What are the benefits and drawbacks of a porch?

A porch in itself doesn’t show any benefits or drawbacks. The porch is a solution which answers to needs and wishes. It would be awkward to blame it for being unsuited for uses other than its own.
However, an improper design or set-up may lead to true drawbacks. The point on the different possible catches.

The benefits of a porch well integrated to the house

While the porch meets various and varied needs, it fails to systematically add real value to the house. The benefits added by a porch are therefore felt on a daily basis, with its improvement of comfort and lifestyle.

Firstly, the porch should be considered as a natural expansion of the house. By no means is it a mere accessory added to the building for a one-off use, but a true living room, the use of which may vary to your heart’s content: kitchen, dining room, lounge, game room, winter garden, etc.

More often than not, the porch is also an interface between house and garden. It allows to enjoy the outdoor spaces at best by connecting them to the house in an organic way. The choice and layout of the bay windows and sliding doors then becomes substantial for building a porch which is both functional, stylish and high-performance on a thermal and acoustic level.

The porch is indeed a true light shaft for the house. A warm, natural light may then penetrate the core of the house, even in wintertime. Choosing high-performance materials ensures an ideal thermal isolation, at any season. In midsummer, the porch becomes a ventilated volume at the heart of the house, thanks to its large sliding surfaces. The air flows more easily throughout the house, bringing in a pleasant coolness. Beyond the undeniable benefits of such a solution regarding comfort and wellness, one should also take into account the fact that modern, high-performance porches take part into optimising the energy consumption of the house and reducing its impact on the environment.

véranda en aluminium noir vue de l'éxtérieur

The glazed rooftops designed to let sunlight in the house turn the porch into the best place to enjoy a night of stargazing.

Catches to avoid

If a well designed and well set up porch quickly finds its way to the hearts of the house’s residents, a badly installed model will become unusable, and unused, in no time. This mistrust should be applied with precast solutions, which are commonly not best suited to the house’s style, it’s location, but above all the use which will be made of the porch. These solutions sometimes induce the use of low-performance materials, with respect to sustainability and insulation. Far from these solutions, Installux provides manufacturing carpenters with a whole range of aluminium systems dedicated to building customised high-performance porches.

Zoom on these Porch aluminium systems

These will allow you to build and install a porch which will ensure not only a proper connection between house and garden, but also maximum safety. Regarding aesthetics, the Installux aluminium systems allow the design of a perfectly functional porch, which matches the style of the house, whether classic or modern. A good harmonisation with the house and garden goes by upgrading the porch’s layout. The latter should be positioned with care in order to interact with the different rooms of the house: you should move from one room to another, including the porch, smoothly and naturally. Likewise, the sunshine in the porch should be taken into account according to the various trees in the garden, or to the possibility of coupling the porch with a pergola.

Finally, beyond these style and layout issues, the porch’s technical performances should always be taken into account. It is indeed the choice of noble materials and the latest technical solutions which ensure the porch’s comfort and pleasantness at all seasons. The aluminium carpentry designed by Installux ensures the best energy management throughout the year, as well as a thermal and acoustic insulation adapted to the most demanding current standards.

What if the porch is not fit for the project?

Even a properly designed porch may not systematically be suited for every project. In that case, the pergola may be the finest solution there is. It is quite commonplace to pair a pergola with a porch. The porch is thus shown as a house expansion throughout the seasons, while the pergola allows to enjoy protected outdoors, while managing the shade and venting at best.