Lanai windows
 

We are planning to enclose our lanai soon and trying to decide on the type of windows. There may not be too many options but we want to maximize ventilation when the weather is nice but easily and quickly be able to close up when it changes. Would love to know what others have done and how they like it. Thanks!

We had just recently sliders put in all the way around with sliding screen doors so we can easily clean the glass when needed. The arrangement we have gives us 50% of the screened air we used to have when it was just screen. So far it seems to be enough to allow air to flow when we want it. We used double pane argon filled glass doors, not tinted as we did not want to loose light. If you choose to put in sliders with fixed screening all the way around you will have to lift the doors out of the frames to clean the outside of the glass and i'm too old to be doing that as they are heavy. Another nice feature of doors with sliding screens is you can enter or exit your lanai in several different spots. We chose All Season Rooms to do the job as he was the only one that offered a lifetime warranty that is transferrable to the next owner his price was also very competitive. They did a very good job and we are well satisfied, no leaks, and no bugs, no regrets.

Thanks! What did you do about HVAC?

We used vinyl clad, double-pane, low-e, argon filled slider windows - two panels that can slide either way. We also had a Mitsubishi mini-split heat pump installed.

Nothing. We enclosed it to keep it clean & dry and use when temperatures permit. It is cooler in there with the windows than it was without them (they did insulate the ceiling) and it should be perfect for 8 months out of the year. In this weather it is quite usable in the mornings and early afternoons then again in the evening. There is about a 5 hour period when it's too hot as we catch the sun going down for about 4 hours which is now less and less each day. If we ever feel that we need it we'll have it installed.

Floor to ceiling insulated glass sliders/doors. The sliders allow you to keep most of the outside feeling.

We have floor to ceiling sliders. Had the split AC/Heat installed. We us the room constantly. We tried it without AC and it was not cool enough because we keep the house at 74.

Out of curiosity -

How much does it cost to enclose a "typical" size Lanai on two sides ( the other sides are the exterior of the house ) approximately 30 feet by 12 feet and add an a/c unit ?

Sliding glass enclosure, $7,000 to $9,000.
a/c unit, $4,500 to $5,500.

Thanks. That’s exactly what we are hoping for.

You can't just ask for a typical cost as there is no typical installation. Do you want windows, doors, combination of both, how many doors, etc. If you want high quality double pane argon sliding door panels with sliding screens rather than fixed screening with a lifetime warranty it will cost you between $15,000/$20,000 for your size lanai, that would include ceiling insulation and an exterior exit light, That is for a Cat III enclosure. We had bids from the 3 most talked about installers here and that is where we were. If you want only single pane glass that does nothing as far as insulating your room, all they will do is keep rain out, it will cheaper. If you want your floor level with the floor of your interior it is much more and you will then be adding the square footage of your interior so your taxes will go up. You have to get bids on exactly what you are looking for.

In Sumter, property taxes increase when you remove the sliders.

All Seasons
 

I haven;t heard much about All Seasons .. Custom Windows and CVS seem to be the most talked about. Do you happen to know who manufactures the product ? ( I assume you decided that what you bought was better than the Bella line) What was the lead time ?? The other 2 are now quoting better than 14 weeks ! thanks

All Season is a smaller family company, they do their own work and don't hire out crews. They have been doing quite a few south of 44 and have a lot of references both north and south of 44. We chose MI bronze aluminum double pane sliding glass doors with all stainless steel screws and rollers, the glass is high performance Low E + Argon. We went with MI as they were the only manufacturer that provided a transferrable lifetime warranty on the glass and All Season has a lifetime warranty on leaking. The lead time was 4 to 6 weeks when we ordered ours in May of this year. We have had some nasty rain lately and not a drop of water has entered our lanai. CVS told us 14 weeks also and they were much higher in price, Custom Windows never showed up for their appointment nor did they call to cancel it so eliminated them right off the bat. They also told us at the showroom that they could not use sliding screens as our lanai is elevated, this was BS as All Season got the permits to do it that way and it passed inspection, maybe that is why the salesman never showed up for his appointment. I can't remember the other company that we talked with but they were hesitant in giving us what we wanted.

Regarding single vs double pane, we were told by Custom Windows that 75% of Villagers do single pane. A previous commenter stated that single pane wouldn’t do more than keep the rain out. Would love to hear your comments on that. Thanks