I have a covered porch that I would like to screen in.?

Question

The porch has a roof. Two sides are open. One is 16 feet and the other is 10 feet. What is a good method to use to screen this in?

Answer 1

i think it was last spring in this old house magazine they had an article about screening in 4 styles of porches. maybe you could check their web site and find it in the back issues or your library. there were floor to ceiling screens like 3'X8', and one with doors, and more type of enclosures. our house is a bungalow with a 10'X27' front porch 8' high, with a 2' knee wall and 4 columns across the front. come spring i'll be making 5'X5' screen frames to enclose it. then a couple of smaller ones and a screen door. we had looked into sliding glass window and screen units to do the same, but that would run us several thousand dollars. maybe if it faced south instead of north and we could have got the suns heat for three seasons we would've gone for it. if you do go with making your own frames, consider 5/4"X3" stock, that way you have a real 1" thick piece of wood. also, instead of mitered corners, get a pocket hole jig and you can make face frame corners. in case you can't guess, i've been planning this for just a little while. good luck, and enjoy the new porch.

Answer 2

Most DIY stores sell a very simple and inexpensive porch screening system. It consists of vinyl strips that you nail to the vertical porch posts. These strips have grooves in them that accept a vinyl cord that holds the screening in place. A tool that looks like a pizza pie cutter is used to push the screening and cord into the groove.
Since the screening comes in different widths, you may have to add vertical 2x4s. If you do, and the porch is over 7 feet high, I would suggest a horizontal cross piece between the vertical 2x4' to help control warping. You can use treated 2x4', and paint them before attaching the screen system. Oh. and be sure when you buy the screening, it is UV protected.

Answer 3

Hmm in the DIY category I have to ask. With no offense. Do you have the skills?

I'll assume there are supports from porch floor to roof? OR you can add them at intervals.

Without details as to height, I could offer easy, or detailed.

Example: If the open area is 8 ft. floor to ceiling, you can craft framing for screening in sections,,, 2 x 8/ 2x4, etc.

Steven Wolf
(the Rev.)

Answer 4

You can build a frame and then attach screen and then use strips of wood to finish it off. You can use windows with screening if you can find them to fit or build around them. We used some cheap single paned screen windows on our porch but it is really small and the windows were on clearance. It really depends on how much you want to spend or how much you want to be open when you are done. you can build up the bottom like a chair rail height and then add windows around the top. good luck. Look on DIY and see if they have any instructions there to maybe this old house.