Have you walked around asking yourself, Screened porch, or 3-season room? 3-season room, or screened porch? No, it’s not a New Age mantra, just a homeowner trying to make a tough decision. You know you definitely want ONE of these, but which one?
As your Nashville-area builder of screened porches and 3-season rooms, Archadeck of Nashville understands your dilemma! We have coached many a client through this decision-making process. The answer is different for different folks.
One thing most of us can agree on is that this crazy, warm fall weather is going to turn cold at some point. We may not have long before cold temperatures drop in. What then? You do not want to spend another winter closed up in your house waiting for spring. Our advice: bridge the seasons with a screened porch or 3-season room by Archadeck.
Nashville screened porch, or 3-season room?
Approach your decision by recalling what you like about screened porches, and what you like about 3-season rooms. It may help to write these thoughts down as you build your case for one or the other.
You don’t have to make your decision alone. Your Archadeck of Nashville porch designer is a phone call away, and it’s never too early to start a conversation. If you’re thinking about adding a screened room or three-season room to your home, give us a call while you’re first weighing the options. No need to wait until you’re ready to begin construction.
Pros and Cons of a Nashville Screened Porch
Thoughts of a screened porch may conjure up childhood memories of warm summer nights when the air was completely still. Today, we wouldn’t think of building a screened porch without at least one ceiling fan! Let’s look at benefits and drawbacks of choosing a screened porch.
We’ll skip over the obvious benefits of protection from insects, outdoor debris, rain showers, and harmful UV rays. Why skip these? Because a screened porch and a Nashville 3-season room offer these same benefits.
Screened Porch Benefits vs. a 3-Season Room
- Nostalgia. For many homeowners, nothing but a screened porch will do. Anything else is just a modern contraption.
- Nature. A screened porch puts you right outdoors in the midst of nature. You’re protected from the elements and insects, yes, but aside from those protections you experience nature first-hand on a screened porch. Sounds, smells, sights – and of course, breezes.
- Simplicity. With a screened porch, there are no components that you’ll need to put up or take down from season to season. It’s just screens. (If you think about tacking up sheets of plastic to keep out the cold in winter, you don’t need a screened porch. You need a 3-season room!)
- Affordability. In most cases, a screened porch will cost less than a three-season room. Your choice of materials for flooring, ceiling, etc. will affect your costs.
Screened Porch Drawbacks vs. a 3-Season Room
- Winter. When you have only screens, you cannot escape the cold. Simplicity is nice until it gets too cold outside to enjoy your screened porch.
Pros and Cons of a Nashville Three-Season Room
We construct three-season rooms with a system of windows and screens. The windows are movable and/or removable. We offer two different window-and-screen systems for our 3-season rooms: Eze Breeze and Scenix Porch Windows. They’re both great! More about those two systems below.
3-Season Room Benefits vs. a Screened Porch
- Extends porch season. More porch days per year! With a 3-season room, you can enjoy your outdoor room on many days that are too cold for a screened porch. A space heater is practically useless on a screened porch, but it can comfortably warm a 3-season room with your windows closed. Up to a point, that is; we do have winter days in Nashville that are too cold for 3-season rooms.
- Flexibility. You decide when you want the open air feeling of screens or you want to use windows to keep out the chill.
3-Season Room Drawbacks vs. a Screened Porch
- More “trouble.” One person’s trouble is another person’s convenience, so keep in mind that not all homeowners object to opening and closing windows to reveal screens. With removable windows, once you remove them, you’re committed to putting them back in place when the temperatures drop.
- Cost. Many variables contribute to the cost of an outdoor room, especially your selection of materials. The most basic three-season room will probably be more expensive than the most basic screened porch.
Nashville’s Best 3-Season Rooms
At Archadeck of Nashville, we design 3-season rooms with either Eze-Breeze or Scenix Porch Windows. Both systems offer you the flexibility to open and close windows to reveal more or less of your screens. Both offer an experience similar to being in a bright, airy sunroom when the windows are closed – until it gets too cold outside. That’s because true sunrooms are insulated. Your three-season room won’t be.
Eze-Breeze window panels are made of crystal-clear vinyl. You have the ability to slide the vinyl panels open to reveal up to 75% of the room’s screens. At that point, it really feels like a screened porch. You can also remove all of the window panels and store them until cold weather returns.
Scenix Porch Windows are made of sliding glass panels and retractable screens. They offer more of a sunroom feel, but they don’t offer the flexibility of removing the glass panels entirely.
If you’re thinking about adding a screened porch or 3-season room to your home, let Archadeck of Nashville help you make the right choice for you. Contact us today to learn more by calling (615) 640-3628, or send us an email at nashville@archadeck.net.
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