By Dave and Mary

Our Podcasts About Screen Porches

Table of Contents

In this section, we offer our transcripts and highlights of our former podcasts. We hope you find these helpful, fun and informative!

Podcast 2: What to Consider When Building Your Screened Porch with Nancy Moore of The Porch Company

Podcast 10: Enjoy Your Porch More with Screen Porch Windows with Sean Laker of the Rekal Company

Podcast 22: Custom Aluminum Screen Door for Your Porch with Steve Pfeffer of PCA Products

Podcast 28: Screen Porch Kits with Glenn Smith of Screen-House.com

Podcast 38: What's Better than a Screened Porch with Caisson Craven at DIY Eze Breeze


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Podcast 2: What to Consider When Building Your Screened Porch

With Our Guest, Nancy Moore of The Porch Company

Porch Ideas Network Podcast Logo Nancy Moore founded The Porch Company in Nashville TN, and has been building custom porches since 1992. The Porch Company is one of our fine sponsors.

Nancy is an energetic and talented lady who absolutely loves porches and shares her best tips to help you think through the details of planning your porch.


Podcast Highlights

From working in high heels at IBM to building porches, Nancy shares tips for planning your screened porch after having designed and built hundreds of custom porches in the Nashville, TN area since 1992.

Here's some of what you will learn:
  • Why you must think about water and your screened porch design
  • Why it is important to choose an experienced porch builder
  • Your porch's size should be determined by one important factor
  • How to make a new porch appear as if it was always on your home
  • Roof lines to consider
  • How to ensure you have cross breezes on your porch


Nancy Moore, founder of The Porch Company Nancy's enthusiasm for porches is contagious.

She is an absolute expert in the topic of porch planning.


Show Notes: Considerations Before Building a Screened Porch

Podcast: What You Should Consider Before Building Your Screened . We welcome our Guest Nancy Moore of The Porch Company.


Dave: Today we're very fortunate to have Nancy Moore, the owner of the Porch Company, with us. Nancy is the Warren Buffet of porches to us and so we're very excited to have her here with us on our porch.

Nancy has a wonderful story of how the Porch Company came to be and so, Nancy, welcome to our porch, and perhaps you will share with us how you got started.

Nancy: Thank you for having me. The Porch Company is about 22 years old now and I was right out of college working for IBM, had a great job, enjoyed it but I had this undeniable urge I wanted to build, I wanted to create wonderful spaces. This was an urge I could not deny and my newlywed husband was unhappy when I said I want to quit this wonderful job and I wanted to go into construction.

And he did everything he could to talk me out of it but I couldn't deny that urge so since I knew nothing and was completely unemployable, what you do but buy an old house and you start to fix it up. So that was a great experience, learned a lot of things. Had some good successes, had some disasters that first year and just realized how ignorant I really was.

But just do a lot of on the job training and after five years of dabbling in the construction industry like that and paying my dues by learning my lessons, I decided I needed to focus on something. I thought what in the world I am going to do? And I thought, well, I could do decks, those were easy enough.

And I finally concluded no, I don't want to do decks. I'll do porches.

Mary: Ahhhh.

Nancy: So The Porch Company was born with very little planning and very little strategizing and who knew that porches could be an industry unto themselves. But they are.

Mary: Thank heavens! Just tell us a little bit about your company today.

Nancy: Right, the first year of my great experience was that we built three porches that first year and we were busy the whole year round. Now we build three porches a month.

Mary: Oh my goodness!

Nancy: So again, a huge learning curve has happened and of course the porches we build today are much more elaborate and much more well thought out and much better than we did that first year. But it is just a matter of learning how to do things, then you get efficient and you hire more people and yes, that first year there was myself, one other carpenter and half way through one other carpenter. So there was three of us in the porch.

Today, we say if Nancy has a hammer in her hand, you know something has gone drastically wrong. So I am not out there to build; I am on the design side of that these days.


One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screened porches


Mary: Talking about building porches, what kind of porches do you build?

Nancy: To us the definition of a porch is any kind of an outdoor structure with a roof, that's the key that is the distinction between a deck and a porch. We build anything that can be considered a porch whatsoever.

So open air porch, screened porch, porches with temporary screens. We don't do glassed-in rooms. We say they have to have walls that breathe is our term. So we do not do sunrooms but we also do pergolas and any other outdoor structures that are similar in nature to porches.

Mary: Wonderful.

