Quote:
Originally Posted by Normal
Would anyone seriously consider buying a home without Lanai screening? I watched the latest Goldwingnut video and it appears they are building homes without Lanai screens on smaller lots! Hopefully they can figure out the mosquitoes in such an unlivable spot of the home.
Can they really cost that much to put in?
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I golf a minimum of 4X/wk on the championship courses and have seen thousands of lanais close up. The number of times I have seen a homeowner using his/her lanai is minimal. I have probably seen 10 homeowners or contractors cleaning the lanai, pool, or spa for every homeowner actually using the lanai. They look nice, but just aren't used.
With that thought in mind, when we did an extensive remodel of our home, we converted the lanai to another room of the house. We removed the sliding glass door between the house and the lanai; framed the opening; removed the screening etc; poured concrete to raise the floor of the lanai to match the floor of the house; added a knee wall that was under the area covered by the house's roof; framed above the knee wall; added regular windows in the new wall; laid flooring matching the rest of the house; added a mini-split heat/air; and, added a door in the new exterior wall leading to a small patio for access to our gas grill.
We now have a new large, "family" room in our house and a TV theater which is the most used room in the house, compared to a lanai which was seldom used.
As lanais are not included in the square footage of the house for purposes of the county's property tax, while our new room is, there was a minor increase in our taxes.