I am in the process of rebuilding a screened porch on cape cod. I am trying to figure out what the best way to build the screens is. I want to have natural wood with bronze screening. The site is quite windy and we will be installing plastic roll up windows for those rainy days when you still want to be on the porch but not get wet. What would be the best wood for this purpose? Cedar seems too soft(screws for turn buckles could pull out under the strain of wind against plastic). What other wood does anyone recommend using?With bronze screening would the best way to install it be to cut a kerf and use a screen spline? or just staple the— out of it???thanks for the input. Hazel8
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Hazel, I'm going to be doing a similar project for a client soon so I've been thinking about this. I'll probably end up using Merenti, a material commonly called "mahogany decking," with aluminum screen. I'm going to have a local screen shop make removable screen panels out of aluminum, probably a brown anodized to blend with the natural wood. Stretching and splining screen, especially metal screen, is just a pain in the behind, and you want to be able to easily repair or replace it because sooner or later you will need to.
There was a recent article in Fine Homebuilding on this topic; it was the cover story a month or two ago.
Mike