How to Choose Between a Sunroom and a Screened Porch

Enjoying the great outdoors from the comfort of your home is a luxury everyone hopes to achieve. When you’re looking to enhance your outdoor space with a sunroom or a screened porch, the possibilities for entertaining and relaxing are hard to pass up. However, how do you choose between the two options? Here are some things to consider when choosing a new patio enclosure for your living space. 

The Three-Season Room

This type of patio enclosure allows you to enjoy bringing a taste of the environment into your home, but only for three seasons out of the year. Often during the winter months, these additions will become too cold for comfort, and they can increase your utility bills by trying to keep the space continuously heated. 

Three-season spaces can be more cost effective if you choose to opt for a simple screened porch as opposed to installing glass to make a complete sunroom. However, the screen is certainly going to prevent you from using the space during the winter season, especially for areas farther north with frigid temperatures during those months. 

The Year-Round Room

This type of enclosure often requires the use of insulation and installed glass window panes to keep utility costs low and keep the area, as well as the rest of your home, more comfortable. Single-glass panes can be used but energy-efficient, double pane windows are better for temperature regulation in the home. 

While this concept does cost more for materials and labor in the beginning, a year-round room does pay off in the long run by giving you full access to your added space at all times. The insulation is also intact throughout the year, preventing both hot and cold temperatures from changing the comfortable living temperature in the rest of your home. 

Whether you opt for a sunroom or a screened porch, adding a three-season or year-round patio enclosure can be a lovely space for your home. The extra square footage, the increase in home value and an expansive area to entertain make either project a worthwhile investment.