Do I need a permit to screen in my porch?

Often not, if the porch already has a roof. North Carolina law lets work of $40,000 or less, done to code, skip the building permit. Adding, repairing or replacing posts or a beam still takes one, and so does wiring for a ceiling fan. Your town's zoning, a floodplain permit or a historic district can apply as well.

Do I need a permit to build a covered porch?

Yes, at any cost. The state's exemption for jobs of $40,000 or less leaves out two things every covered porch has. It adds roofing, and it adds load-bearing posts and a beam. New wiring for lights or a fan takes an electrical permit too. In a local historic district, the certificate of appropriateness comes before the building permit.

How is a porch roof attached to the house?

With ties and flashing. Ties run from each rafter through the beam and posts to the foundation, sized to the plan. At 140 and 150 mph, the chain runs unbroken to the footing. Where the roof meets your wall, flashing turns rain onto the roof or into the gutter. Whether the roof tucks under the eave or ties into the main roof is your choice.

Can you put a roof over my existing deck?

It can work where the deck's footings, posts and beam can carry a roof and hold it down in the wind. A deck framed for a floor alone may need new ones first. The code's deck rules bar roof loads on a beam that cantilevers past its posts. A roof also changes how your town counts the deck for setbacks and coverage.

What screen keeps out no-see-ums?

A finer one. Biting midges, the no-see-ums, are small enough to pass through typical porch screening. Screen made for them has smaller openings and keeps more of them out. We weigh it with you against the breeze you want. On a lot near a marsh or a canal, the finer screen is often worth it.

Does my screened porch need a railing?

Yes, where the floor sits more than 30 inches above the floor or ground below, measured within 36 inches of the open side. Screen never counts as a guard, however tightly it is stretched. So a raised screened porch gets a rail or a knee wall, built to the code's rules for height and openings.

Do porch screens need to be impact-rated?

No. Screen under a porch roof needs no debris protection, and neither do removable vinyl or acrylic panels. On the islands, where the debris rule applies, the wall between the porch and the house carries the protection. So the slider or windows from the house onto the porch need impact glass or shutters.

Does a covered porch count toward my lot coverage?

In many towns, yes. Surf City counts porches in lot coverage with or without a roof, and Carolina Beach counts any structure. Holden Beach counts any roofed structure as impervious area, and porches in the floor area that sets its setbacks. Wilmington counts anything under a roof in the building footprint.

Can I build a porch on the ocean side of my house?

Seaward of the state's oceanfront setback, the coastal rules allow a short list. It includes elevated decks up to 500 square feet and small open gazebos. A porch roofed onto the house is missing from that list. Along a sound or creek, new building stays 30 feet back from the water, with a few exceptions. A CAMA permit officer decides for your lot.

Can my screened porch become a sunroom later?

Yes, pending an engineer's check of what holds the porch up. Our sunroom additions page covers that job. Fixed glass has to carry the wind loads of a window, and heating or cooling brings the energy code. On the oceanfront, a porch closed in with anything but screen counts toward the floor area.

Porches · Coastal NC

Screened and covered porches

We build screened porches, covered porches and lanais on the North Carolina coast. We also screen in porches that already have a roof. We work in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender Counties, from our home base in Southport.

Check My Porch 910-946-5512

Send the address. We'll look up the setbacks, coverage rules and wind speed for a porch there.

What you get with a new porch.

Your porch roof is tied down for the wind.

Wind tries to lift a porch roof off the house. Ties run from each rafter through the beam and posts to the foundation. Where the roof meets your wall, flashing turns the rain onto the roof.

Your screened porch stays open to the breeze.

Screen lets the wind through. The code spares a screened opening the wind loads a window must be rated for. On the islands, the wall behind the screen takes the impact protection, at the doors and windows into the house.

We pick the screen for your bugs and your salt air.

Tiny biting flies called no-see-ums can slip through typical porch screen. A finer mesh keeps more of them out, and we weigh it against the breeze. On the islands, the hardware is hot-dip galvanized or stainless.

A screened or covered porch starts with how you'll use it.

Morning coffee out of the sun, a lanai with an outdoor kitchen, or screens on the porch you already have. How you'll use it sets the roof, the floor and the screen.

The assessment records the house your porch will join: the wall it meets, the roof edge above it and the ground below. Design is its own step, and the drawings are yours to keep. Your private online workspace holds every choice and why you made it.

Three kinds of porch job

Screen the porch you have

Screen panels, a screen door and new trim on a roofed porch that's already there. Often a smaller job.

