Screen Enclosures and Lanai in Lafayette, LA

This work covers pool cages, lanai and patio screens, full rescreening, and enclosing an open porch so you can sit outside without the bugs. Most jobs are one of two things: replacing torn or sagging screen inside an existing aluminum frame, or building a new frame and screening it from scratch. The frame, the screen mesh, and the small rubber cord called spline that holds the mesh in the channel are the three parts that do the work.

Doing this in Acadiana

In Acadiana the screen is not the first thing to fail, the frame and its hardware are. The humidity stays high most of the year, and the screws, fasteners, and any steel that is not stainless will rust and streak long before the mesh wears out. Heavy Gulf rain and standing water find every low spot, so a cage sitting on a slab that holds water will corrode at the base first. Summer storms and hurricane season put real wind load on a pool cage, and a frame that was under braced or anchored into weak concrete is where you see failures. Pollen and love bug season coat the mesh twice a year, and mud daubers love to build in the corners of a still frame, so screens here get dirty and clogged faster than the mesh itself gives out.

How to tell where you stand

• Push gently on the screen. If it is loose, wavy, or pulling out of the channel, the spline has dried out and shrunk.
• Look at the screws and corner brackets for rust streaks or a chalky white powder on the aluminum.
• Walk the base of a pool cage and check for any post that wiggles, leans, or has pulled away from the slab.
• Hold a light behind the mesh and look for thin spots, small tears, or a section that has gone brittle and cracks when you touch it.
• Check the door for a screen enclosure or lanai. A door that will not latch or sags on its hinges is usually the first part to go.

What makes the job bigger or smaller

• Whether you are rescreening an existing frame or building and anchoring a brand new one.
• The total square footage of screen and the number of separate panels, since each panel gets its own spline run.
• The height and shape of the structure, a two story pool cage is a very different job than a low patio.
• The type of mesh, standard insect screen versus heavier pet resistant or no see um mesh.
• The condition of the existing frame and hardware, whether posts, screws, and doors need replacing along with the screen.

Yourself, or a pro

Rescreening a single flat panel on a low patio frame is within reach for a patient homeowner. The mesh, spline, and a spline roller are cheap, and the skill is mostly keeping the screen square and the tension even so it does not sag. Where you should stop is anything structural or high up. A pool cage that needs new posts, new anchors into the slab, or work above head height is not a DIY job, both because of the fall risk and because the frame has to be braced to take wind load. If the frame itself is bent, rusted through, or pulling loose from the concrete, that is a pro repair, not a screen swap.

What to ask anybody quoting this, us included

• Are you rescreening my existing frame or replacing any of the framing and hardware, and which parts?
• What mesh are you using, and what is the difference between the options for my situation?
• Will you use stainless fasteners, given how fast things rust here?
• How do you anchor the posts, and what happens if the slab underneath is cracked or weak?
• Who cleans up the old spline, screen, and hardware when the job is done?