Hey all,

I'm cross-posting this here and at the "Old House" forum.

My wife and I recently moved to an old brick colonial in central Indiana. Our side porch, which faces east, is a favorite place to sit and read, though there are issues with mosquitoes (and I'm sure soon it will get uncomfortably cold). The side porch door goes into the dining room; the porch measures about 7 by 10.5 feet.

Anyway, we're thinking about closing the space in in some way. Obviously adding screens and a screen door would be the cheapest and easiest solution, but while it would fix the bugs (and while we have a high tolerance for being chilly!) I doubt it would make the porch useable from, say, December to February.

The second option would be to glass it in. While the porch's short brick walls (and its concrete floor) wouldn't have any insulation, I think the room would be fine in the winter, especially with some added electrical outlets and a good space heater. But then I worry about the porch getting too hot in the summer -- all that glass, plus all that sun, seems like it could get miserable. Perhaps there are big sliding windows or removable windows that would allow us to use screens in warmer months? Or maybe just using something simple like storm windows that can slide up to expose screens on the lower halves?

To sum up, I worry that unless we're willing to pipe HVAC to this space -- and I don't think we are -- we're faced with a tradeoff: do we want a screened in porch that we can't use in the winter or a glassed in porch that we can't use in the summer? But maybe I'm looking at this all wrong; I've never lived somewhere with any kind of enclosed porch. So I'm hoping some people here can share their experiences and advice. Is there a way to make it reasonably comfortable year-round without HVAC? Should we just stick with the simple, screened-in approach?

Any guidance (on comfort, usability, aesthetics, etc.) would be great -- and some pics are below.

Best,
Craig