This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Screened-in Porch: Yea or Nay?

Is a screened-in porch a "yea" or "nay" for you and your home? Here are some pros and cons to having a screened-in porch as part of your home.

I ask myself this question all the time: Should I convert my screened-in porch, which I can basically only use four months of the year, into a room—home office, eat-in area, den—that I can use every minute of every day for 12 months of the year? Hmmm ... when I pose it that way, the answer seems simple—of course!

But before I jump to any quick decisions, let's back up a bit. Screened-in porches either come about because you inherited one when you bought your home or you decided to add one to your new house. For me, it was the former. My home in Weston, MA was built in 1972, and most of the homes in my neighborhood were built with one. My screened-in porch (pictured here) is positioned at the back of the house adjacent to the family room. It also serves as a passageway to the garage, the back patio where we grill and our backyard.

Most people love having the option of a screened-in porch because it allows you to virtually be outdoors without being bothered by bugs or being rained upon when storms roll in. It is a great room to have during the summer and early fall when the weather is warm. At my house on these nice days, it functions like a second family room. Some people also like to store outdoor furniture in screened-in porches during the winter months. Unfortunately I can't do this with mine. Because of its location right off of the family room, it would be quite an eye sore if we used the porch this way during the winter. Plus we pass through it so many times a day to access either the garage or the backyard that it would be a nuisance to maneuver through all of the stored furniture. Too bad for me because that can be a fabulous benefit to having a screened-in porch.

Find out what's happening in Westonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The other great thing about our screened-in porch is that it basically operates as a holding room for our pets. Our doggie door (also pictured here) is built into one of the walls of the porch, so our golden retriever, Carly, can go freely back and forth from the porch to the backyard. It's protected from the elements, and she can take a nap in the screened-in porch without getting wet. Our indoor cats also love the porch during the warm season. We lock the screen door (so they won't push their way out to the great outdoors), and they join us on the porch, enjoying the breeze, sleeping on the furniture and keeping an eye out for bugs, birds and squirrels—very exciting.

On the other hand, you also have to consider the not-so-compelling aspects of having a screened-in porch. First, porches get wet during rain and snow storms. This means that furniture, pillows, flooring and decorations can get wet as well so you have to be careful what you put on the porch and how you decorate it. Most of the items need to be waterproof or water resistant. Otherwise you'll have to anticipate the storms and pull everything inside before the bad weather hits.

Find out what's happening in Westonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The other problem with a screened-in porch is that everything on the porch gets dirty, dirty, dirty—not to mention the pollen storms that come in late spring and early summer. And so cleaning, dusting and vacuuming the porch needs to be done quite frequently to say the least.

But more importantly, there's the usage issue that I was describing above. Screened-in porches can basically only be utilized during the summer and early fall months, maybe four months of the year at the most.  This is only one third of the year, which is not much. I guess you can see where I am going with this. Keeping the pros and the cons of a screened-in porch in mind, I'm starting to think that my screened-in porch may be better utilized and enjoyed as a room that we can use 24/7 12 months of the year rather than only four months of the year. That being said, I have lived in my house for more than 10 years now, and I haven't yet converted the porch into a year-round room. So maybe the screened-in porch is still a "Yea" for me at this point.

What are your thoughts about a screened-in porch?  Are you a screened-in porch enthusiast or the opposite? And if you inherited a house with one like I did, would you keep it or convert it to another year-round room for your house? Finally, if you were building a new house, would you include a screened-in porch in your floor plan design? I can't wait to hear.

For more information or if you are considering putting your house on the market in the spring, please contact me (781-267-2844 or www.homesalesbylisa.com) for a complimentary home appraisal or with questions about the market.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?