Tell me about your screened porch!

[Anonymous]

Considering building a screened porch. Do you love yours? Do you use it frequently? Any features you wish you would have included or excluded?

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Love, love love it. We use it April - October. Our house came with one. If I were building from scratch, make it big enough for a table to seat 6 plus room for comfortable lounging furniture. Wire it so you can have a fan and overhead lights.

[Anonymous]

We have one with a ceiling fan and it is big enough for a table and seating, but I think it's a pain because I can't figure out how to keep all the dust and pollen out! It's not worth getting nice furniture I have to clean all the time. And when we eat outside we live to be on the deck. Citronella candles keep mosquitoes away. I like the idea of it but we don't use it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love, love love it. We use it April - October. Our house came with one. If I were building from scratch, make it big enough for a table to seat 6 plus room for comfortable lounging furniture. Wire it so you can have a fan and overhead lights.

+1

We use ours a lot. Nothing like it on a beautiful Sunday morning, in PJs with coffee and the paper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love, love love it. We use it April - October. Our house came with one. If I were building from scratch, make it big enough for a table to seat 6 plus room for comfortable lounging furniture. Wire it so you can have a fan and overhead lights.

+1

We use ours a lot. Nothing like it on a beautiful Sunday morning, in PJs with coffee and the paper.

I love ours too. I especially like it in light rain in the summer. Overhead fans are key.

[Anonymous]

It's one of my favorite features of the house. We eat out there all the time. If you can, get the vaulted ceiling-- it makes a difference. And definitely have a fan and decent lighting. It really is like having a whole other room. We never used our backyard due to bugs, so this has made it possible for us to feel like we're enjoying the outside a whole lot more.

[Anonymous]

NP here. So what's a cost range for installation (EOTR DC)? We have a covered patio off the back door I would like to screen in. Probably would replace the roof and add electric radiant heating to the current concrete slab. We have an exterior outlet for power that would be within the porch perimeter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have one with a ceiling fan and it is big enough for a table and seating, but I think it's a pain because I can't figure out how to keep all the dust and pollen out! It's not worth getting nice furniture I have to clean all the time. And when we eat outside we live to be on the deck. Citronella candles keep mosquitoes away. I like the idea of it but we don't use it!

You'd actually have to research how effective these windows screens are, but it might help:
https://www.metroscreenworks.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=687

Also, OP, if you are building from scratch, research ways that you "close the windows" as it were when the porch isn't in use, b/c yes, you will get lots of pollen, dirt etc.

[Anonymous]

Love it. Quick wipe with a wet cloth for pollen... Candles did not keep mosquitos away for us and a our old deck with pretty much unused. We have both a ceiling fan and a light and use it spring through fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have one with a ceiling fan and it is big enough for a table and seating, but I think it's a pain because I can't figure out how to keep all the dust and pollen out! It's not worth getting nice furniture I have to clean all the time. And when we eat outside we live to be on the deck. Citronella candles keep mosquitoes away. I like the idea of it but we don't use it!

Same with us. It gets disgusting and we never use it. Thinking about turning it into a 4 season room.

[Anonymous]

Some years we use it a lot: some less -- depending on the year. We have glass panels that we can put in place of the screens during the off season - helps limit dirt, etc.

[Anonymous]

Use it from late March through October every day, from coffee in morning to meals, wine at night. Ours is 13'x22' have seating for 6 and seating for 2 generously sized Restoration Hardware chairs and couch big enough for naps. Only thing I wish it had was slightly bigger overhang of roof as while my FAVORITE time is there during a rain, if there is any wind the porch gets wet. Ours was an existing porch with a cement floor, that again, I wish had a stone floor (partly to absorb the rain.) Pollen is a short term issue but we are lucky in that the woman who cleans our home vacuums and mops weekly. If i were building from scratch I would add a fireplace to get closer to a year round use. We got estimates to glass this in and make a year round room right when we moved here - best decision that we did not.

[Anonymous]

I've heard price range from $20,000 for a "rustic" porch built by cheap contractor to "$40,000" for standard-outfitted room built by mid/high range contractor

[Anonymous]

Love our's, wish it were twice as big since it's pretty tiny. Great place to be outside but slightly protected from heat, bugs, and a touch more privacy than sitting on the deck or front porch.

[Anonymous]

We use ours a lot. The dog uses it the most! We have a doggy door and she sits on patrol for squirrels from her perch/porch.

We couldn't sit outside before because of the mosquitoes/heat. We had an unused deck.

We got a half screen porch/half deck. Honestly, we don't use the deck part, apart for grilling.