Off to the porch for family fun

One of the first things Mary Henning noticed about her house in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, was the tiny bedrooms: three small spaces with three little closets.

Not so good. But her reservations disappeared when she stepped through the kitchen and saw the screened porch.
“I walked out on to the porch and thought: ‘Oh, my God. I love this house,''' Henning says.

To be sure, a screened porch has practical appeal. But another draw is its modest, old-fashioned charm, the jog of a childhood memory that occurs each time the screen door slaps against its frame.

For both reasons, homeowners look to these sheltering spaces as the perfect place to while away the days of summer and beyond.

The popularity of screened porches is a function of the environment. “It is just a return to common sense about our climate in Washington,'' says Ralph Cunningham, the principal of Cunningham Quill Architects. “It's hot, it's humid and there are lots of bugs.''

Two years ago, Cunningham's firm designed a porch for Bonnie Washington's house in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

The existing deck sat unused in warm weather because the mosquitoes were so bad. “You'd be out there for five minutes and you'd want to pack it in and go inside,'' Washington says.

Today, the screened porch is one of the family's favourite living spaces much of the year. It's where the children like to play games and do arts and crafts, where mother and father like to watch the children play outside, and where they have meals and entertain.

Experts say homeowners should expect to spend at least $30,000 (Dh110,196) for a well-built screened porch.

Details such as a tongue-and-groove ceiling or recessed lighting cost more. “You're really building an addition,'' says Tim Burch, president of the local chapter of the National Association of the Remodelling Industry and of Burch Builders Group in Warrenton, Virginia. “You're just not adding heating and cooling.''

John Barrett, owner of Archadeck, a building company in Laytonsville, Maryland, says screened porches have been “the most significant part of [our] business'' in recent years.

“It's a cost-effective way of increasing usable living space''.
Chris MacBride and her husband, Neil, added a screened porch to their house in Arlington, Virginia recently.

Seasonal change

They were inspired by a porch they had enjoyed while house-sitting as newlyweds 16 years ago.

The porch acts as a family room where the MacBrides spend time together, reading and playing board games.

“It's a fun space that I can reinvent to suit our needs,'' she says. “That's harder to do with an interior space.''

Now the MacBrides' porch inspires many: The neighbours on one side recently added a porch, and the neighbours on the other side are building one. Friends in different neighbourhoods have added screened porches.

“We've inspired friends and no one has been disappointed. It's contagious. Once you have a porch, you won't want to go back to not having one,'' she says.