Converting a covered lanai into a room (sale, real estate)

[SeaLark7]

We love our new home, but sure could use some more air-conditioned square footage. We have a large "recessed" lanai (almost 200 square feet) that is currently screened in. It faces West and gets the afternoon sun, so it isn't going to get a lot of use for all that space. We'd like to remodel the screened wall area and make it into an air conditioned room with a large sliding door to the outside. We have a LARGE outside paver stone patio around the in-ground pool, so there would still be plenty of patio space. My question: has anyone on this forum done this to their home, and also how does it affect the re-sale value of a home ?

[HarryWho?]

Originally Posted by SeaLark7

We love our new home, but sure could use some more air-conditioned square footage. We have a large "recessed" lanai (almost 200 square feet) that is currently screened in. It faces West and gets the afternoon sun, so it isn't going to get a lot of use for all that space. We'd like to remodel the screened wall area and make it into an air conditioned room with a large sliding door to the outside. We have a LARGE outside paver stone patio around the in-ground pool, so there would still be plenty of patio space. My question: has anyone on this forum done this to their home, and also how does it affect the re-sale value of a home ?

If it's like most of the newer cbs homes in the area, the lanai is within the roof space of the house and is on a structural slab. It would be very easy to convert into a room. I would think it would add to the resale price of the home as well as increase the square footage. Which also would increase your taxes...

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by SeaLark7

We love our new home, but sure could use some more air-conditioned square footage. We have a large "recessed" lanai (almost 200 square feet) that is currently screened in. It faces West and gets the afternoon sun, so it isn't going to get a lot of use for all that space. We'd like to remodel the screened wall area and make it into an air conditioned room with a large sliding door to the outside. We have a LARGE outside paver stone patio around the in-ground pool, so there would still be plenty of patio space. My question: has anyone on this forum done this to their home, and also how does it affect the re-sale value of a home ?

I would definitely wait until you have a full year all four seasons to decide. It's technically "enclosed" at least partially...so it would be easy to convert. It would also block your view a bit.

When I was shopping for a house in So FL I DEFINITELY ruled OUT any enclosed porches. There were a TON of them in Ft Lauderdale. I hated that feeling of the "add on room" and wanted a PORCH/Lanai. I didn't move here to be cooped up in AC all year and didn't want to sit out on an open slab/grass.

My mother changed her screened porch to a 3 season porch up North (meaning only put baseboard heat not ducted heat)...and installed removable windows so that she didn't lose the feeling of "screened porch" in the 3 nice seasons. Something like these:

http://www.coventry-design.com/asset...inginplace.jpg

I also worked for someone in Jax who enclosed her porch and put some kind of elec AC device high up on a wall that I never saw before. She used all big "permanent" picture windows and a regular door.

IMO it depends on your neighborhood regarding resale. Are the other homes all lanais and yours would be the only enclosed one? To me that's a niche market could go either way. If you KNOW you're definitely not going to end up in this house forever, I'd be cautious. SOMEONE will LOVE it but it may be a minority, it's hard to say and I'm not a realtor. If other homes (if you're in a development) have enclosed lanais then you wouldn't be overimproving either so your resale would be normal, I'd guess.

I work in ALOT of homes with huge open lanais with 4 "pillars" in the corners...NONE of them are enclosed/finished...totally OPEN no screens, even...and the people have them completely decorated even with flat screens on the wall. It amazes me the rain never comes in and soaks everything but it doesn't. I think a few do have roll down screens on some kind of mechanical electrical deal.

I ended up getting a condo with an enclosed porch after all...LOL and regret it. But the unit was gorgeous. I made a couple of mistakes buying when I did. THAT, and I also wanted to be ON the water and thought I'd "get over it" but didn't. So this will perhaps not be my last purchase here.

Something like these may be nice in the middle where you have your view (if you have one)

http://www.capistranovalleyglasscali...s-products.jpg

[SeaLark7]

Excellent information and advice from both of you, thanks so much ! We do have a nice view from the lanai, and that second photo link looks like a good solution, if it could be done with a glass that helps block sun. We do have a mechanical shade that comes down inside of the screened area, which helps a bit with the heat but obviously not the humidity, or the rain coming in through the screen.
We would like to use part of the lanai for storage space, but even though it is under the house roof, the heat and humidity with just a screen in place makes it impractical for storage of a lot of things. I guess what we should try for is a room that can be temperature-controlled but still has lots of window space. Almost every house in our community has an enclosed lanai, by the way, similar to ours (though many are not as large in square footage).
Harry, good point about the tax increase for more square footage ! Had not thought of that one.
Later this year we will have a contractor give us an estimate and options for what we can do to make the lanai more useful.

