Fiberglass or aluminum screen?

[David Nebenzahl]

Client wants me to replace her screen-door screen. I'm not sure whether to use aluminum or fiberglass. What would you use, and why?

House is in Oakland, CA, mild climate. (It is exposed to PM sun.) The old screen is AL and is literally in tatters in some places; I asked owner how long ago it had been replaced, and they said 10 years ago, which I find odd: how could aluminum screen deteriorate that much that fast? I know that air pollution corrodes AL, but this is ridiculous. So I'm thinking fiberglass. How long should it hold up here?

[gfretwell]

If you are near the water the salt air will kill aluminum screens pretty fast. I never see anyone use aluminum here in Florida.

[Molly Brown]

[Ed Pawlowski]

I've had both. This house is 30 years old and has the original fiberglass screens. Every few years some get hosed down and they all look good. Last house had aluminum and over time they corroded.

[dadiOH]

No idea. I live in central Florida, mine are 15 years old, good as gold.

I did have a fling with aluminum for a screen door a cat liked to climb. It is more difficult to install neatly, lasted no better. I went back to fiberglass and told the kitty, "NO, NO". A squirt bottle led to an understanding of the command :)

[DerbyDad03]

I use the pet-proof fiberglass. It's more expensive but my cat has been climbing it and jumping down to the deck for years (that's how she knocks) with absolutely no sign of wear and tear. I don't even remember how many years ago I installed it.

Sometimes we hear her jump onto the screen and I go and peel her off. Even that doesn't bother the screen.

[Northe]

There is a special fiberglass screen material designed to be more puncture-proof--I believe that there was a mention about cats. When we had cats, I used some of that screen, and it worked fine. It was thicker, stiffer and a bit more difficult to handle, though.

Northe

[DD_BobK]

Screen wire is only about .011 It corrodes from "both sides", thus there is very little material available to sacrifice. :(

I used to prefer aluminum because of stiffness & lack of added fabric stretching stress on frame but even in SoCal longevity wasnt great.

I switched to fiber "shade screen" for south, east & west window; standard charcoal

check out

or in your area

SS or bronze avaliable ($$$'s)

cheers Bob

[David Nebenzahl]

On 9/7/2010 8:09 PM Ed Pawlowski spake thus:

So thanks all. Fiberglass it is (though the bronze stuff someone suggested here looks interesting, it also looks expen$ive and I'm not sure I can easily find it locally).

Next question: I've never actually installed screen on a door before, and am wondering the best way to do it. It's a wooden door with wooden screen mold, so I was figuring on buying new molding, stapling the screen to the door, nailing on the molding, then trimming the excess screen to the mold with a knife. Is this how it's done?

I really can't see any other way of getting a good tight fit. The screen mold is only about 1/2" wide, doesn't give you much room to stretch the screen without having some excess to trim off. I'd think with fiberglass this should be pretty easy, as it should slice off easily in one pass.

[DD_BobK]

The link I posted was for a company in Berkeley...... that's pretty close.

If you choose to use the SS or bronze, I would suggest a first try on the wooden door frame with cheaper aluminum screen

or

take the door to a screen shop that has experience with wooden frames.

The SS is $5 / sqft. yikes!

comes in 36" & 48" widths, maybe you can get two doors' worth out of the 48"?

cheers Bob