Pros and cons of a screened porch

[Anonymous]

Chiming in on the porch side. I live on that porch in the warmer weather (no heat). As a PP noted, we only use the deck/patio to wash off the screened porch furniture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would love a screened in porch with fireplace and fan! Isn't an attic going to be hot and stuffy, unless it has it's own heating/cooling unit?

Op here. The attic is fully finished on one half. It’s a loft with a full bathroom. That extra space is why we haven’t made the decision yet. I can always build a screen porch. But I wouldn’t be able to structurally change the house with that attic and extra room.

[Anonymous]

I love a screened in porch, but not more than 700 additional interior square feet. We use our finished attic all the time - as a permanent playroom and a temporary guest room. Our screened in porch (though to be fair, it's also bricked in) gets VERY HOT and is not really usable in the summer.

[Anonymous]

That screened in porch sounds amazing! We live on ours for many, many months of the year. It’s just so nice to be outside without the bugs.

[Anonymous]

You will use the porch daily. Is the attic room going to be a bedroom? A finished attic is a waste of space imo. They're never heated/cooled properly.

[Anonymous]

How do you keep a porch clean? We lived in one house with one and I loved the idea of it but it was always covered in pollen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you keep a porch clean? We lived in one house with one and I loved the idea of it but it was always covered in pollen.

You need to hose everything down after the spring pollen dump. I also have couch covers for pollen season and rainy weather. That helps a ton.

[Anonymous]

our screened in porch is one of the best part of our house. We use it all the time and it is great in any weather because of the roof. Plus no bugs ever.

And, you can't convert- have to rip out the deck and build the porch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You will use the porch daily. Is the attic room going to be a bedroom? A finished attic is a waste of space imo. They're never heated/cooled properly.

Op here. That is my biggest fear plus not to mention, we are going to have to spend more on heating and cooling.

[Anonymous]

We enjoy our screened porch in the warmer months. It was a bonus of our house, not the reason we bought it. You should buy the house that’s most efficient on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you keep a porch clean? We lived in one house with one and I loved the idea of it but it was always covered in pollen.

You need to hose everything down after the spring pollen dump. I also have couch covers for pollen season and rainy weather. That helps a ton.

+1 I clean it in the spring and then again after the oak pollen has finished. I don't touch it again until the following spring.

[Anonymous]

We never use our deck. We looked into getting a screened porch and it was prohibatively expensive and this was 10 years ago. I can't even imagine what it would cost now.

[Anonymous]

We never use our screened porch. Spending nearly 100k now to enclose it into rest of the house. Your mileage may vary - just depends on your habits

[Anonymous]

Porch all day. We have one similar to what you’ve described and we use it almost 12 months out of the year. My only regret is that it’s not big enough to fit a dining table and chairs. Ours has a love seat, two chairs, a coffee table and a serving console/cabinet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you keep a porch clean? We lived in one house with one and I loved the idea of it but it was always covered in pollen.

In the spring/summer, I clean it on weekly basis. Sometimes even more. I wash the cushion covers a few times a year but shake them out whenever we use it. In the fall/winter, we use it a couple of times a month weather permitting so I clean it when we use it.