This is a vinyl window solar screens installation whereby we installed 14 solar screens on this customer’s home. The customer has a total of 14 windows. We installed solar screens on every one of the windows to include the customers back porch door. The front of this home is the side that faces West, and it’s the side that we used the 90% solar screen fabric for. For all of the other windows, we used our 80% solar screen fabric.
Vinyl window solar screens installation, 14 Windows
The front of this home faces West so we put our dark 90% fabric on this one front window. And we used the 80% fabric for all of the other windows. We recommend the 90% fabric for windows that get 4 hours or more of the sun. And we recommend the 80% solar window screen fabric for all others.
How these solar screens were installed on these type of vinyl windows.
The windows that we installed our solar screens on to for this home are vinyl windows. These are not metal windows. Because they are vinyl windows, like all vinyl window solar screens installations, we use small 3/4 inch attachment screws. Attachment screws to attach the screens to the outside window framing.
We get asked about whether or not the screws will cause the windows to leak.
There are many reasons why this is not accurate. The first is the screw hole is populated by the screw itself. And, we always screw to the outside sections of the window. Being the outside sections of the window, these areas are generally used as construction areas for the installation of the window.
Or like with some windows, there are cavity areas within the window framing. Watch the below vinyl window solar screens installation video. These cavity areas are separate and outside of where the glass is.
You could put a hose with water and feed it into the screw hole. Doing so you will see the water drain out the bottom of the window framing.
These windows are designed to not take on water.
A detailed explanation as to how we measure and install solar screens on to vinyl windows.
This video was made for our HobbsScreens.com website where we sell solar screens to homeowners and contractors for DIY installation.
How vinyl windows are made to drain water. Gapping between the glass and the vinyl window framing.
A big thing that people don’t understand about vinyl windows is where the glass meets up with the vinyl framing. That area, is extremely susceptible to water getting in.
Because a manufacturer knows this, they make their windows so that if water does get in, it can drain out. The water will drain out the bottom of the vinyl framing through weep holes.
So, the only way to really damage a window by screwing into the window would be to use some really long screws. Really long screws that would poke through inside layer(s) of the window framing.
Our screws will go in maybe a quarter of an inch. And all of the areas, for all of the different types of vinyl windows we have in this Austin Texas area, all have plenty of room within that vinyl framing for us to put our small screws into.
For a vinyl window solar screens installation, be careful not to cover up the window’s drain holes.
You do not want to cover up the weep holes for vinyl windows. These weep holes are here to allow water to drain out.
It’s not just that you don’t want to cover up the weep holes with solar window screens. We see all the time these weep holes clogged with mortar. Many vinyl windows that we come across have clogged up weep holes. Clogged with the mortar used to lay the bricks and stone.
For this vinyl window solar screens installation, we matched the color of window framing.
For this installation, for this Austin solar screen installation, we used our brown chocolate fabric and tan frame. The window frames for this home are Tan in color. Our tan framing for our solar screens is a dead-on match to the window manufacturer’s tan.
The picture above shows the left side of the home which is the Northside of this home.
Compare what this home looks like with other installs that put solar screens on just some their windows and not all. All solar screen installations look best when you put them on all the windows, like what this homeowner did.
How solar screens fit on to vinyl windows.
All of these windows look great, the solar screens fit exceptionally well. They are not wavy, the framing is nice and straight. And even if we had a few scratches here and there on the framing, we cam fix that. We carry with us paint to touch up the framing.
All of this makes for an outstanding looking final product.
It is important that all of our screens fit well on to the windows, and that they are measured and manufactured with precision.
Should I put solar screens on my back patio?
For this back patio, the customer could have gotten away with not putting solar screens on some windows. Like that patio door and that small horizontal sliding window there. But because the customer wanted this installation to look as best as he possibly could, he chose to put solar screens on those pieces of glass.
And, the customer could have gone through with a patio roller shade screens Austin Texas installation. The cost would have been around $300 to have manufactured a roller shade. We could have made the roller shade out of the same fabric we made the solar window screens out of.
Having an Austin TX exterior patio roller shade would have enhanced this back patio nicely.
It’s hard to tell by this picture but that chocolate brown fabric and tan framed solar screens look outstanding on this home with the wood trim color for this home.
And for the accents like these people have on their back patio here, they match well.
The picture almost makes the solar screens look like they are black in color, they’re not. These screens are a dark chocolate brown. And it almost looks like these frames for the solar screens are white, they are not, they are Tan.