How Do I Keep Animals From Under My Deck
Do not use any poisons or traps. Dig a trench a foot deep near the opening and put in ¼- to ½-inch wire mesh or hardware cloth or strips of lattice. Use a piece that is 12 inches wider than the area you need to cover. Bend the bottom 6 inches out in an L-shape to prevent animals from digging under it.
All About Screened In Porch Under Deck
Having porch under deck in your backyard is a good idea for an outdoor spot in a small space. You can use it for storage and even entertainment area as well.
Porch under deck is useful for many things and you can spend your time with your family there.
One of the ideas about under deck porch is having screen on it.
Read also: How to Keep Rain Out of Screened in Porch Windows.
Considerations For Screening In Decks & Patios In Maryland & Virginia
When approaching unique outdoor living spaces, there are multiple paths one can take to arrive at a successful design resolution. It’s easier when there’s not an existing structure like an elevated deck or flagstone patio, but old spaces can be reimagined and rejuvenated with things like new Zuri decking, outdoor kitchen cabinets, and even brand new walls. It doesn’t take a teardown to convert a patio in Maryland or deck in Virginia into a screen room without compromising on beauty or structural integrity.
Also Check: Build Wood Deck Over Concrete Patio
Under Deck Screened In Porch
Screened in porches are a great option for those that want to have flexibility with their outdoor space. Commonly called three season rooms, they are a porch that is closed off from the rest of the backyard with screens. By using screens and not full walls, youre still allowing the breeze into your room, but have protection from rain and bugs. Depending on the screen, it can be an added privacy measure as well. Screened in porches are an extension of your indoor living space. These indoor/outdoor rooms can be enjoyed three seasons of the year in mild climates and left open all year around in warmer areas. By choosing to screen in the space underneath your completely open deck, you are able to keep the best of both worlds.
Screened in Porch Wall Ideas
While your screened in porch wont have solid walls, it will have screens closing them off from the rest of the backyard. Depending upon your budget and how much flexibility you want from your porch, there are two different screen options. They both create different experiences in your space. If youre still concerned with extra moisture in your space, you can install waterproof curtains that can roll down over the screens.
Screened In Porch Lighting
Screened in Porch Furnishings
Convert The Space Under A Second
Under deck ceilings add functional space, comfort, and value to your outdoor living area, and they can be installed on most existing and new decks. Your custom-designed under deck ceiling can incorporate ceiling fans, recessed lighting, and swinging benches. Along with being maintenance-free, under deck ceilings keep you and your furniture safe from the elements.
Once you have a ceiling installed, you can also have your under deck space enclosed with screen panels to create a screened-off room which is great for keeping bugs out. Such screen enclosures can have large screen panels that ensure unobstructed views. Choices in screen fabric range from standard, sheer, pet resistant, or solar screens.
Read Also: How To Replace Webbing On Patio Chairs
Ways To Keep Dry Under Your Deck
If you want to buy a manufactured system rather than build your own as we show here, you have a lot of choices.
These are just a few examples of what’s available. Search online or visit your local lumberyard or home center to find other options.
Install The Roof Boards
To bevel the first roof board, set your table saw or circular saw to 23 degrees and rip a bevel on the groove edge of the board. Align the board with the ends of the trusses and nail it with 16d galvanized nails. Install the remaining boards, making sure to snug the joints tight before nailing them. Let the boards hang out past the last truss to form the gable end overhang. Cut the last board on each side to fit at the peak.
When you’re done installing the roof boards, snap a chalk line at the gable end and saw them off to leave an 18-in. overhang. Finish the gable end overhang by installing a pair of rafters and the 1×3 trim. Hold the gable end rafters tight to the underside of the cutoff roof boards and screw through the roof boards to hold the rafters in place. Then cut 1×3 trim to cover the end grain of the roof boards. Extend the trim around the corners and return it along the roof edge to the house.