A new covered porch or lanai

A new floor, posts, a beam and a roof tied into your house, left open to the air.

A new screened porch

The same new porch, with screen walls, a door and any rails built in from the start.

How a new porch goes together

Check the lot

Setbacks, coverage and any shoreline rules set where the porch can go and how big it can be.

Draw and permit

The porch, its roof and the line where it meets the house are drawn, then permitted.

Footings and posts

Footings go in, and each post is tied to its footing.

Floor

The floor is framed and decked, or poured as a slab.

Roof and flashing

The beam and roof go on, tied down rafter by rafter and flashed at the wall.

Screens and rails

Screen panels, the screen door, any rails, and the fan and lights go in.

Final inspection

The inspector checks the finished porch at the final inspection.

You make the choices.

Open, screened now, or screened later
A framed floor or a concrete slab
The roof's shape, and whether it tucks under the eave or ties into the main roof
Shingles or metal on the roof
A ceiling, a fan and lights
The screen mesh and its frames
A rail or a knee wall, and the steps
The door from the house onto the porch

Screening the porch you have

A sound porch roof on sound posts can take screen panels, a screen door and new trim with no new structure. It's often a smaller job, and we take it on.

Rot in an old porch is priced as an allowance.

Old porch posts, rails and trim can rot where they meet the floor or the house. Damage that only shows once the work opens them up is carried as an allowance in the price.

A lanai can hold an outdoor kitchen.

A covered lanai can carry an outdoor kitchen under its roof. The kitchen's gas, water and wiring are permit work.

Porch, deck or sunroom?

Leave the roof off, and it's a deck, covered on our deck page. Close it in with glass, or heat and cool it, and it becomes a sunroom, covered under sunroom additions. A porch sits between the two: a roof overhead, with open or screened sides.

A house built before 1978

A house built before 1978 falls under North Carolina's lead-safe renovation rules.

A roof changes how your town counts a porch.

A new porch roof takes a building permit, whatever it costs. Many towns count a roofed porch toward lot coverage, the same as the house.

Code in force: 2018 North Carolina Residential Code. The state's own Appendix M covers decks and roofed porches, open or screened-in.
Design wind speed: Brunswick and New Hanover: 140 mph west of US 17 and 150 mph east of it. Pender: 130 mph, apart from Topsail Township at 140 west of the Intracoastal Waterway and 150 east (Table R301.2(4)).
A new porch roof: A building permit at any cost. It adds roofing, and the posts and beam that carry it (General Statute 160D-1110).
Screening a roofed porch: No building permit for work of $40,000 or less, done to code. That holds while no post or beam is added, repaired or replaced, and no wiring is added or replaced (General Statute 160D-1110).
Fan and lights: New wiring takes an electrical permit (General Statute 160D-1110).
Outdoor kitchen: Its gas, water and wiring are permit work.
Rails: Required where the floor sits more than 30 inches above the ground below. Screen never counts as one (Section R312.1.1).

The permit follows the roof.

North Carolina law lets some work of $40,000 or less, done to code, skip the building permit. A new porch roof never fits, since it adds roofing and the posts and beam that hold it up. Screening a porch that already has a roof often does fit. New or repaired posts, a new beam or wiring for a ceiling fan still take a permit. Your town's zoning, a floodplain permit or a historic district may also have a say.

What your town counts

Town	What a porch counts toward	Reaching into a setback
Surf City	Lot coverage, capped at 40 percent, counts a porch with or without a roof. A slatted deck stays out.	Unroofed decks and stairs may reach halfway into a side setback. A roofed structure up to 12 feet wide may reach 1 foot. Both stay at least 5 feet from every lot line.
Carolina Beach	Lot coverage, capped at 40 percent in the R-1 to R-3 districts, counts any structure, a roofed porch included.	Anything up to 30 inches above the ground may sit in a setback. Roof overhangs may reach 2.5 feet.
Holden Beach	Any roofed structure is impervious area. Porches also count in gross floor area, and at 4,000 and 5,000 square feet the R-1 setbacks grow and the coverage cap drops.	Open porches may not reach into setbacks in R-1.
Oak Island	Built-upon area, along with the house.	Uncovered porches and decks may reach 3 feet into a side setback. The rule names uncovered ones only.
Wilmington	Building footprint counts anything under a roof, and any porch 30 inches or more above grade.	A porch, roofed or not, at least 75 percent open on its outer sides may reach 8 feet into the front or rear setback.

In many towns, an open deck or uncovered porch can reach a little way into a setback. Put a roof over it, and that allowance shrinks or goes away. So a porch that would fit as a deck can run into a setback once it has a roof. How close to a lot line does yours need to come?

