Enclosed Decks and Porches – Part I: Design and Considerations
Recently, we worked on an enclosed porch, making repairs and updating different elements but we thought it was a good opportunity to take a look at some of the differences in advantages of enclosed porches. They’re very common here in Washington DC because of the history of the building construction unique to this city. These historic differences are relatively unique to Washington DC because porches were often used for sleeping, in the hot summer months before the advent of air conditioning.
The suburban homes, out in the counties and country lands around Washington DC didn’t have sleeping porches in historic times, simply because most of them weren’t built in historic times. Those homes simply didn’t exist, in large part, until after air conditioning was invented and in wide use.
We’ll start by looking at a deck without a cover or enclosure. This type of deck or rear porches are very common, across the suburbs of the United states. In the big picture though, it’s not much different than just using a patio, built in the exterior outdoor space of the yard itself. It works in a similar way, it just happens to be level with the door to the back of the house at the interior exterior interface.
In a rainy March or April month, for example, this type of deck may not get used even often. Although the temperatures will be warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, in any kind of rain, this type of deck is rendered basically useless in precipitation conditions. Also, as it is, uncovered, it takes the full brunt of the hot summer sun in the months of May through September. Here in Washington DC, especially with recent climate changes, the Sun can be relentless in the summer months and it’s quite nice to have a place with a bit of shade and cover.
The next picture below shows a covered deck. In some ways, this deck is basically what every homeowner would like to have in Washington DC because it’s relatively large, has a relatively tall ceiling, is enclosed or screened in and although not temperature controlled, can at least keep the bugs out.
In fact, from an obvious perspective, in closing it in to the point that it has glass windows which would make it a three season type room, almost makes it the same as interior space, at that point. It’s interesting, but here in Washington DC, many of the rear rooms of our historic row homes were actually built as porches and then slowly evolved from porches to screened-in porches to then become three season-type rooms to then eventually evolved to become interior space which is simply an extra room that’s part of the house. We see this so often that it’s basically a prolific detail of many historic Washington DC homes.
You really noticed several interesting details when you look closely at the photo above and below. To start, you may notice that even within the screened-in exterior of the outer wall or outer facing of the screened-in deck, there is a guardrail that was built prior to when the screen was installed. That guard rail is actually still required, even now that the screen is there.
The stair is missing a guardrail on the right side, but the building code does not require a handrail since it already has a handrail on the other side and in residential construction, under a width requirement, handrails are only required on one side. Guardrails are required in any point that is 30 in above the adjacent grade, and most types of residential construction, even here in Washington DC where we have old conditions that often don’t meet the building code. In some rare cases, those conditions can even be considered a grandfathered element which might be accepted, but when you have a risk of Falls like this it’s likely not to be acceptable to be open.
A prolific example of a grandfathered condition or condition that might be acceptable in an old building where it would not be acceptable in a newer building is that a lot of historic row homes in Washington DC are narrower than would be acceptable in modern construction. In cases where the home is not renovated or remodeled beyond a specific point, those stairways are often allowed to remain as they were originally configured.
Use a contractor who understands and cares about doing things right. Always, feel free to reach out to us here at Dupont Decks and Patios. We are happy to help with almost all steps of the deck building and design process. Let us know about your ideas and talk to us if you have questions about possibilities . You can call us at (202) 774-9128. You can find us online at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com and you can email us there as well at https://dupontdeckspatiosdc.com/contact-us
