LAURA MINIEL EXPLAINS HOW TO SOLAR SCREEN YOUR HOME FOR FREE WITH PUB REBATE

From the editor:  The multi-talented Laura Miniel gives us the second segment of her series on adding solar screens for your home for free, utilizing a rebate from P.U.B.

In this installment Miniel details the steps of the process with actual pictures showing her work on her own home.

PART 2~SOLAR SCREENING YOUR HOME FOR FREE 

Measuring Your Windows, Ordering Materials, and Making a Solar Sliding Screen Door

Laura Miniel

Brownsville broke another heat record last Thursday, measuring over 101 degrees. I wish I had started this project back in April! But it's never too late to cut down on the AC bill, especially during the canicula. With the planet heating up, the Amazon in flames and temperatures rising every year, building solar screens to block 80% of the heat from coming through the windows, is a pretty good investment of time, I feel.
 
Fortunately, PUB has offered to rebate $1 per sq ft of windows covered, to help Brownsville residents cut down on their AC bills. This is sufficient to cover the costs of materials, as high quality solar screen material on Amazon costs about 75 cents a square foot, so you have an extra 25c / sq ft to work with to figure out how to frame or attach to the windows.

This blog post will show you how to begin the process of measuring your windows and building your first solar sliding screen door from an existing screen door. This DIY rescreen only takes 2 hours, and you quickly start blocking heat from entering your home. Links will be provided to the exact materials I used, all of which meet the specifications to qualify for the PUB rebate.

Step 1.
Go outside and take pictures of your house from all sides, the "before" pictures.  PUB will ask for them in the rebate application.

Step 2.
Get a tape measure, a friend and a notepad, and make 3 columns titled South, East, and West. (North windows also qualify for the rebate, but most of the N facing windows at my house are shaded by trees. North facing windows also generally let in the least amount of sunlight.)

Measure each of your windows frame to frame from the outside, and write down the measurement.  Allow for an extra 1/8th of an inch.

Step 3.
Enter the dimensions into this handy square footage calculator online. Get a final total value of the square footage of your windows, here: Online Square Foot Calculator

Step 4.
Order enough solar screen fabric to meet this square footage requirement.  For me, most of my windows were around 30 to 33 inches on one side, so it made sense to order solar screen fabric that was 36" wide.  That way, one side is already pretty close to the final dimension, and all I I have to do is trim it a little.  If your windows are wider or narrower, choose a fabric that is a few inches larger than the most common side.

** To qualify for the rebate, you MUST use a solar screen or film that reflects at least 67% of the solar heat gain. This is given in the manufacturer's specs. There are many products on the market, not all of them will qualify.  The following links are to materials that qualify for PUB's rebate program.

First, ask yourself, "How much heat and light do I want to block?"

Ultimate 90% blocking screen - blocks 90% of the heat from entering your home.  These look kind of dull and black from the outside, but appropriate if you have a window that is always blaring sun in your eyes.  If I were starting this project all over again, I would have ordered this 90% material for the windows & glass doors on the South side of my home.

80% blocking screen - blocks 80% of the heat from your home, with improved visibility outward and inward. This is what I ordered.  It looks like normal bug screen from the outside, it maintains the view and protects your furniture from UV light bleaching.

70% blocking film - clingy window film you apply indoors on the window itself.  Blocks 70% of the heat, not as effective as solar screens, but one of the few window films that blocks enough solar heat to qualify for PUB's rebate.
Be careful because most window films are weaker than this.  They sell this over at Lowe's on 802, Home Depot or here at Amazon, called Gila Heat Control Platinum, specifically the Platinum one:

To build the solar screens, you will need a spline roller -

Spline for older screen doors specifically: Most screen doors were designed for thin aluminum screens, not thick solar screen material.  This .125 size spline works well:

Each common 36 x 80 inch screen door will require 20 ft of spline to go around the frame.

As I plan to screen in the windows on the East, West, and South sides, I ordered solar screen in bulk at the link shown above. The following instructions are only for the part of the project involving turning my 3 old sliding screen doors into solar screen doors.

Step 5.
Attach solar screen to sliding screen doors. 

The first step is to loosen the screws on the base of the sliding screen door, allowing you to lift it off the track.

Once you have the screen door on its side, you might see a long rubber seal along one. Take it out and set it aside to reattach later.

Next, you're going to take a screwdriver and remove the screws holding the door handle in place. Keep these screws and door handle parts in a safe place, to reattach after the rescreening is finished.

