Screened Porch Construction

Screening what you have versus building it new

The first question on a screened porch job is what is there now. A roofed porch that is already on good footings is often a straightforward candidate: the roof, floor and columns exist, and the work is framing the screen openings, sealing the floor and ceiling, adding a door and wiring. An open deck is a different story. Most decks were framed to carry people and furniture, not a roof, and their footings were sized for that.

So before we talk about screens on an existing deck, we look underneath. We check the footings, beam sizes, posts and the ledger where the deck meets the house. If the frame can carry a roof with some added posts and footings, we will lay that out. If it cannot, building the screened room new on proper footings is usually the better use of your money, and we will tell you that straight.

Building new gives more freedom. The room can be sized and placed for the view, the sun and the door you will use most, with a roof shaped to suit the house.

Converting an existing porch also means checking its roof for leaks and its floor for soft spots, since a screened room tends to get far more use than the open porch ever did.

Where bugs get into a screened porch

Screened porches that let mosquitoes in almost always fail in the same few places. The first is the floor. Deck boards are spaced for drainage, and those gaps are open highways for insects coming up from underneath. We stop that with screen stapled across the underside of the joists before the decking goes down, or with a solid floor sloped to drain, depending on the design.

The second is the ceiling. Gaps along the top plate, at the rafters and where the porch roof meets the house wall all let bugs in. A finished ceiling, beadboard or tongue-and-groove on many older homes, closes those gaps and gives a place to mount the fan and lights. The third is the door, which needs a closer, a sweep and a frame that is square so it closes against its stops every time.

Corners, column wraps and the joint between the screen frame and the floor all get sealed. It is unglamorous work, and it is the difference between a porch you use and one you avoid at dusk.

Removable panels let you take the screens out for winter, which helps on houses where snow drifts onto the porch.

Choosing a screen system that holds up

Screens can be stretched and stapled into wood frames, held in with spline in a channel system, or built as removable panels. Stapled screen behind trim strips looks traditional and is simple to repair a section at a time. Spline channel systems give a cleaner line and tighter screen. Removable panels let you take the screens out for winter, which helps on houses where snow drifts onto the porch.

Screen mesh comes in different weights. Standard fiberglass is fine for most rooms. Heavier pet-resistant mesh is worth it if a dog will push against the lower panels, and a solid kick panel along the bottom protects the screen from furniture and feet. Openings are framed to sizes the mesh can span without sagging.

On the South Coast and the Cape we look at the hardware and fasteners closely, because salt air corrodes the wrong ones quickly and the stains run down the trim.

The screen door is part of the system. A wood screen door suits an older house and needs a good closer and a spring that does not slam it. An aluminum door holds its shape with less upkeep. Either way the frame has to be square and the door hung so it seals against its stops.

Wiring the ceiling fan and lights

A screened porch without a ceiling fan is a hot room in July. The fan box is mounted to framing rated to hold a fan, which a light box is not, and the fan itself should be rated for damp locations. Lighting on the porch, outlets for a lamp or a laptop, and a switch by the house door all get planned with you before the ceiling is closed.

Massachusetts requires a licensed electrician for that work, and it is permitted and inspected separately. We schedule the electrician at the rough stage, before the ceiling goes up, so wires run cleanly inside the framing instead of in surface conduit. Outlets on a porch need ground-fault protection, and the electrician handles that to code.

Ceiling fans need enough height to clear heads comfortably, and a long porch may want two fans on separate controls. Lighting can be a single fixture, recessed cans or sconces on the house wall. We walk the room with you at the rough stage to mark where everything goes, because moving a box after the ceiling is up means opening it again.

How we run a screened porch job

It starts with a visit to look at the porch or deck you have, or the spot where the new room would go. We talk through how you plan to use the room, how it will look against the house and what the existing structure can carry. You get a written scope that spells out the framing, the screen system, the floor and ceiling treatment and the electrical, and what happens if we open up the old deck and find something soft.

Adding a roof means a building permit through the town, with inspections at the footings, framing and final, plus the electrical inspection. We handle the paperwork. During the work we keep you updated on what is happening and what we found, any change is agreed in writing before it is built, and the yard is cleaned up at the end of each day.

Steve or someone from our team is the person you call through the whole job. If the inspector asks for a change, a delivery is late or the weather pushes the roof back a few days, you hear it from us the same day, with what it means for the rest of the work. At the end we walk the room with you, test the door closer, the fan and the lights, and go over what the screens and finishes need over the years.

See the rest of our exterior work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.