My house is within 600 feet of saltwater in an exposed, windy location. There is a screened porch on the south side facing the water. The screened panels are large (43″w x 60″ h) and are screened with aluminum. This is their fourth winter.
In the last two winters, no less than four panels have been damaged: ripped, pulled out at the edges, etc. I have no idea as to the cause, but speculate that wind may have blown them out, or birds may have flown into them. I wonder whether the salt water has corroded the aluminum or whether the unsupported area is too great.
I want to replace them in the spring, but I am getting conflicting advice. One expert says fiberglass will be more resilient, thus more durable. Another says fiberglass is awful, gets “baggy” and that I should use bronze if I can afford it, or aluminum again if not. Does anyone have experience that could help me?
Coastal
Replies
Bronze hands down winner.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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I'm in coastal salt too. AL screens can develope a whitish furr sometimes in spotty distribution. But I have seen them at least ffifteen years old with no structural problem like that. They probably do get a little more brittle, but I think your problem is more likely birds, cats, or kids
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remove the screens for the winter?
I have been looking into window screening to see what's available besides fiberglass and found that if you search the Internet for wire cloth, it'll turn up the quite a bit of information. In addition to the aluminum cloth that, you know about, it's available in copper, bronze, brass, and stainless steel. They're available in various mesh sizes, and wire thicknesses and in some cases different weave patterns. I called a company locally and they stock a stainless steel screen. It comes in 4 foot widths and costs about $12 Canadian a running foot. The salesman said that he could bring in the copper, bronze, and brass but they cost more. I'll add that this is not from a window screening company, but an industrial supplier of all types of metal screens and cloth.
I've reopened to add this link. Hope it's of some use.
http://www.twpinc.com/twp/jsp/product.jsp?type=9
Edited 1/22/2006 11:12 pm by QCInspector