Vanguard

Lanai Enclosures

A lanai enclosure in Florida turns a covered slab into a room. Which kind of room depends on one decision. Make it before anyone prices the job.

Placeholder image. Two remodelers patching stucco on the front elevation of a Central Florida block home in late afternoon light.

Three levels of lanai enclosure

Screened keeps insects out and rain mostly off. Cheapest, and still an outdoor room.

Glazed but unconditioned is weather-tight, usable most of the year, and genuinely uncomfortable in August. It does not add to the conditioned square footage of the home.

Conditioned makes it part of the house. That means insulation, HVAC, and the same envelope and code requirements as any other room. It also counts toward square footage. So it is an addition, and it takes an addition’s permit.

What the existing structure can carry

Builders often framed an original lanai roof only to shelter an open slab. It rarely carries enclosing walls, or the loads the Florida Building Code assigns an enclosed room. Whether it can is a structural question, and it gets answered before design. Sometimes the roof joins the project whether you wanted it to or not.

The slab

Crews usually pour lanai slabs to fall away from the house for drainage. Enclosing means handling that slope, and the transition at the door threshold. Gloss over it and water problems start there.

Not sure this is the right scope yet?

Most projects change shape once someone stands in the room. The walk-through is where that happens, and it costs nothing whether or not you go ahead.

See how a project runs

Start with a walk-through

Tell us the room, the city the home is in, and how to reach you. We will say plainly whether it is work we should take on.

Get a free estimate

Built by Renzo Johnson