When my grandmother wanted to protect her screened back porch from the wind, she put up a sheet of plastic around it. I’d like to do something similar for our porch, but a bit fancier.
What I’d like is to have zippered plastic panels I could install on the inside of our porch screen between my porch posts. In the winter I could zip in a thick, clear poly panel and remove it when spring came around. It would become a quick and dirty greenhouse, which would be a much better place to put my sensitive plants than our garage.
Seems no one makes such a product, as far as I can tell. There is mention here of using greenhouse poly for it, but nothing specific.
Anyone seen such a product, or should I scare up some venture capital and start a company?
That’s a great idea. I don’t think anyone makes it, so start ‘er up. I wanted to drill holes into acrylic panels and screw them to the existing framing to ‘winterize’ our screened porch. But I couldn’t convince my in-house handyman to give it a try. There’s a restaurant at the beach that has outdoor dining on a deck. They have a combination of acrylic and screen to protect the diners from the weather. I will add that their acrylic is no longer very clear. I’m sure the salt has scratched it.
Why couldn’t you just buy the big clear panels at Lowes, drill a hole every few feet and attach them with wing nuts to bolts that you mount so that they engage the holes in the panel. I’ve seen inserts for knock down furniture that would mount flat on the frames for your screen; so, you wouldn’t even have to have the screws sticking out in the summer season. Of course you’d have to store all those flat plastic panels and remember where they go…