Metal Screen Walls: Aluminum Frames, Screen Cloth Choices, and the Honest Difference

If you have been searching for metal screen walls, you are usually asking about one of two different things: a screen wall with a metal frame, or a screen wall where the screen material itself is metal mesh. We build both at our shop in Evansville, Indiana, and they are not the same thing. Here is the honest version of the difference, so you can decide what you actually want before anyone quotes you.

The frame: aluminum extrusions, built to last

Every screen wall and screen room we build uses an aluminum framework — two-by-two extrusions, U-channels and related profiles — that we fabricate in our own Evansville shop, the way we have since 1979. People love the aluminum framework because it is durable and low-maintenance; eligible structural framing carries our limited lifetime parts warranty for the original owner-occupant, subject to written terms and exclusions. Because we cut and assemble the framing ourselves rather than ordering a kit, a screen wall can be built to an opening that is not square — an existing porch, a pole barn bay, a patio between brick columns. If what you want is a sturdy metal-framed screen wall, that is simply how ours are made.

The screen itself: four choices

Fiberglass screen cloth — what we generally use

Our standard is fiberglass screen cloth, and it holds up very well. It flexes when something presses against it and returns to shape, and if a panel is ever damaged, rescreening is routine service work for us. This is what the large majority of the screen walls and rooms we build use.

Pet screen

We also offer pet screen — a heavier, tear-resistant screen cloth made to stand up to claws and paws. If the reason you are thinking about metal mesh is a dog or cat that is hard on screens, pet screen is the option to ask about first.

Sunshade cloth

We can also install sunshade screen cloth on the same aluminum framework. If cutting sun is part of why you want the wall, ask about it when we measure — it is a straightforward swap at the screening stage.

Aluminum mesh — we can, with two honest caveats

Some people specifically want metal screen mesh. We can build screen walls with aluminum mesh, and we tell every customer who asks the same two things. First, it is significantly harder to install than fiberglass cloth. Second, once it is in, it holds its shape when something pushes against it — a hand on the screen, a dog running up and hitting it — and that dent stays visible. Fiberglass flexes and recovers; aluminum mesh remembers. On a wall you look at every evening, most people end up preferring fiberglass for exactly that reason. If you want aluminum mesh anyway, we will build it — we would just rather you choose it knowing how it behaves.

Questions to settle before you get a quote

• Is the opening covered by an existing roof, or does the project also need a patio cover or roof structure?

• Do you want full-height screen panels, or a kneewall below the screen?

• Fiberglass, pet screen, sunshade cloth, or aluminum mesh with the trade-offs above?

• Is this staying a screen wall, or might you want glass later? Some of our framing can be glassed in down the road.

Serving Evansville and the Tri-State, including Kentucky

We measure, fabricate and install from Evansville, and our crews work across southwest Indiana and western Kentucky, including Henderson and Owensboro. Estimates are free — request one here or call (812) 867-6403 and tell us about the opening you want screened.