Personally, I would buy screened. I love being outdoors without the bugs. If you are unhappy, enclose it later. We may stain the concrete or add deck tiles. We will definitely be adding gutters to help keep it dry. We may also add a roll down shade to just one side where the sun hits the lanai in the afternoons.
Like another poster, we have a good-sized front porch as well - perfect for breakfast. :) Outside is more fun. It's a personal decision - the sun only hits our lanai from one side part of the day and we have a fence, so there are no privacy concerns.

Our lanai is not enclosed and we love it! Spend quite a bit of time every morning out there reading paper with coffee. Lovely in the evening! Make sure your lanai is facing east though, west facing is brutal. We’ve had both.

Florida is the allergy capital of the USA. If you are from out of state, you may discover this very quickly. A screened lanai is something you won't be using very much.

If open birdcage your. Biggest issue is rain and heat. If roofed no rain and a little cooler. Enclosed expensive but must be under AC

We enclosed our lanai to keep it clean. Before enclosing we had to dust it down in order to use. Now we just open it up, use it whenever we want the close again and it is always ready for use. The pollen here is a killer of cleanliness. We did a glass enclosure

We have a west facing screened lanai and even with very expensive and comfortable furniture we almost never use and I have a pool. That said unless the space has been incorporated into the house and is heated and cooled I would still just go for standard screened.

We have ours enclosed with a mini split A/C and solar shades east facing and we love it. We sit out there every morning with our coffee and newspaper. With all the rain and wind we have had this year so far, the open lanais must be a nightmare.

We bought house with enclosed lanai and wished that previous owner had not installed windows and air conditioned it. It is a now a "too" bright living room that we do not use. Considering adding a hot tub/jacuzzi. Good luck with your endeavor. There are a lot of variables.

Totally agree!

Totally agree with everything you said. I love to play cards and MahJongg on our enclosed and temperature-controlled lanai. We don't have to be concerned about getting wet, cold, or hot so our game is not in jeopardy. We have a bar there as well so if someone is losing badly, s/he can still enjoy oneself.:icon_wink:

Screened in Lanai
 

The advantages to having the lanai "glassed in" is significant.
Protects it from the often torrential rains ... helps keep out dust and pollen.

I'm an advocate for enclosing..

Thanks
Ed Wingham village of McClure

Well for me the lanai is for outdoor living. You have your house for indoor and A/C
Consider what way your lanai is facing on how much sun you will get.
My opinion east is best

Our lanai faces west and we love to watch the sunsets. It’s screened and would never enclose it.

It depends on how big of a house you want. If you want more indoor space that is clean, dry, and mostly bug free you want a glass enclosed lanai. It will give you two living rooms, and one will be much brighter than the other, so the interior room can be used for the TV.

If you want covered outdoor space you want a screened lanai. It gives you a space for the morning breezes and to watch the storms come thru, and saves on air conditioned space.

My house is more than big enough, with a TV room and living room already, so the lanai is our outdoor space.

We enclosed ours to make it more usable. Was tired of it getting drenched during rain storms. It is now the one space we use most.

You answered the question I was just about to ask, I would like to enlarge our lanai. But I wonder what the current building cost would be given the huge increase in building supplies.

Only thing i would suggest is endeavor to get a home where the
Lanai is facing north or northeast. You won’t have to contend with the afternoon sun.

Lanai enclosure…. Personal preference.
 

Our home was new to us 16 years ago. A year after we bought it, we added a bird cage and made it larger than the lanai. Then 6 years ago, we added a canvas cover for the birdcage, and 4 years ago we added an outdoor kitchen in the birdcage. The back of our house is southern facing which means the sun rises on the left and sets on the right. We absolutely love it and spend a majority of our time out there. We have really nice comfy chairs with end tables, lamps, etc and then pole lamps and over head lighting for the outdoor kitchen…we use this after more than any other area. I love having my morning breakfast out there after we come back from playing pickleball…Is it hot, yes, somedays it is, but we have an overhead fan in the lanai section and another floor fan in the birdcage. We also enclosed the bottom portion all the way around of the lanai and the birdcage with the same siding as we have on our home. This keeps a lot of the dirt out that use to flow into the lanai/birdcage area and made a huge improvement. When it rains, we pull in the chairs close to the house to keep the cushions from getting wet. When we got north for the summer, we bring all that furniture into our home and put the dining table and chairs in the corner of the covered lanai. It works…and we love it. I think it is all personal preference. We like being able to sit outside with guest at night, having our cocktails and dinner..etc.. its so peaceful in our backyard….I dont think I would ever change that. We had a party before covid out there and was able to seat in chairs all around about 25 people. It was the best….