Dave: So from what we have seen, you have built some wonderfully custom-designed screened in porches. Porches that, oh boy, almost everybody would want one of those.

Nancy: Yes,

Dave: So what are some things that someone should consider when contemplating having a screened-in porch built?

Nancy: Ok, well from the homeowner's perspective. First of all it is nice if you can find somebody who has built a screened porch before. Because as we all know experience is the best teacher of anything.

So there is a big difference between building a porch and building a sunroom. And the difference is water. Water gets in on a porch.

Sunrooms - they do everything they can do to avoid water ever penetrating walls. Well, on a porch you know water is going to penetrate the walls.

So how do you deal with it? How do you deal with water when it comes in?

So that is by far the most important thing that you need to consider or the builder needs to consider. You really need to make sure the builder realizes that. So having things like making sure the water drains off the porch, having big overhangs, having lots of gutters, avoid gable roof spacing that blowing wind.

You know you just need to consider where is the water going to come from, where is it going to land and how is it going to get outside of the porch. So that is a very practical thing that you need to consider to begin with.

Mary: Those are good tips Nancy, because I think a lot of homeowners are just thinking about what am I going to put on my porch and what am I going to do on my porch. They don't necessary thing about something as practical as water. To keep it out the porch.

Nancy: Right. And really to be on your porch in the middle of the rainstorm is wonderful. Wonderful, but if that rain blows in on you and you can't be out there, thinking about water on your porch is very important.

Mary: So tell us about some other considerations.

Nancy: Ok, now the next thing you want to consider is perhaps the size and the location of your porch. You see I always start with functionality. Because if it doesn't function, I don't care how pretty it is, it is a big waste.

So you want to make it functional so you need to think about the size, how many people are going to be using this porch, how much furniture do you want to have on that porch, what activities are you going to be doing out on that porch?

Most people want to have a living space and a dining space. Some people also want to have a game room space, great place for your checkers or outdoor card games or those kinds of things.

Some people want to have a big open space but they've got small children and that want to be able their children just be able to run. So you really think about your lifestyle and how you would best use that space.


One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screen porches showing separate dining from sitting


Mary: And that would probably quantify what the size of the porch should be and maybe how it should be planned out, right?

Nancy: Correct, that would definitely affect the size of the porch. The other thing that can be really important is where do I locate that porch on my house.

Every now and then I get somebody who wants a little private porch off their bedroom. Great, they realize that is not a public space. That is just for your use. Most people want their porch off a public space.

The closer you can get the porch to the main room or the kitchen or whatever room you live in the most, the more often you will use the porch. And the other thing we would like to do is do is for the most part, we like the porch to be at the same floor level as the interior of the house.

Again you'll feel more integrated. The more integrated it is, the more it will become part of your daily lifestyle.

Alright so those are two functional things. The rain first and then size and location.

And then thirdly, I start to consider the aesthetics of the porch. Alright now that I know where it is located and how big it is, now I can determine what's the best roof line that is appropriate for your house.

That is from an architectural perspective, to make it look like it goes with your house, the roofline is the most important thing. The second most important thing is just selecting your paint colors that blend with your house, most people we tell you know your exterior trim will end up being what we paint the exterior of your porch. And then it looks like it goes with your house.

You'll often see porches built as if it were a deck that wasn't even stained perhaps and is just raw wood. It may look great for you but it never looks like it was original to the house.

It will always look like an add on. So you would want to at least paint the exterior of your porch to blend with your house so it will look more like it was built with your house.

Dave: If you can, let's go back to roofs for a second here. This is really stickler for us because we get asked a lot of questions from our site visitors about they want to add a porch or a screen porch.

They send us a picture of their home and it will be a situation where are you have an L-shaped home, two gable roofs coming together. And the front door is in the corner and that makes that a real tricky situation.

Nancy: It is very tricky, and we literally all the time would get called out to a house. We have five people out here; everybody says I can't do this. Of course you can and here is how you can and we usually always can come up with a solution. Every now and then you have to say this is not a good thing. This is not going to enhance your house.

Dave: You can put a roof on it but it just won't look very good.

Nancy: Right, most of the time we can but they are tricky and there are a whole lot of builders out there and when it comes to tricky they just really get cold feet. And I understand that because tricky is tricky.

(All laugh)

Nancy: First one on those roof lines, you can mix gables and hips and sheds and you can mix roof lines really easily and make them look great. And most of the time, I'm going to by trying to get to hip roof on a porch.

