CHAPTER XXXI
OSTRACIZING THE FLY
“Try my glasses,” coaxed a kind old lady, when her young friend broke her own bone rims. And she did. But she was far from happy--in fact, quite miserable; and her eyes took a long time to recover from the ravages of the ill-fitting glasses.
Naturally nobody should use glasses made for another. Glasses that have been more than carefully fitted to the individual’s eye are none too good if comfort and eye ease are desired.
So it is with the installation of screens. It may sound queer to compare eye-glasses and screens, but nevertheless the analogy is nearly perfect. As the eyes vary, so do the apertures of the various homes. Therefore, unless screens are fitted carefully to each window, door or porch there will be discrepancies, and if one fly or insect can get in others can and there will be not only discomfort but probably disease distribution.
Swat the fly? No! Don’t give yourself a chance to swat it. Keep it out!
Therefore if you have a house to screen do it the best way you can or the money spent will be a dead loss. They must be bug-tight even as a ship is water tight; unless they are, you will be the host at continual insect balls and chairman of the rust convention and store up for yourself an irritability unprecedented. For there is no more annoying thing in the home than recalcitrant or obstinate screens.
It is strange that any missionary work need be done about screens because almost every one agrees upon their uses in health prevention and comfort assurance, yet withal the purchasing of them is done ignorantly and as carelessly as the young woman who uses anybody’s glasses for her own particular and peculiar eyes.
To begin with, do not order screens to be made “right away”; they cannot be done in less than a thirty-day month and be made with any finish. Order early enough after you have received estimates from the best screen makers; then take the estimate which gives you the best value after you have either seen the models, actual installations, or are satisfied that you will get the thing that you need for your particular case. The skilful screen men treat your case as individually as the oculist treats your eyes.
Your screens should be:
1. Simple to manipulate, should pull up, lower, raise or thrust out, easily and happily, and should be simply removed for storage if necessary and uncomplicatedly re-applied.
2. All the hardware should be inseparable from the body of the screen--that is: catches, bolts, locks, etc.
3. All the metal work should be rustless and adapted to the region in which you live.
4. Frames must be rigid and wire cloth taut, well fastened at every point in the frame, not sag, and be rigid.
5. Wooden frame screens must be of kiln-dried, seasoned wood, and when expedient, of hard wood.
6. Renewal of wire cloth must be a simple matter without an armory of fancy tools.
7. All should be neat, attractive, matching the window, door or porch trim where they are placed.
8. They must be a pleasure to use, not limiting the use of the window or door screened, nor breaking the back or arm when in use.
Screen frames are made of metals and of wood. Due to the architectural design of some windows or doors it is necessary for a wood frame to be used, and for the same reason it is often wiser to use a metal frame. Wherever metal frames can be used they are the best to buy, as they will stand up longer, and, if the best be bought, they will need less renovation, as they can be made rigid at only half the width of the wood screen. Furthermore, you get more ventilation than you do with the wood-framed screen. Of course, you want air and as much as you can get of it; therefore the narrower the frame the more perfect the screen.
The metals used in frames are pretty much up to the quality of your screens’ maker. They are to be had of bronze and various concoctions of bronze dependent on the patents of your purveyor; of grass finish, copper finish; steel enameled; steel painted; steel grained to look like the wood trim; steel galvanized and steel regalvanized; monel metal.
To be honest, there are two better classifications of screens: those that are rustless and those that are not.
Monel metal is used for seashore houses, as the salt air does not corrode or corrupt it. Variations of the bronze screen are also adapted to seashore use.
The painted steel screen has to be painted over and over again to keep it from rusting and wearing out.
The galvanized screen is practically rustless and the re-galvanized is quite positively an insurance against rust.
Be sure that when you buy a bronze frame it is not simply a bronze steel frame. Steel invites rust, and the way to have a rustless screen is to make steel an absentee or galvanize it.
All the hardware must be of non-rusting metal. No doubt, as soon as the rustless steel is on the market in large quantities, screen men will be using it instead of galvanizing, painting, etc., and using it and bronze and monel metals for hardware.
SOME DETAILS
The corners in the metal (and in the wood frame as well) have to be of exquisite workmanship. The best types have no screws or rivets or plates or projections of any sort, yet are of a perfect interlocking or welded construction and hold the screen cloth at every point with infallible tenacity.
There is no aperture so shaped that it cannot be framed in screens by the ablest screen makers. In the case of the metal screen the bent work is really a work of art, in that they are not puckered or pinched, but are _sans_ humps, _sans_ bumps, _sans_ everything but beauty, rigidity and conformity to conditions.
