Cottage Q&A
QUESTIONEvery fall at closing time, we've protected our screened porch by wrapping it with six-mil plastic, secured by duct tape, upholstery tacks, and 1"x 2" wood strips. It's a tough job that, at our age, is getting tougher. However, because we store furniture on the porch over winter, we feel some kind of enclosure is needed as a deterrent to theft. Can you help?
ANSWER
You could have wooden shutters made to cover the screens, suggests contractor Tom Harrison, who runs a cottage maintenance business in Gananoque, Ont. A 3/8" sheet of plywood should be sturdy yet light enough to lift on and off unless your screened areas are very large. If your screens are removable so the shutters can fit right into the frames, so much the better. (This will allow you to fasten them on the inside, to deter thieves.) For a lighter version of the same idea, Harrison suggests you make, or have made, light wooden frames, then staple heavy plastic (such as the six-mil kind you've been using) into the frames. You should get a few years' service out of the plastic before having to replace it.
In either case, secure the shutters with hooks and eyes or swivel tabs. And don't forget to mark each one with a notation for where it goes - since most cottages, even newer ones, have eccentricities of window size and shape.
Another option is custom-made woven polyethylene window covers, the kind available from companies that make awnings, tents, gazebo enclosures, and boat tops. The fabric is a polyethylene mesh, heavily coated with vinyl on both sides for weather resistance, explains Manny Reis, sales rep for Western Tarpaulin & Co. in Toronto. It's widely available in eight colours, although white would best repel heat and sunlight. The fabric is attached to the window frames with push snaps (as are many boat tops) or, even more securely, with twist snaps. You can install such covers on the inside if you don't mind seeing the permanent snap bases on your window frames, or on the outside. A 4' x 8' panel of woven poly, with twist snaps every 12", would cost you about $90. A different and somewhat cheaper alternative, adds Reis, is a black poly fabric with a silver exterior coating that also reflects heat and light; for the same size of panel and number of twist snaps, you'd pay around $65.
* Published in the September/October 2003 issue of Cottage Life
