Lanais are useless
 

OK I have decided that an open lanai or birdcage with a kissing lanai is useless. I am sitting on the little lanai and I can hear conversations and yelling at the dog from three different houses and they are not out in their lanai just in their houses with the sliders open. I have to say at this point those of you who know me know I talk a little (maybe more than a little) loud because I am second generation slightly hard of hearing and it is a habit. So hubby and I don't talk when sitting outside. So if I can hear them what do ordinary hearing people experience? When the people behind have people over I feel I need to go inside and close the slider or I am intruding on their party. I now understand why a lot of the previously owned houses we have looked at have glassed in their lanai. The first month we were here we were in a courtyard villa now we are in a cottage home. In the courtyard villa you could hear but it was more muffled and at least you have the illusion of privacy and don't feel like you are intruding on someone elses space. I hope our place out west sells for a good price because the premium for rear privacy is now very high.

If you put on a large birdcage can you put a wall up inside the birdcage, or do the birdcage ontop of a wall so you have the illusion of privacy?

Hi,

You are sooooo right. There are a lot of important decisions that have to be made in the process of buying a place to live in TV.

Don

We have an offset lot with an enclosed lanai. Would provide the level of privacy we would want if we needed it. Next door neighbors never come out, one backyard neighbor has not rear outside space and the other hasn't been seen in 2 years. So for now it's perfect - if people showed up we are enclosed so that should take care of that.
Obviously a lot on a golf course or pond would be preferable, but don't think the majority have that kind of money. Actually I would think the pond would offer the most privacy because I find myself on the golf cart path always looking at people's lanais to see how they are decorated and often greet them if they are out.

I have seen that where a pool is involved. If you really want a good answer give AR a call.
Community Standards
Phone: 352-751-3912

simple, landscaping

That's the other thing now that the developer is doing everything on spec the homes with the bigger lots have a pool. I don't want a private pool. I would only want a pool if it was salt water even then they are a lot of work and the neighborhood pools are nice and social.

I guess nothing is perfect.

Wherever your home is located it's always about the neighbors.
My neighborhood is as quiet as a cemetery.

My Mom's house is for sale and has no lanai. Their broker didn't tell them that they should build one on because after their village was built (Liberty Park), all of the home were going to be spec homes. Her house is amazing and everyone that has seen the inside want it,.....until they ask about the lanai. I know there are many people that don't care about a lanai - in fact, I hardly use mine and if it wasn't there I wouldn't miss it.

The lanai is one of the major reasons I bought my house. I need/want some level of outdoors space. Granted our houses are close but we all knew that when we signed on the dotted line. People do speak and dogs do bark. Short of hermitting indoors I'm not sure there is a resolution other than to barricade the lanai with glass sliders.

I love my linai and prefer to be out in my linai than in my house.

Me too. I'm in and out all day.

we practically live out on our lanai. when the weather is moderate we take all 3 meals of the day out there. even in the heat of august it is so nice to be able to eat outdoors, without any bugs. our yard is fenced with a 6' white vinyl solid fence; yes, it is the only neighborhood in The Villages with this feature. on the ohter side of the fence are patio villas; since their lanais are on the front corners of their homes we hear nothing from our neighbors. and it seems that every other home on our street is occupied by snowbirds, and are vacant about 9 months of the year. so, we have it good. and our lanai is screened, not glassed in.

We rented here twice before buying. Both of the rentals had very heavy foliage behind them. In the first rental we could still hear the voices of the people behind us on their lanai, and worse, could hear their TV.

The second rental was on a corner with heavy foliage across the back and the side. Either the neighbors were very quiet, or more likely they were vacant rental units, but we never heard anyone on the other lanais.

As someone has already suggested, it depends on the neighbors you have.

Our house has a very nice recessed front porch and it is a pleasant place to sit in the evenings. We are on a cul-de-sac so the traffic is minimal.

The lesson would be to shop long and hard before you buy.

.

Well, my experience is that the lanai isn't constructed to keep noise outside or give a lot of privacy. We used it always to be protected from little bugs which usually coming early evening. And yes, sometimes are the "bugs" a little bigger but have to stay outside, too.

Love our screened lanai...we spend more home time on the lanai than we do inside. Naturally with the chilly temps we've been having we aren't able to be out there and we miss that. We have neighbors in the back and never has that been a problem. We planted shrubbery for privacy and that has worked well for us. I do not worry when we have company nor when the neighbors are entertaining. Love our home and our life in The Villages.

If the dogs bark I will just turn up the speakers. "Who let the dog out... woof woof woof"

back to the lanai question...it would be helpful if someone who enclosed their lanai could hear any noise that the op is asking...ours is not enclosed so i do not have an answer

True. 12000 dollar lot with 2000 in landscape. Plan ahead for what is important to yo and it can be done in TV at a reasonable cost.

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Love your attitude cause I agree with you. I love to hear people laughing and having a good time!

How you expect to use your Lani is a very important decision. While renting we discovered that a kissing Lani would not work for us. One morning while having coffee on the Lani, the neighbor behind us asked us to keep our voices down as she was not feeling well and sleeping in.

Since we were enjoying the morning and excitedly talking about a future move to TV, we were talking louder then normal. Understanding her situation we moved our morning coffee chat inside. To quote Gracie, "Boy Howdy", were we glad that we discovered how thin the sound barrier can be between kissing lanai's.

I did not move to Florida to spend all my time inside. If I had bought a home with a kissing Lani I would be worried everyday that I might be disturbing my neighbor. Thankfully, The Villages has many home plans to choose from.

