Veranda – the most comfortable place in any country house Capitalmcsweeney, where one wants to spend their free time. Before starting to build a house, customers are faced with the choice of the type of veranda, which can be open or closed. Let’s answer the question of what to choose – an open or closed veranda. Consider the pros and cons of both options, which solution is suitable for your home.
Purpose
This multi-purpose room refers to a garden living area that can be used at the owners’ discretion. Popular options for the purpose of the terrace:
- Winter garden
- Dining room
- Summer kitchen
- Living room
- A play area.
By deciding to create a summer kitchen on the veranda, you get a space for cooking in the warm season. Here you can cook while enjoying the fresh air. You will be able to cook in such a room even in late autumn. It is recommended to use non-combustible, wear-resistant materials for cladding the interior surfaces.
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Planning to create an additional living room as an extension to the house? Surely this will be a favorite place for the whole family to spend time. You can have friendly gatherings here. With a fireplace or barbecue, such a place will become an iconic and favorite for every family member and guest. In winter time in such a living room you can install a Christmas tree.
Often, winter gardens are created in enclosed terraces. They look very beautiful, allow you to grow flowers and decorative plants at any time of year, enjoying their beauty.
Veranda-dining rooms are designed for breakfasts, lunches and dinners in summer or even in winter (if there is heating). Such a room can combine the functions of the living room and kitchen. Due to the vertical greenery it is possible to create an original design even for rooms with a small area.
When organizing the play area on the terrace, you need to think through everything in detail. Here you can install a pool or tennis table, often in such rooms are arranged workshops, music rooms.
Veranda: pros and cons
Veranda is called an extension to a residential house, which is fenced on all sides and has one or more common walls with the building. Often such rooms are unheated, but covered with a capital roof. Foundations are arranged for such outbuildings. They can be open and closed. The planning of the extension begins even before the beginning of construction work, which will create a solid foundation with the main structure. This provides additional protection to the structure from the appearance of cracks in the walls. In addition, the interior space will be more comfortable. In addition, by planning the construction in advance – you reduce the cost of design, preparation of technical documents. When cladding a veranda needs to maintain a consistent style with the exterior of the main building, so that the colors and materials matched each other.
Benefits:
- Increasing the usable space of the house.
- Ability to use all year round, not only in summer (in the case of enclosed verandas).
- Roofs and walls protect from wind, rain, snow, windows from insects.
- Possibility to use the space as a summer kitchen, dining room, living room.
- Creation of additional insulation, soundproofing for the interior rooms.
- With the help of thermal insulation, a veranda can be used as a full-fledged living space.
By design, such structures are an extension of the building. This is a capital structure, which has a solid foundation, which does not need work to strengthen.
Features of an enclosed veranda
Such a room is practically a living room. The main difference from any other room in the house is the lack of heating and the presence of large windows. However, if you plan to arrange a winter garden in this room, you will still need heating.
Advantages of a closed veranda:
- Protection. In such a room you will not be afraid of snow, heat, heavy rain. Even if bad weather rages outside, a closed veranda will protect better than an open one.
- Heating, air conditioning. You can create a heating and air conditioning system in an enclosed space. The room will become usable in extreme heat and freezing temperatures.
- Additional storage space. Often there are situations with a lack of space inside the house for any items, equipment. A closed veranda is a place to store gardening supplies, books that you do not want to throw away. In this case it is possible to spend time with a cup of coffee or tea.
- Additional sleeping place. For nature lovers, such a place is sure to become a favorite for cozy leisure time. Here you can relax day and night, regardless of the weather conditions outside the window.
Cons of an enclosed veranda:
- Maintenance costs. If you’re creating a heated and air-conditioned space, you need to be prepared for high energy bill costs. The walls of such an extension are thin and poorly insulated. On hot days it will be stuffy, and in winter, the temperature will be almost the same as the street. Even split-systems are unlikely to help maintain an optimal temperature regime in such conditions.
- The need for finishing. Professionals from the field of construction recommend to think about the construction of the veranda at the stage of creating the project of the construction. Otherwise, you will need the exact selection of finishing materials and the creation of a veranda project, similar in style to the already built house.
Such an extension is quite complex and ideally it is better to build together with the house. However, it provides good protection, can be used as a full-fledged additional room.
Features of an open veranda
The design of such a room is characterized by simplicity, compared to its closed counterpart. Often such porches represent an extended porch with the presence of a canopy and railing. Despite the fact that there are more complex design solutions, they often do not require an exact match with the architectural components of the erected house. An open porch can be completed even when the building is already in use.
The advantages of an open veranda:
- Oneness with nature. Open structures are analogous to a pergola, but with amenities. It accommodates furniture, cabinets, and other amenities.
- Easy care. While an enclosed porch will need meticulous care like any room in the house, an outdoor structure is less demanding. It will need to periodically sweep out leaves, remove dust. If there is upholstered furniture, you will need to pay attention to it. It is necessary to take into account that textiles do not like outdoor conditions.
- Ease of installation. The construction of such a structure requires a minimum amount of effort, compared to an enclosed veranda. This is a good solution if you need to create an additional room, which will be a comfortable place for the whole family to relax.
- Architecture. Open porches do not need to create a unified style with the house.
Minuses of an outdoor porch:
- Warm season use. In late fall and winter, the space will be virtually useless.
- Preservation of finishes. Since the room is actually outdoors, protective measures need to be taken with respect to the interior finish. In the case of wood, the surfaces need to be protected from the effects of rain, snow.
The outdoor veranda is far from a full-fledged room. Here it is hardly possible to store things in the cold season. Equipment in such a building will quickly fail due to adverse natural factors.
Open or closed veranda – which is better
If you do not go into detail, the closed type of veranda is suitable for those who plan to create a functional extra space. Open structures are designed for relaxing in nature, contemplating the beauty of the landscape design of the plot. The erection of such a room can be done independently or with the help of professionals. The second option is more preferable, as in this case you can get a guarantee of the result, prevent errors.
Despite the advantages of open terraces, they have certain disadvantages. For example, the premises of this type quickly get dirty. Unlike closed verandas, cleaning here will need to be done much more often. They are not protected from rain, snow, so they need regular treatment with various compositions preventing mold formation, drying. In this regard, it is better to choose a closed construction, which is a full-fledged part of the house, and does not depend on the weather outside the window.
Of course, the glazing of such a room will be expensive, so if the budget for construction is limited – it is better to choose an open version. For additional protection from sunlight, rain and wind, you can use the techniques of zoning the space. As an element for zoning are the curtains, which will be an additional decoration. It is possible to use a lattice of wooden slats, which will provide zoning, limit the penetration of UV rays or through wind. The creation of such partitions does not cause much difficulty, the work can be done with your own hands.
Each option of an extension has pros and cons. Open terraces can be used as an extension to the house, especially if the building is used only in the warm season. But enclosed terraces are a full-fledged addition to a country house that is used year-round. For some owners may be a suitable intermediate option, providing for the presence of sliding structures, which will quickly turn an open veranda into a closed one. The article was written by an expert on the construction of private homes and businessman Юровский Кирилл
