"Kiwanda" wrote in message
...
I'm considering a detached screen house as part of our landscaping
projects for next year. This is in central MN; our lot is about 2.5
acres and 1/2 of that is wetland so we have lots of mosquitoes. Soil
is clay and the lot slopes very gradually toward the wetland. Location
will be about 25 feet from the back porch and there will be a paver
patio nearby for BBQ, etc.

My first thought is a simply 24x16' building, gable roof with 16"
overhangs, with 24x48" screens above a knee wall on all four sides.
I'd place the door on the 16' end and use 4' for a covered porch. The
structure would be on piers with the floor about 24" above grade,
which would both move it above some of the bugs and keep it out of the
snow for part of the winter. I'd probably use fiber cement for siding
and some sort of panelized (steel or polycarbonate) for the roof.

Anyone have something like this? Seen plans somewhere? Have thoughts
on design I should keep in mind?

thanks,

Kiwanda

When I lived in Southern Louisiana, they were very common. They were used
for cooking large quantities of foods that would smoke up or smell up the
house, and for butchering, and processing wild game. One of the main
reasons too was to get out of the skeeters.

If I was to make one of these, and I want to, my considerations would be
this:

Keep it simple. Go to your local codes and understand where you can keep it
to a simple out building, and not a heavily coded structure. A lot will
depend on your zoning as to what you can do. And call it a "outbuilding" or
"religious food storage area", or something innocuous. Once it passes
final, you can go in and do what you want.

One of the biggies is, will it have a foundation? In some rural residence
and agricultural zones, anything without a foundation is considered a
"temporary" structure, and has very little codes.

Investigate the possibilities of having a GRAY WATER ONLY leach field. That
is, you would only be putting sink water down the pipes, and no sewage.
That should help keep the cost down, you'd just have to go inside to make a
big deposit.

Make at least one mud room or foyer. This can be small, but you know the
value of mudrooms in your part of the country. It also gives a layer of
heat loss protection when you open the door.

Run adequate power out there. If you are considering those hot water on
demand things, they take a lot of juice. Whatever you do, put a larger
panel than you think you'll need.

Depending on what you're going to do, slope the floor to floor drains so if
you do make a mess, you can hose it down.

Use available light, perhaps a couple of skylights. Use available sun
orienting go utilize heat gain, or help keep it cool.

Right from the start, select major components, like a three compartment NSF
kitchen sink, large cooktop, or room for a large cooker, reefer space, food
storage space, etc. And build so as to keep the little vermin out, too.

Main thing, check codes, build in compliance with them, and when they're
gone, finish it like you want. And watch your mouth during construction and
don't let it slip that you'll be doing this and that later. The less they
know, the easier and cheaper the permits will be.

And if you say "religious food storage area", they might want to stay as
detached from the project as they can. Which would be a good thing.

And lastly, use netting that is easy to replace. None of the fancy stuff in
expensive aluminum frames. That shade cloth from HD is cheap, and simple to
change, held on by metal or wood furring strips.

HTH

Steve

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