Screened Porch

Screening in an open porch involves installing framing around it and then attaching mesh to the frame. Measure porch height by width plus 10 percent to determine material needs, then put up the enclosure using basic tools. Though a fairly simple DIY project, kits and framing systems available at home centers make it even easier.

screened porch

If you aim to frame up a screened porch from scratch, purchase rugged redwood, cedar, or ACQ (alkaline copper quaternary) lumber to resist insect and weather-related damage. Be sure to use the appropriate screws, too: galvanized for redwood or cedar, and ACQ-compatible for treated lumber.

The architecture of your home and your personal taste will both influence your porch décor. Do you fancy the Southern charm of an old-fashioned veranda (rocking chairs, comfy cushions, perhaps a few vintage items like an old milk can)? How about the laid-back vibe of a Hawaiian lanai (tropical woods like ipe, tigerwood, and cambara, rattan furniture, lush plants, beach-y accents)? Or perhaps you prefer desert colors, Native American patterns, and touches of turquoise for an Arizona room.

Let the primary purpose of your porch determine furniture arrangement. For socializing and conversation, seats should face each other, perhaps around a coffee table, just like in a living room. For more of a nature observatory, seating might be best set up along the wall of the house and facing out to the view. No matter how you arrange seating, include enough clearance from the door so that traffic can flow in and out.

A screened porch allows you to immerse yourself in the natural environment. So if yours has a view of the woods, décor featuring earth tones, natural fibers, rustic wood, and plenty of plants will blur the lines between outdoors and in.

Lamps and ceiling fixtures UL-rated for outdoor use will let you enjoy your screened-in space once the sun goes down. But why let a lack of wiring put a damper on your nighttime porch party when you can hang plug-free solar-powered string lights.

Outfit a small, narrow screened porch with a space-saving bench or banquette against the house wall. Place a pair of chairs, perhaps at a round café table, on one end. A slender space may also be ideal as a coffee or cocktail bar. Pale colors will make it seem larger; and avoid accessory overload, which will just read as clutter.

A fireplace serves as a striking focal point that can let you enjoy your screened porch once the weather turns chilly. Natural stone is ideal for an outdoor environment, and it can impart a modern, traditional, or rustic vibe to suit your taste.

Stylish, comfy pillows and cushions will tempt you to linger longer, but certain fabrics and fillings are bound to get musty when used in a screened porch. So choose inserts made of water-resistant polyfill and outdoor-rated fabric covers. Other smart accessories to stave off mildew include polypropylene area rugs you can hose clean and a large fast-drying Turkish towel instead of a throw.

A screened porch, also known as a screen room, is a type of porch or similar structure on or near the exterior of a house that has been covered by window screens in order to hinder insects, debris, and other undesirable objects from entering the area inside the screen. Typically created to enhance the livability of a structure that would otherwise be exposed to the annoyances of the outdoors, screened porches often permit residents to enjoy an indoor environment outdoors.

Screened porches can be built in a manner similar to that of pole barns, with the screens added after the structure of the walls and the roof is completed. While screen porches are often attached to houses, they are sometimes built separately in order to simplify the construction process. In order to ensure that the porch be impervious to insects and other intrusions, a screen door is typically added to facilitate entry. Because screens can reduce the amount of light that enters the porch's interior, some screened porches are built so that the screens can be removed at times when insects and sunlight are less of a problem to the resident.[1] Some homeowners fill their porches with furniture and amenities typically found indoors, such as tables, chairs, and couches, ceiling fans, imitation hardwood floors, electrical outlets, painted elements,[2] and even built-in furniture and plumbing.[3]

Homeowners sometimes use their screened porches in lieu of climate control when the latter is unavailable. For example, when the loss of electricity prevents air conditioning systems from working, a screened porch may be a cooler sleeping location. At the same time, screened porches can be used to permit an outdoors experience while being sheltered from direct sunlight and flying insects;[2] some builders even include skylights in their designs when a porch would otherwise be excessively dark. Some people experience a sense of intimacy and quiet privacy when spending their leisure hours on a screened porch.[4] In the field of landscape architecture, a screened porch may even be used to divide surrounding gardens or lawns into smaller zones; at the Walter Gropius House in the northeastern United States, the screened porch serves as a transitional zone between a normal room of the house and a normal outdoors area, and its extended roof supports help to create the appearance of a frame around the surrounding terrain, dividing the land into multiple zones comparable to the rooms of a house.[5]

The total cost of this how to build a porch was $6,500, but you could save hundreds of dollars without sacrificing quality by substituting treated decking for the cedar or using tongue-and-groove pine rather than cedar on the ceiling.

