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Porches & Decks Smaller Homes Remodeling

How much to budget for a screened in deck/porch or sunroom addition

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

I am a first time/novice homeowner based in downtown Durham, NC, a booming transitional housing market, and I am interested in making some improvements to our home we purchased as a flip. To add a little extra living space to our small home (~1,000 sq ft), one of the big changes we're considering is replacing our existing 13x13 deck with a slightly larger screened in porch or sunroom. How much should I roughly expect to pay to either: A) add a roof and screen in the existing deck, B) demo the existing deck and build a 13x 18 screened in porch, or C) demo the existing deck and build an all-weather sunroom?

Thanks for your insight on this!

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Comments (2)

CarrieHund
5 years ago
We just spent 32k on a 11x16 screen porch that wasn’t even trimmed out or screened by the contractor. My husband did that finishing work.

So 32k for footings, structure of the floor attached to the house, pvc porch tongue and groove flooring, 6x6 posts, and a shed style roof with shingles.

We did get quotes that were lower by about 8k several years ago. But maybe that’s when the economy wasn’t as good.

I feel like like it was a very high price for what we got, though the contractor did give me a very detailed invoice.

If it makes a difference, it is raised up from the ground about 4 feet. I think it is much cheaper if you build on a concrete pad.
PRO
Fenstermann LLC
5 years ago
Hey There:

Sunrooms are a great way
to improve living quality in your house as well as increasing the value of it.
Enjoy outdoor experience on a rainy or cold day and watch the stars at night –
bring the outdoors inside and extend the time you can enjoy it. Besides the
design of your new sunroom, you must consider how to bring shading to it - you
don’t want to sit in a glass house and get cooked.

The shades should easy
adapt to your shading and privacy needs for example with a bottom up top down
operation for pleated blinds, roman shades and venetian blinds.

Must be able to cover
triangles and odd shapes (most sunrooms have some non-squared glass)

Must be able to be
installed overhead for skylight or similar

Must be minimalistic to
keep the open sunroom feeling

Must be available in many
colors, prints and designs to choose from

Sunrooms and window
treatment go hand in hand for a perfect sunroom experience.
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jane ny, I was in a similar situation last year. For me the sequence was paint first, then flooring, then baseboards, But it looks like you may have baseboards already installed. Painting first worked for me because I did it myself and there were spatters on the subloor before I was finished. You might want to check on whether your subfloor is indeed covered with plywood, because you may need an underlayment before installing your floor, depending on what you choose. Best to check where you buy the flooring. With some help from a friend who knew what he was doing and owns a Skill Saw, I installed a plywood underlayment in less than two hours. I too wanted tile with a slate or similar look, but the room was already over budget (long story) and I chose to spend my money on high end French doors because the floor could always be changed later. I got some advice from the flooring forum while deciding. You can always post a message there before you proceed. We narrowed floor choices down to either loose-laid sheet vinyl or vinyl tiles. My friend chose the tiles because the color and pattern seemed to fit well in the sunroom/porch. The original intention was to keep those tiles for about a year while I shop for tile and find a good tile installer. But the floor has held up well, despite some abuse like beach sand, rain coming in when some airhead (
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Without knowing budget and dimensions a few things come to mind. 1. Bifold patio doors. These will probably run you at least 10K for a multi panel setup. Dont forget to budget in for a screen 2. French style patio doors with sidelights. You can have the sidelights be the same width as the door. If you have a 12 foot opening then the two center doors open and fold back to back with the sidelights. Again dont forget to budget for the screen. 3. Multi panel sliding doors. Im no expert but my dining area does open to my patio so i have a bit of experience with this. I ended up enlarging an window and adding a set of french doors with a side light. Mine is only 3 panels each 36" wide. It looks like 3 doors. My screen slided across covering the two doors. A few other things to consider. If you do put a door in that area will it now become a pathway? If it does are you okay with having a wood floor and people coming in/out with their shoes on? Thats what happened in my case and i wish i would have put a more scratch resistant material down. At the very least plan for a rug as large as the opening.
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@bellburgmaggie houses in our neighborhood go for around $150/sf, but are typically Victorians that need a lot of work, or have been stripped of everything historic inside. Our house is different in that is has a lot of historic detail and we have renovated a ton and fixed major systems. That might effect our pricing in our favor some, but unfortunately, spending that much on this room for so little square footage wouldn’t be recouped. I think we will live with the room as is and then keep our eyes out for new property.
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I completely agree with Bruce! The effort to somehow retrofit the deck won’t be worth it and you may pay extra for someone to try to jury-rig and still end up with a substandard result. Start over and do the job right (from the foundation up). Then you get complete flexibility to get what you want, maybe 24x24 or maybe a somewhat different size. FWIW, building costs are pretty high right now. The cost of materials is high due to all the natural disasters and alll the tariffs (even my roofer says his supplies are creeping up, due to the tariffs). Don’t forget to budget for permits too.
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