I understand the problem as we have the same situation....we back up to a cul de sac and actually have 4 houses that face our lanai....all have dogs and and one has a very loud couple who argue very often....could not sit out and read or enjoy the outside...SOOO we had glass sliders installed..works great..AND the noisy neighbors liked ours so much they're having some installed too...lol

The great debate continues. We have a lanai and a bird cage. I desire to enclosed at minimum the lanai. My wife wants an open lanai and birdcage. However my wife is not the one to wash them down. The neighbors are very considerate. the bad news is they may not always be your neighbors
Considering cost after living here about eight years I am not sure I want to invest in closing off the lanai. Its like redoing your basement in the long run it may sell the house quicker but too often you do not recuperate the expenses.

Agree with the OP. It can be noisy with kissing lanais even when they are offset as ours is. Luckily we don't have the barking dogs. One neighbor has a glassed in lanai which helps as long as they keep the windows shut. If not, hear the TV. I like to read on the lanai and sometimes the loud talking 2 or 3 houses down disturbs my concentration. Shoot, one day it was nice and quiet and was reading the paper and all of a sudden someone sneezed so loud, I literally jumped as it startled me and I thought someone was right behind me. I am not a person who has to have total quiet but geez! All in all, I do like our lanai, our neighbors are quiet for the most part and we live in a great neighborhood. Would I like to back to a golf course or preserve? Yes, depending on the golf hole and setback from preserve and golf path. But that is not likely to happen as we do not have the $$$ for those expensive lots. I will add that back home we lived in a subdivision where all the homes were on a minimum of 1.25 acres and I could still hear our neighbors if they were out in the back yard patios. At least with them I couldn't hear what was being said. Here I can hear what is being said and sometimes know who the person is who is speaking. Make note to self, never say anything about any neighbor or gossip about them while on the lanai. LOL!

Nice post. We were in a similar situation. We liked the golf course lots, but to get a decent one away from a cart path, was about $150,000 more than what we spent where we are, same type of house. Too much of a premium imho. I have a friend whose house is near a cart path and a tee box, and this time of year its like grand central station. Carts zooming by every 5 or 10 minutes, and you can hear the golfers conversations all day long. Not for us. We didn't need a view, but we do value quiet. For the most part, even with houses behind us, that's what we have.

With apologies to Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore.

If I say its safe to build a lanai, its safe to build a lanai. Smell that? You smell that?
Barbecue, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. Barbecue. My neighbors barbecue.

[kneeling I say], I love the smell of my neighbors barbecue in the morning. You know, one time my neighbor barbecued a pig for 12 hours. When it was done, he invited me over with the other neighbors. It smelled like……….victory. Scratch victory……..I got carried away with the image of Colonel Kilgore kneeling, sniffing and pondering the smell of victory. From my lanai, it smelled like the sweet, pungent whiff of an old fashioned, all day country barbecue. You had to be there as the sound of Wagner blasted from the choppers…..or was that coming from the lanai surround system next door………... as all my lanai appreciating neighbors joined in the feast.

We own a patio villa and enjoy the lanai. I have a coffee out there, do crossword puzzles, entertain, some neighbors walk by and wave or come up to visit you etc. but we are social and enjoy some quiet time too. If we were to move (naturally within TV) to, say a ranch or designer with a lanai out back, we would have a screened porch in the front too. And poor 'ol Billyworld (note his post) sounds like an unhappy camper for some reason. We've been renting for four and owning for three and we're quite happy and content here. Life is what you want to make it.

I am feeling so ripped off right about now. After reading some of these posts, it is clear we are not getting the full villages experience others are. I mean, yes our house and lanai are close to the neighbors on all sides (which was very obvious to me before we bought), but our neighbors left, right, behind and in front are not doing their part. Every last one is friendly, considerate, sharing, not loud, no noisy pets (ours barks now and then and they come running to pet him or play with him), no crankiness or arguing. They wave, and talk, and laugh and hug when we see them (unless the dog gets his first). They all offer help and advice to us newbies. I'm going to have to call a meeting to let every one of them how to better behave in a "friendly" hometown. This is just not fair. ;););););)

I love your post. We have the same experience in our neighborhood. Life is good!

People spend a lot of money on lanais. I offered my neighbor a deal, we drive around and for every empty lanai, he gives me a dollar. For every lanai with someone on it, I would give him five dollars. He ask to stop after he lost 50.00.

There nice, but under used here in Florida.

My 2 cents.

we love our lanai. We loved it in all three or four of the rentals we had. Yes, we had some noise levels, yes, we had some dogs...but, we wouldn't go inside on a nice day as a trade off... Jim, you would make $5 off of us on most days. Perhaps we should start a "I Love Lanai Life" club. I see laughter....

I've lived in Florida all my life. So I really don't feel one way or the other about a lanai. I just see a lot furniture that's not used as much as it could be. In the summer it's hot, and days like today aren't really good to sit outside. Some people love to out on the lanai, I do too when the weather is right.

I have an all weather lanai and i'm a fair weather lanai user.

I expect you could make the same type of money betting on home pools being unused, lol.

My 2 cents.

A long time ago, Villages Kahuna, the original one with the beard, made a statement that he thought that since this is Florida and the weather is so nice most of the time, that he thought adding to your lanai space was a good thing and that thought stuck with me.


I know a lot of people who enjoy their enclosed lanai, but I am one who likes the breeze and watching the rain from a screened area and eating outdoors with the screen. I think Swimdawg has an excellent lanai for both.


I feel so blessed to have the nice screened lanai that we have and I don't think either of us want to enclose it.


We face neighbors in the back but were lucky to have some space between us. We have a fountain just outside of the lanai that is so pleasant to hear and the roses blooming. EVEN today when we are cozily tucked inside.