Rooms do make your awning MUCH more stable and substantial during winds, but you still have to use common sense about when to lower it and how much to do so. In the 9 years of using our Add-a-Room, this approach has worked well for us.

We also have a large outdoor rug for the "floor", so this is a great place to sit out and enjoy without the bugs and for dogs to lay around without getting dirty. Many times, we'll leave the RV door open; we call the RV the "upstairs", and the Add-a-Room is the "downstairs". It really does add a lot more living space! The Add-a-Room has been great for our dogs, kids, lounging, and extra storage. This year, they offer a screen door option, so I'm extremely excited to not have to bend down to zip and unzip it all the time to get in and out!

One word of caution about these types of rooms that have privacy panels is to check your location(s) of your furnace vents and anything else that could put out carbon monoxide fumes if you plan to seal the room well. We kept this in mind when we were RV shopping; our Adventurer doesn't have anything under the awning that can't be running on electric when the room is up, so fumes won't be a concern.

I'm so sorry that this was so long , but I wanted to tell you everything that I know about it according to our experiences. It may sound like it, but know that I do not work for Carefree of Colorado, and I'm not being compensated in any way.

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Hi,

By the looks of your photo, I'm thinking that my dh and I are close in age to you and your dh. We're also highschool sweethearts (class of '86 and '87) It's nice to "meet you".

You'll find many opinions on these rooms pro and con, but I thought I'd just share our own 9 years of personal experience. Our previous RV was a 30 ft. Class C, and we bought an Add-a-Room LTD from Carefree of Colorado for it. Once we learned how to set it up, we could have the awning out and room set up (including all contents) within 10 minutes. We loved it so much that we are getting ready to purchase a new one for our new-to-us 2000 Winnebago Adventurer 37G (ordering it on Monday, in fact). They do offer a snapless upgrade kit, which I highly recommend. We had this on our last one and will use this again. With the snapless kit, you don't have to have snaps all up and down your coach that would be unsightly; instead, a double rubber seal on the room wall presses against your coach wall to make a seal. You will have to install one bracket high up (very near where your awning meets the coach wall) and one lower down (above the trim piece over top of your bin door) on each awning side, in order to secure the side poles for the side wall attachment. Because we also think that our coach is beautiful and in great shape, we plan to purchase our RV paint colors and keep these brackets painted the appropriate colors so they won't be too noticeable when the room isn't on.

As for weather, we have never had a great deal of problems with leaving it up for weeks at a time when staying in one spot. We do cold weather camping during hunting season in Ohio (end of Nov.-beginning of Dec.), and we typically use the Add-a-Room for about two weeks straight during those trips. We have some portable electric heaters that we use to keep the room cozy during cold weather. If it gets too windy or rainy for the awning, we can lower the awning way down for a lower profile without having to take down the whole room. We usually do keep one end a little lower for rain regardless. Add-a-Rooms do make your awning MUCH more stable and substantial during winds, but you still have to use common sense about when to lower it and how much to do so. In the 9 years of using our Add-a-Room, this approach has worked well for us.

We also have a large outdoor rug for the "floor", so this is a great place to sit out and enjoy without the bugs and for dogs to lay around without getting dirty. Many times, we'll leave the RV door open; we call the RV the "upstairs", and the Add-a-Room is the "downstairs". It really does add a lot more living space! The Add-a-Room has been great for our dogs, kids, lounging, and extra storage. This year, they offer a screen door option, so I'm extremely excited to not have to bend down to zip and unzip it all the time to get in and out!

One word of caution about these types of rooms that have privacy panels is to check your location(s) of your furnace vents and anything else that could put out carbon monoxide fumes if you plan to seal the room well. We kept this in mind when we were RV shopping; our Adventurer doesn't have anything under the awning that can't be running on electric when the room is up, so fumes won't be a concern.

I'm so sorry that this was so long , but I wanted to tell you everything that I know about it according to our experiences. It may sound like it, but know that I do not work for Care of Colorado, and I'm not being compensated in any way.

~Todd & Lori~ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi, nice to *meet* you too. Class of '90 here I haven't met too many other motorhome owners around my age, much less other high school sweethearts still together !!

Thanks for all of your information. I did a search on rvnet.com and was getting pretty discouraged about the idea. Most people make it sound really hard and inconvienant. *Camping* is supposed to be fun and it seems like I just keep making more work for my hubby An add a room sounds great...easy to set/clear the table for dinner, easy to play games in the evening (plus we would have more light and electricity which we don't have in the seperate room). I also like the idea of leaving the door open and going back and forth. Would be nice for our dog too. It seems like with the room properly installed and attached to the motorhome and ground that it would make the awning much more stable.

We wouldn't be using it for sleeping, so I don't think we would be using the privacy shades very often, maybe just as needed for rain. Since you are on OH, your weather is much like ours...did yours do a good job of keeping out the bugs ??