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by SeaLark7

Excellent information and advice from both of you, thanks so much ! We do have a nice view from the lanai, and that second photo link looks like a good solution, if it could be done with a glass that helps block sun. We do have a mechanical shade that comes down inside of the screened area, which helps a bit with the heat but obviously not the humidity, or the rain coming in through the screen.
We would like to use part of the lanai for storage space, but even though it is under the house roof, the heat and humidity with just a screen in place makes it impractical for storage of a lot of things. I guess what we should try for is a room that can be temperature-controlled but still has lots of window space. Almost every house in our community has an enclosed lanai, by the way, similar to ours (though many are not as large in square footage).
Harry, good point about the tax increase for more square footage ! Had not thought of that one.
Later this year we will have a contractor give us an estimate and options for what we can do to make the lanai more useful.

Perfect. I'm pretty sure if you put a CLOSET in that room it would qualify as an additional bedroom on a real estate listing. Our realtor pulled that with my mother's house - advertised it as a 4 bedroom because of the porch LOL NO CLOSET so prospective buyers were ticked off.

But if that gives you an additional "bedroom" that's a big advantage in resale IMO. In Ft Lauderdale the homes I mentioned did that enclosure for that purpose, when a kid got older and they were outgrowing the house or just to make a "den" in an older home.

You can get sun blocking glass, my two patio sliders have it - on to the bedroom and one to the living room and I hate it because it makes my condo dark but they WORK! So if that makes your inside living space darker 24/7 that's a consideration, too. Of course now that I had to invest in a completely new AC in here I'm happy for them and my plantation shutters on every window even if the place is dark, the electric bill is nice LOL.

When I rented I put tinted film on the West facing windows and my birds, who lived next to the window actually went to bed at 2 PM after the guy left because the tint tricked their brain into thinking it was dusk, poor guys LOL. The glass comes in all different levels of "tint", too. AND you could make them hurricane protection, too.

[SeaLark7]

Can't remember how to get a photo to show up on here (even though I have done it before!) so I am hoping this link will work. This is a photo of our lanai, which we would like to convert into a room:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ps91cb270b.jpg

[SeaLark7]

Originally Posted by runswithscissors

When I rented I put tinted film on the West facing windows and my birds, who lived next to the window actually went to bed at 2 PM after the guy left because the tint tricked their brain into thinking it was dusk, poor guys LOL. The glass comes in all different levels of "tint", too. AND you could make them hurricane protection, too.

We want to get the accordion hurricane shutters for the rest of the house, but if we convert the lanai to an indoor room, it wouldn't make sense to put shutters on the current lanai windows, so hurricane-strength windows there would make more sense.

What kind of birds did you have, Runs ? We used to have cockatiels and parakeets. I would love to still have pet birds, but I doubt they would appreciate our house cats (of course, the cats would be delighted!).

[sware2cod]

Make sure you comply with local building code and get your county permits. The county permit will ensure you meet code. The biggest issue here is to ensure it is strong enough to withstand the wind speeds/pressures. Materials and installation procedures will likely be done a certain way for this.

If it's up to code, then you can get this sq ft added to your living area and then when resale time comes, it's legal sq footage. I

f you don't get a permit but enclose anyway, this could scare off future buyers..and you wouldn't be able to claim it as living sq footage. Also you might get damage in a hurricane tropical storm if it's not built to withstand the expected winds. Good luck getting paid by your insurance company if they find out it's unpermitted. they will assume it was shoddy work even if that's not true.

So it's best to be permitted from the start so you don't cause future resale problems later due to a unpermitted enclosure. I saw a home sale fall through for someone that enclosed the porch without permits. They advertised the home on MLS with more sq footage than listed in county records, because county still had it listed as a lanai. The buyers walked away when all this was discovered.


----Lanais are usually a few inches lower in elevation than the main part of the home. Make sure the floor level of the lanai is still above BFE (base flood elevation). This could make or break your plans for enclosure. You never want any living area below BFE...even 1/2 inch below. It could increase your flood insurance tenfold.

[runswithscissors]

Here - copy the code next to the photo for IMG



I'm looking at your pic it looks gorg!

[runswithscissors]

Originally Posted by SeaLark7

We want to get the accordion hurricane shutters for the rest of the house, but if we convert the lanai to an indoor room, it wouldn't make sense to put shutters on the current lanai windows, so hurricane-strength windows there would make more sense.

What kind of birds did you have, Runs ? We used to have cockatiels and parakeets. I would love to still have pet birds, but I doubt they would appreciate our house cats (of course, the cats would be delighted!).

Your home is beautiful and I LOVE the lanai. SCREENED. My birds would ADORE that!

I have a mated pair of Parrotlets - parrots half the size of a parakeet. My entire life/home etc revolves around them

The green one, Toby has his preferences of greens and actually goes in the fridge in the little bags to find ESCAROLE. I make up silly jobs for them so they have something to do.

They live on a fully natural daylight schedule no artificial lights so it was important to have a room for them and it's the porch but they are free flighted and fly all over. They were rescues and live their little lives indoors as best they can but the full sun screen of a porch they'd love more than windows. Yeah, no cats LOL.





His wife, Piper is a chiropractor ^^ haha