Made in the Shade

Screened Porch In Milton, GA

This Milton family had everything but a comfortable place to sit outside, and all their furniture ended up down on the concrete.

Before

A Deck Nobody Sat On

The deck was narrow, it took full sun all afternoon, and the white spindle railing blocked most of the view of the yard. There wasn’t much reason to go out there.

After

Why We Talked Them Out of One Long Porch

The obvious build was a single covered porch running the width of the house. Look at that back wall though. The left half is almost all glass, feeding daylight into the main living space. Put a roof over that and those rooms go dark for good. So we built two structures instead of one.

Covering too much of your rear elevation is the one thing you can’t undo cheaply. You’d be tearing off what you just paid for.

The Two Structures

Open Pergola, Left Side

We used vinyl on four wrapped columns over the glass. The slats block enough sun to sit under and still pass light to the rooms below.

Screened Porch, Right Side

We matched the gable pitch to the existing roof and built it over the solid part of the wall. Screens keep the bugs out, two fans move the air, and this is the room they actually use in August.

The Details

The Pitch Match

The new gable had to land at a pitch close enough to the existing roof that the addition doesn’t announce itself. Off by a little and the whole thing reads as bolted on.

Where the Load Goes

A roof that size has to reach the ground. The posts carry down through the deck framing to footings sized for it, all of which disappears the day the decking goes on.

The Ceiling Height

The gable gave us the height to vault the porch ceiling. A flatter roof would have worked structurally and made the room feel like a box.

The Materials Behind the Finished Porch

Component	Product
Screened porch	Gable roof, 254 sq. ft.
Decking and stairs	Trex Transcend.
Railing	Trex Signature aluminum, black.
Shade structure	Vinyl pergola, 162 sq. ft., four wrapped columns.

A project at this scope runs around $103,000 to build in the north metro today. Site conditions move it either way.

If Your Furniture Lives Somewhere Other Than Your Deck...

…Then the deck is the problem, and more furniture won’t fix it. Come sit down with us at our Woodstock design centre and we’ll work out what it would take to make you want to be out there.

or visit us at Woodstock Design Center 135 Village Center W, Suite 100