The advantage to a hip roof, you get that overhang on all sides you get gutters on all sides. Therefore you are going to capture most of the water so that water is not going to blow into your porch. So it is a very, very practical roofline for a porch because we are typically are doing vaulted ceilings and we are leaving our framing exposed. It is very pretty framing; it's got an interesting geometry going on.

Mary: It's beautiful.

Nancy: So we love to do a hip roof. Our second most common roof would be the gable, which is everybody else's first most common roofline. It is a great roofline and it is very pretty. I think most United States the wind kind of blows from the southwest going northeast.

So if you have a gable facing west, you are going to get so much rain blowing in there if it screened up there. That's not a practical solution. So either you finish that off in some kind of siding or however you want to do that perhaps put a small amount of screening window or something up there or some light and some air. But just be careful about south and west facing gable roofs.

Mary: If I could Nancy, could I go back for just a minute to the location of the porch?

Nancy: Ok

Mary: If the homeowner could put their porch on any side of their homes that they wanted, what are some of the considerations they should take into account especially when talking about the breezes like you say, where the direction your house faces as far as the sun goes.

Nancy: You know I don't think that really matters. A lot of people like the house on the western side because they are trying to shade the interior of their home and the porch roof would do that.

But the bottom line is the porch needs to go where it needs to go and as long as we got some nice cross breezes. You know often we go build into an "L" of a house and you can't get a lot of cross breezing so we just add extra fans and do whatever we do to get the air movement up.

We can usually make any direction work. So usually people don't complain about too much sun on the porch and if they do, we've got solutions like curtain and shutters and different things like that that we can do to block some direct sun, if it is too much but generally people are not concerned about too sun on the porch as they are inside their house because they are worried about fading their upholstery or their curtains or things like that.

That's not such an issue on the porch.


One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screened porches with porch shutters to help with sunlight


Mary: So the bottom line is that you need to put your porch where it needs to go as far as functionality and usability with your family and your guests and everything.

Nancy: That would be my recommendation.

Dave: So let's just change gears here and let's focus on the amenities. What are some of the more popular amenities people are looking for?

Nancy: Before we kind of built the porches and let the clients add things but we've gotten more and more involved in those things. Of course the first one is the fireplace. I bet on fifty percent on our porches we put a fireplace.

And then on the fireplace there is gas burning or there is gas ventless or wood burning. We actually do more gas ventless because they are less money and because we don't need to put a chimney on. They are more functional in that the heat immediately comes on by the remote control.

You don't have to wait for it to start up. Also as you leave the porch you don't have to worry about the logs burning down. So very functional from that perspective.


One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screened porches with a fireplace


You do not get that wonderful smell that you get from a wood burning fireplace and that's the main draw of the wood burning fireplace, it is just that authenticity and the wonderful odors. And there are other people who hate the smell of smoke. So it is kind of funny. Anyway fireplaces would be the number one amenity that we add to every porch.

Well, what we discourage is any kind of grill or cooking on a screened porch. We will do them sometimes on open air porches but inside a screen porch it is hard to get that smoke out of there.

If you do any kind of grill or cooking, you do have to have these big commercial grade exhaust vents which are very expensive and they are not effective because the wind can just overpower them very easily. So I do my best to encourage people to put those things off the porch in some location.

Outdoor wet bars of some sort whether it be just for handling beverages or having water accessible are great but you have to worry about having indoor cutoff for the winter time; you don't want your pipes to burst.

So those get to be kind of troublesome and people if they don't cut them off they forget and ultimately their pipes burst and they got water over the place and there is a big mess. So you've got to think about that.

I am very functional and very practical so I tend to try and talk people out of it unless they would really would like that. Outdoor curtains have become most popular in the last couple of years that make all kinds of wonderful fabric. Any kind of polyester fabric that is made for outdoor use is wonderful and they can just soften the look of the porch as well as be functional for a privacy standpoint or from the sun. If it is low in the afternoon and you are trying to avoid that western sun before your curtains cross. One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screen porches showing black porch curtains


Mary: And why did you mention polyester?

Nancy: Just because it is good outdoor material.

Mary: Ok. It probably dries quicker.

Nancy: It dries quickly and it is fine for it to get wet. It won't do the watermarks and those kinds of things. The other thing that we are doing is the All Season Curtains, which are our plastic curtains.

Mary: Oh those are your signature curtains.

