What does the designer of the house think?

Is the builder the designer of the house?

Yes, the builder is the designer and he is in favor of two small porches..

What does the elevation drawing look like? What does the floor plan look like? The interior and exterior need to be able to play well with each other so you really cannot make decisions like that without taking into account the interior.

If the center is off the kitchen I would think it will be the most frequently used and will be dined in therefore the most deserving of screens . What is the plan for grill placement? Not a fan of using a grill in an enclosed porch. Do you need screens or can you do large fans for bug control

What do you want to get out of this screened patio? Dining area, sitting area, etc?

Lots of ways of doing this.

Have you ever been to FL? They can screen in any size and shape with permanent screening or retractable screens.

Residential Pool Enclosure · More Info

Motorized Screen Porch Siesta Key - Turtle bay · More Info

More information would be helpful!

What part of the country are you in?

What direction does the porch face?

What's the concrete pad and fence to the right?

What is the view like?

How do you expect to use the space?

Do you have children that will be in and out of the house frequently?

A floor plan of the house and dimensions of the porch would be very helpful.

My parents built a house in the woods, in Minnesota. They had a similar situation - a covered deck off the back of the house. About 1/3 was screened; the rest open. The only thing the open part was used for was to hold the grill, and serve as a path from the porch to the steps. But the open part was opposite the living room, so it was nice to have an unobstructed view.

The screen porch was about 10' x 10', with comfortable chairs. We spent a LOT of time there. But it was strictly a seating area - there wasn't room for a table (and the kitchen table was right inside the door).

A screened porch off a laundry room and bedroom are confusing. Bedroom implies private space laundry implies NO ONE goes through there. Dumb. A porch that expands the home with a slider or French door entrance exit in the main room is what you ought to do. The other doors can still be there. Obviously the porch depth will be different as the home juts in and out but that won't be seen from the outside view. The screen and it's frames will be. Does the living space have windows that face right and left?

Either get a competent local design professional involved now, or build the house as planned and live in the house to see where the real needs are and then get a competent local design professional involved. Sounds like your current designer failed you.

I would want that whole thing screened in, with a sleeper loft on the second floor of the center section.

Arcy, looks like they have a pool. Maybe they have a bathroom in that laundry area, so that door might be for quick access to a bathroom from outside. Not dumb at all. Having that area also screened is not dumb either, as it will help keep the bugs out as people/kids come in/out from the pool.

Also, lots of people like to be able to walk out from their bedroom to their patio, so having that area screened might make sense too. Maybe they like to use a hot tub in the evenings and will go back into the master bathroom from that door, instead of having to walk through the whole house.

Lots of ways to do things ...

Is this the back of the house, or the front? Assuming it's the back, I would leave the whole thing open, if it was my house. I don't know where you live, but if you have a problem with mosquitos, etc. I can see why you would want it screened.

This is actually a pool house, and yes, there is a bathroom off the laundry room to use when using the pool. There are mosquitoes and since there is a field with cows next door, horse flies as well.

Screen the entire space with those insect conditions.

When you say you can’t figure out the doors, do you mean the screen doors? I would screen the whole area and consider screen doors on both ends on the side, although that may not work with your pool, difficult to tell.

With the new information and the likelihood of other pertinent information not shared, screen in the pool too.

A pool house with a primary bedroom? I am confused. Nevertheless…I would screen the entire space. Although….I would also build a patio upon which a grille would sit. Or are you also creating an outdoor kitchen of some sort? More information?

The horse flies might come from the cow pasture, but they will be very attracted to your pool. And the yummy smells, exhales, and heat of humans and pets, including pet excretements. You might want to consider screening in your pool, they will linger around there to feed. Even if there weren't cows next door anymore, you and yours are now on their meal board. The female flies at least.

Avon Skin So Soft lotion could still keep flies away. Skin So Soft Original Body Lotion by Avon

I suggest skipping the screen altogether. I have a large open /covered porch across the back of my house, and I love it. I've lived in a house with a screened porch, and I've never once wished mine were screened. Specific thoughts, not all about screens:

- I love that I can step out on my big porch in any weather. Our trash cans are just over the edge, so I can stand "in the dry" and drop my trash into the cans. We can grill even in the rain. We don't get much snow, but it doesn't pile against the door. I can go out on the porch to call the dogs.

- Without a screen, we are more "connected" to the yard. The screen cuts down your visibility to the yard, and it cuts down on the natural light that comes into your house. I absolutely wouldn't want a screened porch across that whole area ... or across the public spaces. You could consider Phantom Screens, which roll up and down.

- Screens require maintenance -- bugs and leaves will get into them, sometimes they'll get holes and will require fixing. If you have dogs, they'll push against the screens and stretch /make holes in them.

- You could build the porches for now ... then live with open porches a while and see if you really want the screens. If you size the posts to accept screens, they'd be easy to add later.

- More about dogs ... is that a King Charles Cavalier I see in the picture? That's my dream dog, but I accidentally adopted an adorable puppy who grew up to be a small horse. Anyway, if you go with the screens, you'll have to let the dogs out into the screened porch, then you'll have to walk to the edge of the porch to let them out the screened door too. Our dogs have always loved that they can go out on the porch, even in bad weather.

- We have ceiling fans, which keep the air moving and keep bugs away.

- I wish we had concrete patio floors instead of wooden decking ... sealing such a large porch every couple years is a real chore.

- One of the best details about our porch is that it's "even" with the house ... we don't step down to go out onto the porch. It makes the porch feel more like a part of the house.