Three season rooms have always been popular in Akron, OH, and that trend is still growing. Homeowners weighing the tradeoffs between a new screened porch or sunroom are delighted to learn there are a couple of solutions that offer features of each. As your Akron outdoor room builder, we want to look at several of the options you might consider.
The Akron Screened Porch
The most important features of an outdoor room are windows, windows, windows. That’s one reason why a screened porch is so appealing. Most of the “wall” space is filled with screening, so you can see through the enclosure from floor to ceiling. You feel close to nature on a screened porch. You get full advantage of any breeze coming through, you smell the flowers and freshly-mowed lawn, and you’re protected from the sun’s rays directly reaching your skin. While a screened porch offers protection from UV rays, rain and pesky insects, it doesn’t allow you to control the temperature in your outdoor room.
The Akron Three-Season Room
The appeal of a 3-season room in the Akron area is that it provides an additional level of protection from the elements when compared to a screened porch. Akron 3-season rooms really do seem like the best of both worlds. In building a three-season room, we can use standard windows or a convertible 4-track window system called Eze-Breeze. You can have as many windows as you’d like, and they’ll have screens, too. The benefit of this convertible window system is that you can slide window panels around so at any given moment, three out of four window panels can be open to the screen. This system allows substantial air flow and offers a mostly-unobstructed view whether you’re looking out through the windows or the screens. What’s more, you can actually remove all of the window panels completely and store them for part of the year, allowing 100% airflow. And when it starts getting chilly outside, just close all the window panels as a defense against cooler temperatures and still enjoy a great view. What’s really good to know is that a 3-season room is not much more of an investment than a screened porch.
The Akron Four-Season Room
Now, if you want to take it a step further, we’re going to extend your home’s heating and air conditioning system into the design of your new outdoor room and add insulation. This is usually called a sunroom or a four-season room because with insulation and temperature controls, you can count on being able to use the room year-round. We still design the room with lots of windows! The Pella Encompass line of vinyl window frames works well in an outdoor room. And yes, we still consider it an “outdoor room” because our goal with this room is to bring the outdoors inside.
Flooring Options
Once you select your type of outdoor room, Archadeck of Akron will guide you through the design process where we’ll talk about what material you’d like for the flooring. We recommend several different choices for flooring, so we’ll go over the benefits of each and compare the costs for you. Many clients select composite decking materials for the floor, and this is an especially good choice if you’re building a deck and a porch or three-season room together. We can also build a three-season room with a wood floor. Wood is more economical, and because the wood will be protected in this covered room, you won’t have the weathering issues we see with wood on a deck. Whether we use wood or composite flooring, we add a screen under the floor so those pesky bugs can’t find their way in.
The flooring choices don’t stop there! AZEK porch products offer some very nice-looking flooring, which may be more expensive, and cold-weather tiles are also an option. We do present you with some budget-friendly options. If you want the tongue-and-groove look for your flooring, we have a local craftsman who can tongue and groove a standard TimberTech composite board, which looks fantastic.
Additional Amenities for Your Archadeck of Akron Outdoor Room
Archadeck of Akron installs electricity in our three and four-season rooms, as well as screened porches, so you’re never without light — and ceiling fans, if you desire fans. For cooler temperatures in a three-season room, you may find that plugging in a space heater allows you to use the room for more of the year.
One thing you can be sure of with Archadeck as your Akron three season room builder is getting the Archadeck difference. All of our custom-designed outdoor rooms are designed and built to blend in with your home’s exterior. Your Archadeck outdoor room will never look like an afterthought. We’re famous for the “always been there” appeal of our outdoor room additions.
If you’re thinking about adding a three season room, four season room, sunroom or screened porch, contact Archadeck of Akron today to schedule your design consultation. The call and the consultation are free, but the benefits you will get from a new outdoor living space are priceless! You can reach us at (330) 537-6412.