Nancy: They are, something that we've come up with to solve the problem. There are a lot of people out there doing that but we think we've made plastic curtains as pretty as you can make.

For other people it is purely functional and ours are functional but I think they are pretty too.

So those are great because they help keep your porch dry and it help keep the heat in the wintertime and it also help your porch clean. And then the other thing that is so fun are the swing beds. One of The Porch Company's beautiful swing beds


Mary: Ohhh, oh my gosh!

Dave: Going back to functionality in designing your porch is to make sure that it is large enough for a swing bed.

Nancy: That's right, and that goes back to deciding on your furniture. Actually ours are very unique and again we are really proud of them.

We did build them ourselves and we've got different models and styles. The size of our swing beds is like a twin bed. Alright it is very large and if you were to sit on that you cannot put enough pillows behind you to get that comfortable.

So what we did is we made our back adjustable so it can be moved up into different notches. Then is is comfortable to sit on. Or just move the back and it will be comfortable to take a nap in.

Mary: Sounds to me like a porch swing or it can be a swing bed.

Nancy: Exactly

Mary: Or a bed for napping

Nancy: Oh you absolutely can, but I do spend Sunday afternoons always on my swing bed lying down reading a book or whatever napping. Or whatever and it is just delightful to just be gently swinging. I know how to just touch my foot on the floor and keep it going just a little bit.

You hear the noises of the birds and everything else outdoors. You get a little breeze going and it is just good as it gets here on earth.

Mary: You also have bedding.

Dave:Yes

Nancy: Yes, well you know when you sell something you realize that your customers say "where do I buy this?". So pretty soon you'll say ok I will just do all this.

So yes we have the mattresses now, we have mattress covers, we have pillow covers, we have ropes that you can hang it with. You know we have those various components that go with that.

Dave: Yes, very good.

Mary: That's the ultimate in comfort (laughs). I know another thing that we would love on our screened porch would be fans.

Nancy: Absolutely, to have the breezes going.

Mary: To have the breezes going.

Nancy: Fans are essential to a porch. Especially I know in Nashville in August, if you don't have some air movement, it just can be miserable. So the more the better. Now typically you are going to put one to two to four fans on the ceiling of your porch, which is great but I have found it is also nice to augment with some floor level fans and they make some pretty ones now.

Some floor level fans so that you have some air going directly across at different spaces. I love oscillating fans. I think it reminds me of grade school. I'm old enough. (laughs)


One of The Porch Company's beautiful custom screen porches showing fans on the ceiling


Nancy: And every time that fan hits you, it is just like ohhhh and it would go away and it would hit you again, right? (laughs). But anyway maybe it is a nostalgic memory for me but I love to have that floor level fan as well.

So make sure when you do your electrical for your porches you put some outlets in your posts. You cannot have too many outlets.

But a floor level fan if you cannot get to an outlet, that's frustrating. Please add those outlets to your columns.

Mary: So another thing to take into consideration when designing your screen porch would be lighting.

Nancy: Absolutely.

Mary: And what kind of porch lighting options are there, Nancy?

Nancy: Oh, they are so many and lighting does set the mood. So whatever lighting we do, we put everything on a dimmer switch.

So it will always be on a dimmer no matter what it is. Even floodlights I would put on a dimmer switch.

But what we like to do on our porches because we do have our vaulted ceilings we do like to have some up lights that would shine up on that ceiling and spill down and is every nice soft light. So the way we achieve that is using the LED strip lights which never burn out.

They are very, very low light and we put them on our horizontal beams which are color types that shines up so you can't actually see the source of the light whatsoever. I used to use this glow on our pretty ceilings, that's a lovely light and because we have these exposed-rafter ceilings most of the times, we can't use these recessed cans because we don't have a cavity.

So we end up mounting light features on the post like exterior light features like you would have inside your front door something like that. So we would put multiple of those inside the room of course on our dimmer switch and then we have the additional plugs so people love to put little lamps on tables and those kinds of things.

So there are a lot of different sources of lighting and everything does need to be appropriate for outdoor use because it potentially can get wet and we typically don't put lights on our ceiling fans although certainly an acceptable way to achieve some lighting.

Mary: So Nancy you are based out of Nashville Tennessee. So if some of our listeners would like to get in touch with you about having you build a porch for them, how would they do that?

Nancy: Well, first I would say please go to our website because we have thousands of photographs. Well, maybe hundreds of photographs out there and that's porchco.com - The Porch Company - porchco.com.

