Thanks! Since you mentioned it, what's the difference between "damp" and "wet" rated? Is there a difference? Should we get the wet, in under that roof?

how about a stand fan that you can place as needed?

ninigret -- Yeah, this was my solution...I'm told ceiling fans are more elegant, and that we'd hate to put them in later. I mean, THAT part's true enough; better to put them in now, during construction. But...we can get three good stand fans for the price of one good ceiling fan installed, and they can be used elsewhere. Sigh.

I think adding ceiling fans would look great! I'd also maybe think about adding a porch swing. To me, porch swings and wrap around porches go together like peanut butter and jelly :)

I was going to suggest smaller outdoor rated fans. I wasn't aware there was a damp and a wet rating. But for sure don't use an indoor as the elements will damage the motor. I think stand fans may look junkie not to mention the hassle of moving around.

Do you get strong winds where you live? We had a beautiful fan on a 3 season, screened in porch. Twice in 7 years we had fan blades break off during wind storms. We finally had to take all the blades off every fall, and put them back up after the spring storms. They looked a bit odd the rest of the time :)

Verona, there WAS a porch swing when we bought the house, but they took it with them. Hooks are still there, and I think we'll go with that approach; put the hooks in now, make the decision to use them at leisure. Gotta have some windchimes too; all part of my analog weather reporting system!

chocolatesnap, strong winds in the area are always a possibility, but the front porch is very well shielded from anything but an east wind, which is pretty rare.

I have an exterior rated fan 42" under the patio cover at our current house. It is exposed to wind on the east, south, and north. We get a lot of north/south wind, sometimes including driven rain/snow. In the two years it has been installed, I have seen wind drive the blades many times, with no damage(so far).

Our patio is 24 feet long and 14 feet wide. I mounted the fan in the center of that space. I am considering moving it and installing a second fan so the fans are located 1/3 of the distance from each end(and 1/3 apart). That will allow the fans to cover the entire patio.

On your porch, smaller diameter fans placed so each fan's coverage over laps, would need maybe 3 fans(on the side) and two on the front for complete coverage, IMHO.

That's a lot of fans, but it is for convenience.

I'm from western PA. We had a covered porch on our last house. We just had a normal indoor ceiling fan on the porch. The porch was larger than yours though. The ceiling fan never got rain or snow on it. All we would do was take down the blades off the fan and store them inside for the winter.

No rope lighting! In addition to ceiling fans (YES!), recessed can lights on a dimmer switch. And no light attachment on ceiling fan. This is the time to put some $$$ into your outside room.

Why no rope lighting, typeandrun? I don't really like can lights much, and I don't think we're going to need a lot of light out there. But yeah, no lights on the fans.

IMO, rope lighting is trendy and not permanent. Recessed lighting is so unobtrusive, and using a dimmer switch really adds ambience. Can't wait to see your finished photos. Love your little gem

I hear you. I'm not thinking about the the plastic ropes with inset lights, though. We're going for an era, 20s-30s, and I'm looking at something like this. The recessed lights just don't fit in that. This may not either, but I'm still not sure. I mean, ideally, oil lanterns, but that ain't happening!

Those rope lights make it look like a bar. :(. Nothing period about that. Can lights aren't period, but they don't call attention. Use period porch lights otherwise.

So, an update: we decided to skip the ceiling fans after all. The only ones we liked were about $450 a piece, plus installation, and we'd need at least three. And we'd probably only use them about 15 days a year in this climate. So we're going to get a couple of nice stand fans instead.
OTOH...we did wind up with can lights on a dimmer switch. Sigh.

If you're still in the construction phase, I'd at least install the boxes for the ceiling fans in case you change your mind in the future. It shouldn't be that expensive to do it now as opposed to later.

No, thought about that too, discussed it, and there were just too many compromises. We won't be revisiting this one.