How to Plan a Screened Porch
So what are the practical things to consider when building a screen porch? Like adding any new room to your home, think about creating a seamless transition to and from the new zone. Planning where to put it and what materials to use should be top of your list of considerations:
Location
Screened in porches make great transitional spaces between your yard and your house. You can connect them to a deck or patio to create fantastic social spaces for parties, barbecues and playrooms. To extend the season for a screen porch and make the most of the sun in the cooler months, choose a south-facing spot for your screen porch.
Light and air
Getting light into a screen porch itself is not usually a concern, but adjacent rooms can be in danger of being dimmed. If you’re building a screen porch near or next to another room, consider the impact: will your newly added roof diminish block light or airflow or both? If possible, add skylights or position the new porch next to a room that has other windows that bring in light. You can retain existing windows as part of the new screen porch, allowing those interior spaces to still benefit from borrowed light and air.
Materials
Jutting out on the side, rear or front of a house, screen porches come in for more than their fair share of weathering. This little room needs to withstand the worst of the elements: storm, rain, wind, extreme cold, extreme heat, the weight of snow and ice. But that doesn’t mean it has to look like a nuclear bunker!
For the ceiling and floor, natural woods like fir and cedar look stunning and can blend in beautifully with the surrounding nature. Many of our clients choose to use a lower maintenance composite on the outside and a more natural substance on the inside.The most durable screened porches are this perfect combination of function and form.
Extending the season
With a little planning though it is possible to extend the season for your screen porch. If you want to avoid the winter chill, you can make your porch more comfortable when the temperature drops by adding removable glass panels made to fit your screened openings, heaters and more.
Screened porches add an extra room — and a lot of value — allowing you to enjoy the outdoors with all the comfort of being indoors.