our home, south of houston, has a large screened porch and there is no distortion whatsoever in the view
we have 3 doors opening onto the porch and leave them open a lot
when we lived in Cypress, we had no need for screening but here, life after sunset life is not pleasant without it here
since we finished our home in late sept., 4 of our friends have screened their porches, they were also under the impression that distortion in the view was unavoidable
it's almost 6 pm and right now, i'm sitting in the recliner watching the deer through the back windows across the screen porch (12 ft deep) and through the screens and probably 250 out in the yard.......

These ideas aren't a screened porch but are ways to keep flying bugs out of your home without seeing the screens..

An expensive solution is to have pocket screened doors that slide into the wall when not in use

The second way is to have them unroll and come down out of a hidden spot above a door or window opening. You don't know they are there when not in use.

Some sort of a special supposedly keeps bugs out too. I think they are called air screens/curtains (or something like that).

I've met the bugs in Houston and having some solution is probably a good idea!!!!!

I live in the MS Delta, I feel ya on the bugs. We live out in the middle of rice/soybean farm land. We pretty much HAVE to have a mosquito control misting system. Have you considered one of those? It would eliminate the need for the screened in area all together. Here, if you want to sit outside after dark (or even before dark, honestly) you need screened in areas + the mosquito system, but in your area you might could do with just one.

I'm not a fan of screened in places because they take away my natural light. We are going to have one very small screened in area off our master bedroom because I can still have my windows on the other side of the bedroom, but if I didn't have to have it to enjoy the outside, I wouldn't.

Have you looked at EZE Breeze windows. Pollen and rain blowing in can ruin a screened porch. These come with screens installed on them, even with a tighter mesh that creates a complete bug free zone. archglass.com has these windows and many pictures and information not their website. best of all they sell direct. good luck with the new home.

I would rather have a little distorted view than bugs any day LOL. We opted for sliding glass doors and casement windows with screens instead of full screened porch. Husband will not sit out there with us if there are bugs.

Thanks for the comments. I am softening on the idea of a screened porch and thinking of the spray system and having a couple of screened doors & windows.

i would be more concerned about the amount of light the porch ceiling blocked than looking through the screen itself
we have a lot of windows and doors with transoms and the porch is oriented to the south and east and we do not have a light problem at all but if you only had a couple of windows or a patio door it could be possibly be a problem here is just feels like you're sitting under a big tree looking out at the view...

Zippity, do you have a brand recommendation for screening? I too am south of Houston. If this past summer is indicative at all of how bad the mosquitoes will be in future years, a screen is a MUST for our porch. I have always been concerned about distorting our view out to our acreage and feel the main way to minimize or eliminate distortion is probably to choose a quality product-- do you know what kind y'all chose?

i have no clue what we have the builder just "used his guy" i will endeavor to find out and let you know it is truly a good product.... i also thought we would be blocking out our view and the light and i'm so happy with the outcome..

Thanks Zippity if it's not too much trouble that would be great.

Our entire pool is enclosed in a lanai area, and it does not block the view of the lake at all. We have doors off our living room and family room that slide back into themselves so you can open up the whole indoors out. It seems like pretty much every house in FL has them but no one else anywhere else does. I don't know why...

View from in house- undistorted...