A new screen room with an insulated roof in Monroe, LA typically costs $10,000 to $35,000 installed, or about $50 to $175 per square foot per the 2026 HomeGuide screened porch guide, while screening in an existing patio cover runs $2,000 to $5,000. Mosquitoes, gnats and the sun are what keep people off a Monroe, LA patio, and a screen room with a Structall insulated roof fixes all three. Donnie Grubbs builds them with aluminum framing and our own crews, and has since 1976.
What should screen rooms cost in Monroe, LA? That depends on how far you take the scope, the materials you select, and what condition things are in now. This page lays out typical local pricing, the cost drivers that matter, and the way we manage the job end to end.
Monroe is the seat of Ouachita Parish and the larger half of the Twin Cities, sitting on the east bank of the Ouachita River with West Monroe and our Cypress Street showroom directly across the bridge. The 2020 census counted 47,702 residents in about 21,317 housing units, and the housing stock leans old: Census ACS estimates put the median year built at 1971, with 45 percent of occupied homes owner occupied and the rest rented. The Garden District and the streets around the University of Louisiana Monroe hold many of the older homes, and it is common for us to find original wood sash windows with rotted sills on houses from that era, which is the one case where a full frame window replacement beats an insert. The climate is the other half of the story. NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals from the Monroe Regional Airport station show a July average high of 93.2 degrees, about 97 days a year at or above 90 degrees, and 55 inches of rain, which is why an uninsulated metal patio cover here is unused from June through September and why every cover and screen room we build in Monroe starts with an insulated roof panel. Homeowners here tend to plan an outdoor room in two steps, a cover first and screens or glass a year or two later, so we size the posts and beams for the second step at the first estimate. Permits on this side of the river run through Inspections and Permitting in the Department of Engineering at 400 Lea Joyner Expressway, 318 329 2200, with applications filed on the mgoconnect.org portal. We submit the plans, pay the fee and schedule the inspection so the paperwork never becomes your problem. The submission has to show the wind uplift path from the roof panels down into the slab, which matters more than homeowners expect on a flat roofed structure that behaves like a sail in a spring storm. The age of the housing stock shapes the work too. On a home built around 1971 the patio slab is often sound but the fascia sits low, so the cover needs a riser to get enough pitch for drainage, and on the rental heavy blocks near the university the decision usually runs through an owner or a manager rather than the person who answers the door. The weather behind that uplift and drainage advice is on public record. NOAA's Storm Events Database lists 85 thunderstorm wind events, 39 hail reports and 8 tornadoes in Ouachita Parish from 2015 through 2024, and 31 of those wind events came in April, more than any other month. The strongest measured gust of the decade was 76 miles per hour at Monroe Regional Airport on August 20, 2018, and on April 12, 2020 the same station measured 69 miles per hour on the morning an EF3 tornado crossed the parish. April is also the wettest month in the airport normals at 5.83 inches, and NOAA Atlas 14, the federal rainfall frequency study, puts the storm Monroe should expect about once every two years at 1.91 inches of rain in a single hour and the ten year storm at 2.65 inches. Those two sets of numbers are why a Monroe cover gets its posts, beams and anchors sized for uplift in the permit drawings, and why its roof is pitched so a spring downpour runs off the front edge instead of pooling against the house. Flooding is the third entry in that record. The same database lists 39 flash flood events in the parish over those ten years, 11 of them in the March 2016 storm, when NOAA's event narratives describe water entering homes in the northern part of Monroe and Interstate 20 closed at mile marker 111. On a covered patio the lesson is practical: the water coming off a new roof has to be sent away from the slab and the foundation rather than dropped at the back door, so we settle where the runoff lands before we settle the panel sizes. For a lot inside a mapped flood zone, the city's Inspections and Permitting office also publishes a separate Flood Plain Development Permit form, which is worth checking against the address before anything is scheduled. The fees are public as well. Monroe's permit fee schedule, in effect since July 2, 2018, charges a residential addition a $250 plan review fee, a $75 permit fee, a $25 driveway and drainage fee and 24 cents per square foot with unheated space counted, which works out to $407.60 on a 12 by 20 cover, while a residential alteration is billed at the $75 permit fee plus a charge that steps with project cost, $100 for a job between $10,001 and $15,000. The schedule does not name patio covers or screen rooms, so which