Or you can call us directly at 615-662-2886. The website has just got a wealth of information and we would want you to go there first to get an idea of what we can do for you. And then you'll know more when you come and talk to us.

Mary: Well we are so delighted that you spent time today with us Nancy.

Nancy: Thank you for having me.

Mary: And we would love for you to come back.

Nancy: Thank you. I would love to come back. Appreciate it.

Dave: Thanks. Bye bye.

Nancy: Bye, bye.

Dave: Oh, that was great having Nancy on the porch with us today. Well, she does build some beautiful porches.

Mary: Oh she sure does and it would be really fun to have her back to talk about her open air porches too.

Dave: Oh yeah, her Porch Store, too.

Mary: And the Porch Store, well, that would be wonderful!


Meet Nancy

Nancy Moore, founder of The Porch Company Dave and I have known Nancy almost since we created our site. She is not only a talented designer and builder of porches, but she also relates so well to her customers.

A true porch lover herself, Nancy enjoys her own screened porch and says on Sunday afternoons you can find her at home taking a nap on her adjustable swing bed.

Nancy's passion for designing and building porches is undeniable. We love the quality she puts into her work and the amount of respect she has for her customers. First class in all respects.

If you are thinking of a new screened porch for your home, take a look at The Porch Company website for some wonderful ideas and smart tips on their blog. If you live in the Nashville TN area, be sure to contact Nancy for a porch consultation.

We also feature Nancy's company in our Porch Ideas Network where you can see some of their wonderful porch designs. Absolutely stunning, actually.


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Podcast 10: Enjoy Your Porch More with Screen Porch Windows

With Sean Laker of the Rekal Company

Porch Ideas Network Podcast Logo Mary and I interviewed Sean Laker with the Rekal Company who shares details about a screen porch window enclosure option that is perfect for both do-it-yourselfers and contractors alike.

Mary and I are excited to share the porch window features with you as we know many of you would either love to convert your existing porch or screen porch to a three season room, keep out dust, wind, or pollen, or just extend your outdoor time.

With all the options that Sean talked about, we believe you will like the features and flexibility these windows have.


Podcast Highlights

A Few Tidbits About Screen Porch Windows

  • Mount these porch windows from either the outside or inside (no ladders necessary)
  • Choose your screening options for view or privacy
  • No more storing windows (like we used to do and lug them out each fall)
  • Opens to 75% - more than any standard window
  • Easy for the do-it-yourselfer so you don't have to pay for installation



Program Excerpts: Screen Porch Window Enclosure System

Podcast: Sean Laker shares about the versatility of adding screen porch windows to your porch to turn it into a 3-season room. No more taking out screens and lugging out the storm windows when winter arrives.
These vinyl panels enable you to enjoy your porch much longer
Costs: "People can use these to enclose their porches, pennies on the dollar versus adding a conventional room onto their homes; just a fraction of the cost."


Safety: "They are super safe; they are vinyl glazed versus glass glazed, they are light weight, and much easier to operate, no need to flip any levers, they just slide freely up and down into the system and can be stored at the top or at the bottom."


Color Options: "Basically any color you want; basic colors are white, beige or almond, bronze, sandstone, and then we have designer colors: hunter, green, clay, brown, a beautiful burgundy, red, along with custom paint to satisfy specific homeowner requirements."


Cleaning: "Cleaning of the system is very easy. Best way is to wait until the pollen season is over and use a soft broom and hose to wash off the screens. Then use sudsy water (diswashing liquid) to clean the vinyl."


EzePorch vinyl window panels on screened porch
Amazing view with EzePorch vinyl window panels



Beautiful home with EzePorch panels
EzePorch panels adds beauty to any home



About the Rekal Company

The Rekal Company is a family owned and operated business and has extensive experience in remodeling. Sean takes great pride in their products which have helped transform porches across the country for years.

Learn how easy it is to convert your existing porch to a more usable space with these screen porch window enclosures.

The Rekal Company is proud of the fact that they treat their customers like family. If you would like to reach them to learn more about their offerings, visit their EzePorch website.



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Podcast 22: Custom Aluminum Screen Door for Your Porch

With Our Guest, Steve Pfeffer, Jr. of PCA Products

Porch Ideas Network Podcast Logo pca screen door company logo A porch without a custom screen door is like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without the jelly! Who doesn't remember running onto the porch and hearing the "ole screen door" slamming behind you?

