Insulating A 3 Season Porch?

[Todd]

Ok, me and the boss have been debating whether or not it might help to insulate the roof and floor of our 3 season porch. It's got single pane sliding glass doors all the way around for walls, the roof is aluminum and has 2" ridges where I could lay in some 2" styrofoam but would have to lay a new roof over that. I was thinking of some of that cheap light weight plastic roofing. The floor would be easy to insulate having 16" on center 2x8 truses.

We would like to sit out there in the milder winter days but don't really know if insulating it would even help with all the single pane glass out there. You guys think it would be a waste of time and money? Some day I'd like to just rip the whole thing out and do it up right with insulated walls, roof and good windows but I figure that would take $20k.

Here are some pics. Thanks

 

[Todd]

And some more.

 

[thinkxingu]

I would think it would depend on the orientation--do you get a lot of sun through those windows. If not, probably wouldn't make much difference as there wouldn't be all that much heat to keep in.

S

 

[vvvv]

hang a tarp overhead? silverface down if affordable

 

[ROBERT F]

Just shove a blaze king big king in there, and call it good!

 

[semipro]

I would think it would depend on the orientation--do you get a lot of sun through those windows. If not, probably wouldn't make much difference as there wouldn't be all that much heat to keep in.

S

2nd that. Unless you have a lot of heat coming in from the sun via windows or roof or some other inside source I can't see how it be worth it to insulate.

 

[Todd]

It faces ESE so it heats up pretty good in the morning if there's sun. It gets too hot at times in the summer. It may get some heat from my wood stove that's about 20' away.

 

[thinkxingu]

Todd,
If it's warm most of the time, try throwing some insulation in the bays below--most of the additions around here are cold because they're raised off the ground and the air flow kills the heat. Of course, you'll need to do something about the roof as well, but insulation's cheap enough to throw in.

S

 

[semipro]

It faces ESE so it heats up pretty good in the morning if there's sun. It gets too hot at times in the summer. It may get some heat from my wood stove that's about 20' away.

Maybe its worth doing some insulation then.

You could put some foam board underneath the roof easily enough. You might be able to build some frames covered with clear plastic sheeting to increase the sliding doors' R value which is almost nothing. There have been discussions about that in the Green Room. Some fiberglass batts or foam in between the floor joists would help a lot too. I'd make sure all the drafts were sealed off first though. Insulation doesn't do much good if cold air is blowing in. Good luck!