Covered porch, pitch the deck?

[bullnerd]

I'm adding a 12' by 20' covered and screened in porch to back of my cape code style house.

Decking will be the plastic **** my wife picked out and installed parallel to the house wall.

1' roof overhang on all sides.

Should I pitch the desk or keep it flat?

 

[climb.on]

Pitch it. 1/4" per foot. You won't even notice. Rain will blow/splash in a bit more than you think and you sure as hell don't want it running back to the house or doorway.

 

[climb.on]

Well I see that you are running deck boards parallel to house, so any rain wouldn't make it back to house anyway. Maybe it doesn't really matter then.

 

[BC1]

keep it flat, it won't matter

 

[ChaseDE]

Flat is probably fine. IDK the suggested install specs for your flooring but on a previous house we had, it had trex type flooring, screened porch, there was a small area with a tiny divot/low spot about 2-3' around in the corner, the boards were so tight water would pool there during a good rain....no a huge deal but annoyed me.

It was a rental so I just lived with it.

 

[rsanter]

Pitch slightly

 

[wrenchguy]

gap it and make sure its not on plane with your entry door, best to have a 6" or more step.

 

[TractorJeff]

Screen will stop all except for the occasional blowing rain.
Gap the boards as they are parallel to the house and you should have no issues.

 

[Stuart in MN]

If there are gaps between the floor boards, there's no reason to pitch the deck.

 

[Richard Cranium]

keep it flat.

 

[weadjust]

Won't the gaps in the deck boards allow bugs inside the screen porch?

 

[mrobins297aaa]

I vote for flat, If you pitch it things will be rolling off the tables.
Years ago at another house we added a 25x20 covered porch, with a concrete floor, no pitch and never remember having any problems with water

 

[jkeyser14]

Won't the gaps in the deck boards allow bugs inside the screen porch?

Normally the contractor puts a roll of screen down under the deck boards to keep bugs out.

 

[bullnerd]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I'm leaning towards flat so far.

I'm not familiar with and have not done any research on the plastic decking yet.

I heard it will shrink ,(from a builder who has installed a lot of it) so not sure if they will be installed tight or gapped yet.

 

[kj_mustang]

Flat, boards tight together to keep the bugs out. Gapping the boards and putting screen underneath just collects dirt and trash. I have a 1 year old screened porch on my house. We have had no noticeable rain come inside. If you have adequate roof overhang, it shouldn't be a problem. My porch is smaller and has Mahogany wood floors so they look awesome and are very tight.

 

[bullnerd]

Awesome, thanks mustang.

My parents have a 30yr old screened porch with no screen underneath. 2x6 decking that shrunk like crazy and there is really no issue with bugs.

 

[Dave in Mass]

Screen will stop all except for the occasional blowing rain.
Gap the boards as they are parallel to the house and you should have no issues.

I get tons of snow and rain in my screened in porch. Sometimes enough to need to shovel. Rain too.

I do not have any screen or block under the floor and this was built on top of my existing deck. I have no issue with bugs either.