Enclosed lanai versus bird cage

[NJblue]

In looking at houses, we love the appearance of houses that have added a bird cage and then removed the walls of the lanai to give the feeling of being outdoors but yet retain the roof to keep out rain and hot sun. However, I inderstand that a lot of people enclose their lanai with either glass or acrylic windows to keep the cold or heat outside thus providing more comfortable year-round use.

The question that I have is, are these two concepts mutually exclusive? Or, has anyone done or seen a concept that allows both positives to be achieved. I think as it stands now we would probably opt for the enclosed concept to provide us more living space for year-round use. Hence, buying a house with more space in the back yard to allow a bird cage would not be a priority. However, if there were a good solution to allow a bird cage with large, unobstructed access to the covered part of the lanai that can be closed off when needed, then we may put a higher premium on a larger lot to allow a bird cage. Sliding doors are the only thing that I can think of, but to provide the open feel, I would think that the open area would have to be at least 6 or 8 feet. I'm not sure that sliders that large are available. Also, since apparently enclosures done with acrylic don't incur a tax penalty, the ideal solution should be based on acrylic. Thanks for any insight that you may have.

[mzmom3]

Great question! Thanks, I'll be peaking back to see what those who are in the "know" think.

[samhass]

Sliders that large are available. They have to be custom made, but they are wonderful.
Ours open from either side of one wall. The four sliders allow a large area to open up to the outdoor birdcage. We have 4 more sliders on the other exterior wall. Both exterior walls lead to the birdcage. Jerome's Masonery built the enclosed room (about 420 sf) and did all the custom doors. He is a wonderful contractor.

[Russ_Boston]

I don't know about adding such a thing but in my house tours I did find many homes that had a 'Florida room' and also had an open lanai with birdcage. Some of these had pools and/or spa under the birdcage. Seems to me that anything can be done if you have the space and the cash.

[samhass]

Russ, you nailed it. It must pass the ARB, also.

[NJblue]

That's encouraging. Thanks!

Are the sliders glass and if so, did this increase your taxes?

Was the 420 sq feet an addition or was it just a conversion of an existing lanai?

[samhass]

The sliders are glass and have all the energy features. This was part of the lanai that was roofed over already. We didn't go out into the birdcage area at all. We had the floor raised to meet the level of the interior floors. Yes, taxes go up.

[MMC24]

We recently added a medium sized bird cage attached to our Lanai to accommodate a new built-in Spa/Jacuzzi. We also added a new sliders from the enclosed Lanai into the birdcage. I think this is the best solution for us. This gives us a more open feeling when both the sliders leading to the Lanai are open and the slider is open to the Birdcage. After it was all said and done and have lived with it for a few months, we now wish we had built out the bird cage the entire length of the Lanai but hind sight is always 50/50.

[chuckinca]

How often do bird cage screens need to be cleaned and how is it done?

How do you deal with rain thru the bird cage roof - do you have to bring stuff indoors every time it rains, etc?

[downeaster]

Chuckinca, screens collect dirt and when it rains in it washes the dirt in with it so I just hose mine off from the inside frequently. Mine is under roof so I don't have to deal with rain through the roof but it does blow in a lot.

DC