Five years ago, we purchased a Wisteria model with a north-facing 9'x17' screened lanai. The lanai was just a bit too narrow for us which factored heavily into our decision to ultimately bump out the lanai an additional 8'. This made it a very usable 17'x20' room. We enclosed our new Florida room with five double-paned, low-E sliders that added 25' of wrap-around windows. We had our contractor (DnJ Construction) raise the floor to match the house, took out the slider doors and added a 12000 BTU Mitsubishi split AC unit****. Later on, we installed double cell shades (white on the outside to reflect the heat) which gives the room absolute privacy at night and keeps the room much cooler during the day.
For us, the extension added an additional 340 SQFT to the house which upped our taxes $180/year. We spent $32K to add the room, and almost immediately our estimated resale value jumped ~$41K.
We spend much of out time in the Florida room, and we could not be happier with our decision. Of course, for you, the decision is personal on your likes and dislikes. For us, it was a no brainer ...... have a screened lanai that we used infrequently or a beautiful room that gets extensive use.
*** BTW, the new mini split unit was a god-send when our main AC unit died for 9 days last summer. Besides, the unit was able to keep much of the house cooler and with considerably lower humidity.
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