Screen porch floor

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P

ptmacp

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Jan 11, 2005
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Pegram, TN
I'm building a 2nd floor screen porch and wonder what I should use for flooring. The size is 14x16 and it's screened on 3 sides. I am leaning toward 5/4 PT deck boards but hate having to put screen underneath to keep the bugs out. Anyone have any experience with t&g pressure treated lumber? I don't want to use a synthetic material, prefer wood. Any suggestions?

Pete in Nashville.
 
Hi,

just a few questions... Does your floor framing run parallel or perpendicular to the house, and are they 16" or 24" on center? Have you checked into a good quality merante or douglas fir T&G? Why rule out composites?

If there are strict budget constraints then I'm sure PT would be a good choice (althouigh I don't remember seeing a T&G that pressure treated..which means nothing, because I believe in bigfoot and haven't seen one of those....yet)

The reason I ask about the floor framing is most deck frames have joists that run perpendicular. If you run your flooring the same way..it may require some extra framing to support the flooring material. If the roof overhead is full coverage with big overhangs, the rain blowing in on the floor is almost nothing, then you can run your flooring parallel to the house.

I also just noted that you said you were building all new?... a picture of the area where you're planning on adding would be nice comma
 
Why not just go pressure tr. 2bys on the floor? Mike
 
titanpat57 said:
Hi,

just a few questions... Does your floor framing run parallel or perpendicular to the house, and are they 16" or 24" on center? Have you checked into a good quality merante or douglas fir T&G? Why rule out composites?

If there are strict budget constraints then I'm sure PT would be a good choice (althouigh I don't remember seeing a T&G that pressure treated..which means nothing, because I believe in bigfoot and haven't seen one of those....yet)

The reason I ask about the floor framing is most deck frames have joists that run perpendicular. If you run your flooring the same way..it may require some extra framing to support the flooring material. If the roof overhead is full coverage with big overhangs, the rain blowing in on the floor is almost nothing, then you can run your flooring parallel to the house.

I also just noted that you said you were building all new?... a picture of the area where you're planning on adding would be nice comma
Click to expand...

Floor joists are 2x10 pt 16" o.c. running purpendicular. I rule out composites because I prefer the natural look and haven't seen any composites that look right. The local distributor of pressure treated southern pine tongue and groove flooring basically talked me out of buying it, says it's way too unstable in our climate, which features high humidity in the summer and subfreezing temps in the winter.
If I do with standard 5/4 board PT pine decking with screening underneath, what should I treat it with to reduce shrinking? I have a back deck using that that's about 15 years old and there are huge gaps between the boards. I really don't want that on this porch.
 
Michael Hanson said:
Why not just go pressure tr. 2bys on the floor? Mike
Click to expand...

Could, just that once it dries out and shrinks, gaps between the 2x boards will allow bugs in if I don't screen the underside.
 
this is going on the second floor..will there be a porch under it?..or just something else? How about finishing off the bottom (I'm assuming if it's on the second floor there is room underneth) of the joists with a nice vinyl vented wainscoting. I'm pretty sure the slits that allow the venting are a bit to small for your average down south skeeter'.

I'll say this again..A FRIGGIN PICTURE WOULD BE NICE!!

Thank you for shopping at Sears!:D
 
titanpat57 said:
this is going on the second floor..will there be a porch under it?..or just something else? How about finishing off the bottom (I'm assuming if it's on the second floor there is room underneth) of the joists with a nice vinyl vented wainscoting. I'm pretty sure the slits that allow the venting are a bit to small for your average down south skeeter'.

I'll say this again..A FRIGGIN PICTURE WOULD BE NICE!!

Thank you for shopping at Sears!:D
Click to expand...

Sorry! I'm at work. I'll take a picture and post tomorrow.

No, there is nothing under this porch but 12 feet of air. Thanks for all the input, I really do appreciate it. The local lumberyard guy suggests brazillian redwood t&g but that would come out to $2600 for the whole thing and that's way more than I can spend.
 
You should lay down some fiberglass screen on the joists before the planks. Keeps the spiders and other insects from crawling in from underneath.
 
There is an easy solution to your problem here that will utilize wood. There is a wood tongue and groove porch flooring that you can use for this project. I have used it in the past on my coastal Virginia home which experiences major changes in winter and summer temperatures. It is a Kiln Dried After Treatment T&G Porch flooring. A lot of people call it KDAT. What this does essentially is take all the moisture out of the lumber that was put in it during the treating process. It brings it back down to the moisture of untreated lumber. The big plus of this is that you can paint or stain it. I painted mine. Of course, I primed it first on all four sides and the ends, but then I painted it. As long as your porch is covered and it doesn't get any direct rain, it should be fine. I got mine from my local home improvement store (Lowes). They had to special order it. It came from US Lumber so I am sure you can get it in Tennessee.

I used to work in the lumber industry in the manufacturing side so I know a little about this product, but I have been very pleased. I will caution you, though; whatever type of wood you use, make sure you do something to protect it. If it is this product, do it immediately. If it is regular treated, wait NO MORE than 3 or 4 weeks before you protect it. Just because it is treated, doesn't mean it is impervious to splits or cracking. Treated only means that it will not rot due to insects.

Good luck.
 
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