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Drew here with Lanier Aluminum Products to talk with you about screen rooms. I’ve seen just about everything out there used to create a screen room. Originally a screen room was a 2”x4” framed room with screen stapled to the boards and covered with 2” wooden lattice strips, but now most systems are made out of some type of maintenance free product.
What I see most commonly now is a room closed in with residential screen frames that are screwed down and a storm door. This is an inexpensive solution and my biggest issue with this is re-screening. If your pet rips the screen and it has to be redone, the whole frame typically has to be removed and put on a screen table to fix it. Also a blind stop has to be added if not originally there.
I’ve also seen a plastic receiving channel used on the 2”x4” pieces that accepts screen spline and then covered with a snap on pvc cover. This is a step up from the stapled on screen and lattice trim. There is also a ¾” painted aluminum tube that has a built in screen spline and it attaches to hidden fasteners. These are just a few examples and they are screen enclosure systems.
My favorite is the system I use of course. I use a 2” or 3” aluminum screen frame system with a built in spline groove for flat spline. This system also has available receiving channels and different size aluminum extrusions. I can use it to start a screen room from scratch or incorporate it into an existing framed structure. I can integrate an aluminum railing if needed as well and it works great with our canopies and or room enclosures. We have a few choices for screen doors that work with this system as well. The larger size frame allows us to create larger openings and use different types of screen mesh. If the screen gets ripped we simply pull the spline and old screen to roll in new screen and reuse the existing spline again. This system provides a more finished look that doesn’t look like an add-on. The 2” system allows you to upgrade to the vertical porch enclosure system and the 3” system, you can easily upgrade to a 4 track horizontal sliding porch enclosure system.
