I think it's up to your personal preference and comfort with the space, and your budget. Have you measured the size of your furniture? Our front porch is 8' with 2 rockers facing the garden. We can walk past the rockers without feeling like we're falling off the porch (no railing on ours as it is low enough not to require it). We have room at the edge for planter pots that are 1' deep. Also, our house was designed for passive solar. The 8' deep porch is shaded all summer (south-facing sun is overhead) except for the 1' front edge where we have the planters. It is sunny all winter (sun is at an angle). Hope this helps. Cameron

Our back porch (not screened) is 12 x 30 with steps at each end, and it's a great size. The 12' wide means it's easy to have a table . . . and still have space to walk around without scootching sideways. My husband's a big griller and has his outdoor kitchen set up on one end (Big Green Egg + lots of toys) and we still have space a-plenty for the table and other seating on the other end. The covered porch is one of the best features of our house. Our new house has a back porch alllll the way across the back of the house, which'll be 34 feet . . . and I'm widening it from 8' to 12' so it'll be essentially the same as what we have now. And we're going with a patio instead of a wooden floor -- less maintenance. We will again NOT go with screens. Our current porch columns were placed /sized so that screens would be inexpensive to install, but we've never wanted them. We do have two ceiling fans out there, and moving air helps a great deal with bugs. We also burn Citronella candles when we're at the table.

On my big house I have a screen porch that is 7'wide by about 15'. For the 2 of us, or even with a 3d, it is fine. We have a small table against one long wall with 3 chairs, a double glider thing with end table between the seats (great for reading)at one end of the porch and I usually have a small 3drawer chest for garden stuff at the other end. I think it depends on how you expect to use the space. If you plan to entertain groups of people frequently, you would want something bigger. If it's just 2-3 people relaxing or having breakfast-you should be ok with 8x15. I do think you'll like 8 ft better than 6. A screen porch is one of the nicest "extras" you can add to a house ,imho. Lot's of pleasure for relatively few bucks.

There are two basic ways this "runner" can be fixed. 1. Fill in and recolor the chewed away parts. The stick epoxies that come in neutral tones are good for this. Quikwood is one common brand. You can roughly shape it with an old credit card or gift card and a little soapy water while it's still uncured. Then you can sand away to do the final shaping with sandpaper after it's fully cured. You will then have to color and finish to match. 2. Have a whole new runner remade. This is more time consuming to do, but will be easier to blend in a new color. Use the old one for a pattern as to curve, hole locations and dimensions.