Shade Notes: patio screen guides.
Plain answers from the people who measure, make and install exterior screens: the sun, the bugs, the wind, the fabric, the cost and the care of a Dallas–Fort Worth patio.
Guide · Motorized Screens · Dallas–Fort WorthThe Patio, Usable in August
A Dallas patio sits empty from June to September for three reasons — the afternoon sun, the insects, and the wind. Exterior screens answer all three, then come up out of sight when the evening turns pleasant.
Guide · Fabrics · Phifer SunTex & No-See-UmsWhich Fabric for Your Patio Screens
The fabric decides how much of the yard you keep and how much sun you stop. Here is how to choose the weave for each opening — by which way it faces, and whether it is fighting sun, insects or winter.
Guide · What We Install · Dallas–Fort WorthMotorized, Fixed, or a Door
Outdoor Shades makes three things: motorized screens, fixed screen panels, and screen doors. Most patios end up with two of the three. Here is what each one is for, and how we decide which goes where.
Guide · Automation · ELAN, Control4 & SomfyScreens on the Same App as Your House
Because Outdoor Shades is a Blue Note A/V company, your patio screens do not have to live on a separate remote. They run on the same control system as the house — on a timeclock, a keypad, or the app you already use.
Guide · Motorized Screens · Zip-Track & WindZipper-Track Screens and the Texas Wind
What holds a motorized screen in place when the wind comes up is the track. Here is how a zipper-track screen works, what it handles, and the honest limit — plus the sensor that raises it before a storm can do any harm.
Guide · Fixed Panels · Choosing the InfillSunTex, Insect Screen, Glass, or Polycarbonate
A fixed screen panel is a frame and an infill, and the infill is the real choice. Sun fabric, insect mesh, glass, or polycarbonate — each closes an opening a different way. Here is how we pick the one for each side of a patio.
Guide · Pricing · One Written PriceWhat Patio Screens Cost, and What Sets the Price
We do not post a single price, because there is not one — each opening is measured and made for it. But the things that move the number are no mystery. Here is what sets the cost of patio screens, and how we quote it.
Guide · Care & Service · The Spring ServiceCaring for Your Screens, and the Spring Service
Exterior screens are low-maintenance, not no-maintenance. A wash, a little lubrication, and the occasional limit reset keep them running for years. Here is what you can do yourself, and what the Spring Service does for you.
Guide · Trade · New ConstructionPatio Screens for Builders and Architects
The best time to plan exterior screens is before the headers are framed. Plan the housing pocket, the power and the floor detail in, and the screens disappear into the architecture instead of being worked around at trim.
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 →