What Does It Cost To Enclose A Porch? Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Dan Totilca/Getty Images March 24, 2022 Joshua Cox-Steib has two years of experience in writing for insurance domains such as Bankrate, Coverage.com, The Simple Dollar, Reviews.com, and more. His work has also been featured on such sites as MSN and BBB (Better Business Bureau). His insurance writing career has spanned across multiple product lines, with a primary focus on auto insurance, life insurance, and home insurance. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo
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Enclosed porches come in three basic varieties. Three- and four-season porches are often referred to as sunrooms. Screened-in
This is the most plain-vanilla, relatively quick and inexpensive approach to enclosing your porch: just adding screens to the sides. Screening in your porch will protect the area from critters and bugs, and keep the rain out. On the downside, there’s no climate control, so it won’t extend the seasonality of the porch that much. 3-season windowed or walled-in
With this style, your porch is walled or windowed to protect it from the elements, and it also improves temperature regulation: The closed windows can trap heat in, or on warmer days, they can be opened to allow a breeze into the porch. However, because these porches aren’t insulated, they won’t be usable in the dead of winter, and they could be cold on nippier days. 4-season insulated incorporates HVAC
A fully insulated porch takes the advantages of the others and adds the benefit of climate control: You can connect your porch to your home’s and fully regulate the temperature. These porches have insulation in the walls, and preferably insulate the windows as well. In short, the porch becomes like a regular room. The downside of four-season porches is that they cost more, have a more complex build process, and take longer to build than the alternatives. What influences the cost of enclosing a porch
The type of enclosed porch you decide on plays a significant role in the final costs, partly because of the materials and labor differences between these styles. Still, there are other factors to consider too. Type of enclosed porch
Screened-in: $1,215 to $2,800 is the national average cost range, according to HomeGuide and HomeAdvisor. Three-season: $10,000 to $40,000 is the average cost range, according to HomeGuide. Four-season: $25,000 to $80,000 is the average cost range, according to HomeGuide. Materials
Materials have a wide cost range depending on the purpose and type. Screened-in porch: Materials cost $600 to $3,210, according to HomeGuide. We’re talking mainly about the screen mesh here, which varies significantly by price per square foot — from fiberglass (15 cents) to copper ($6.50). Other popular materials include vinyl-coated polyester mesh (58 cents), bronze (85 cents) and stainless steel ($1). Three-season: , according to HomeAdvisor. Materials for a three-season room enclosure can vary, but generally include framing materials and windows, at a minimum. Windows can run from $150 at the lower tier, up to over $1,000 at the high end. Lumber costs for framing varies, but generally will be only a small portion compared to the windows. Four-season: $15,000 to $60,000, according to HomeAdvisor. Four-season rooms include all of the material costs of a three-season, but with extra materials required. These enclosures utilize insulation in the walls, and may tend towards higher priced insulated windows. Wall range from 20 cents to $1.50 per square foot depending on the material used and how thick it is. Common options include fiberglass batting (30 cents to $1.50), spray foam (50 cents to $2), and rigid cell foam (25 cents to $2). Labor
Labor represents a significant portion of the cost to enclose a porch, although less than materials in many cases. The style and size of the porch has a strong impact on the amount of labor required, but you can expect labor generally to make up 20 to 40 percent of the total cost. Homeowners should expect to spend $4,000 to $20,000 on labor, depending on the project. Other types of porch enclosure costs
Obviously, the size of your porch influences the price tag: the bigger the porch, the more materials you’ll need and the more time it’ll take the laborers. Whether the site needs to be cleared and prepared — for instance, if you need to have or other barriers to building removed — also adds to the final cost. Permits are also generally required to enclose a porch, especially a four-season job; they generally run a few hundred dollars. Cheap ways to enclose a porch
Some aspects of an enclosed porch can be achieved without much expenditure or labor. Hanging curtains, putting up hedges, or installing some lattice work on the sides can help create privacy and aesthetics without breaking the bank. These upgrades may not keep out weather and bugs, but they can still make a significant difference in how a porch looks and feels. The bottom line on enclosing a porch
A porch upgrade may serve as an investment in your home, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will add to the value of your home. Most analyses don’t single out porches, per se. Still, any remodel that increases living space generally does boost home value, so if enclosing your porch in effect turns it into an additional room, that can be a good thing. A smart remodel can also increase a house’s curb appeal. If you decide on a porch enclosure, the first step is to consider cost, vis-a-vis what you want to use the porch for. The more benefits the enclosure style has, the more an enclosed porch costs — but the more enjoyment you may get out of it, too. SHARE: Joshua Cox-Steib has two years of experience in writing for insurance domains such as Bankrate, Coverage.com, The Simple Dollar, Reviews.com, and more. His work has also been featured on such sites as MSN and BBB (Better Business Bureau). His insurance writing career has spanned across multiple product lines, with a primary focus on auto insurance, life insurance, and home insurance. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles