I've always used the fiberglass for the easy installation & low replacement cost. If you build a knee wall instead of screening all the way down it helps to keep it from being kicked out of shape.

Al

Good point, Al. I neglected to mention that my porch has a 2' kneewall for just that reason. W/o it, probably would have given aluminum more thought.

IntheShed, what a great idea making samples to see the end results.

Al, thanks for the insite about kneewalls.

I am thinking of having low side walls for the 2 walls that are perpendicular to my house. On the areas parallel to my house I was thinking about using retractable screen doors. Something like the rollaway doors linked below.

Katy

Here is a link that might be useful: Rollaway Screen doors

We used super screen and love it!

We live in Southern Florida and have four cats and two dogs. Between them, we were constantly replacing screen sections. After hurricane Charley came we had to replace our entire pool screen enclosure.

We found super screen at www.super-screen.com and purchased it to replace all our screen - even the lower area below the 'chair rail'. It's been over a year now and our pets don't even leave a scratch mark. When hurricane Wilma came through, the screen on the top of the pool cage even held up to several large sharp pointed tree brances that fell on it.

By the way, I remember that they were also selling garden tarps made from super screen to keep hail from destroying your garden. We don't have any hail down here but we sure could have used something like that when we lived in Colorado!

Joe

Thanks Joe,

It's good to hear from someone who has tried the product. I noticed the site has a "try it before you buy it" feature. I'm hoping they will send me a sample so I can compare it in looks and light penetration before deciding.

I live in Calif., we don't have hurricanes or hail.... just earthquakes ;)

Katy

Has anyone who has used Super Screen had any issues w/ insects getting throught the screen? They only seem to offer a mesh that is 14X16. The standard Phifer screening @ Home Depot is 16X18 but I am considering getting Phifer's No-See-Um screen which is I believe 20X20.

Any thoughts on this?

Mike

Intheshed - Do you have any pictures of your screen porch? Would you give detailed info on how you made your screens? We will be screening ours in probably in the spring.

does anyone know if their screens will hold off rain from coming in?

I got a sample and I don't think it will hold out the rain. It may deflect it a little. I don't think any screen would hold out the water.

Katy

Just a quick bit of advice about building your own screens (removable ones) using fiberglass. It really is not a hard job, but you do have to be careful in stretching it. Your tendency will be to want to pull it tight. That's what I did. It sure looked nice - until I tried to put it up and saw that it was bowed in the middle because I pulled too tight. So I had to start over. Fortunately, I made the one and tried it instead of making them all at once, so I didn't have too much rework.

We originally built our screen porch with fiberglass screens. One year later, we paid the contractor to come out and rescreen everything with aluminum - the birds had ripped huge holes in our fiberglass screens. We couldn't figure out how the screens were getting these holes in them, then one day we were on the porch and a bird flew right into the screen, leaving a little rip.

Since we put in the aluminum, we haven't had any damage. If you live in an area with stupid/blind birds, you might want to rethink the fiberglass!

I bought a 6-foot by 100-foot roll from Connecticut Screen Works, the charcoal fiberglass, and really like the results. No bird damage so far! Knock wood. Their website is really helpful. I can't remember what it is but you can google the name.

I found Connecticut Screen Works. http://www.connscreen.com

The link below is to the screen info. page.

Katy

Here is a link that might be useful: Connecticut Screen Works screen information page

NSF, sorry, I didn't see your post until now. If you haven't yet done your screening, let me know and I'll give you the details. As Over N Under said, it was not too difficult, and I didn't run into an overstretching issue. I would also gladly post photos, but I'm not sure how it's done! Tx, Mike

I am concerned with the 20/20 screening - my husband is concerned about bugs not getting in and felt this was the best alternative - my concern is that we will cut down on the beautiful scenery that we are able to see from our living room - the screen porch is attached to the living room and we have built glass windows and doors to bring in that scenery - will the 20/20 reduce the view?

We just adopted 2 kitties. They are going to be indoor girls. Do we need to go with the heaver screens? How easy is it for the cats to tear the screening?

Katy

I am in the process of installing the fiberglass with Home Depot's Screen Tight. Wow, it is very tight and very easy to install.

VERY old thread - sure OP is long gone - probably doesn't even own the house anymore! My late husband and I had a screened in porch built and we did the screening ourselves to save money. We used copper screen wire. There really is nothing like it. My Marvin windows have that fiberglass mesh screening. If a big moth flies into it, it is dented for life. Aluminum looks...well...like aluminum. I'm sure cooper screen wire costs a fortune today, but it will last a VERY long time and will look great.