I'm not sure if I'm the 'Jay' you're addressing, but I am A 'Jay', so I'll give it a try. To me, a Florida room is a glassed in porch. Vinyl windows are also used a lot, but don't look that good, or hold up well. The older ones I've seen are jalousie windows. These are thin slats of glass that crank open. Then they went to 'Miami' windows, which are bigger panes of glass, but still crank open the same way. Both of these crank open horizontally. I think the idea is that you can leave them open in the rain, and stay dry unless it's very windy. Up north, it would be too cool to leave windows open in the rain, but in FL, it's kind of nice. Since they crank open nearly entirely, they let in about as much breeze as possible. Casement windows will, too, but they let the rain in. Since a true Florida room doesn't have heat or A/C, you can get by with single pane windows. You might even find a bunch of used ones on craigslist that you could get cheap and plan your porch around them. People who are upgrading the windows in their home usually just throw them away. Also, my experience with Florida rooms and porches is that the best floor is tile or concrete. Indoor/outdoor carpet gets wet so often that mildew can be a problem.

Jay

hi marti, Im not sure if you wanted my input, but I just found this topic interesting because we had similar rooms here in past times and they used the louvre (jalousie) windows a lot. Over here the main function of the glass slats was to control the amount of airflow and ventilation and as jay said above if you open them fully horizontal you get maximum airflow if there happens to be any breeze about and it's almost like not having panes of glass at all.

These were really popular over here up until about the 60s and 70s before airconditioning became common and back then the only way to cool the house was to use things like this to try to ventilate the house and cool it down in summer and enclosed porches were also really common and almost always had these type of windows so that people could sit on the porch on summer evenings because it was a lot cooler than inside the house. People also used to sleep out in them on hot summer nights when it was too hot to sleep inside the house so they were commonly called sleepouts here but the windows were a great design for getting as much hot air out of the house as possible and allowing any cooler air to get in. once a/c started to become common the windows went out of fashion.

Thank you both. Yes, you were the Jay I meant. I couldn't remember your exact posting ID when I started typing the opening post.

I've seen those windows on older homes around here but I've never seen them on new homes. I can see where they would be better than a regular window because you can only open a regular window halfway to get any air and then the top half just intensifies the heat. I have also seen windows (on older houses) with a vertical crank open window. The panes on them are much larger than the louvered type and I thought they might work to catch the breeze if the wind wasn't blowing toward the window, but didn't know if a breeze would tear them off either.

On our next house I'd like an enclosed porch, not a/c but with fans because it gets so bloomin hot here, and I'd like to put any appliances that have the potential to flood the house so they will flow out instead of in. I'd even like a clothesline in it so I could hang clothes without bugs & bees.

Your right in the fact that most Florida rooms have windows on three sides,however most Florida room windows are not windows they are either a polyethylene or vinyl material and cleaners are sold in most hardware stores.

Despite being architecturally (and functionally) correct for everything from Key Westers to Bermuda-style to MidMod, jalousie (louvered) windows are very much out of favor in our post-A/C age, since they do not seal very well when closed. (OTOH, they still seem to be very prevalent in Hawaii, Australia, and many PacRim areas of Asia.)

Also, they are not very secure, as the panes can be slid out of their brackets from OUTSIDE the house, without making much noise. This is not compatible with a society which insists on coddling criminals, incl. even home invaders. =:O

Because the panes overlap and reinforce each other when closed, and are seldom longer than 36"--plus the fact that they flex and "breathe" in strong winds--many of them have survived hurricanes quite well, withOUT protective shutters. (Mind you, this was in the day when folks had the common sense and courtesy to remove coconuts and other missiles from their property, in advance of such storms.)

A company called Technal, in France, makes a very updated louvered window system (JX) that addresses the above shortcomings. I used the 'Contact Us' link on their North American web page... NO response. I'm always dubious when I tell a company I want to give them money, and they ignore me. This is usually a signal to sell their stock... or check my SPAM filter. ;')

The "Miami" windows Jay refers to are more widely known as awning windows, and in some pockets of the South, as "tuck" windows, due to their cammed tucking-up-and-in action as they reach the fully closed position. They do not open fully horizontal like jalousies, but can get pretty close. Of course the individual panes are much larger, and so when fully open, they protrude much farther beyond the exterior wall than do jalousies. This can interfere with walkways, landscaping, etc.

Awning windows seal MUCH better, and, until recent code changes, were the most common replacement/upgrade for jalousies, even though most are single-pane.

Though completely out of vogue in our head-up-*ss energy-wasting McMansion Era, I still love Florida rooms, esp. when on a lower "step-down" slab from the main house... it's the sub-tropics... stop building like it's Connecticut... open yourself to the outdoors... plant some azaleas and night-blooming jasmine... erect a hammock in your Florida Room, open the windows, turn off the A/C, re-hydrate your skin, and BREATHE in Nature's gifts... before someone puts a meter on it!

"Also, they are not very secure, as the panes can be slid out of their brackets from OUTSIDE the house, without making much noise. "

yep this is definitely one of the downfalls, they are super easy to remove so someone can break in very quietly with those windows in no time at all