Category Archives: Screened porch

A screened porch in Overland Park by Archadeck of Kansas City

These Overland Park homeowners had a beautiful backyard shaded with lots of trees. They had an existing deck that unfortunately would get covered with dirt and other items that fell from the trees. They were looking for an enclosed dining area that was protected from everything falling from the trees. They wanted to make sure they continued to have natural light on their new porch.

When considering building a screened porch or other room, It’s important to know whether you plan on using your porch for dining or seating or both. This family wanted a room for dining with their grill right nearby. They had an existing deck that was not stable so we tore it down. In addition to the porch, we added a small deck for grilling and that allows room for a small table and chairs.

For the interior of the screened porch, we used cedar for the flooring, the wall posts, and the railing. The owner liked the authentic look of real cedar wood so he wanted to use a bit of it. For the ceiling we used white beadboard with built-in lighting and 2 Velux skylights for that extra natural light.

We used the same railings on the deck portion and inside the screened porch which was Deckorator aluminum balusters. It’s important that the porch looks original to the home so the exterior of the porch was painted to match the exterior color of the house.

You can see from the interior view that the family can still enjoy the view of their wooded backyard while keeping their eating area protected from leaves and other things that fall from the trees. They can also enjoy bug protection with the screened room.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

If you are considering adding a porch, deck, or other outdoor living area to your home, give us a ring at (913) 851 – 3325 or drop us an email at kansascity@archadeck.net. We look forward to hearing from you.

A key consideration if your screen porch will be used for dining

Have you considered adding a porch to the back of your home? If so, have you started to consider where they would go in relation to the back of your home? There are many factors that determine where your outdoor living area should be in relation to your house and those factors are different for every house. Those factors include everything from the location of windows on the back of the home to the direction the home faces and many factors in between.

The deck that adjoins to the screened porch accommodates a grill to be placed outside of the porch for easy access.

If you plan on doing a bit of dining on your screened porch, then the proximity of the porch to your kitchen will be an important consideration. When you know you will have your hands full with items being transported from the kitchen, it’s ideal if the porch is in close proximity to your kitchen. Our customers often ask us about the best place to put a screened porch and there is another reason that having it near the kitchen is a good idea. The most used room in modern houses is the kitchen when it comes to entertainment purposes. So, adjoining the porch to the kitchen will give the room more dining and entertainment value.

The elevated porch you see here is attached to a new deck made of AZEK’s Morado color. This color is a light-to-medium brown and is very popular right now. AZEK is a cellular PVC decking board that’s one of the lowest maintenance boards on the market and carries one of the longest warranties.

Gable screen Porch Overland Park Fortress steel rail AZEK deck

This elevated gable roof screen porch in Overland Park KS has an adjoining AZEK deck with Fortress steel railing.

The deck includes Fortress steel railing. The steps are also made of AZEK Morado with the Fortress iron railing. The steps are designed to connect down to the concrete patio.

The enclosed screened porch has an open gable style roof. The open gable allows for more light and air circulation. The roof has a custom roof connection into the side wall.

If you are considering adding a porch, deck, patio or other outdoor living structure to your home, give us a ring for a free consultation. We look forward to hearing from you. We can be reached at (913) 851 – 3325 or via email at kansascity@archadeck.net. Please take a look at more screened porch pictures and synthetic deck pictures on our website.

Overland park screen porch before after Archadeck Kansas City

Take a look at this Overland Park home before and after adding this new screened porch

Why is every one of our porches different?

It would seem that a builder that has been building a great product in a specified market for over a decade would have the design perfected. After all these years and hundreds of screen porches, might it be logical that there’s a great “universal” design? What is great is that we refuse the concept of universal design because not only is every home different but every family is different. The first question we ask on a consultation is how do you want to live in your screen porch? This seems like an easy question. Most people would say they look forward to having an extension of their home where they can enjoy the breeze, fresh air, closeness to sunlight, and easier access to the sights and smells of their back yard. But this doesn’t answer how you want to live on your screen porch. Here are a couple of key questions:

Do you plan on dining on your screen porch?
Do you plan on having a seating area on your screen porch
Do you plan on having both dining and seating?
What direction does the back of your home face?

