What Stone Ridge asks of a screened porch
Stone Ridge's exterior rules come from the Stone Ridge Association. Article VII of its Amended and Restated Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions gives the Architectural Review Committee every application to modify or improve a lot, and the committee holds owners to Community Code #1, the association's Design and Maintenance Standards. The current code was amended by the association's board on December 3, 2024 and took effect on March 1, 2025.
Page 43 of the code holds the rules for patios and porches. A porch needs an approved application whether it is new, changed or taken away, so screening in an existing porch, rebuilding one and removing one each go to the committee. The same page limits how much of a yard a porch may take: no more than half of the back or side yard may be covered by a patio or porch. On an attached home, a porch may reach no more than 16 feet from the rear of the house, which fixes the depth of a screened porch there before its design begins. Page 43 also asks for detailed construction drawings of features such as railings, steps and landing areas, and for a list of every exterior material with samples of the proposed colors.
The steps down to the yard count as well. Page 38 lists steps among the structural landscaping that needs an application, and page 63 asks for one for a new walkway, so a path from the porch door to the driveway joins the same review.
How the Architectural Review Committee works
The committee meets on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 7:30 p.m., and its form is the Architectural Improvement Application. A complete application carries the signatures of all the neighbors who may be affected by the change. Once it is complete, the code gives the committee 45 days to render a decision and respond in writing, and it charges a fee for each project started or finished before approval.
Thinking about screening in a Stone Ridge porch?
Send us a few photos of the back of the house, and we will plan the visit around the committee's next meeting.
How we prepare a Stone Ridge porch for the committee
At the estimate we measure the back or side yard where the porch will stand against the half-yard limit, and on an attached home we check the 16-foot depth. Then we draw the porch with its railings, steps and landing, and put together the materials list and color samples page 43 asks for. The neighbors' signatures go on the Architectural Improvement Application before it is sent. How the porch itself is framed, roofed and screened is on our screened porches page.
Who issues the permit in Stone Ridge?
Loudoun County. Stone Ridge has no town government: the county maps it as a census place, one of its unincorporated communities, so the permits come from its Department of Building and Development. What the county asks of a screened porch, and when it inspects, is on our Loudoun County page. We file the permit and book each inspection, and the work starts once the association's approval and the permit are both in hand.