I would just screen it and use it in summer. It's not big enough to hold much furniture. Do you have a living room to use in winter?

That's a good point about the size. It could hold a sofa and a table and that's about it. We do have a living room but that's pretty much it for downstairs seating space. I'm thinking this would be nice for me to read in quiet while my wife watches TV in the living room (or vice versa). The indoor cat would also get a thrill out of it. But I guess he'd benefit from the screening, too.

Anyone else have any experience with three-season sunrooms? Do they get too hot in the summer? Too cold in the winter? Both?

search this forum for eze breeze windows (porches forum), I don't know if they make 3 panel ones instead of 4 panel ones but if so that might solve your issues. You could move the panels up to only cover the upper 1/3 of the opening (above eye level) in the summer for a screened porch and close off the porch with the vinyl panels in the winter to heat it with a space heater. I have a large 13x20 ezebreeze sunporch and, with the panels closed, was able to raise the temperature within 30 minutes from 48 degrees to 68 degrees with an electric space heater last night before company came over, and maintain it at that temperature cycling off and on. On the summer we had all the panels fully open so that only screens were present above mid thigh (we have a short kneewall also).

My two cents....if you like to keep plants in there over the winter (which I would!) then a glass porch would be beautiful. Perfect for sitting with a cup of tea or coffee and beginning your day.

However, if it's also a major traffic pattern to the outside.....glass it and you'll probably end up with a mudroom. Screen it and you'll have a nice space to sit and enjoy the breeze, without the bugs :)

I am curious too about traffic patterns. Is there a lot of traffic in-and-out of the house through this porch? I agree that if it's glassed in, it will become a major dropoff point for everything and you won't have room to sit out there and read.

It seems too small to spend a great deal of $$ on. I'd screen it and be done. And you could put a ceiling fan in. I've got one on my screened-in porch on the west side of my house. The fan keeps the air moving and it doesn't get uncomfortable until the temperature is over 90 or so.

4 seasons all the way. Install single pane windows with movable sashes so they can open and close as weather dictates. Since doorway face's North use a prehung full lite door or heavy storm door with good weatherstrip. Taking it a step farthur,have moviable upper sash on North window(s) beside door. That will set up draft with air entering other open windows at bottom and exiting North window(s) at top. If you are super handy,a through ceiling exhust fan with shutter will pull even more draft through open windows. Simple shades can controll sun in hotter months while alowing sun in on cold days.

Thanks for the eze breeze tip, scrappy. I did some searching and they look like a promising option! Some people complained that the windows had no R value and thus didn't work great for keeping plants through the winter. (All we would do would be herbs, I think.) But it sounds like you and your company were able to stay very comfortable, regardless of the windows' lack of insulation. With the space heater, how long into the winter can you use the room?

We've only lived here for a few months, littlebug and lavender_lass, so we're still figuring out traffic patterns. Right now this side door is our main avenue to the car / outside, but that might change to our back door once we redo our kitchen and mudroom. (Thanks again, lavender_lass, for your advice over on the kitchen forums!) I'd want to keep a pathway on this new porch, either way, so the most you could probably do would be a couple chairs OR a sofa and a table for herbs. There's not a ton of space, and I agree that that might mean it's not worth glassing in.

I'm still stumped, I guess. Maybe the best option would be to frame the openings, staple on some cheap screens, and add a Habitat Restore screen door -- then we can see how we like it as a screened porch. But we could also frame the windows with the idea that we might add single-pane windows in the future. That way the conversion wouldn't create too much extra work.

klem1, I appreciate your suggestions on how to make the glassing in work. I hadn't really thought about shades but you're right -- they could allay a lot of my worries about the summer heat.

The eze breeze windows will keep in the heat if the heater is on, but very rapidly return to outside temperatures once the heater is turned off. The same will happen for a glassed in porch in the winter. I suspect that you do not intend to run your HVAC out to the porch ($$$) , and it would be too expensive to run a portable heater nonstop just for plants. The EzeBreeze only extends people use for spring and fall in my area, the mid Atlantic region. The best thing is that it retains the feel and temperature of a screened porch in the summer, humidity and all ( tolerable with the ceiling fan)

Thanks for clarification, scrappy. I got a quote from the EZE Breeze people -- $1400 for six windows (plus more for a door). We'll definitely think about it as an option.

I wouldn't do the door, just any storm door with self storing glass and screen should be fine.

One thought. Why don't you just try a ceiling fan to cool down the small porch and blow away the flies? Then you may not need to do anything else other than a small heater sitting right by you in the cooler weather.

While my wife loves the old schoolhouse light that's there now, I've thought about switching to a ceiling fan. I knew it would help keep things cool with the glass -- I'd never thought about it helping with the flies even now. But it would be right above the seating. That makes sense!

It's not 7 X 10 of usable space. Most of it is walkway in and out the door. IMO it is too small to fuss with very much, and...if you are doing other remodeling, this porch may *change*. Wait until you're happy with the major stuff.