The answers to these questions will help determine the size of the porch, the placement of the porch, and may even help determine the flooring material.

We could go on and on but instead, take a look at a few pictures of screen porches we’ve built in this area over the last decade:

Why the rebuilding in Japan means you should build your new porch or sunroom right now!

Overland Park KS Screened Porch with Treated Wood Floor and Knee Wall

The devastating Tsunami in Japan seems so fresh in our minds but also so long ago. When we are hit with a major devastation, the feelings and emotions seem so fresh in our minds yet we know intellectually that these events happened much longer ago. I watched an episode of 60 Minutes a week ago that surprised me. Japan is not in the rebuilding stage but yet rather still in the cleanup stage. What this means is that soon raw building materials are going to be in tremendously high demand on the International market. What this means for us domestically is prices are getting ready to increase.

Thirty years ago, prices on raw materials such as wood were influenced by domestic demand. Now, the prices of raw materials in the States are widely determined by world demand. Many of us are staying in our homes because of the challenge in selling our homes right now at any sort of attractive price. We’re also vacationing less because we want our dollars to last longer than the span of a vacation. We want to invest those dollars into creating a relaxing or seemingly luxurious space at our own homes. What better way to do this than to build a porch or sunroom to both expand our home and enjoy a greater view of our yards and a better connection with the outdoors. Visibility to our yards and to more sun has a relaxing effect and our porches or sunrooms can give us the feeling of vacationing at home.

Kansas City Screened Porch with Screened Gable Roof and Sky Light

Prices of raw materials are getting ready to go up. I always tell my prospective customers who are thinking about building in the Fall or Winter that it might be one of the best times to build because of impending first-of-the-year price increases. The material manufacturers not only commonly increase prices at the first of a new year but some get a jump on the annual price increase by raising prices at the end of the year. Where do the rebuilding efforts in Japan come into this equation? Many of us suspect that the effects of the increased demand on raw materials from Japan’s rebuilding have already been felt. Instead, Japan is nearing the end of their cleanup and is forecasted to have a surge in demand at the beginning of 2012 at which time raw material prices may likely increase.

Now is the best time to build your new porch, sunroom or room addition.

In addition to material prices, there are a few other reasons why now is the best time to build your new porch or sunroom.

Least amount of landscape damage

When you are building a backyard structure, there can be literally hundreds of trips from your backyard to front yard. If we are demolishing your old deck or structure or replacing parts of it, the materials need to be carried out of your yard by a person. In addition, the material is carried through your yard with many trips from front to back. The best time for lots of traffic across your yard is when the grass and plants are dormant and the ground is harder. It’s easier for the lawn to recover.

Large Gable Roof Sunroom with Attached Deck in Lee’s Summit MO

Easier for the carpenters

We all have this scene in our minds. Carpenters sitting on a hot roof or in a chair drinking a Gatorade and wiping sweat of their face This is not for being lazy. The heat of summer not only necessitates more hydration breaks but it also slows the carpenters down.

Much shorter waiting list

We all know the best people are busy. When we’ve heard about a great new doctor or landscaper, we expect to be put on a waiting list and we’re ok with that. We expect a waiting list from the best. In the Spring, any reputable contractor is going to have a substantial waiting list. If you call in April, it may be highly likely that your project cannot be started until early summer. As a matter of fact, if you call a contractor in the Spring and they can start right away – buyer beware. In the Fall and Winter, reputable contractors will still likely have a waiting list but it will be substantially shorter.

Ability to control your schedule

Now comes the frustrating part of building in the Spring. You’ve signed up to have your project built and you anxiously wait to hear when the contractor can start only to find that’s the week you will be on vacation or the couple of weeks when you are going to have loads of people in your back yard and cannot have builders around during that time. Similarly to the point above, shorter waiting lists mean a better ability to control having the building done at a time makes the most sense for you.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

When you call for a free consultation, we can help you determine what makes the best sense for you. The disruption on your lives and back yard will be much less. And, you’re likely to pay significantly less.

