Last night my husband and I went out to dinner with a friend of ours. He and his wife purchased a home last summer and learned some of its downfalls throughout the summer. One of the reasons they bought the home was that it has great outdoor space including a great covered porch. Well, they found out that they yard also has a ton of mosquitoes to the point where they couldn’t enjoy the space. They’re now looking to screen in the existing space, but weren’t sure of the process.
Screening in your existing open porch is definitely possible, but it involves more than just putting up some screens.
Building codes change over time to make sure that outdoor structures are safe and secure. Before adding screen panels to your porch, your porch builder will need to inspect and ensure that the existing structure is up to code. If not, it may require more work including additional footings, connections and more.
Depending on the type of existing structure, you make need to do some extra work for your screened porch to fulfill its purpose. For instance, in may cases a screened porch is built to provide a dry, shady space to enjoy the outdoor without bugs. Well, if you have a porch with deck boards as flooring, you’ll need to make sure that mosquitoes can’t come up through the board cracks.
When going through the process with your porch builder of enclosing the space, it’s the perfect time to consider updating the porch’s finishes. Take our friend for instance, his current open porch has a concrete floor and smaller columns. The floors aren’t in the best condition, so he’s considering having the floor updated to a more interesting tile option. Additionally, his home has a craftsman look and the small columns don’t really fit. While the porch builder is working on the projects, the homeowner has asked the builder to add some more weight to the columns.
If you are looking to enclose a porch or transform any existing outdoor living structure, please contact your local Archadeck Outdoor Living offices. Our trained designers will work with you to create a space that you’ll love using!