Close to the water, the state has a say.

Seaward of the state's oceanfront setback, the coastal rules allow a short list. It includes an elevated deck up to 500 square feet and a small open gazebo. A porch roofed onto the house is missing from that list. Along a sound or tidal creek, new building stays 30 feet back from the water. The exceptions include slatted, unroofed decks of up to 200 square feet in all. So an open deck can sometimes go where a roofed porch generally cannot. Under the state's coastal law (CAMA), a CAMA permit officer decides what fits on your lot.

In a flood zone

In a mapped flood zone, a porch attached to the house counts toward your town's 50 percent rule, along with the rest of the work. In a V zone, the space below the flood height stays open or is closed in with insect screening, open lattice or breakaway walls.

A historic district reviews the porch first.

In Southport's local historic district, exterior work needs a certificate of appropriateness before the building permit. Wilmington's local historic districts ask for one too, from the city's Historic Preservation Commission, before exterior work.

A covered porch is tied into the house and down to the ground.

Wind tries to lift a porch roof, and rain looks for the joint where it meets your wall.

Tied down from the rafters to the footings.

Every lot in our three counties sits in a design wind zone of 130 to 150 mph. So each porch rafter is tied down, and the chain of ties runs through the beam and posts to the foundation. At 140 and 150 mph, it runs unbroken to the footing (Section R4508.1). Where the code's coastal chapter applies, as in the 150 mph zone, it names porch columns. Each one is bolted and tied to its foundation and to the beam it holds. The beam and post sizes come from the plan.

We also build porches onto raised island houses on pilings. A porch there must be engineered and permitted. Coastal durability covers how we build for wind and salt on this coast.

Where the porch roof meets your house

Rain running down your wall meets the porch roof at one joint. The code puts flashing wherever a roof meets a wall (Section R903.2.1). Against the wall, it turns water onto the roof or into the gutter. It laps under the wall's water barrier, in the order water runs. Our article on planning for moisture before it appears follows water through a wall and back out.

Where would the porch roof meet your house: tucked under the eave, or tied up into the main roof? Tucked under, it can cover the soffit vents your attic breathes through, and the code wants those vents open to outside air. Tied in, the two roofs meet at a valley that needs its own flashing.

A low roof needs the right covering.

A porch roof is often low, and its slope picks the roofing. Shingles can go no flatter than 2 in 12. Up to 4 in 12, they need a double layer of underlayment (Section R905.2.2). Standing-seam metal can run nearly flat. Moisture management covers how a coastal house sheds water.

A framed floor, or a slab

Where a framed porch floor meets the house, a treated band or flashing keeps water off the house's framing. The code bars aluminum flashing there. A slab for a porch that stays open can skip the vapor retarder a room needs (Section R506.2.3). Posts taller than the code's deck tables allow are designed by an engineer or architect.

Treated wood from the header down.

From the bottom of the header down, the wood is treated or naturally durable. That covers the posts, rails, pickets, steps and floor frame (Section R317.1). Fasteners in treated wood are hot-dip galvanized, stainless, silicon bronze or copper.

Salt air sets the hardware.

In the salt air east of the Intracoastal Waterway, every connector and fastener outside the heated house is hot-dip galvanized or an approved equal. Exposed tie-down straps on a porch are heavy galvanized steel. Light stainless connectors are allowed there too (Section R4606.1).

Fans and lights

A ceiling fan moves air on still evenings, and lights let you use the porch after dark. New wiring takes an electrical permit and meets the North Carolina Electrical Code.

A screened porch lets the wind pass through.

Screen lets the wind through, and the code treats a screened opening apart from a window. The rules that remain fall on the rail, the wall behind the screen and the hardware.

The screen walls skip the wind-load tables.

Windows and doors are rated for the wind pressure at your house. A porch opening under a roof, closed with screen, is exempt from those loads (Section R301.2.1). The roof above still gets every tie.

On the islands, the wall behind the screen takes the protection.

East of the Intracoastal Waterway, glass has to be protected from flying debris. A screened porch needs no debris protection (Section R301.2.1.2). The wall between the porch and the house carries it instead. So the slider from your living room onto the porch still needs impact glass or shutters. Impact windows and doors covers the ratings.

A raised porch keeps its rail behind the screen.

A porch floor more than 30 inches above the ground needs a guard along its open sides. Screen never counts as one (Section R312.1.1). So a raised screened porch gets a rail inside the screen, or a knee wall below it.