I need to get an idea of how much this is going to cost. I have a 14ft awning and I wanted the snapless side attachments you were talking about, and maybe the door(though how would you store that ??) I've read that other people have had their dealer make the snap attachments for them and we would probably do that too. I have some figuring to do

[John Hilley]

We spent three weeks traveling in Europe in a rented motorhome. We noticed that the majority of the RVs had Add-a-Rooms, probably because the motorhomes are so much smaller. They fit very nicely to the coaches and looked nice.

[Doula]

We have found that the room helps with bugs a lot. It isn't air tight, so a bug might get in from time-to-time, but it does significantly cut down on them. I can sit there and watch the bugs outside of the screen and just be grateful that I'm not fighting with them.

Privacy panels: We don't sleep in ours, either. We mostly use the shades for privacy during hunting season when dh changes into or out of his hunting clothes (so they can stay out of the coach ). They are also helpful if it is raining and you have something out under the awning that you definitely don't want to get wet.

Cost: I know what you're talking about; they are expensive! It sounds like you've probably already viewed the website, but in case you haven't, the price list can be found here: http://www.carefreeofcolorado.com/rv...asp?m=01010401 It just really depends on whether you want the Standard or the LTD and which options you prefer as to how much it'll add up. At $299, the door price is outrageous, but I think we're gonna splurge on it anyways since we use our room so much. It'll also save on the wear and tear (literally) to the screen as we had to mend the screen around our zippered doors several times on our old one. I'm not totally sure on the storage of it myself, yet. I did view the installation pdf for the door, and it said that it can be taken apart if need be for storage, but I'm not sure if that would be a bother or not. I'm thinking that we can fit it in a storage bin or if I'm too wishful thinking here, then maybe in the toad if all else fails. Dh and I will figure something out.

Btw...I hope my typos aren't too terrible. I don't see a way to edit on here yet, and I seem to catch things after I've clicked the "Post Now".

[ichn2go]

You gals are giving us good info. To edit click on one of the 3 icons in the right corner of your post after submitting. Only you can edit your post..very easy...Have fun

[Lil'Darlin1972]

<span class="ev_code_PURPLE">Lori- A couple more questions for you...
1- I see in the brochure that you get a piece of skirting that attaches to the motorhome to give you a "4th wall". How does that attach ?? I'm assuming with snaps...but I wonder how many snaps it would take for a 14 ft room. I don't think Chad is going to be thrilled about the idea of all this added hardware on the outside of the motorhome

2- Are you going to order the "tall skirting" ?? I'm trying to figure out the difference between that and what comes standard.

3- Are you going to order the standard or the LTD ?? What was the last one you had ??

4- Did you find a video online that takes you through the set up process ?? I haven't been able to find anything like that.

THANKS </span>

[Doula]

ichn2go: Thanks so much for the editing tip! I'm actually an administrator for a different forum (non-RV), and I knew that there must be a way but had not taken the time to thoroughly explore the functions here just yet. Yes...I've become one of "those" people with asking the silly questions before looking!

Shannone:

1. The skirting typically attaches with snaps or twist fasteners and grommets on the outside of the coach wall. We did this with our old Class C because well...it was already pretty old and it didn't seem to matter as much. This time around, Todd says that he will modify the installation to attach the skirts from a concaved area we found between underneath the bin areas and the inside of the coach wall so that no hardware will show (not sure if your coach will be exactly the same). He's pretty handy and says that he can snap some PVC or something in there to attach the skirt to instead of attaching to the coach itself. I hope I haven't confused you; I'm just going on what Todd is telling me. I have total faith in him to figure this out, but he's the type of person that figures things out as he goes. I do not blame Chad for not wanting hardware on the ouside of your coach as we don't either. Other than the side wall brackets that I told you about earlier that we will paint, we don't plan on having other hardware showing.

2. I do not know what the measurement is for the "standard" skirting that would come if one didn't order "tall" skirting. We ordered tall skirting last time and will do the same again. We'll order the 21" as we like it to overlap some over the ground. We do measure 21" from bottom of door to ground (what Carefree uses to determine skirt size), but since Todd will install it much lower than that underneath the bins, then we should have plenty of overhang.

3. We are ordering the LTD, and that's what we used last time as well. We like the heavier vinyl, zippered panels, and additional options available. Since we use our room a lot, we can justify the extra expense. I suppose it would depend on how much one thinks their room would be used as to whether the LTD or Standard would be the better choice.

4. No, I've never seen a video, but that would be a great idea! Todd does the bulk of the installation (I just hand him the tools), but I do help with the set up each time. They do supply instuction manuals for both installation and setup. The first time takes a little while, but once you see where everything goes, it's quite simple and quick.

Please know that I'm not trying to sway you in either direction on whether to purchase one or not. I do hope that whatever information I can share, however, will help you to decide either way, though.

[mpost]

I too have an add a room. Once you get the knack, it is simple to put up and the extra private space is well worth it. During inclement weather, the kids could play out there and we had a dry, bug free (almost) area to relax out side the motor home. With the roll up privacy curtains you can control the heat build up and allow air movement on hot days also.

[Scratch & Goose]

****;
Well maybe a LITTLE bit older, class of '64, high school sweethearts, H & W for 42 years.... I like the free standing room. easer to set up and less space...


Be happy!
Scratch & Goose