Screened in porch—what kind of ceiling? Skylights or no?

[Anonymous]

We are doing a gabled roof on a new screened porch and have gotten quotes in various designs and materials, from T1-11 to beadboard to tongue in groove pine to something PVC to Brazilian something hardwood. Mmm are above the rafters and some are below. We have a transitional house with modern taste/style, but I don’t have the more rustic look of a stained natural wood ceiling. What do you have/like?

And skylights—yay or nay? I feel like they will brighten the space but also won’t they make it hotter in the sun?

[Anonymous]

The skylights depend on what direction the roof will face.

[Anonymous]

We live on a wooded lot. We have four skylights and cedar tongue in grove ceiling. The skylights were a must since our backyard has NW exposure.

[Anonymous]

Skylights with trees above are a mess.

[Anonymous]

Op here—no trees directly overhead, but some nearby. This side of the house faces WNW so gets some afternoon sun but filtered through trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live on a wooded lot. We have four skylights and cedar tongue in grove ceiling. The skylights were a must since our backyard has NW exposure.

I hadn’t considered cedar TIG… have cedar siding on our current screened porch and love it. Was it a big cost upgrade?

[Anonymous]

We have TIG on ours. Painted a dark, almost black color. Fairly modern house. It looks cool.

[Anonymous]

We have white beadboard. Ours face the south and east, so it gets plenty of sun and we chose to forego the skylight.

[Anonymous]

Our ceiling is stained a light color, and with the tall gabled roof, it looks great. No skylights because the dirt and grime would make me crazy - how would I get up there to wash them? Besides, 2.5 sides are screens, we get plenty of light

[Anonymous]

I would get skylights if you’re concerned about the porch causing a reduction in light into the room/s adjacent to the screened porch. If the skylights make it uncomfortably bright or hot on the porch itself, there is a range of solutions, the cheapest being the use of vinyl insect screening on the skylight (you can usually wrap nylon cord around the perimeter to secure it in place).

[Anonymous]

We have white beadboard with recessed lighting, a center ceiling fan and two skylights together to one side of the fan (in one half of the roof, in the part closest to our existing house) and we love the skylights. They let in a surprising amount of light, even on cloudy-ish days. WE have the same white beadboard and painted white brick on the walls connecting to the house. Looks very fresh/clean/not too modern but not rustic.

[Anonymous]

we had skylights and loved them. we moved and miss the skylights on the porch, as well as these nifty windows over the screens that you could move and up down. we kept them up when we were not using it and it kept the porch and furniture much cleaner.

[Anonymous]

Name brands and prices for the « nifty windows »? Are they flexible plastic ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Name brands and prices for the « nifty windows »? Are they flexible plastic ?

Op here and we have and will be using Sunspace. They are wind resistant vinyl.

[Anonymous]

We have a white beadboard ceiling and three skylights, aligned to three sets of French doors off our living/dining room. The combination of skylights and a white ceiling keep the interior space very bright.