Call us now for your free consultation at (913) 851 – 3325 or email us at kansascity@archadeck.net.

To see more examples of our work, check out or photo galleries.

Kansas City sunrooms photo gallery

Kansas City 3-season and 4-season image gallery

Kansas City screen porch picture gallery

Top 5 reasons to build your new porch or sunroom in the fall

Screened porch and deck in Overland Park KS

Many customers ask me if the fall is a good time to build their new porch or sunroom and here’s what I tell them. The fall is actually a really good time to build for these reasons.

Less Competition – You’ve planned and saved. You’ve looked at pictures and have a list or ideas of the specific features you want. It’s mid Spring and you’re looking forward to enjoying your new room all summer long. Here’s the problem. Everyone else wants the same thing. Although we work really hard to build all of our projects in the timeliest manner humanly possible, there is simply more on our to-build list in the Spring and Summer than there is in the fall. Good reputable builders get swamped in the springtime so builders that are doing top quality work are going to have a waiting list in the springtime. In fact, if you have selected a builder in mid Spring to build your new sunroom and he says he can start tomorrow, be very wary.
Months of missing out – Here in Kansas City, we traditionally have very nice weather throughout the fall and even early spring. If you are having a sunroom built, you can enjoy that throughout the entire summer. You can be putting off enjoying your new outdoor room for more than a half year by waiting until Spring.
Permits take longer – All additions require permits. This is something that any reputable builder will do for you. But, just like builders are swamped in the Spring and Summer, the folks in the permitting offices are swamped also. This adds even more time that you have to wait for your new room to be built.
You may pay more next Spring – Just as all prices go up at different times throughout the year, prices for materials go up as well. Often times, building supply companies will announce their new price list at the first of the year. So, you could be paying a couple to a few more percentage points for waiting until after the first of the year.
You won’t ruin your landscaping – spring is the wettest season of the year and it’s the hardest to work around for yard and landscaping damage so it’s easiest to avoid some of the grass damage when it’s soggy. When you have it dry, it doesn’t pose as many problems. The wetter it is, the harder it is to keep your grass in good shape.

Screen room with tile floor in Leawood KS

If you know you’re going to build a new room on your house but building in the Fall just won’t work with your schedule or budget, still go ahead and call in the fall or winter. When we get ready to build in the Spring, our booked projects get built first. It’s on a first-come, first serve basis. One of the best things to do is plan, design, and contract your new room in the fall or winter. It will allow you to split up your budget and make sure you are first on the books to be built after the new year.

Don’t wait. Give us a call now to discuss building your room addition whether it be a porch or sunroom. (913) 851 – 3325 or email us at kansascity@archadeck.net.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

Is the inside of every screened porch the same?

Overland Park KS Screened Porch with Treated Wood Floor and Knee Wall

Last week we wrote a post about whether all screened porches are the same and the degree to which they can differ. In that post we focused primarily on the outside of the screened porch. This week’s I’d like to focus on options and considerations for the interior of your screened porch. The primary components of the interior are the floor, the railing, the ceiling,and the electrical package.

Screened porch flooring options

Let’s look at flooring first. There are so many more flooring options today than you may think. These primarily include woods, composites, tile, and concrete.

To tailor to a more traditional look, you can use the wood floor. Natural wood floors are less expensive than composite floors but do require substantially more maintenance. Where a composite floor is close to maintenance free, a wood floor will need attention every couple of years depending on the wear and traffic. There are some things you can do to keep your natural wood floor looking fresher for longer. One option is to paint your floor. This will provide some level of protection from wear. Another really simple option is a nice large floor rug. Outdoor rugs have also come a long way in recent years. Remember the green outdoor rugs that looked like astro turf? Today a number of companies make rugs designed to withstand some rain and other elements. You’ll want to read the labels to see the degree to which these rugs withstand the elements. Your screened porch will get a minimal amount of water inside as compared to an open porch but water will be a factor.

Leawood KS Screened Porch with Cedar Trimmed Roof and Slate Tile Floor

There are some tropical hardwoods that are traditionally used for outdoor. One particular tropical hardwood we used is Ipe. Ipe has a a great number of advantages over pine and pine and still looks very, very rich. It will need to be maintained, either stained or sealed to maintain its rich color.