If you look at both sides of the screen, you'll notice that one side has a channel all along the edge where the screen appears to be tucked in.  With a flashlight aimed into that channel, you will see a cord deep in the channel. This is the spline, a cord holding the screen in place. Follow the spline all around the edge with the flashlight until you see a cut edge, usually in the center, or in a corner.  With a narrow Phillips screwdriver, dig under and lift up one edge of the spline.  Pull the entire 20 ft length of spline out of the channel.  It will usually come out in one long piece. Now it's easy to push the old screen out.

Paint - Put 4 pieces of scotch tape over the wheels, to protect them from the spray paint. Our screen doors were over 25 yrs old, and very faded.  So I spray painted them with a good quality black paint, being careful to avoid spraying into the wheel mechanisms.  

Once dry, lay the empty screen door frames on a flat surface, with the empty spline channel facing up.  Roll out the solar screen material over the frame and cut enough to leave a good 1-2 inches extra on each side of the channels.  You're going to want to put masking tape on the two short ends of the screen, to help hold the screens in place. You don't want the material very tight, but slightly loose.  It will self tighten when the spline is pushed down.

Next, take the spline roller and push the material in on the short side, along the empty spline channel. Then push the material into the channel of the short side on the opposite side. Push the material in on the long side, then on the opposite long side.  This is 'digging the trench' in the channel for the spline to sit in.  As you are pushing the screen in, you want to pull it slightly, to keep it tight, and prevent folds and crinkles from forming.  It's difficult to explain in writing but with practice you will understand. You pull up on the fabric slightly with one hand, as you push it down with the spline roller with the other. This tightens the screen fabric across the center. 

Now that you have the solar screen pushed into the channel, next step is to push the spline down into the channel you've created.  You do this the same way, starting in one corner, lay the new .125 thin spline over the channel you've made, then push it down with the double blade side of the spline roller. 

If you don't have a strong grip strength, you can kneel over it and use your body weight to push it down into the channel as far as you can. Then flip the spline roller around to the one-blade side that resembles a pizza cutter, and finish pushing the spline so deep it starts to disappear down into the channel.  You will notice the screen tighening as the spline is pushed in.  When you reach the corner, you can cut the spline and start over in the adjacent corner, or use a small Phillips screwdriver to push the spline deep into the channel around the corner.

The screen should have tightened up nicely once all four sides are splined.  If you are happy with the result, run a razor blade along the edge, carefully cutting the screen material above the spline. Then use the screwdriver to reattach the door handle that you set aside in the beginning.

Tune up - Before reinstalling the screen door onto your home, take some time to broom, vacuum and clean out the dust or grit that accumulates in the door frame track over the years.  Inspect the wheels and use a rag to clean the gap inside the screen door, clean out any rocks or bits of dirt caught in the wheels.

Spray WD-40 generously in each of the wheel mechanisms and along the channels in the door frame itself.  It's worth taking the time to really get the wheels and the channels clean, so these solar screen doors will last another 10-20 years. Re-attach the rubber door seal, then reinstall the solar screen door into the door frame channel, and tighten the screws once the doors are running smoothly on the track to lock them in place.

Photo - 80 percent solar screen light intensity

Look at the difference in light intensity, this is from using the 80% solar screen material. You can see the great reduction in intensity in the shadows.

I found the view is improved through the solar screen, as it cuts the glare from the intense August sunlight.

At $18.50 in materials per door, and about a 2 hour time commitment for each screen door, this is a project that can easily be done in a weekend.  Also, at $18.50, this will be 100% reimbursed by PUB, coming in under the $20 / door budget.

Note: If you'd like to buy solar screen doors pre-assembled, you can order them here for about $225 each for a 36x80 sliding door with the same Phifer 80% solar blocking screen:

https://www.qualitywindowscreen.com/sliding-patio-screen-door-classic-364.html

Note: Calculations

3 solar sliding screen doors

Doors = free, reused existing

Black spray paint = $4 = $1.30 per screen door repaint

WD-40, small can = 20 cents per screen door wheels and track oiling

Spline .125 = 10 cents/ foot, 20 feet per screen door, $2 per screen door

Phifer 80% solar screen material, 75 cents a square foot, 20 sq ft per screen door, $15 per screen door

$15 (screen) + $1.30 (paint) + $0.20 (WD-40) + $2 (spline) = 

total cost: $18.50 per 20 sq ft, 36"x 80" screen door

Note that PUB offers to refund $1 per sq foot. A 20 ft screen door qualifies for a $20 rebate per door, so $18.50 each comes in slightly under budget.