Has this happened to you yet? As homeowners spend more time at home, they seem more likely to feel a pressing need to improve their outdoor living space. They get new ideas about how to better enjoy the outdoors at home, or they take action on dormant plans.
These NW Austin homeowners liked spending time on their covered deck, but the space was entirely too small. Worse, they were plagued by insects. They contacted Archadeck of Austin to design and build a bug-free space with room to move around.
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— Existing covered deck before Archadeck of Austin started the new screened porch.
We set to work designing a screened porch that was larger than their existing space. Meanwhile, the homeowners’ battle with the bugs began. They had a landscaper clear out some of the lush foliage around this corner of the house.
The screened porch design features a new shed roof tied in to the upper level of the house. The roof extends about 4’ beyond the edge of the original deck. While 4’ doesn’t sound like a lot more space, it was enough to make a huge difference for the homeowners. At Archadeck we always run through a comprehensive needs analysis to be sure we’re addressing our clients’ needs. It’s part of our design process, and it’s one of the reasons we have so many satisfied customers.
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— Exterior or new screened porch.
In constructing the screened porch, we replaced the posts at the rear corner of the house, added the porch roof and removed the original beam. We installed our favorite porch ceiling from Synergywood in the Auburn color. The ceiling is in two levels, the original flat ceiling and the cathedral ceiling under the new shed roof, both finished with Synergywood.
Details Make the Porch!
Our clients like the look of cedar, so they chose pressure-treated wood for their porch framing and had us wrap it in cedar throughout. For their porch floor, they chose Zuri decking, which we were able to match to the original deck floor.
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— Interior of new screened porch.
The new screened porch did not require a railing by code because it’s not 30” higher than the ground. The homeowners wanted a railing anyway, primarily because they have a dog. The railing will serve a very important purpose: to prevent the dog from altering the screen. Aesthetically, the railing adds depth and dimension to the new outdoor room, so we think they made an excellent design decision to include it. They chose Deckorators balusters in black aluminum with an added touch of elegance, estate collars.
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— No detail was overlooked, including painting the interior house walls.
To complete the project, we washed and painted the interior walls (the existing house walls). The homeowner installed new Hardie siding, and we washed and painted the area we did the work in. Within the scope of the project, we re-ran electric service to a few different areas of the porch. We also finished the underdeck area with cedar lattice.
These Northwest Austin Archadeck clients now have exactly what they wanted, an outdoor living area that makes the time they spend outdoors more enjoyable. The pesky insects will stay right where they belong—on the outside of this sweet screened porch.
Do you need to screen out flying pests at your home? Does your outdoor living area feel cramped? Let’s design a screened porch with all the space you need! Call Archadeck of Austin today at (512) 886-8367 or email us to schedule your free design consultation.
Jim Schallon, Lead Designer at Archadeck of Austin.
