Bugs Out, Breezes In: A Screened-In Room

Do you love to sit outside in the fresh air, but find you just can't abide the mosquitoes and other biting critters of summer? Consider a screened outdoor area. It may be easier than you think.

Building Your Screened Room
A screened in "room" consists of three surfaces: a floor, a roof and the walls.

The floor might an existing porch or deck, or it might be a brick patio or newly poured concrete slab. It might even be the ground itself if you use a pre-fabricated free-standing screened-in room.

If you're starting out with an existing structure that consists only of a floor, be sure to obtain the necessary permits from your municipality for constructing a roof. Roofing is available in a wide variety of materials including fibreglass panels, translucent sheeting and solid roofing materials such as wood and shingles. Your roof might also be an awning, or a pre-fab screened room canvas.

Assuming you have a permanent structure, once the floor and the roof are up, you can get on with constructing the walls for the screening. There are many books, such as Great Decks and Porches by Rick Peters with detailed directions for building a typical screening frame of 2x2s and 2x4s.

You can install the actual screening using the traditional method of stapling the screen to the frame and covering the staples with batten.

Or you can use an updated product such as ScreenTight which uses a rubber spline to lock the screen into a patented base molding which is then covered by an external cap.

A third method is to use a screen product fitted with Velcro® commercial fasteners. Available in three screen types as well as clear PVC film, each panel is crafted to the exact size and shape of your openings including triangles and trapezoids. This system is designed so that a PVC panel can be installed over a screen panel for rain and wind protection. When not needed, the PVC panel can be rolled up and stored at the top of the opening.

If you don't install PVC panels, you can use wood panels that screw or hook to the frame in order to board up the space during winter months. Of course, commercial windows that slip in and out are also available. These glass panes make the most practical screened rooms as the rooms in which they are installed can be used for more months of the year than any other configuration.

Decorating Your Screened Room
Screening not only makes an outdoor space more usable by eliminating bugs, it also provides a sense of enclosure. Your space becomes a true room -- an extension of your home and a transitional space between indoors and outdoors. Thus furniture is often more formal than you might use on a deck or patio, yet still has a garden feel.

White wicker pieces are a very traditional screened porch look, but dark green wicker also makes a dramatic earth-toned statement. Wooden furniture such as a white porch swing, or twig chairs are also very appropriate to the look.

Since a screened area makes an ideal sleeping porch -- whether to escape hot, humid nights or to catch a catnap in the afternoon-have somewhere to stretch out. It could be cots for the kids, a hammock or a daybed stacked high with comfy cushions.

A screened porch is also a great place for container plants because they'll be protected from harsh sun and weather extremes. Fill your room with living green plants and flowers to enhance that sense of outside that lies just beyond the room's borders.

Whether you use an outdoor screened space as an extra dining room, bedroom, sitting room or greenhouse, you'll be sure to gets lots and lots of enjoyment from it -- without being bothered by pesky bugs!

Article By: Debbie Rodgers, The Haven Maven
http://www.paradiseporch.com