Although screen doors have come along way in both durability and design, an exterior screen door still lets you bring the outside in without the pests.

Open your home to fresh air while simultaneously adding aesthetic value to your home. A custom aluminum screen door will far outlast other materials and you can create your own special look.

Whether you are looking for a high quality aluminum screen door, a patio screen door replacement, or just a reputable screen door company, Mary and I recommend that you look at PCA Products.

They are one of our fine sponsors and we have had the chance to see their manufacturing facility first hand and to touch and feel their screen doors.

Join us as we discuss the value of aluminum screen doors with our guest Steve Pfeffer, Jr., of PCA Products. Steve has created one of them most durable screen doors on the market and he shares some innovative design features that you should ensure the door you choose possesses as well.


Podcast Highlights: Custom Screen Doors

Custom screen door on beautiful home by PCA Products
Aesthetically pleasing aluminum custom screen door
Steve Pfeffer touches upon the following
  • Find out how the screen actually gets tighter when you push on it.
  • Discover a way to customize your screen door to match your architecture.
  • Learn why you could actually hang with your weight from this screen door.
  • Find out why a quality aluminum screen door is hand-made, not on an assembly line.
  • So versatile, you can easily hang this door for right or left hand operation and it is adjustable for both width and height - perfect for do-it-yourselfers.
  • Learn why the best doors come with an "easy pull" handle.
  • Learn about "double screen door" options.


Program Excerpts: Custom Screen Doors

On Quality

"We've engineered into our product, a number of value added features that add up to a product that will provide years of trouble free operation with minimal maintenance.

And we do this crazy testing with a family on the screen and hanging from the door because it speaks to folks who have put a door on their house and just to see it fall apart in a very short time."


Custom Design Feature

"It is geared toward what we would call the front entry market, where folks have an entry, a vestibule, leading up to the home.

And they are able to go in there and design right around the architectural style or whatever door they want...we have a nice tool that helps them with that."


Screen Door Styles

"From simplistic to ornate, and everything in between.

You have contemporary style, Mediterranean, colonial,Craftsman, country, cottage, Florida series, coastal series; we offer many different designs for a reason, because there are many different architectural styles out there and folks want something that will complement their home."


Construction

"We start with a heavy aluminum frame, that frame wont' rot, twist, or splinter, and without the heavy frame and internal corner key system that has been engineered into the product, that would never be possible (to hang from the frame).

We produce the product to customer specifications and after that and each one being built one at a time, it's powder coated one at a time. This is not an assembly line; these are hand-crafted one at a time."


Screening

"Most systems you just push the screen a little bit and it rolls right out of the frame and you have to repair it.

We know that is a big issue and one of the things we engineered into the door, is a system where the more pressure you apply against the screen, the tighter the screen gets."


PCA Products Aluminum Screen Doors

creative aluminum screen door by pca products
Custom aluminum screen door on screen porch enclosure



custom aluminum screen door on screen enclosure by pca products
Custom aluminum screen door on screen porch enclosure
patio screen door replacement by PCA products
Patio screen door replacement by PCA Products



PCA Products custom screen door visualizer
PCA's unique custom screen door design tool



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Podcast 28: Screen Porch Kits

With Our Guest, Glenn Smith of Screen-House.com

Porch Ideas Network Podcast Logo logo Discover all of your DIY screen porch ideas as we talk with Glenn Smith, President of Screen-House.com. From soft-top screen porch kits to more permanent structures, each is designed for the do-it-yourselfer.

Mary and I installed a soft-top screen porch years ago and still appreciate not only being able to enjoy extended time outdoors, but also the added space a screen porch enclosure affords.

Learn what you need to know before you purchase a kit online, from measuring to understanding the reality of transportation issues.

Invaluable information from an expert who walks us not only through our options but also factors that will improve the entire experience, from ordering to installation.


Podcast Highlights

diy screen porch kit from screen-house.com
DIY Screen Porch Kit
  • Discover more screen porch options than you may realize you have.
  • Learn and understand the importance of load requirements
  • Discover the feasibility of installing a screen porch kit on a manufactured home or trailer
  • Discover the most prevalent reason for installing a screen porch kit
  • Understand timing and important transportation considerations

Program Excerpts: DIY Screen Porch Ideas

With Glenn Smith:

Screen Porch Kit Options

"There are soft-top enclosures for people in snow country. They are designed to go up in the spring and down in the fall.