People are also using tile for the floor of their screened porches. There are colors or textures available that you can’t get with wood or composite and tile can have quite a finished look.

Kansas City Screened Porch with Screened Gable Roof and Sky Light

Railing and knee-wall options

For your interior porch railing, material options primarily include wood, metal, composite, fiberglass, and vinyl. Like the other components, the differences include the cost and the amount of maintenance. Wood is going to cost less but is going to require more maintenance. Man-made materials such as composite, fiberglass and vinyl will cost more at the onset but very little maintenance is required. Many people don’t want any aspect of their screened porch to require work. They want to rest, relax and minimize any necessity for cleaning and maintenance.

Knee wall is also an option. Knee wall introduces a measure of wind and rain protection. Knee wall also serves another couple of benefits. The knee wall can be painted to match other aspects of the house and pull the structure into the overall aesthetic of the house. Knee wall also adds a moderate degree of additional privacy based on the position of your screened porch and the proximity to the areas you would like some privacy from.

Ceiling and electrical packages for your screened porch

Screened porch with beadboard ceiling and exposted rafters

Screened porch with bead board ceiling and exposed truss design

For the ceiling, we can design open or covered rafters and have a variety of great choices for the ceiling including cedar, pine, bead board, plywood, tongue and groove, and vinyl/PVC. As you’ve begun to plan your screened porch and selected various design elements you like, you may not have thought of the aesthetic differences the different ceiling options can make. A vaulted roof creates a grand, open and airy feel. Traditional screened porches had flat ceilings but today the popular option is the opposite.

In my experience, one of the most common upgrades, if you will, is how you configure your electrical. Most screened porches will have a ceiling fan. In addition, you can add built-in ceiling lights, we can wire in and install mounted ceiling speakers, and you may want a number of additional outlets for plugging in things like table lamps, floor lamps, laptop computers and televisions.

When you begin to dialogue with a builder, you will quickly know based on your rapport, how they listen and how you feel about their trustworthiness whether that builder will be a good match for you. Before you have a contractor come out, check their BBB rating. Check their reviews on Angie’s List, and review their website to see pictures of their work.

Give us a call for a consultation. We would love to discuss your ideas and propose the best solution for what you’re looking for. (913) 851 – 3325.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

Are open porches making a comeback in Kansas City?

This Overland Park Kansas Open Porch has a warm and inviting feel

Technically, open porches never went away.

But, we do typically build quite a few more screened porches in a given year. I will talk about how practicality is a substantial determining factor in this decision but I also sense that the changing times have had an effect on our sense of having a more open environment at our homes. I personally have a large open front porch reminiscent of the open porches of yesteryear. It used to be that families would stroll down the street at night and stop to talk to neighbors hanging out on their open porches. Or, the neighbors would be having a cookout and invite you and your family over for dinner because they saw you outside. Many would say we’ve gotten away from that. With our busy lives, we have become accustomed to living very much in the privacy of our own homes. But perhaps because of the political environment or just a migration back to good old fashioned values, many of us are spending time outside and enjoying opportunities to see our neighbors or invite them to talk or spend time together.

There are really 5 considerations to make when considering what you want for your porch and whether you wanted a screened porch or an open porch.

Design
Practicality
Aesthetics and Ambiance
Structure and Style
Cost

This TimberTech open porch in Lenexa KS has a very stately open feel and the design integrates into the style of the existing home.

Design –

You have likely seen many screened porches that have a very plain cookie cutter design. Perhaps the physical shape of these is a perfect square. Perhaps the roof of the screened porch is a gable roof but it does not match the roof style of the home. Perhaps the porch even looks like it came out of a kit. You have probably also seen custom screened porches that look like they are original to the home because the materials and architectural details down to the roofline fit the home. Custom designs often fit nicely on the back of the home vs. looking awkwardly placed or looking “added on”. One of the first things you will need to consider is whether you want a custom design or more of a “stock” design.

