Covered Patio vs. Screened Porch vs. Three Season Room: Extending Your Outdoor Season

Making the Most of Every Season in Utah County

Ask anyone who has lived along the Wasatch Front for a few years, and you'll hear some version of the same complaint. The nicest evenings of the year show up in late September, right about the time it gets too cold to sit outside. You wait all winter for patio weather. Then the canyons turn gold, and everyone heads back in.

Nearly every homeowner we meet in Provo, Orem, and Lehi wants some of that time back. When we sit down at the kitchen table to talk it over, the choice usually comes down to three structures: a covered patio, a screened porch, or a three-season room. Any of them will keep you outdoors longer. How much longer, what it costs, and how it feels to be out there? That part varies quite a bit.

Start With the Weather You Want to Escape

Our weather keeps people guessing. A July afternoon on a bare south facing patio can be brutal, and the sunup here at 4,500 feet has a bite to it. October is its own story. A cold front can knock twenty degrees off the thermometer before dinner, and by December there may be a foot of snow sitting on every roof in the neighborhood.

We always ask clients one question early on: what drives you inside? If it's the sun, shade alone may solve the problem. If it's the mosquitoes that turn up every June, especially in the neighborhoods near Utah Lake, you'll want walls of some kind. And if your goal is coffee outside in early April without a parka, that's a different conversation entirely.

The Covered Patio

Picture a roof with no walls. Posts or columns hold up a solid cover, and underneath you have pavers, stone, concrete, or a low deck, wide open to the yard on every side. Plenty of our clients start out with a simple patio and come back a couple of summers later wanting shade over it. If a full roof feels too heavy for your space, a pergola gives you filtered light instead.

The big win here is shade, and in August that matters more than almost anything. You keep your view, too. On the hillside lots in Highland and Mapleton, the valley is the whole reason people want to be outside. Of the three options, a covered patio is usually the least expensive, and it works beautifully with an outdoor kitchen or a fire feature.

What it won't do is stop the wind, the bugs, or the cold. Cushions pick up dust on breezy days. A good heater will buy you a few extra weeks in spring and fall, but let's be honest: this is a summer space. It's a great fit for people who entertain a lot and love the feeling of being out in the open.

The Screened Porch

A screened porch puts walls of screen under a roof that usually ties into the house. Step onto one on a warm June evening and the appeal is obvious. The breeze still drifts through. The mosquitoes don't. If you've tried eating dinner outside near the lake in early summer, you already know what that's worth.

We see a lot of people who love the look of a traditional covered porch end up adding screens for exactly this reason. It feels more like a room. You can hang a ceiling fan, add some nice lighting, maybe build in a fireplace, and the floor stays a lot cleaner because less blows in off the yard.

The weak spot is temperature. Screen holds no heat at all, and by mid-November most screened porches sit empty until spring. A hard storm will push snow right through the mesh, too. One fix we like is a set of removable vinyl or glass panels that go up in the fall. They stretch the season out without the price tag of a full enclosure.

The Three Season Room

A three-season room closes the whole thing in. You get a roof, walls of windows or glass panels, and a finished floor, though it usually isn't heated and cooled along with the rest of the house. That's really the line between this and a four-season room, which is insulated and built as true living space. We build both kinds here at Archadeck of Provo, and each one is designed around the style of the home it's attached to.

If you want the most months out of your money, this is the one. On a clear afternoon in March, a south facing room can feel downright pleasant while the yard outside is still patchy with snow. Wind and bugs stop being a concern. You can leave the good furniture and a nice rug out all year.

There are tradeoffs. It's the priciest of the three, and the permit process takes more work. Glass rooms also get stuffy in midsummer, which is why we're careful about operable windows and shading. And no, it won't stand in for your family room in January. For the long stretch from early spring to late fall, though, it's hard to beat.

How They Compare

Here's a quick look at how each option holds up against the conditions we run into most often around Utah County.

Before you pick one, think about a typical weeknight. Are you grilling for a crowd, or reading alone after the kids are in bed? What usually sends you indoors sooner than you'd like? Budget plays a part as well. Our pricing page gives a general sense of costs, and financing is available for many projects.

It's also worth thinking a few years ahead. We can build a covered patio that's ready to take screens later or frame a screened porch to accept window panels down the road. Plenty of families start with one and grow into the next.

A Few Things Worth Planning For

Every roof we put up in this part of the state need to be able to carry serious snow. The design load changes with elevation, which means a porch in Santaquin may be built to different numbers than one in Saratoga Springs. Getting the beams, posts, and footings right is a big part of what we mean by better building. It's not the place to cut corners.

The spot where the new roof meets the house deserves just as much attention. When the rooflines, trim, and siding match, the addition looks like it was always there. A careful connection also keeps water from finding its way in where old meets new.

Watch which direction you're facing. West exposures take a beating from the afternoon sun, while south exposures are perfect for a three-season room because they soak up warmth in spring and fall. For materials, we lean toward composite decking and aluminum or vinyl railings. They shrug off our sun and freeze cycles with very little upkeep.

One more tip from experience: plan the electrical early. Fans, lights, and infrared heaters are easy to work into a design and a headache to add later. Most attached structures with a roof will also need a building permit from the city, and we walk through those requirements with you as part of our design and build process.

Ready to Get More Out of Your Backyard?

If you want shade and open air for the lowest cost, a covered patio is tough to beat. When bugs are the main complaint, go with a screened porch. And if you're chasing the longest season you can get, the three-season room earns its price. There isn't a wrong answer here, only the one that fits the way your family likes to spend its evenings.

For ideas, peruse our porch gallery or grab a copy of our free design guide. Every project we build comes with our warranty, and we work with homeowners across our Utah County service areas.

When you're ready to talk it through, reach out online or give us a call at (385) 448.4255 to set up a free design consultation. We'd be happy to come out, walk the yard with you, and help you figure out what makes sense for your home.