Design Considerations for Your Screened Porch in Leesburg, VA
January 22, 2015
Before you plan a screened porch in Leesburg, VA, make sure to consider basic design elements to ensure you get the best screened porch for your family’s lifestyle. From the ground up, your porch can be planned and designed to add significant value to your home and your family lifestyle.
Let There Be Light
Both the sunlight in your screened porch and the natural light filtering into your home will be affected by where you place your porch. Be aware of sun angles throughout the year, existing window locations, and passive solar benefits in winter that may be lost. Both light and temperature will need to be factored into your equation. Believe it or not the design of your roof and ceiling can also greatly contribute to the amount of natural light as well as your home’s ability to utilize passive solar heat and natural ventilation.
Screened Porch Architectural Necessities
Your screened porch should match the scale and aesthetic sensibility of your home. That said, make sure to allow enough space for the activities you will accommodate, such as eating space, an entertainment/media area with seating, and pedestrian traffic from the house to the outside. Make exterior entrances inviting with casual seating, and mid-level platforms with plants, or perhaps an outdoor grilling area, to break up long flights of stairs. This arrangement makes for a gradual transition space between your home and your yard where you can use landscaping techniques to blend the two.
Materials Make The Difference
The marketplace is flooded with an assortment of construction materials to enhance the look and feel of your screened porch. Stamped or poured concrete, tile, stone, and wood are all materials to explore. And screens offer subtle differences between fiberglass and metal. There are many exciting design possibilities. Just remember to distinguish between the structural components, such as support beams, footers, and load bearing walls, and materials more suited to interior applications or finishes. Some things can be negotiated, but structural elements are too important to compromise quality. It can be an overwhelming process, so take your time up front and consult with trained professionals who can navigate the design/build process with you.
If designed and constructed properly, the screened porch at your Leesburg, VA home will become the center of your activities and the heart of your home for many years to come.