Every screen manufacturer has his own scheme for fastening the screen cloth firmly in both metal and wood frames. The idea is that the cloth must not sag in the frames, on the largest openings in doors or windows, porches, etc., that when either whacked by the children or inadvertently struck by adults, the cloth will remain taut and rigid and stay in place in the frame. The tubular metal frame in this connection seems the most logical metal frame. It is lighter and as strong as the other types of metal frames. It is so admirably contrived that the cloth can be removed without an extra tool and the springs and slides can be very conveniently and admirably fitted.
The tracks or slide upon which the metal frame works must be a slide and not a series of sticking points. This means good workmanship.
Another advantage the metal frame has over the wood frame is that it does not need the disfiguring hinges; if hinged, it can be hung on the pivot hinge which leaves no scar, and is inserted in the casing of window and leaves no trace. When it is to be taken down for the winter it is simply lifted out--no pins to come out of hinges and no unscrewing.
VARIETIES OF METAL SCREENS
The type of screen is of course dependent upon the kind of window or opening you have to screen. The usual types are: sliding and rolling, casement and stationery.
The sliding screens are usually used on the double hung window and slide on a slide. The best slides are of metal backed by wood. A double hung window can be screened by a single screen or a double one, dependent on the wish of the purchaser. The double slide is necessary, of course, in the case of the double screen.
In this connection it is interesting to note that there is a new type of window lately on the market that arranges in the head of the window a space into which not only the screen can disappear but the window itself, and be out of the way. This of course allows for a completely open window even more so than the casement.
The pleasure of the slide screen is in the fact of its sliding and not catching in a series of struggles to make it work. Springs and tubular grooved frames complete this type. If the springs get out of order in a tubular grooved frame, they can easily be taken out and restored without special tools. They are protected also from wear and rust and made so as to withstand atmospheric ravages. A safety device should be provided to prevent the spring from accidentally disengaging itself. If the screen is hung inside the window, one hand lift is sufficient. If it is hung outside it is well to have another on the inside to be of service when removing them for winter storage.
ROLLING SCREENS
The acme of screen perfection is attained in the rolling screen. At present this type is creating the interest it deserves, as it is adapted to every kind of window and can be kept on the window throughout the year.
The screen is of metal and rolls up on a roller like a window shade; it is of simple construction, durable and non-rusting. It is light and rolls with great despatch. Some of these shadelike frames can be raised and lowered at any point on the window frame; they are rigid, do not sag on the broadest of windows and are equipped with non-rusting metal, and are either of monel or bronze in fittings and framing. The track in which they slide is also non-rusting and holds the screen well in place. The screen cloth is of the best mesh and is tightly fastened at every point in the frame.
The fact that these screens are inside the window leaves them free from the ravages of the elements, which is another point in their favor. Some of these screens are supplied with a cord like a shade that pulls up and down the same way. Some of these roller screens have employed zinc on all exposed parts, and this is a rust preventive. The same brand employs a waterproofed fabric less expensive than metal, also bronze, copper and monel metal.
One especial type of rolling screen presents an advantage that is very desirable--it has a patent side grip for the edges of the monel screen cloth and a perfected runway in which travels a series of metal clips holding the cloth and so arranged as to roll up without difficulty. The screen roll is assembled in a zinc casing, made exactly to fit the window, which is easily attached to the “stops” at the top of the window frame and, when painted or stained to match the trim, looks like a part of it and is almost invisible. The two side “runways,” also of zinc, are screwed to the window “stops” like weather strips and are painted or stained in similar manner making them entirely inconspicuous.
[Illustration:
_Wire cloth rolls into this bar_
_Screen raised to any height for adjustment of windows_
_Courtesy of Rolup Screen Co._
THE SCREEN WHICH ROLLS UP IS A COMFORT AS WELL AS A SAFE AND SANE INSECT OSTRACIZER]
The window shade is then replaced just below the screen casing and neither interferes with the other.
The screen is so adjusted that it easily pulls down or pushes up at will, automatically locks itself on being brought down to the sill, and, after being released by a slight upward push remains in whatever position it is left. It covers the whole of every window and is so simple in construction and direct in action that, once installed, it should never get out of order. In case of damage it can easily be removed, new parts obtained and as easily be relocated. In new houses, under construction, provision can easily be made to “sink” the screen casing and side runways into the window frames so that they are almost invisible.
If the rolling screen is not used, the casement can be covered with top-hung outside screens, side-hung, double-door style, or single from one side or stationary on the outside, if the window opens inside. When possible the casement screen should be hung on pivot hinges to permit ease of detaching for storage, and, as we said before, to leave the window without the marring of the hinge there or removed. However, frequently in the case of the unusually large screen the use of a little strap hinge is sometimes necessary to carry the extra weight. In marble window casing the hinge of course is an impossibility.
A couple of side levers on either side of the screen for releasing the pivots when the screens are to be taken off for the winter make the matter of removal as easy as “falling off a log.”
