When I had a smaller house before the one I have now, I had a deck attached to the back that had a metal type roof. I was pretty poor, but wanted to screen it in so figured out a way to do it on a shoestring. One of my guy friends helped me build wood framing 'walls' for the three sides. We took off the 'rod iron posts that supported the roof, propped the roof up and screwed and nailed the framing in place, one by one, fastening it to deck, metal roof and side of house. I caulked the cracks, then painted the wood and screen door to match the trim on the house. We cut screen (you can get in rolls from 3-4 ft. wide) to the size of the faming panels and staple-gunned it in place, then took painted trim wood and nailed it over the staples to hide them. It looked fine and was one of the neatest things I did to that house. I spent hours out there and it made the enjoyment of my yard possible because I too had mosquitos that could carry you away. I even put a little wood burner in the corner for nippy days!

I wish I had pictures, but my mother created a wonderful 3 season room from our old screened porch. (We all love it now, but I don't think she got much support in the planning!)

It's about 15x15, with sliding panels and screens. Two sides of the porch have a total of 4 lsiding glass panels and two sliding screen panels. It's possible to open 7 1/2 feet of screen on each side, (either next to each oter or at eithr corner of the side) or have the porch completely closed off. (One side is the house, obviously; and a fourth, shorter side, has one fixed panel and a wide sliding screen door and glass panel.)
She has low electric baseboard heater along the side farthest from the house, and it really makes it nice to eat out there in late fall. While it does fall below freezing during the Cincinnati winters, it gets so much sun that she overwinters a humongous calamondin orange there every year.

There is a ceiling fan, but probably the best touch is the textured cement floor, that looks like stone. It's a dark, dark, dark green, with black in the lower pits and crevices. It's smooth underfoot, and your brain tells you it's cool -- even when it's 90+ with 90+ relative humidity outside!

Carole,

I'm in a northwest suburb of Columbus and we have a screen porch almost the exact same size as yours. When we bought this house 11 years ago it already had a screened porch that was in bad shape. When we decided to replace it 8 years ago (total rip our and replace) we got several estimates (be prepared to be shocked).

The original porch had screen clear to the floor but we wanted a 12-18" knee wall so that the dog and kids wouldn't kick through the screen but we could still have a good view of the yard. Well, after the contractor (who also is a building inspector for a nearby city) had the floor, kneewall and wall framing in, our city building inspectors came out (they did this at least 8 times during the process) and said that the kneewall would have to be at least 3' high because the floor is over 4' above ground level. Since we live along the river, our yard is very hilly and drops dramatically in the back. So, with the 3' kneewall we can't see most of our yard when sitting down.

Make sure that you know what the city will and will not allow BEFORE you start building to avoid issues like this.

We had the outside of the kneewall and the roofline sided to match the house so it looks as if it was built with the house. And since the city inspected so much, it should stand for quite a while (they required pillars buried in 3 feet of concrete every 4' apart

We went with just the screens and a regular screen door to the outside. Since the room backs up to the family room, there are sliding doors to enter it. The screens are individual screens in frames that can be removed and could be replaced with glass later. Also, there is at least 6" of space between the interior wall and the siding that could be insulated if we wanted to make it a 3 season room later.

I do enjoy being able to avoid the mosquitos at night and sit outside and listen to the birds. I couldn't live without one now.

We restain the interior every 3-4 years. For winter, all I do is move my furniture to the middle and cover it with plastic. That's worked so far.

I'll take some pictures and email them later.

The house I just moved into has a set up with sliders on all four sides, triples on the main wall, doubles on the e & W walls, and one into the family room.

So far it works great, even with the gully washers we've had. The idiots who had this house abused most everything, and managed to bend the track and the bottom part of one of the sliders.

I have a dog and two cats, and the screen door has that aluminium grid like stuff over it, and that works fine.

The previous owners installed cheap, plastic bamboo screening to block out some sun and that has to be replaced. The flooring is stinky industrial carpeting and I plan to replace that with some quarry tile and hopefully a floor drain as I raise orchids.....There's a light with a ceiling fan in it and that is great as well....

Not sure if this is any help at all, but there you have it.

Carol, I just sent you a private email about how we built our own screened in porch. Hope it helps you, and if I can answer any questions send me an email.

I have an existing 12x16 low to ground pressure treated deck in excellent condition. I would like a screened in area either as an addition on top of the deck or a walk way off the end of the deck into a hexagon screened gazebo.
Anyone have any photos, plans etc. of what they have accomplished.
Thanks