Ava, I think the branch manager meant, if the concrete is raw or unpainted - then it is porous, once it is painted with any type of paint including an acrylic epoxy paint it is no longer porous. Therefore the type of sealer I would use would be different than if I had used a stain on the concrete - with a stain the concrete is stil porous but with an acrylic epoxy the concrete becomes non porous. Since that time I talked with the woman who originally put this treatment on her restaurant floor and she used an oil based varathane. However, I am going to use a water based or acrylic based varathane on mine. I have talked to several people and the water based sealer has less of a tendency to yellow than the oil based. Also I am thinking if I want to change the color or redo the concrete floor in the future, then I am thinking it will be less troublesome to redo a floor with a water based product. One point - I have tried using varathane with a roller before and it tends to put little bubbles in the finish, so I am going to use a flat sponge to apply the varathane. The woman doing the restaurant floor used a flat applicator to apply the varathane too. I am going to try my garage floor this week and will let you know how it turns out.

"Could I put grommets in the corners of screens to basically hook them into the corners?" No, screening will rip, no real strength to it. "Is there a power tool I can rent that's strong enough staple screen fabric to concrete posts?" No, you cannot staple to concrete. "Won't building screens to custom fit the space be very expensive?" What is your definition of expensive? Having the frames made as Handy mentioned is the only real way. Only other way is even more expensive and that is building a new structure..............

No. Our daughter found out she was having twins and wanted us closer. So we are putting our house on the market and are in the process of buying one about 5 minutes from them.

I think you missed my initial questions at the top. I said I need help starting, which means that I don't have a plan yet; I'm trying to develop one. This is our first project for the house besides minor interior changes; I don't know where the right place to start even IS. If you're saying to start with my city building department then that's helpful, but I'm not sure what you mean. I don't know anyone that has hired an engineer for house building. Architects, yes, but why do I need an engineer? Sammy, I appreciate the schematic. I'd be interested in seeing if that would be a good alternative if it would be infeasible to use the slab directly. If it needs footers like Anglophilia did, but it wasn't installed with them, then it may be the best option. Maybe I need to rephrase for those that keep asking about my plans: Has anybody had a screen porch built over a slab (not deck), whether they did it themselves or hired a contractor? What is a good starting point? My plan is that I want a screen porch, and I have a slab. Do I start with the city building department before looking at anything else, or talk to contractors? What kinds of questions should I be ready to ask or answer?