Practicality –

Shelter. Shelter from the storms. Shelter from the neighbors. Shelter from bugs. It’s also important to be very practical in this decision by considering your preferences and sensitivities to these issues.

EverGrain Deck and Porch Combo in Overland Park, KS

Shelter from the storms. Do you want to spend a tremendous amount of time outdoors and not want your outdoor enjoyment time to be thwarted by rain storms or even strong wind? Screens reflect a certain amount of the rain because the rain will bounce off. Roof design, overhang and soffits, along with amount of wind, will influence the rain.

Visual shelter from the neighbors. As nice as it may be to open ourselves up to neighbors when we’re spending time out on our screened porch, for some of us, we want this room to be our oasis. Screens introduce a measure of privacy. Many of us don’t immediately think privacy when they think of screens. The screens we use quite commonly make it difficult for the neighbors to see in from a couple hundred feet away. Today there are also screens that have additional benefits such as UV protection

Bugs. How much do the bugs bother you and your family. Do bugs often keep you or your family members from spending time outdoors? If so, screens might be a good option for you.

Aesthetics and Ambiance –

Screens tend to make it feel more like an enclosed room. A screened room is still outdoors and has a tremendous amount of light and air but screens feel a little more like a wall and therefore more like an enclosed room.

An open porch, on the other hand, still has an enclosed feeling but by subtracting the screen, there’s much more of a connection to the outside. The view is opened up even more so. The feel is really slightly more connected to the outdoors. It’s going to be brighter because the screens block 10-20% of the light.

Evergrain open porch and deck in Olathe Kansas

Structure and Style –

You can generally put columns further apart if you don’t have screens. You can do different types of columns because there are no screens interfering. There are also some design details that are open to you when you have open columns with no screens interfering.

Budget –

Ah, this guy always rears his head in any decision – especially in building an important addition to your home. Budget is really one of the first considerations you need to make. Without understanding your budget, your builder really can’t help you explore the options that are right for you.

Do you love the sound of the summer rain?

Most people love the sound of the summer rain. It’s probably because of the amazing smells that comes with it. There is nothing like the smell of summer and the smell in summer just after the rain. The other great thing that goes with summer rain is usually a nice cool breeze. Are you one of those people that goes to a favorite spot in your home when the rain begins because you know you can best hear and smell and feel everything that goes with the rain?

My customers tell me the same thing — my customers that I have built a sunroom for. Now imagine that the special place you go in your house when it rains is actually outside your house. A screened porch fits the bill for this just perfectly. With a screened porch…

You can eat outdoors without the bugs

You can be outdoors and control privacy and sun

You can be outdoors in the rain – it’s great to sit out there in summer rain

You can be out there with laptop or radio or TV because you have shelter from the elements

Before picture

When these Leawood KS homeowners called us, they had a number of problems with their old deck. The deck had issues and the awning which had served as sun and rain protection was ripped and leaked.

We decided to build a new deck and an adjoining screened porch. The style of this home is unique and has a lot of character so we came up with a couple of creative design ideas and presented the ideas to the homeowners. One of the roof designs that we presented for the sunroom was very unique and fitting of the charming look of this tudor-style home. It has a gable on a shed roof.

Another design detail was the redesign of the stairs. They wanted to design stairs to work with landscaping so we designed steps to be completely different than before and to work with their landscaping plans.

Kansas City Screen Porch by Archadeck

Here are some more details about the project and materials. We used Fiberon composite decking in Ipe color. This color imitates look of a tropical hardwood such as Ipe. We used Smart trim is designed to be painted to match the color of the house. We used Fortress railing which is galvanized steel rail that’s powder coated. This rail is very popular nationwide.

Kansas City Screened Porch inside tongue and groove ceiling

Here is a picture of the inside of the sunroom. You can see how the detail on the roof design really adds to the aesthetic appeal inside the screened porch as well. You’ll also note from the picture how much sun comes into the screened porch while still providing some sun protection.

Bonnie and Dan Hall, Archadeck of Kansas City Owners

Give us a call to discuss some ideas for your next outdoor project. (913) 851 – 3325 or email kansascity@archadeck.net