Installing a screened porch onto your home involves both basic framing techniques as well as deck building techniques. It can add a great deal to the comfort and value of your home, but it is also a major construction project – similar to adding a room to your home – so you need to allow for the time and labor it involves.

Screened porches are regaining popularity after several decades of neglect. With rising cooling costs, the porches provide a breezy, comfortable get away, and offer additional entertaining and summer living space for a lower cost. The screens provide an insect-free outdoor dining experience, and a degree of privacy not enjoyed on an open patio.

The advances in woven fiberglass screening – which doesn't curl or stretch when used – and aluminum screening – resilient and rustproof and available in three colors – make the screened porches even more popular.

Unless you are a very competent do-it-yourself builder, you'll want to hire a professional to add a screened porch. Such a construction will require building permits and complying with code, as well as a complete understanding of framing and decking. Professionals who complete these kinds of projects regularly will likely be able to take care of it professionally and with pleasing results.

You can build a beautiful screened porch with lumber in standard dimensions and without any extra heavy beams or complex joining, so the project is reasonable.

Look on the internet or at home improvement stores to find plans for screened porches. It is simple to begin the process, but to find the finished plan, be sure to consider for what purposes you will use the porch, and consider how large you would like the finished project to be.

There are also books of screened porch designs available at the library and in retail stores. If you have a plan in mind and a size for the finished porch when you approach a contractor, it will be much easier for them to bid on the project and to estimate how long it will take them to complete the porch.

One idea to consider is what kind of screening system that you may use to enclose the screened porch once it is constructed. The most basic, cheapest and most common system is to simply stretch the screen across the opening and staple it to the opening frames. This method is effective, and once you learn the technique, is fairly simple. It must be tight, but not so tight that it causes warping and pulling in the screen.

Although it is inexpensive, it is difficult to remove for maintenance or painting without damaging the trim. It is also difficult to stain or paint when the screen is up.

A removable screen takes more trouble to construct, but is more versatile, and allows you to easily change screens.

You can build frames from 1 x 2 or 2 x 2 boards. You or the contractor would create a spline groove with a router, and then miter the corners of the boards for a secure and attractive fit. A lap joint is a good alternative to a mitered edge. Frames allow you to change screens easily, and allow you to insert glass or acrylic into the frames to make a three season room instead of a screen porch.

Interested in a screened porch for your home? Get your project started by submitting a free BuyerZone request for deck price quotes.