NJW, your Columbus, Ohio general contractors, are always finding ways to convert spaces into new spaces that your family needs! One of those ideas might be to convert your porch or four season room into a room addition that can be used year round.
If you have an existing screened in porch or patio, you may be surprised by how simple it is to convert this space into a four season room that can be used all year round, no matter what the weather outside. The framework is already there, all you need are some walls and windows, and you’ve got a more livable square footage. The amount of work that the conversion will require depends in part on how high the quality of the original porch construction was. If the porch is a marginally built add-on, turning it into a permanent room addition will be more difficult and time consuming due to the required upgrades, but nothing a remodeling professional like NJW couldn’t handle.
A couple items that would need addressed during the remodel would be:
Insulation:
A more thorough conversion involves building complete walls inside the existing screen walls and insulating them. By building solid walls up to waist height and making the upper walls out of glass over screens, you can reduce the heat loss in cold weather while maintaining the open feeling and light of the porch. If you are interested in insulating the new room to the standard of the rest of the house, the screens should be entirely removed and replaced with standard insulated walls and regularly sized thermopane windows. This method will allow less light into the new room but will keep it far warmer in winter.
Roof Venting:
A serious consideration is the structure of the porch roof, which after the conversion will be an addition roof. Any living space that is heated needs a roof that is both insulated and properly ventilated to keep the room warm and to avoid ice buildup on the eaves of the roof. Excessive heat escaping through the roof will cause snow on the roof to melt, and then to freeze when it reaches the gutters or the edge of the roof, which in turn will cause ice to back up under the shingles and damage them. This problem can be avoided by insulating above the ceiling, and by installing vents above the insulation at the eaves and at the peak of the roof. Proper air flow through the roof will reduce problems of condensation and melting.
Contact us if you are interested in converting your porch into a room addition, we can work though the whole process with you and help you maximize your space! We currently build in Westerville, Worthington, Whitehall, Upper Arlington, Powell, Pickerington, New Albany, Lancaster, Hilliard, Gahanna, Dublin, Bexley, Columbus and all of Central Ohio.