Choosing the screen

Near a marsh or a canal, the bugs often choose the screen. Biting midges, the no-see-ums, are small enough to pass through typical porch screening. A finer mesh keeps more of them out, and we weigh it with you against the breeze you want. Screen cloth comes in several materials too, and near salt water we weigh how each one holds up.

Screen or glass

The code also allows clear vinyl or acrylic panels in a porch opening, as long as they are removable. Each panel carries a decal saying it must come out once winds pass 75 mph.

Close a porch in with fixed glass, and the glass has to carry the wind loads of a window. On the islands, it needs debris protection too. Heat or cool the room, and the energy code comes along. On the oceanfront, the state counts a porch closed in with anything but screen mesh toward the floor area that sizes the house's setback.

Thinking of glass someday? Say so at the start, so the frame and the slab are planned for it. Our sunroom additions page covers both kinds of sunroom: removable panels, or fixed glass.

Questions about screened and covered porches

Do I need a permit to screen in my porch?: Often not, if the porch already has a roof. North Carolina law lets work of $40,000 or less, done to code, skip the building permit. Adding, repairing or replacing posts or a beam still takes one, and so does wiring for a ceiling fan. Your town's zoning, a floodplain permit or a historic district can apply as well.
Do I need a permit to build a covered porch?: Yes, at any cost. The state's exemption for jobs of $40,000 or less leaves out two things every covered porch has. It adds roofing, and it adds load-bearing posts and a beam. New wiring for lights or a fan takes an electrical permit too. In a local historic district, the certificate of appropriateness comes before the building permit.
How is a porch roof attached to the house?: With ties and flashing. Ties run from each rafter through the beam and posts to the foundation, sized to the plan. At 140 and 150 mph, the chain runs unbroken to the footing. Where the roof meets your wall, flashing turns rain onto the roof or into the gutter. Whether the roof tucks under the eave or ties into the main roof is your choice.
Can you put a roof over my existing deck?: It can work where the deck's footings, posts and beam can carry a roof and hold it down in the wind. A deck framed for a floor alone may need new ones first. The code's deck rules bar roof loads on a beam that cantilevers past its posts. A roof also changes how your town counts the deck for setbacks and coverage.
What screen keeps out no-see-ums?: A finer one. Biting midges, the no-see-ums, are small enough to pass through typical porch screening. Screen made for them has smaller openings and keeps more of them out. We weigh it with you against the breeze you want. On a lot near a marsh or a canal, the finer screen is often worth it.
Does my screened porch need a railing?: Yes, where the floor sits more than 30 inches above the floor or ground below, measured within 36 inches of the open side. Screen never counts as a guard, however tightly it is stretched. So a raised screened porch gets a rail or a knee wall, built to the code's rules for height and openings.
Do porch screens need to be impact-rated?: No. Screen under a porch roof needs no debris protection, and neither do removable vinyl or acrylic panels. On the islands, where the debris rule applies, the wall between the porch and the house carries the protection. So the slider or windows from the house onto the porch need impact glass or shutters.
Does a covered porch count toward my lot coverage?: In many towns, yes. Surf City counts porches in lot coverage with or without a roof, and Carolina Beach counts any structure. Holden Beach counts any roofed structure as impervious area, and porches in the floor area that sets its setbacks. Wilmington counts anything under a roof in the building footprint.
Can I build a porch on the ocean side of my house?: Seaward of the state's oceanfront setback, the coastal rules allow a short list. It includes elevated decks up to 500 square feet and small open gazebos. A porch roofed onto the house is missing from that list. Along a sound or creek, new building stays 30 feet back from the water, with a few exceptions. A CAMA permit officer decides for your lot.
Can my screened porch become a sunroom later?: Yes, pending an engineer's check of what holds the porch up. Our sunroom additions page covers that job. Fixed glass has to carry the wind loads of a window, and heating or cooling brings the energy code. On the oceanfront, a porch closed in with anything but screen counts toward the floor area.

More renovation projects.

Renovation & Additions

Every kind of project we take on, and how we assess a house first.

Explore

Deck Builder

An open deck, framed and fastened for salt, sun and wind.

Explore

Sunroom Addition

A porch closed in with glass, or a new room of glass.

Explore

Impact Windows and Doors

The slider behind the screen, rated for the wind and, on the islands, for flying debris.

Explore

References

Regulatory figures on this page summarize the town and county codes each linked city page cites, and the public sources below. Ordinances change; the parcel and the current adopted code decide, and the site analysis confirms both for your lot.

A porch tied to your house and open to the breeze.

Tell us where the house is and how you'll use the porch. We'll start with what your town allows and the wind at that address.

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