line applies is settled with the office at plan review, and a failed first inspection adds a $35 reinspection fee, which is one more reason the drawings are done properly the first time. The houses round out the picture. Census ACS counts 14,986 of Monroe's 21,317 housing units as single family detached homes, about 70 percent, and the 1960s were the busiest building decade in the city, with 4,281 homes still standing from it, so nearly half of Monroe's housing went up before 1970. That is the era of low fascia lines where the riser described above comes in. Two more Census figures bear on windows in particular. About 14,054 Monroe homes, 66 percent, were built before 1980, a group that takes in the pre 1978 houses where the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting rule requires anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces to be certified, and old window sashes and trim are painted surfaces. And 58 percent of occupied Monroe homes heat with electricity rather than gas, so the same power bill carries both the summer cooling and the winter heat that single pane glass lets through. Houses inside Monroe's local historic districts add one more step. Under the city's Design Review Guidelines, adopted in 2011 by the Heritage Preservation Commission, any structural alteration or addition that fronts a public street in a historic district needs a Certificate of Appropriateness before a building permit is issued; the application goes to the Planning and Zoning office about four weeks ahead, and the commission meets on the first Thursday of the month. For windows the policy is explicit: repair original windows where possible, and where replacement is necessary, match the historic window in size and pane arrangement with a frame of the same material as the original, wood or metal. That rules out a straight vinyl swap on a historic facade, so it is worth confirming whether an address sits in a district before choosing a window line.
Census figures put the median Monroe home at about 55 years old, built around 1971. The market covers about 21,317 homes, and the median value sits near $174,800. Most of Monroe went up in the postwar decades, often with low eave lines, so for screen rooms the details worth checking first are the fascia height, the existing slab or foundation, and where roof water already runs. A large share of occupied homes here are rented, so scheduling and approvals often run through an owner or a property manager rather than the person who answers the door. We are used to that, and we keep both parties on the same email so nothing stalls. Values in Monroe sit toward the lower end of the markets we serve, so the question is usually which option returns the most service life per dollar, and we will show you the point where spending more stops paying for itself. By housing count Monroe is one of the larger markets we cover, with enough variation street to street that two homes a mile apart can need genuinely different work, which is why we measure rather than quote from a map. That local mix shapes how we scope and schedule screen rooms work here. Figures are U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey estimates.
Typical installed ranges from the 2026 HomeGuide and Angi cost guides, sized for common Monroe, LA patios. Your price depends on the footprint, whether the roof is new or existing, the screen type, and electrical, and comes from a free in home estimate.
| Screen room project | Typical installed range |
|---|---|
| Screen in an existing patio cover (panels, kickplate, door) | $2,000 to $5,000 |
| New screen room, 12 by 16 (192 sq ft) | $10,000 to $24,000 |
| New screen room, 14 by 20 (280 sq ft) | $14,000 to $35,000 |
| Rescreen an existing room (new mesh only) | $800 to $5,200 |
Figures are typical ranges and vary by project. Your free estimate is exact.
Donnie Grubbs measures your project and gives you a clear written estimate at no cost.
We are a local home improvement contractor and we stand behind every job. You are not handed off to a subcontractor. Every job follows the same disciplined process:
Ask anyone in Monroe, LA what keeps them off the patio from May through September and the answer is mosquitoes, gnats and the sun. Louisiana's warm wet climate gives mosquitoes most of the year to breed, NOAA normals put summer highs in the low to mid 90s with roughly 96 to 99 days a year at or above 90 degrees, and an open porch is unusable at exactly the hours you want to be out there. A screen room with a Structall insulated roof solves all three at once: tight mesh keeps the bugs out, the foam core roof keeps the heat off, and a ceiling fan keeps the air moving. Donnie Grubbs has built screen rooms in this climate since 1976, and the rooms get used from spring through football season.
Donnie Grubbs works across the Monroe area, including:
Standard fiberglass screen for most rooms, a finer no see um mesh where gnats are the problem, and pet resistant screen where dogs or cats will be leaning on it. We can mix types in one room, for example pet screen on the lower panels and standard mesh above. A solid kickplate along the bottom is the best defense against mower clippings and paws.
