Updated September 2026
A screened in porch is mesh added to a porch the house already has, typically $2,000 to $5,000 or $10 to $25 per square foot per HomeGuide's 2026 guide. A screen room is a purpose built room with its own aluminum framing and an insulated roof set on the slab, $10,000 to $35,000 new. A screened patio usually means a screen room built over an existing concrete patio, and a patio enclosure is the umbrella term for any of them, including a glass room where sliding glass panels replace the mesh. Donnie Grubbs builds all of them in North Louisiana with the same Structall insulated roof and aluminum framing.
Source: HomeGuide, How Much Does a Screened In Porch Cost (2026); Angi, rescreening cost data (2026).
A porch the house already has, with screen panels and a door set into the openings. The roof and the posts exist, so the job is panels, a kickplate and a self closing door. It is the cheapest way to get bug free evenings, and on a covered porch with a sound roof it is usually a one day job. The catch is the roof: a thin metal porch roof traps heat, and no amount of screen fixes that.
A room built from scratch on a slab: a Structall insulated panel roof tied into the house, extruded aluminum posts and beams, full height screen panels or a solid kickplate along the bottom, a door, and wiring for a fan and lights. Because the roof is insulated, the room stays close to shade temperature and gets used from spring through football season. Most are complete within a few days once materials arrive.
Usually a screen room built over a concrete patio that was poured with the house. If a patio cover is already there and structurally sound, it can be screened in for the lower price. If not, the insulated roof is built first and the screens follow. Either way, the slab is the starting point, and a level, sound slab is ready to build on.
The broad term for turning a covered patio into a room. Screen panels make it a screen room; horizontal sliding glass panels with screens behind them make it a glass room, which runs $15,000 to $45,000 installed for a three season room. Both are treated as patio covers under Louisiana's building code rather than as habitable additions, which keeps the permit simpler than a sunroom or a true addition.
Donnie Grubbs answers all seven the same way on every job: Structall insulated roof, aluminum framing, your choice of mesh with a kickplate, permit handled, structure sized for glass, and our own crews, as it has been since 1976.
Screening in an existing porch or patio cover typically costs $2,000 to $5,000, or $10 to $25 per square foot, per HomeGuide's 2026 data. A new screen room with an insulated roof runs $10,000 to $35,000. Donnie Grubbs prices every job from an on site measure.
Rescreening runs $800 to $5,200 per Angi's 2026 data, with most homeowners near $2,900. The aluminum frame, roof and door outlast the mesh many times over, so a rescreen refreshes the room without rebuilding it.
No. A patio enclosure uses the existing slab and an insulated panel roof with screen or sliding glass panels, and Louisiana's code treats it as a patio cover. A sunroom has a shingled roof and fixed windows and is closer to an addition.
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