The top hinge screen on the outside of the window which pushes out from the inside has to be hung very securely and the bolts and pivots and handles and adjusters have to be made to perfection. The adjuster for pushing this window out or open must be a pleasure to use or else this type of screen will be a curse. There is an adjuster now on the market that is put on the window in such a way that the screen can be opened or closed without opening the inside of the window. A double insurance against inroads of bugs while opening the window to adjust screen!
Put up to “stay put” stationary screens are fastened with bolts which are removed when necessary to store.
WOODEN FRAMES
The story of the wooden frame is about the same as the metal, only that the wood frame can’t rust, but can wear out if not seasoned and kiln dried and given all the care in manufacture that long life in woods necessitates.
Here, too, the corner construction must be perfect, must be able to bear the weight of the screen and take out the jars. The frame must be rigid, light and strong. The wire cloth must be so fastened at every point that there is no sag or bagginess in the broadest window.
Now all this is possible in the best wood frame screens and with good workmanship. Every one thought for a long time that the metal screen could not incorporate their good points. Don’t be fooled by some one saying that the wood screen cannot be made “fool proof,” for it can and is. Here again every maker has his own device for catching the metal cloth; here again the metal cloth must be rustless; here again the metal work and hardware must be rustless; the screen must make easy manipulation possible.
The screen door question, too, is rallied round with the same provisos of manufacture as metal and wood screens. There are the two leaf door and the one leaf.
The new thing on the door is the fact that the whole door may be screened or only one-half screened, the rest of wood or metal. Yet it is far better to have the whole door screened, but for the sake of beauty and lack of monotony the lower half can be guarded with a metal panel which will not only look well but protect the wire cloth. Sometimes, too, in the wholly screened door just a metal guard rail is applied to prevent injury to the wire cloth on the full expanse of a door.
If half the door is of wood, there again you lose the free entry of air, so it is advisable to screen the door completely and use the guard metal work to beautify and protect it.
Some of the lower portions of doors (as is the case with French windows) are beautifully carved to be in keeping with a handsome wood interior.
Doors, too, should be equipped with a good check to prevent them from banging and close tightly.
Locks or no locks, are questions to be decided by the buyer, but all hardware, belts, catches, pins, hinges, etc., should, of course, follow the “no-rust” régime, and be of the most durable stuff and match up with the surrounding hardware.
Even though the frame and its hanging are of vital importance, yet what would the screen be without the screen cloth? And, of course, there are as many kinds of cloth in this quarter of the world’s work as in any other and you have to know something of the variety in order to know what you are buying, to buy advantageously. Here again you play the old tune: Rustlessness.
The cloth must be of a mesh not too fine for free entry of air, and fine enough to prevent the smallest insects from entering. But here you must use discretion. If your home is in the Adirondacks where black flies and midgets precede the mosquitoes, then it is the better part of wisdom to use a finer mesh; if you are at the seashore, the ordinary coarser mesh is sufficient.
WIRE CLOTH VARIETIES
There is also choice here. You can have:
1. Painted steel cloth which must be repainted often in accordance with its exposure and in regard to where it is exposed and whether it is hung inside or outside of the window.
2. Galvanized steel mesh: This is often blackened for eye ease.
3. Monel metal (an alloy of copper and nickel) guaranteed rust proof, used mainly at seashore resorts but good for any place.
4. Bronze and patented bronzes: Used as is the monel wire cloth. Here a coat of paint to dull the bronze glare is of real service to the eye.
5. Copper: A coat of dull paint here, too, will take off the glare.
Manufacturers have various bronze cloths and they are sold under various names. Its great use is imperviousness to rust but it has to be of the best manufacture to insure this paradisiacal condition.
The porch that is screened with pernickety screens never is screened in time to reject the insect world. So here is another case where they must fit and be made to order.
What is a sleeping porch without a screen? Without a functioning screen? One swallow may not make a summer, but one fly can make torture out of night.
Some makers will key your screens so that each screen has its tag for replacement and there is no loss of effort and time in resetting them next year in their proper places. This can be done in windows, door and porch work. Of course, with the rolling screen--they are never taken down and much labor is saved.
Screens are not a luxury; they are a health measure. When we get more civilized we will probably have our screens inspected to see that they fit, and the boards of health in the various towns will keep a close watch on them, for diseases are rapidly being traced to the minute insect carriers. Typhus and yellow fever are the last results. Think what Central Europe would have been spared had it been properly screened!
Contrary to usual opinion screens can be most attractive and fit in with the surrounding wood trim, and be a department of house furnishing not to be belittled. And don’t fail to realize that a lot of trouble can be saved and unsightliness be avoided, if the screen is thought of before building your home--and if the roller type is installed, you have no storage care, or removal and recurring slavery.
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