Expert: Dave Johnson - 5/25/2009

Question
I am buying an older home in South Florida that has a 12' x 24' screened porch attached to the house.  It already has a beautiful Mexican tile floor and a cathedral wood beamed ceiling with a ceiling fan.  I would like to enclose this room so it can be used as an office.  It only needs glass or sliding glass doors with screens to become a room.  What kind of a price am I looking at?  Should I have a window air conditioning unit installed instead of trying to bring the air out from the house?  Should I have a half wall installed on the bottom and then windows on the top, or do the whole thing in glass and glass doors?  Can  you give me any advice on this?

Answer
Hi Rosie,
As far as pricing goes, I'm not going to be much help. Costs vary a lot from state to state (I'm in Maine)But I'm guessing with labor and materials you're looking at $7,000 to $10,000.
The room size tells me that it would be less expensive to go with a
window a/c.
I would also think that doing the bottom two to three feet in something other than glass would
give you a chance to change the decor down the road...

Best of luck, and if you need more, please mail me again.

Dave