Screened Porch vs. Covered Porch for a Lake Murray Home

The real question: how many months do you want it?

An open covered porch on Lake Murray is wonderful in April and October. In late June, with mosquitoes coming off the water at dusk, it goes unused exactly when the view is best. Screening typically adds three to four genuinely usable months a year on a waterfront lot. If your porch faces open water with steady wind, insect pressure is lower than in a wooded cove, and an open porch holds up better than people expect.

What you give up by screening

Screen mesh takes a measurable bite out of the view and roughly a stop of light. Modern high-transparency mesh in a dark charcoal color nearly disappears from a seated position, but the frame members are still there. We minimize this by using the widest structurally sound panel spacing, keeping the bottom rail low, and aligning frame verticals with the roof posts so the eye reads one grid instead of two.

Furniture, finishes and maintenance

Screening changes what you can put out there. Upholstered furniture, rugs, a TV and pendant lighting are realistic inside a screened room; on an open porch, everything has to tolerate blowing rain and pollen. Maintenance runs the other way. Open porches need washing every spring, and Midlands pollen coats everything. Screened rooms stay cleaner but the mesh itself needs occasional attention.

• Choose screened if: dusk use matters, you want soft furniture, or the lot is wooded or in a still cove.
• Choose open if: the view is the whole point, the porch faces open water and prevailing breeze, or you want to keep the front-of-house architecture light.
• Choose a hybrid if: you can screen one bay and leave the dining end open — we build this often.

The middle path most people land on

Build a covered porch with the structure sized and detailed so screen can be added later. Post spacing, header heights and a continuous bottom plate all need to be right from day one; retrofitting a porch that wasn't planned for it means visible added framing. Three-season EZE-Breeze panels are the other upgrade path — they drop into the same openings as screen and extend the season further into winter.