Questions, answered plainly.
What people ask us first, about screens, panels, doors, fabric and care. If yours is not here, the free call is the quickest way to an answer.
Getting started
Where do you work?
Across north and west Dallas–Fort Worth; the towns we serve most are listed at the foot of every page. Outside them, call anyway.
What does the free call cover?
Fifteen minutes about the patio, which way it faces and what you want from it. By the end we can both tell whether screens are the right answer and roughly what they involve, before anyone visits.
Can I see the fabrics before choosing?
Yes. The samples are in the Blue Note A/V showroom at 11410 Mathis Ave, Office 1, Farmers Branch, by appointment, and we bring them to the measuring visit.
Who is Blue Note A/V?
Our parent company: a Dallas–Fort Worth firm that has designed and installed home audio, video, lighting, shading and automation since 2006. It is why our screens can run on the same keypads as the house.
How soon can screens be installed?
Most screens are installed three to four weeks after the deposit, and a rush is available when a date matters.
What warranty comes with the work?
We guarantee our workmanship on everything we install for a year from installation. Motorized screens also carry the manufacturer’s warranty: ten years on the screen fabric, five on the motor and remote, life on the powder-coated frame, and one year on clear vinyl.
Do you work with builders?
Yes. In new construction the best time to call is before the ceiling and the slab are finished, so the housing pocket, the power and the floor detail are planned rather than worked around. The pocket sizes and rough-in are on the builders and architects page.
Motorized Screens
What do they cost?
It depends on the width and height of each opening, the fabric and how the screens are controlled. We price after we measure. The free call is enough to tell you whether what you have in mind sits in a sensible range before anyone visits.
Do they keep insects out?
When they are fully lowered, yes. The edges of the fabric are zipped into the tracks, so there is no gap at the sides, and the bottom bar closes the floor. We check both at installation.
What happens in high wind?
Raise them. Tracked screens handle an ordinary Texas afternoon well, but they are not storm shutters. Somfy makes a wind sensor that raises the screens on its own, and we can add one where a patio is exposed.
Can I use the fireplace or a heater with the screens down?
Yes, as long as nothing hot touches the fabric and there is a gap for ventilation. A patio fireplace or a gas heater a normal distance from the screen is fine; the mesh is vinyl-coated polyester and wants air moving past it, not a flame against it.
Can a screen follow an arch?
No. The screen is a rectangle. On an arched opening it mounts above the arch and covers it as a rectangle when it is down, and disappears into its housing when it is up. Several of the arched patios in our projects are done this way.
Can I leave the screens down all the time?
Mostly, yes. Raise them when the wind gets above about 40 mph, and run them up and down once or twice a week even when you do not need to; a screen that moves regularly stays free in its tracks. A wind sensor does the first part on its own.
Do they keep rain out?
It depends on the fabric. The tighter the weave, the more rain and wind it stops: a 95 or 97 fabric turns most of a shower, an 80 lets more through. For a patio that has to stay dry, clear vinyl is the answer.
Can the patio be used in the winter?
Yes, with clear vinyl. It runs on the same zipper track as a sun screen and keeps out wind, rain and cold while you can still see the yard. The vinyl is Sattler or Serge Ferrari with a Fenestra or Panorama clear window, blackout is available, and one opening can carry a mesh roll and a vinyl roll together. Vinyl screens run up to 16 ft wide and 12 ft high.
Can they run with our ELAN or Control4 system?
Yes. Blue Note A/V programs both, so the screens can sit on the same keypads and app as the rest of the house, and lower on a timeclock instead of a remote.
How long does it take?
Most screens are installed three to four weeks after the deposit, and a rush is available when a date matters. Every screen is made to the measurements from the visit, and we confirm the installation day once they are in hand.
What is the warranty?
Two parts. The manufacturer covers the screen fabric for ten years, the motor and remote for five, the powder-coated frame for life, and clear vinyl for one year. We guarantee our own workmanship for a year from installation: if anything we put in is not right, we come back and put it right.
How small or large can a screen be?
From 36 in wide and 36 in high up to 22 1/2 ft wide and 16 ft high on a zipper track (25 ft wide when recessed, depending on the fabric). Clear vinyl screens run up to 16 ft wide and 12 ft high. A wider opening is split at a post or column so each screen stops at the same line.
Fixed Screen Panels
Can one patio have fixed panels and motorized screens?
Often it should. Fixed panels on the sides and a motorized screen across the opening you look through is a common arrangement, and the fabrics and finishes are chosen to match.
Which infill keeps the most view?
SunTex 80 or No-See-Ums. Both are open weaves; SunTex 80 also stops about 80 percent of the sun, and No-See-Ums is made for insects first.
Do panels need maintenance?
Very little. Mesh panels want a wash with mild soap and water once or twice a year; glass and polycarbonate are cleaned like windows.
Where do fixed panels go on a motorized patio?
Wherever a roll cannot: the odd shapes a motorized screen has to stop short of. A panel fills the gap beside an outdoor-kitchen counter that runs into the opening, closes the triangle under an angled roof line, finishes around the trim at the top and bottom of a post, and carries a screen door in the same frame line as the screens. The result is one sealed patio, screens and panels in the same frame color.
Screen Doors
Can a door go in beside motorized screens?
Yes. A fixed panel and door at one end of a patio, with motorized screens across the rest, is a common arrangement, and the fabrics are matched.
What screen goes in the door?
Usually No-See-Ums, the tight fiberglass weave that stops gnats and no-see-ums and keeps the breeze. On a door that faces the afternoon sun, SunTex 90 instead.
Care and Service
Is there a service plan?
Yes. The Spring Service is $499.99 a year: one visit each spring to clean every screen and lubricate the tracks and moving parts. Cleaning takes several hours and lubrication about thirty minutes, and it is what keeps the screens running for years.
Can I clean the screens myself?
Yes. Mild soap, water and a soft brush with the screen lowered, then let it dry fully before raising it. No pressure washer.
A screen stops in a different place than the others. Is the motor failing?
Usually not. Motor limits can drift, and resetting them is an adjustment, not a repair. If it has started to slow or strain, call us.
How often should the screens run?
Once or twice a week, up and down, even in the months you do not need them. A screen that moves regularly stays free in its tracks; one left down all winter is the one that drags in April. Raise them when the wind gets above about 40 mph.
Start with the free call.
Fifteen minutes tells us both whether screens are the right answer for the patio, and roughly what they involve. No payment, no obligation.
Telephone
214 865 9936Showroom
11410 Mathis Ave, Office 1, Farmers Branch, TX 75234 — our showroom. Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm, by appointment
Send a few photographs of the openings and which way they face. That is usually enough for a first answer.
The inquiry form →Screens on the same keypads as the rest of the house, programmed by the same firm.
Blue Note A/V →