Screens keep the bugs out; vinyl panels in the same frames add spring and fall. Both go under a roof that has to be there first.
From a covered patio to a room you use in January
Each number is the step that adds that layer. The opening changes four times: screens, vinyl, glass, insulated glass. Steps 2 and 3, covered on this page.
| Step | Typical use |
|---|---|
1Covered patioA roof over the slab · on Patio Enclosures |
Warm days |
2Screened porchScreens between the posts |
Warm days, no bugs |
3Porch with vinyl windowsRemovable vinyl panels in the screen frames |
Spring to fall |
4Three-season roomA knee wall and glass in place of screens · on Four-Season Rooms |
Spring to fall |
5Four-season roomInsulated glass, walls, roof and slab edge, plus heat · on Four-Season Rooms |
All year |
Below step 2 Step 1, the roof over the patio, is on Patio Enclosures.
Screen panels fill the openings between the posts, usually over a low kick plate or rail at the bottom. They keep insects out and take the edge off the sun, but not wind or sideways rain.
Screening a covered patio you already have is a much smaller job than building the roof and the screens together, and quotes often mix the two. Check which one you are being quoted for.
Clear or tinted vinyl panels slide or clip into tracks in the screen frames, so the porch can close against wind and cold rain and open up again in summer. The screens usually stay.
Vinyl stops wind but holds almost no heat, so this is still an unheated porch. In how the space gets used, it sits between a screened porch and a three-season room.
Above step 3 Glass and a knee wall are step 4, then insulation and heat step 5, on Four-Season Rooms.