Salt-proof screens for a canal-front home

The brief

The back of this home faces a canal, with the pontoon a few steps from the living room. The family had screens fitted when they built, but within two years the mesh had rusted and the frames had started to blister along the bottom rails. One of the sliding screens had stopped running on its track.

They wanted screens that would stand up to salt off the water, keep the view down the canal and let them leave the stacker doors open on summer evenings.

What we fitted

At the measure we looked closely at the old screens: a lower-grade mesh in frames whose coating had broken down where salt and water collect. We recommended 316 marine-grade stainless mesh for every opening on the water side, in frames powder coated to match the window frames.

Across the three-panel stacker opening we fitted stacker security doors, one screen panel for each glass panel, so the screens stack away with the doors. The sliding door off the main bedroom got a sliding security door on its own track. Every door is built and tested to AS 5039, installed to AS 5040, and fitted with three-point locks keyed alike.

Glass doors open and screens closed: how the family uses the back of the house most evenings.

316 stainless mesh, frame fixings and the lock cylinder up close.

On the day

The new doors were fitted three weeks after the measure. The crew removed the old screens and fitted the new ones the same day, taking most of the day to hang and adjust each stacker panel so it runs, stacks and locks cleanly.

Before leaving, they walked the family through the care routine for a home on the water: a fresh-water rinse every four weeks and after storms, and a clean of the tracks every few months.

The result

A full summer on the canal later, the mesh and frames still look new. The stackers stay open most evenings, and the rinse takes about ten minutes.