we used door (screen and glass) inserts as the foundation for our 3 season porch. You replace the inserts based on the season. Very simple and pretty cost effective. The only issue is that it makes more wood framing than some screen solutions.

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thanks for the advice. It looks great.

How do unheated "livable" spaces (screened porches, season rooms, etc.) get considered as part of your square footage for tax purposes? I understand that traditional calculations for your home's square footage typically does not include these totals but I would think that an assessor would take them in to consideration. Is there any trick to maiximizing your livable spaces while minimizing your tax liability?

Around here (No Cal), covered porches, anyway, get counted as sq footage for maximum sq. footage calcs (as long as there's a roof...otherwise, it's not counted), but not for tax purposes. I have a friend who built one of these 3 season rooms, and I think he said it counted as sq footage for tax purposes, b/c it'd be easy enough to replace screens with windows, and heat with a space heater. I think it was already wired for elec, and had a ceiling fan.

hee hee....my 3-seasons room has sort of evolved and taken on a life of it's own. When I first designed this house, there was going to be a deck off the diningroom, and a deck off the master, both at the back of the house. I was going to put a water garden between them. then I changed it to 2 screened porches. Then I changed it to one large screen porch, 47' long and 14' wide. Then I changed it to double-hung windows instead of screens (now it's turning into a 3 seasons room). It was supposed to be unheated...but we have since decided to add a nice fireplace and an window air-conditioner so it can be a 4-seasons room. Since it's heat and air are independent of the rest of the house, I can leave the windows open for most of the year and enjoy the sounds of nature, but I can easily close them and make the temperature comfortable on the hottest and coldest days. This room is going to be everyone's favorite beause of the view. There is a huge, double opening french door between the dining room and the sun room so for big family dinners we can just open the doors and make the two areas feel like one big area. I LOVE this design!!