Enclosing the Lanai
 

Will become a new homeowner in just a few short weeks. With a new house comes so many thoughts and ideas. What are the plusses and minuses of enclosing the lanai with acrylic or maybe glass to make it a year-round living area? I am not sure that weather in the area, even during winter, will keep one away from using it at least periodically during those inclement days.

Personally, I would not enclose the lanai. I like the open feeling of just the screens. We are expanding ours with a small birdcage and adding a patio out back to have additional outdoor space.
We also don't need additional "living" space. We have more than enough without the lanai. Of course that's a personal decision, and you may feel differently. I've seen many lanais enclosed with televisions and additional dining sets, etc. and folks do use them as family rooms sometimes.
We did buy a heater at Sam's that sits on an end table like a big lamp. It throws off lots of heat and does let me sit out and enjoy a cigar on colder evenings.
If it's really inclement, I'd just stay in the house.

Enclosing a lanai you can do it one of two ways....make it liveable space ie part of the family room or simply keep it a separte lanai and enclose it. Either way you will have a cleaner space ie no dirt, wind, or rain to worry about and it will make it a little quieter for you..plus you can use it year round. YOu can open up the sliders to give you the fresh air in spring and fall. Most lanai's are too hot in the summer especailly if they face west. If you make it part of your living area you will encounter a slightly higher AC bill every month but I dont think it would be considerable...DEPENDING upon how you enclosed the space. BY that I mean are you using windows or acrylic. If windows, are they insulated, low e, are you getting the roof of the lanai insulated. Also expect you taxes to go up somewhat if it is made into living space but if you add approx 260 SF to the liveable area that would add probably a $100 a year...dont forget you are already paying for the space occuped by screened in lanai but only 15% of its value.

We do plan to have seating and a TV on the lanai regardless of enclosure. The TV will just have to be set back from the elements. With a 30x12 sized lanai I hope that won't be too difficult.

Thats a good size lanai BUT you have not experienced the wind and rain we can get here. It can blow pretty good and strong and the rain can come at you at times......sideways!!!!

Steve, since you are expanding and adding a birdcage, what type of home did you buy, if I may ask? Is it a villa by any chance or a designer? I have seen a villa without the lanai enclosed at all, with just the birdcage added - I really liked the look. But with the designer homes, you don't have a lot of space to add much of anything - at least that was my impression and I could be wrong.

Thanks,
Betty

"Also expect you taxes to go up somewhat if it is made into living space but if you add approx 260 SF to the liveable area that would add probably a $100 a year...dont forget you are already paying for the space occuped by screened in lanai but only 15% of its value. "

Gee, thanks - I did not realize that enclosing the lanai would up taxes. Good to know. I appreciate the information.

I was under the impression that some Villas were built with a birdcage already attached.
I suppose in those instances, the taxes were already figured in, right?

Betty

I'm going to learn about the weather pretty soon now.....

Opulence

Not all enclosed lanais add to the living space...and therefore not an added tax burden. For example, acrlyic windows are treated diffferently that glass, do you have AC or not in the enclosed room.

Many people are misguided in making the decision on how to enclose by focusing on the question will the enclosure add (or not add) to my property taxes, rather than the comfort, use, safety and appearance they are trying to accomplish within budget by doing the enclosure in the first place.

Added taxes is one of many factors to consider but probably should not be the determining factor.

Thank you.

I have seen acrylic enclosed lanai's but not glass, on my visit to TV in mid August. I would think acrylic would be "safer" than glass, especially in the case of high winds, flying debris etc. Am I wrong in my assumption? The acrylic enclosed lanai's were very well done and I thought they added to the living space. I did not see a/c added to the room, so I would suspect the sliding doors were just left opened when they wanted.

What exactly does add to the tax burden in your lanai? Could you be more specific? I did think that by enclosing a lanai you were adding to living space . . . thank you.

Betty

Betty

Believe it or not when it comes to wind strength Glass has it over Acrylic. I think Acrylic is rated at 70 plus mph while normal glass is better thabn 100 mpr. I am fairly certain that you are recommended to remove your acrylic windows from your lanai if you are expecting sustained 70 plus MPH winds. That said this has not been a problem in TV in recent years so that is why alot of people go with Acrylic.......cost wise glass is not that much more expensive and it really depends upon the type of glass you get (ie insulated, low E, tinted etc.). The other thing that impacts wind is the framing that the enclosure will be installed with..with glass being much heavier you cannot simply place a glass window on the 2X2 aluminum framining currently now in your lanai whereas acrylic in some cases is simply placed on this frame thus reducing costs.

Betty, we have a Gardenia on an interior lot. I am adding a patio across the back, and extending the lanai down the side. We have very little room - we can add 7' 2" on the side, so we are adding a 7x15 extension and I am putting a small triangle shaped 2-person hot tub in there. Nothing extravagant, just enough for the 2 of us.

Steve and Betty,

We are thinking about caging and adding a hot tub. We have a pie-shaped lot so have quite a bit of room to the side and a villa wall directly to the rear.

Our lanai is glassed in. For us it was significantly less expensive than acrylic due to the building code. Acrylic requires that you have a separate cooling/heating system. So while the glass cost about $1000 more and we will pay a bit more in taxes, the cost of the separate heating/cooling unit was $4500 - a no brainer. Glass is also much easier to clean. Our windows are sliders that let in a lot of air when we want and keep the heat out when we want. Our main reason for caging is we have a wonderful view to the side that we would like to take advantage of.



Kate

Kate - If I were going to enclose it I'd use glass too, but for very different reasons. Acrylic scratches, and eventually, after washing it many times, it gets those tiny scratches in it. You may not see them until the sun hits it the right way, but it happens eventually. I just need to look at my golf cart windsheild to see the effect.
As for concern over wind, well, I wouldn't worry there at all. The rest of the house has glass.
And I didn't even know about the cooling system. :shrug:

We felt that way about the acrylic too - like you say, just look at the golf cart...