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The frames she had will probably work fine and can probably be handled by one person. Why don't you ask her how they attached before trying to find another solution? Many just press in, some may have little latches you turn top and bottom. For that she may need a ladder for the top ones.
My very fey, very tiny but able-bodied and wily, 75 yr old mother bought herself a huge late 19th century craftsman up in Iowa a couple of years ago. She's been slowly fixing it up to her own standards, undoing previous owner's "improvements" and such. She is on a very fixed income and dipping into her savings on this house. Don't even get me started. The idea was for her to downsize. Instead she simply has less yard to keep up and more house that needs work. It certainly is keeping her busy, but she's limited in what she can do HERSELF.
There is a screened in porch added to the side entrance. The previous owner had made these panels with clear plastic sheeting that could be installed each Fall to keep the snow off the porch for winter. Her dog, now deceased, tore all the plastic. They are basically wooden frames that had heavy plastic tacked over them. The frames are currently in her attic.
I told my husband that I wanted to go up there this Fall to repair these panels so she would have them so she can use the porch in the winter. He wants to research a more permanent solution that will be something she can do herself each winter in case we can't make it up there or my sister and brother-in-law who live up there are not available prior to a blizzard.
My idea was some type of heavy vinyl blinds that could roll up in the Spring and roll down in the Fall, and would have clips that held the blinds in place along the sides to prevent the wind from blowing it open. My husband wants something like a louvered glass panel that could crank open. Since we will be paying for this ourselves, expense is a huge issue, though in a weird turn of his usual not wanting to spend a lot of money my husband is saying: "just do it right and pay what it needs". I'm balking at the expense of his idea, not to mention having to coordinate the installation from 1500 miles away. I think we can easily get away for a long weekend and install the rolled vinyl blinds and clips ourselves.
I've never lived in an area that gets snow. What is a good solution for my little mama's porch so it doesn't fill with snow and she can still see outside and maybe even sit out there wrapped in a giant blanket on non-windy days?
You can buy 4 X 8 acrylic sheets from Home Depot for about 100$ each. They can be cut to fit if necessary.
I would cut the 4 X 8, place it inside the frame, and then pin it in place using quarter round molding. If it doesn't go all the way up to the top, that's not very important.
Or, if the frames are in good shape, you can just drill the acrylic panels (they drill easily) and attach them to the frames with screws..
OH I will. I would never just go in an do a huge "improvement" on her house without her ok. She was recently talking about the frames and wanting to fix them and I want to do it FOR her, so she can do some of the other 4k projects and painting and stuff she would prefer to do. This project is an annoyance to her, but I know she wants it done before next Winter. Same with the attic insulation. My mother would rather paint murals on her walls and turn her basement into a livable space instead of a dank cave.
If it is unheated (which would be typical), any kind of covering you put on the porch screens to make the porch "usable" in the winter is a completely moot point.
I live in in the Upper Midwest, and have a wonderful screened porch that I love to use. I just know that I can't sit out on it (or let my cats out on it) 4 or 5 months out of the year. It's just too cold.
People put the thick plastic over porch screens to help catch any heat that is leaking out of the house via the porch door and screens, but that doesn't mean they sit out on the porch in cold weather. That's just life in the Upper Midwest.
The porch is not heated. I've visited her in her "new" house once. It was in the late Spring. I worked at that time on repairing the screening to the porch that the dog had damaged, cleaning her gutters, and installing a rain barrel. The frames and panels for the plastic sheeting from the porch were already removed by then having been damaged by the dog. This winter she did not fix them or reinstall them, and complained several times about the amount of snow on the porch. I guess I assumed she WOULD use it, if it weren't buried in 2 feet of screen filtered snow. Maybe it's only an additional egress issue? Definitely a leaking air issue. I know her front entrance has a double entrance foyer. This screened porch is the exit to the side of the house by the garage. She has an additional exit off the kitchen that she HATES because there is no way to prevent air leaks. I'm thinking a storm door there.
Based on location and temperatures, it sounds like doing anything real expensive wouldn't be really worth it to make this usable living space during the deep winter months. It would simply be a way to keep drafts from this side entrance, and using the existing frames and installing heavy duty plastic sheeting would be enough of a fix. And our cost savings could be transferred into doing the insulation board in the attic and possibly installing a storm door off the kitchen entrance/exit.
Last edited by SolaireSolstice; 03-15-2016 at 05:58 PM..
Insulation boards ? Is that the foam panels ? I asked about that for a Florida house and I was told that it was not as good as blown in or the batts. But, I could be wrong.
Good luck. Your dh sounds like a nice man. I wish mine had been that way about my mother.
I think your post #15 is right. Have some light weight wood frames made with new plastic coverings to block snow from blowing in the porch and to help retain heat in the house. She should be able to lift these both on and off herself. Mine have latch things on the edges of both sides of the sills to keep the winter frames in place.
She's going to have to figure out something else to figure out how to prevent damage by the dog, though. Maybe you could put put two layers of plastic on the winter coverings and attach light weight wood cross pieces across the plastic.
Or she could maybe spend money on a good dog trainer!
I think your mom just needs to hire help. I lived in really old crappy houses with barely any insulation in WA state, and using double plastic on the windows was an amazingly effective, cheap answer to insulation. A layer outside and a layer inside. No, you couldn't really see outside, but you still get the light.
But, I think your mom needs to admit to needing some help. It's amazing how quickly and effectively someone younger and/or stronger can get something done, and it probably wouldn't be expensive either.
To enclose a porch Google Eze Breeze. It could be a DIY. I had several quotes. While I loved the product, I just decided not to spend the money.
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