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.

Our first house which we lived in for over 30 years had a small screened porch which was screened on a north and east wall. We started using it here in NH as soon as it was warm enough. Both rain and snow came thru the screens. My husband always swept the excess out the door since the porch was over the basement tool area. The amount of rain/snow depends on how the wind blows in your area. I never keep track of weather patterns and in New England they seem to depend on the type of storm we are having. The ceiling fan helped a lot even though the house was on a shady lot and the porch did not get afternoon sun. Our current porch faces east. We will build an additional porch that will be off the new kitchen (currently being totally renovated). It will wrap around the garage that is being built now. My husband wants to put a cot out there for hot evenings. We have a ceiling fan in a livingroom but not in the kitchen/dining area. Although the livingroom has south windows it is much cooler because of the fan. We will put fans on the new porch which will have a dining area and a sitting area. We ALWAYS eat on the porch as long as it's warm enough or not too hot. I have not noticed the furniture getting wet although for bedding purposes keep in mind that on muggy, damp days you might not want to leave bedding on the porch all the time. The cats love the porch BUT we do not let them stay out on the porch at night because we have coyotes in the area. Ours might be high enough off the ground but the old porch that was closer to the ground was a problem for a relative. A bobcat came right thru the screens to get his cat. My husband has seen a screens badly damaged by a hawk that tried to get a small dog (we're in NH). The dog escaped into the house. We can sit on the porch when it rains, you just don't want to be close to the screens.

Hello, Building a nice screen room with tapered round columns is a bit time consuming but can be done. I've done a few on some historic homes. What I do is is align a piece of either 5/4 or 1 x along side the tapered column. I then hand scribe it vertically plumb, cut it so that it butts tightly against the column with its' slopes. The end result is a vertically plumb 1x or 5/4 jamb to create a square box in between the tapered columns to accomadate the new screen panels. Normally all the tapered columns are the same. So once you make one attachment piece to a column, you ccan copy them for all the rrest. Now you have a square opening to calculate your screen panels that would be installed in between. I make my own cedar screen frames and run screen spline tracks on the table saw. Of course I prefinish all the pieces and parts before assembly. If I can be of further help, please email me with your thoughts. All the best, The PorchGuy Here is a link that might be useful: My album

There's a fairly wide range of choices for a small project like this. Do you want a complete AC system with PV cells, batteries, and an inverter, powering a fairly conventional 120v fan and lights? Or do you want a simpler (older style) DC system using 12v devices without an inverter? The first is probably better if you foresee expanding the system in the future. The second is usually cheaper, but more limited in options. I'd suggest the OP start by looking at small "remote cabin" type PV systems at regional PV installers and/or online.