Most screen rooms are complete within a few days once materials arrive. The insulated roof goes up first, then the aluminum framing, the screen panels, the door, and finally the electrical for fans and lights. Screening in an existing cover is usually a one day job. Materials are cut to your dimensions after the estimate, so plan on a few weeks of lead time.
Yes. Louisiana enforces the 2021 International Residential Code with state amendments, and a screen room falls under Appendix AH, which treats enclosure walls of insect screening as a patio cover as long as the room stays one story, under 12 feet, and is used for outdoor living rather than as a habitable room. Permits are issued locally by the city or parish, and Donnie Grubbs handles the paperwork as part of the job.
Fiberglass mesh typically gives many years of service before sun and weather make it brittle, and rescreening a room costs $800 to $5,200 per Angi's 2026 data, with most people near $2,900. The aluminum frame, the insulated roof and the door outlast the mesh many times over, so a rescreen refreshes the room without rebuilding it.
Yes. Donnie Grubbs is a local, licensed and insured home improvement contractor, family owned in West Monroe since 1976, and BBB accredited with an A+ rating. Our own crews measure, build and finish every screen room.
Screening in an existing porch or patio cover typically costs $2,000 to $5,000, or $10 to $25 per square foot, according to HomeGuide's 2026 data. That covers aluminum screen panels, a kickplate, and a self closing door set into the existing openings. If the existing cover is not structurally sound, Donnie Grubbs will tell you at the estimate and price a proper insulated roof instead.
They are mostly the same thing described three ways. A screened in porch usually means mesh added to a porch the house already has. A screen room is a purpose built room with its own aluminum framing and an insulated roof set on the slab. A patio enclosure is the broad term for either, and it also covers glass rooms where sliding glass panels replace the mesh. Donnie Grubbs builds all three in Monroe, LA.
Often, yes. If the existing cover is structurally sound, we add aluminum screen panels, a kickplate, and a door to the openings without touching the roof. If the posts or beams were never sized to carry panels, or the roof is a thin metal sheet that traps heat, we will tell you and price a proper Structall roof. Either way the estimate is free.
Yes, mainly because of the insulated roof. The Structall panels block the sun and the foam core stops heat from radiating down, which is the whole difference between a room you use in July and one you avoid until October. Add a ceiling fan and the room is comfortable on most Monroe, LA summer evenings, even with NOAA's normals showing roughly 96 to 99 days a year at or above 90 degrees.
Call Donnie Grubbs or send the estimate form and we schedule a free in home visit in Monroe, LA. We check the slab and any existing cover, measure the openings, and hand you a clear written price for the complete room with no obligation.
Yes, and it is a common second step. If the framing is sound, sliding glass panels with screens behind them can replace the mesh in the existing openings. Tell Donnie Grubbs at the estimate if glass is the long term plan so the posts and beams are sized for it from the start.
Yes. Donnie Grubbs offers military and senior discounts on every project, and we accept cash, check, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express. Ask at the estimate and we apply it to the written price.
The median Monroe home was built around 1971 per Census American Community Survey data, so a large share of the housing stock is 55 or more years old. That is the age where screen rooms and the other big updates come due, and it is the work Donnie Grubbs does every week.
Monroe is the seat of Ouachita Parish and the larger half of the Twin Cities, sitting on the east bank of the Ouachita River with West Monroe and our Cypress Street showroom directly across the bridge. Donnie Grubbs plans around those specifics from the first visit.
Donnie Grubbs has built screened porches and screen rooms in Monroe, LA since 1976, with its own crews rather than subcontractors, from the showroom at 402 Cypress Street in West Monroe. 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 screened porch guide; a new screen room with a Structall insulated roof runs $10,000 to $35,000, and a 12 by 16 room lands near $10,000 to $24,000. Monroe's housing stock has a median year built of 1971 per Census ACS estimates, so many jobs start from an older slab porch with a thin metal roof that traps heat, and the insulated panel roof is what makes the room usable through the roughly 97 days a year that NOAA normals put at or above 90 degrees. Aluminum framing, a kickplate, a self closing door and wiring for a fan are standard. Estimates are free.
Serving Monroe from our West Monroe office.
Local, licensed and insured, and proud to do the work ourselves. Tell us about your project and we will give you a clear written estimate at no cost.
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