What is an At Ease model never heard that expression before

Mine is enclosed and I wish it was a screened lanai. PS also from CT ,
Manchester/Vernon area

We have a south facing Lanai and use it year round. We have never considered enclosing it. We also recently added a small uncovered patio out front and are starting to use that in the evening.

Lanai
 

If you buy a home with an East facing lanai, you might just need a fan for cooling. However we bought a West facing lanai and the afternoon sun was unbearable and we couldn't use the lanai. We ultimately had the lanai glassed in and with curtains and a Mitsubishi Mini Split air conditioner, we now use the lanai more than any other room. Good luck.

But great in morning till afternoon even in July. Squares in evening till sun goes down. To each his own...

Our lanai isn't insulated, but it has very sturdy acrylic slider windows that go almost up to the ceiling from around 2 feet off the floor, with pet-screen material on the outside of the windows (since we have an indoor cat who is not happy to learn that some neighbors have outdoor cats). From around mid-September through April we keep the slider from the inside of the house out to the lanai open for cross-ventilation and to enjoy our morning coffee, and relax and watch the neighborhood.

When it's warm out, it's way too hot out there even with the windows open. We get the morning, mid-day, AND afternoon sun beating down on the lanai so it gets pretty brutal. If the walls and ceiling had insulation I'd definitely enjoy having the slider to the house kept open. But it's not efficient to have the AC running into that room at all the way it is now.

It’s the name of one of the house models.

First off ..... Thank you sooooooooooo much for all of your answers and for your willingness to share your knowledge!!! How very kind of everyone and how very helpful, even with the many differing opinions. This is a large part of why we want to come to TV. All of you and the kind and caring people that we have run into while visiting. Nice houses and great weather is wonderful but it is the people that make TV the place we want to become a part of!

Since everyone has such great ideas I only have one last question..........................
Has anyone been able to successfully grow a money tree in their backyard yet? If we could solve that tiny problem then we would have the additional money we need to buy our home and come and join all of you!

Thank you so much again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We recently purchased and are enclosing lanai
 

We have a 10 x 18 fixed roof screened lanai that continues into a bird cage. We ordered the cabana series, single pane glass from Custom Enclosures for enclosing the fixed roof area and can't wait to have it installed. We get water on the bird cage side when it rains and this will stop it from running into the fixed area. Also anticipate being able to close up to keep heat inside during cold days to allow more use of room year round.

I'm afraid we have the wrong type of soil to grow those
I'd try growing it on federal land:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

pgettinger, We were told that the step from house to lanai doesn't effect your taxes whether its a step down or level. If you remove the sliders, then it is considered part of house and is taxed. As far as the mini split, the companies put in a dehumidifier, not taxed, and change it out to the split ac/heater after .
.

Opinion If you want more inside AC buy a bigger house and enjoy the fresh air lanai.
 

We love our west facing screened in Lanai and use it almost every morning for breakfast and even many evenings. Probably it has a lot to do with our beautiful pond, golf course view. If we want to eat inside we still have a beautiful view to the outside thru the wall of sliding glass doors. We didn't need to add anymore enclosed AC space to our house and really didn't want to get involved in washing/cleaning a ton of outside windows after every rain storm. We like the fresh air and use sliding curtains to stop the sun if it happens to be in an annoying position in the evening; a rough guess might be 20% of the time. With 4 large sliding curtains we only have to slide one (some amount) to stop the sun if we happen to have that meal when the sun is low and and at a setting position it shines in on us dinning. My thinking is if you want more AC inside square feet buy a larger house because you will enjoy the fresh air and view a screen lanai provides. Another consideration is we eat breakfast at home almost every day (sun is never a consideration) and eat our evening meal out a fair amount of the time.

I have an enclosed lanai, thanks to the previous owners. Do not have air, but can keep the sliding door open without too much affect on my electric bill. I rented three homes with screened lanais and I was unable to use them in the summer. I enjoy my lanai all 12 months.

What ?? Munns put in a heat pump mini split for us from the get-go. Nothing was changed out.

I think it's sort of like a balcony enclosure in condos. Some people spend lots of money enclosing their apartment/condo balcony and it becomes a strange indoor place just for storage. Much better open to the air, sun, potted plants.

If you enjoy sitting outside then the screened lanai is the way to go. If not then you might consider enclosing it.

Why are you asking people for their opinions? Some people like to sit outdoors and some don't.

Rule no. 1: lanai should face East or North. Ours is screened and East facing. It gets hot in late morning but is shaded by the house the rest of the day. Great sunrises and cooler in the evening. Look for a house with a Florida room and a lanai. The dog loves the morning sun on the lanai. A West or South facing lanai can be almost unusable in the afternoon and evening. If in doubt try sitting there for a half an hour.

Birdcage canvas top
 

Who did you get to provide your top? Mine is 12 years old and leaking.