Patio Enclosures and Sunrooms in Abilene, TX
A screened patio enclosure is a roofed patio walled in with insect screen, open to the breeze and not heated or cooled. A sunroom closes the patio in with glass under a solid roof. In Abilene the choice turns on heat, wind-driven dust and rain, mosquitoes, and whether you will heat and cool the room.
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Screen room or sunroom: which fits an Abilene patio?
Choose by the months you will really use it. A screen room keeps the breeze and loses the bugs, which suits spring, fall and shaded summer evenings. A sunroom with insulated glass, an insulated roof and its own heating and cooling can be used in July and January.
Our patio enclosures and sunrooms cover both builds. Our comparison of a sunroom and a screened enclosure for Abilene goes through the trade-offs point by point.
How hot does a glass room get in an Abilene summer?
Hot enough to plan the cooling from the start. Abilene Regional Airport recorded 40 days at or above 100°F in 2012, tied for seventh most on record, according to the National Weather Service. That year was an extreme, but it shows what a room has to survive.
A three-season room with single glazing and no insulation will sit above 100°F on an August afternoon. Glass on a west or south wall with no shade and no dedicated cooling turns into a greenhouse. A screen room handles heat only with shade and airflow, so it stays pleasant in the morning and evening but not at 4 p.m. in August.
What gets through a screen in Abilene wind?
Mosquitoes, pollen and most windblown debris stay out, and a screen room does that without spraying anything. A screen is not a seal, though. Fine dust and blowing rain still pass through, so a screened room needs furniture and flooring that can take them.
Wind loads a lightweight enclosure from several sides, so ask how the frame anchors to the slab and to the house wall. Screens can tear in hail or in hard wind with debris, which is usually a panel repair rather than a rebuild. Glass and roof panels resist more but cost more when they fail. Our post on patio covers built for Abilene wind covers the roof side of that question.
Does enclosing a patio need a permit in Abilene?
Plan on one. The City of Abilene’s building permit application covers additions and asks for plans. Longhorn files the permit with City of Abilene Building Inspections, which schedules the inspections.
The slab gets checked first. Abilene clay swells and shrinks, and a screen frame shows every bit of that movement, while a glass room shows it as a sticking door or a cracked corner. We fit the bottom rail of a screen wall to the slab as it is, so a gap does not let in the bugs you paid to keep out. Every Abilene project starts with a free design visit.
Questions from Abilene homeowners
Not comfortably. A screen room has no insulation and no heating or cooling, so it follows the weather. A screen room works well in spring and fall and in shade on summer evenings. A room for both January and August is a four-season sunroom with its own heating and cooling.
Start with the solid roof, which does most of the work. Then look at orientation, shading on the west glass, a ceiling fan and insulated glass with a low-E coating. If you want to sit out there on August afternoons, an all-season room with its own cooling is the better answer.
Often, but only after the slab is inspected. Look for cracks, uneven edges and gaps at the house wall. Abilene clay moves with moisture, and a patio slab poured as flatwork was never meant to carry glass and a roof. Some slabs need footings added or a new pour before any walls go up.
Often, but not automatically. A room generally has to be finished, enclosed and conditioned to count as living area, and the appraiser makes the call. A screened enclosure is usually treated as a patio improvement. Ask a local appraiser before counting on extra square footage.
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