![Screened porch collage](https://d217qqw9cv4mkx.cloudfront.net/sub/50071/images/blogs/south-austin-screened-room-builders.jpg)
What do you do when your South Austin, TX, back yard is full of mosquitoes and you have no outdoor living structures except a small concrete slab out back? This is not a hard question, is it? You trade that little concrete slab for a reasonable-size screened porch, right? Yes!
These homeowners were renovating quite a few aspects of this older home, and adding a screened porch was high on their list. Their back yard stays moist so mosquitoes were a constant problem. Their budget was a consideration, so Austin porch builder Archadeck of Austin worked with them to design a porch that met their needs and stayed within budget.
![Before and after screened porch](https://d217qqw9cv4mkx.cloudfront.net/sub/50071/images/blogs/Before-After.jpg)
We designed and built this beautiful cedar-framed screened room for them, just the right size. We removed the existing concrete slab and poured a new, larger one. As usual, before pouring concrete, we dug trenches for conduit to lay electrical wiring so the homeowners could have outdoor lights and a ceiling fan on the porch. Then we laid steel rebar to stabilize concrete the floor and give it a longer life.
![Screened porch](https://d217qqw9cv4mkx.cloudfront.net/sub/50071/images/blogs/Zen-Inspired-South-Austin-Screened-Room.jpg)
Budget roof and ceiling look great!
Archadeck of Austin is always sensitive to budget issues. One way we kept costs down on this project was to use a metal roof cover. The roof is made of aluminum panels with interlocking seams. Without intervention, these seams would show from the inside and wouldn’t look great. We added 1×4-inch strips of wood covering each seam in the ceiling to give the appearance of a finished, seamless ceiling.
A porch a dog can love, too!
The homeowners were a little concerned that their dog might run into the porch screen and cause some damage there. To protect the screen in the area of the dog’s height, we added a railing and balusters at 4-inch intervals on the inside of the screen, all the way around. Finally, Fido also gets his own door. Can you spot the doggie door next to the people door?
![Backyard screened porch](https://d217qqw9cv4mkx.cloudfront.net/sub/50071/images/blogs/simple-and-elegant-south-austin-screened-porches.jpg)
If you’re in need of a screened porch, or a new porch and patio combination project, contact Archadeck of Austin at (512) 886-8367 to schedule a free design consultation.
![Jim Schallon,Senior Designer Archadeck Of Austin](https://bolt-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/8f07008c15e88272614e5a6e2674a735/Jim%20Schallon,%20senior%20designer%20Archadeck%20of%20Austin.jpg)
Jim Schallon, Lead Designer at Archadeck of Austin.