Hard top enclosures are designed to take on snow loads in snow areas. They are a one-up installation. We have extrusions that people can cut and put together (for those with existing roofs) like an erector set and screen in those openings."


Most Prevalent Reason for Screen Porch Kits

"It is about creating that extra room at a time of year when you want to be outside but want to be protected at some level.

There are lots of people depending on the exposure where their deck is almost useless because of the sun; it's no fun sitting out at noon in 95 degree weather under a beating sun."


Loads Requirements

"We will insist they make a phone call to their building department so they understand the load requirements for their area. That way they know what they are paying for."


For Manufactured Homes

"As long as you have a wall to attach it to, and where you can access for the mounting rail that holds the roof at the house wall and access a number of stud along the wall, you are good to go."


DIY Screen Porch Design Ideas

three sided screen porch kits for diy
Soft tops installed on deck and manufactured home



diy insulated porch roof for deck
Insulated roof perfect for porch or deck
Mary and I installed one of these on our back deck and loved the extra room it provided for our family.


patio mate for deck or patio by screen-house.com
Seasonal screen porch kit - perfect for decks or patios



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Podcast 38: What's Better than a Screened Porch

With Caisson Craven at DIY Eze Breeze

Porch Ideas Network Podcast Logo ezeporch windows on home Our interview with Caison Craven, Operations Manager with DIY Eze Breeze, was insightful regarding how you can turn a porch or covered deck into a three season room and save money doing it.

With minimal effort, almost anyone can transform their existing outdoor structure into a fabulous outdoor room while simultaneously keeping out dust, pollen, and wind. Or, easily open the windows to expose screen panels for enjoying the summer breezes and sounds of the seasons.


screen porch windows in porch enclosure
DIY Eze Breeze porch windows



Podcast Notes: Better Than a Screened Porch

Three season screen porch window system by DIY Eze Breeze
These vinyl panels let you to enjoy your screened porch more months of the year

Highlights from our discussion with Caison

  • These vinyl screened porch windows turn your open porch or screened porch into a three season porch - so more porch time - butter than even a screened porch.
  • They are more affordable than glass windows which equates to an affordable three season porch.
  • Because these windows are four panels, they can open up 75% compared to 50% for casement windows. So much more fresh air and wonderful breezes than ordinary windows.
  • The vinyl windows can be tinted (at no extra cost) so you can block out the strong rays of the sun to enjoy your porch that much more. And they don't break like glass.
  • Since you won't have to store storm windows (and take them down in the spring), storage problems are alleviated.
  • If wind, dust, pollen or rain keep you from your porch, these windows take care of that problem. So you can enjoy your porch even when the weather isn't the best.
  • So easy to install, you can do it yourself or hire a local handy person

Program Excerpts: Better Than a Screened Porch with Caison Craven

Ease of Installation

"Because of the ease of installation for this type of window, you don't necessarily need to hire a contractor. If you are relatively comfortable with a hammer and a drill, you can just as easily put these windows in yourself."


Usability

"This product allows you to extend the use of your porch, be out there more often, and be more comfortable even when the weather is not."


Functionality

"The most popular option is the vertical four track window. It consists of four panels that raise up and down on tracks. You can raise and lower as you wish, raise them all, or do so individually depending on your needs."


Vinyl Panels

"You can put a tint on the vinyl to eliminate glare at no extra cost. There are four levels of intensity for that tint."


EzePorch vinyl window panels on screened porch
Eze-Breeze panels add appeal to any porch



Beautiful home with EzePorch panels
Full views with these screen porch windows

Get More Info about These Screen Porch Windows

Check out their main page where you can find a dealer in your local area.



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Mary and Dave, Founders of Front Porch Ideas and More
Hi! We're Mary and Dave, lifelong DIYers, high school sweethearts, and we both love porches. You've come to the right place for thousands of porch ideas.
--- Our Sponsors ---
The Porch Store

Use the PCA Visualizer to design your screen door

Shop for Porch Parts at Vintage Woodworks.

--- End Sponsors ---
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At no extra cost to you, we earn a commission by referring you to some products on merchant sites. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. As an Amazon Influencer, we earn from qualifying purchases. See our disclosure policy.
We, Front Porch Ideas and More, confirm, as stated on our privacy policy, that we do not sell personal information.

All content here is solely for presenting ideas. We recommend consulting with a licensed, experienced contractor before you begin your project.
We make no guarantees of accuracy or completeness of information on our site or any links to other websites contained here.


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