Also Check: Concrete Patio Cracks
Enclosed Front Porch Vs Back Porch Vs Wrap
Most of the costs for enclosing a porch relate to square footage. Based on the type, you should keep these factors in mind:
- Front Porch: $ Might need a security screen door, which runs $50 to $600
- Back Porch: $$ Often larger than those in the front
- Wrap-Around Porch: $$$ Usually requires more square footage for screens, may need more doors and/or stairs
Measure And Get Screen
The first thing you must do is determine how much screen you need, and where you want to put it. You may want to put screen below the floor of the deck, to keep critters from coming up through the cracks, as well as screening the rest of the room in. You should hang your screen up on the support beams that hold it up to your home, in a vertical fashion much like you would hang curtains. Measure accordingly and leave a foot per panel you need for error in cutting. Its also a good idea if you get a screen thats wider than the panels you need, or youll have to build something to tack extra panels to. Also measure for screen to be installed on the bottom part as well, below the banister and behind the spindles.
Determine how much screen you need and take it home from the hardware store, and get ready to screen in your deck.
Recommended Reading: Raised Concrete Patio Cost
Screened In Patio Overview
However much you love your patio, there may be just too many days when its not fit to live on. Our enclosure turns a patioor a deckinto a space as comfortable as another room of your house.
Of course, a closed in porch wont keep out the cold, but the roll-down shades will block out most of the rain. And, thanks to the screens and the awning soffit , you can forget about mosquito attacks.
Our 14 x 16-ft. enclosure is a big project, but its the best of any do it yourself screen porch kits around! Although its fairly simple structurally, it requires careful work with a lot of large-dimension lumber. The trickiest part is getting all these components square and plumb, which probably calls for more than a beginners skills. And youll spend a lot of time buildingtwo or three weeks going at it full time, or much of a summer in your spare time.
We built our screen room roof high enough to preserve a pleasant view through the sliding doors. In summer, the awning top shades the bright sun, yet allows plenty of light to pass into the house. And heres the biggest selling point for this project: You can easily remove the awning in winter and let the sunshine in. The structure is designed to look good even without the awning top. Of course, you could leave the awning on all year in many parts of the country, but it wont support a heavy snow load.
Prepping The Deck For Screening
Step 1: Use joist brackets by attaching them to the eave or side beam of the anchoring structure. They should be spaced every 24 inches. For spaces less than 20 feet, space the joists 18 inches apart. The beams should be at least 2 x 6 inches thick in order to hold the weight of the plywood on top, so make sure to get brackets that will accommodate the size of the wood.
Step 2: Place flat faced brackets on the handrails, preferably on top of posts that are in place for support. This will help to ensure that the handrail is not compromised during the construction or while in use.
You May Like: Black Spot Lichen Remover
Round Up The Materials For An Under Deck Drainage System
Rune bought corrugated fiberglass panels at a home center to use for his under-deck roof. The panels he used are 26 in. wide and 12 ft. long. He attached the panels with special roofing screws that have hex heads and neoprene washers for sealing. Youll find these screws where steel or fiberglass roofing is sold. You could also use galvanized steel or plastic roofing panels and install them the same way. Rune screwed treated 2×4 purlins to spacer blocks to support the panels and provide the necessary slope .
Gutters arent required, especially if the water drains onto your lawn. But if the water falls onto the patio, gutters can prevent splashing. Rune chose PVC gutters because theyre inexpensive and easy to cut and install. If you decide to install gutters, youll need lengths of the gutter, gutter straps, end caps, a downspout outlet, downspouts and special glue to join the sections.
Read Next
Under Deck Landscaping Ideas
There are many beautiful deck ideas for styling your outdoor oasis. But what about under your deck? How are you using that often forgotten space?
For many, the space beneath the deck is an afterthought, and honestly, it can look that way: random garden tools, childrens backyard playthings, and old building materials piled up. Dont just hide the chaos with a bit of lattice. Its time to reclaim this space for outdoor living with these 10 landscaping ideas for under your deck.
- Increased home value
Read Also: How To Remove Mildew From Patio Furniture Cushions
How To Build A Deck Roof: Attach The Purlins
Plan to space the 2×4 purlins parallel to the house and 3 ft. on center. To provide drainage, the panels should slope toward the outside edge of the deck about 1/4 in. per foot. If the span under your deck is 12 ft., for example, the purlin at the outer end of the deck should be 3 in. lower than the purlin along the house .
First, mark all the purlin locations on the deck joists. Install the purlin along the house and the outer purlin. Then stretch a string between them. Measure down from the deck joists to the string at the other purlin locations. Those measurements will give you the widths of the spacer blocks.