These illustrations above show the plans for the screened in porch, deck framing, gable framing, ledger, truss block, side walls and the end wall. To print these how to build a porch plan, see Additional Information at the end of this story.

Lift the remaining trusses onto the top of the walls and rest them on the first truss. Slowly and carefully slide the outermost truss to the outside end of the porch. Align the marks on the 14 with the truss at the house and the outermost truss and screw it to the trusses.

One of the trickiest parts of the porch construction is joining the two roofs. The key is to extend lines from the new porch and mark where they intersect the existing roof. Do this by using a taut string line or a long, straight board. Remember to raise the tie-in framing on the existing house roof in. above the porch framing to compensate for the difference in thickness of the 3/4-in. plywood and 1-1/2-in. roof boards, so use 3/4-in.-thick spacer blocks to raise the line to the correct tie-in framing height.

Are you ready to enjoy a new screened porch addition? Let The Porch Company design and build the perfect screened porch to add value to your home in more ways than one! Call us at 615-663-2886 or visit our design studio. We would love to meet with you to discuss your porch needs!

That is quite a large sum of money, to be sure, but for homeowners who enjoy being outside but hate being eaten alive by bugs, a screened-in porch is a must. Plus, once the project is completed, homeowners can expect a 75% return on their investment in terms of home value, on average.

Perhaps the best part of adding a screened-in porch to your home is that it becomes a big selling point when you want to sell your home, especially if you live in a hot and humid climate, according to a HomeLight survey of top real estate agents.

When you begin budgeting for your screened-in porch, keep in mind that the actual size of the porch, the materials you use, location, and any upgrades will affect the overall cost. With that said, here are a few broad estimates from popular home improvement websites:

Average cost per square foot: $2.50 to $30 per square foot for screening, depending on materials, plus $72 to $82 per square foot for labor on an existing porch; $30 to $47 per square foot for materials to build new

Depending on where you live and the type of living space you want to create, you could spend more. For example, Archadeck of Kansas City, which builds outdoor living spaces throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area, including Jackson County, Missouri, says the average cost to build a screened porch in their area starts at $25,000.

You can also find DIY screened-in porch kits that include everything you need to build your own outdoor sanctuary. In addition, companies like Screen House, Eze Breeze Direct, and Screen Tight can help you create the perfect screened-in porch when you call for a free quote.

Note: Some homeowner associations and municipalities have specific rules regarding building a screened-in porch, so before you do anything, check with them first and get any necessary permits.

Every homeowner knows the feeling of enjoying a new update to your home. When you add a screened porch to your house, for those first few weeks and months you spend relaxing on it, your screened porch will still have that fresh and new feel to it. But as with anything, if you neglect to take good care of it, over time your screened porch will start to show the signs of its age and lose some of the luster it seemed to have in those early days.

The spring brings a lot of natural beauty to our lives, but at the cost of lots of pollen. Every year take time to rinse off the screens with a garden hose and rinse off or wipe down all the other exposed surfaces starting to collect pollen. This will reduce your exposure to allergens and keep the screened porch from getting too grimy.

One of the biggest benefits of building a screened porch is being able to spend time outside without all those pesky bugs. But if the caulk used to fill in various gaps between the materials in your screened porch starts to wear out over the years, those bugs could find ways in.

A well-constructed screened porch that uses high-quality screens should last you for a good long while. But if birds fly into your screens or your kids and pets tend to put pressure on them, then over time you could find that you need to replace the old screens with new. 041b061a72