Whether you’re living in the moment or looking ahead to fall, the sultry days of summer present the perfect time to add a screened porch. This special kind of outdoor room will become an extension of your home and, at the same time, a treasured “getaway” spot. It will likely become your favorite room! New Englanders who enjoy watching—and feeling—the seasons change find that a screened porch provides a perfect front-row seat.
The seasonal benefits of screened porches don’t end with summer and fall. Screened porches are also wonderful in the spring when you welcome the sweet warmth of the afternoon sun. Sitting on a porch and basking in the delightful springtime scents and sounds of the yard is something you can look forward to all winter.
Spring, summer, and fall, the benefits of a screened porch are constant even as they change with the seasons. The roof of your screened porch will protect you from spring’s sudden rain showers and the abundant summer sun. What about pesky insects? Dining al fresco is so much more enjoyable when you have screens to protect you from those flying pests. When fall brings waves of leaves and other debris to cover the ground, your screens will keep your porch interior debris-free.
At Archadeck of Suburban Boston, we have vast experience designing and building screened porches. That experience includes building porches from the ground up and converting decks to screened porches. Don’t think that having a deck will prevent you from adding a screened porch to your home, because that’s usually not the case. If you have a huge deck, you may even want to convert a portion into a screened porch and keep part open as a deck. With that arrangement, you gain the seasonal benefits of an open space and a protected space together.
Don’t have a deck? We can design a deck and screened porch combination for your home that will be the envy of your neighbors.
Screened porch design options are similar to those of a 3-season room or 3-season porch. You can read more about porch design options in our blog post, Make Your 3-Season Room Unique with a Variety of Design Options. Similarities include interior design elements like flooring, knee walls, and ceiling.
More Design Options for Screened Porch Additions
What’s the biggest difference between screened porch design and that of other outdoor room additions? Your screened porch design will include the specific type of screening that will best meet your needs.
If your porch will receive an abundance of direct sunlight, we recommend sun blocking (shade) screens. These screens will filter out some of the heat that would otherwise come in with direct sunlight. If you have pets that tend to be rambunctious, you may be interested in pet screens. These heavy-duty screens resist damage a pet could cause when it barrels into the screen. They’re also useful if you have rowdy grandchildren!
When we design your screened porch, we’ll help you select the framing material—that’s what holds the screens together. Pressure-treated wood is a popular choice for the structural elements to which we attach the screening material. For a low-maintenance material—meaning it won’t need to be sanded and repainted—many of our clients choose aluminum or vinyl framing.
Can You Have Too Much Light on a Screened Porch?
As with 3-season and 4-season rooms, you may have the option for additional light and ventilation with a gable roof and cathedral ceiling on your porch. The higher your ceiling, the more airy and open your screened porch will feel. Within reason, of course!
Skylights are also popular in screened porch designs. When we add a roofed structure onto your home, you may find that your adjoining interior room receives less natural light than before. Skylights can help mitigate that loss of natural light inside your kitchen or den—wherever we attach your screened porch.
If you’ve been thinking about adding a screened porch to your home, the seasonal benefits are so great we encourage you to take action as soon as possible. When summer starts to fade, the beauty of fall in our state is best enjoyed on a screened porch custom designed for your home.
We at Archadeck of Suburban Boston offer professional design and build services for clients west and north of Boston. Over the past 27 years we have designed and built more than 950 projects. We have enhanced the depth of our expertise by limiting our work to decks, porches, sunrooms, and patios. To view more of these projects, visit our photo galleries. To learn how we treat our clients, check our ratings on Angie’s List or read about us in an article in Remodeling magazine. For a free design consultation and a relaxed and rewarding experience, contact us via e-mail, subboston@archadeck.net or by phone, (781) 528-0998.