Cut the spacer blocks and screw them to the bottom of the joists at the marks. Then attach the remaining 2×4 purlins by screwing them to the spacers.
Adding Lighting Fans & Heaters
The area beneath your deck can be quite dark which is why adding lighting can help make the space even more usable. Recessed lighting can be incorporated into the deck ceiling while lights can also be built into deck steps, surrounding retaining walls, or landscape beds.
If theres enough headroom, a ceiling fan can even be made to help discourage mosquitoes and keep your space cooler in the summer. If you intend on using this area in the fall through early spring, you could even have radiant overhead heaters installed to stay toasty.
Recommended Reading: Antique Wrought Iron Furniture Prices
Bug Protection For Your Screened
If theres a way into your screen porch, you can bet pests will find it. In a well-built screen porch, the door should be the only potential way a pest can find its way into the room.
In order to effectively protect against bugs, a screen porch must be completely enclosed, but if your porch wasnt well built from the start, it is often the deck floorboards that were overlooked. Traditional decking has a 1/8 or 1/4 gap between boards, which is more than enough room for mosquitoes or other bugs to crawl through.
Here are the three most effective ways you can build or update a structure to provide more complete protection from creepy-crawlies.
Item Have Been Added To Cart
Screen framing systems or porch screen kits make it easier to add or replace screen around your porch. The method provides much cleaner results than with stapling.
To calculate how much material youll need, sketch a diagram of your porch with measurements for all vertical and horizontal pieces of the frame that will support screen.
To determine how much screen you will need, multiply the overall width and height of the porch and then add an additional 10 percent for waste.
Tip: Screen frames can be made any size, so screen sizes range from 3-foot widths to 8-foot widths. When screening in a porch, select rolls of screen appropriate for the dimensions of your framework or for any frames that need replacement mesh.
Pieces of base strips with grooves to hold the screen and the cap strips that cover the base come in 8-foot sections. They can be cut to fit using tin snips or a similar cutting tool.
Choosing the screen mesh material is another consideration when figuring out how to screen in a porch.
Fiberglass screen is the common choice for porches because it is less expensive than aluminum screen. It is easier to install because of its flexibility and doesnt crease like metal screen mesh is prone to do.
Metal screen mesh, such as aluminum screen, is more durable than its fiberglass counterpart, which stretches and tears more easily than other types of screen fabric.
Fiberglass screen requires .175-inch diameter spline.
Use .160-inch diameter spine for aluminum screen.
Also Check: How To Clean Algae From Patio Umbrella
Screw The Panels To The Purlins
Starting at one end, attach the first fiberglass panel to the purlin with the roofing screws. Place the screws in every other valley. Snug the screws enough to compress the washer slightly. Overlap the next panel onto the one you just installed and attach it the same way, this will make waterproof deck systems. When you get to the end, the last panel may be too long. You can just overlap it a bit more or cut it to fit. It’s simple to cut panels to length or width with a circular saw and a carbide blade.
Screen Porch With Fireplace Estimate
Once you have a screened-in porch, you might want to add a few extra features. For example, building an outdoor fireplace costs $3,000 on average. The price to build an outdoor kitchen averages $13,500. It’s important to ensure that these additions have ventilation and a location away from the screens. Under high heat, certain materials can melt or sustain other damage.
You May Like: Removing Dog Urine From Concrete
Screen For Screened In Porch
Measure for the screens after the structure is completed. Buy custom-made screens for the enclosure and the doors, or make your own. If you live in the Sun Belt, you might want to consider using a sun-blocking screening material .
As an alternative to custom-made screens, you might want to consider securing the screening directly to the framing. However, this system does not allow the screens to be taken down and put back up easily.
The total cost for our patio enclosure will range from several thousand if you use less expensive materials to two or three times that amount for premium lumber and professionally made screens.
How Do You Hang Edison Lights Under Covered Patio Deck
To hang Edison lights under a covered patio, you’ll need to have hooks or screw eyes that are drilled underneath the ceiling of the covered patio or deck. Next, use silicon to do preventative shielding for water damage. Hang the string lights without the bulbs. Once the string lights are hung up, add the bulbs on along with an extension cord and automatic timer.
Recommended Reading: How To Remove Mildew From Patio Furniture Cushions