You’ve put up screen doors, window screens and screened in your porch. Finally, you can open up your house a little without insects bugging you. But then you notice a breach in the screen perimeter. A few small holes seemed to have appeared overnight.
It is possible for some bugs to chew through screens the same way they chew through fibrous plants. After spending hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on screens, the last thing you want is the very thing you’re trying to keep out destroying your investment. Keep reading to find out which bugs can create holes in screens and how to keep them from doing so.
Insects That Can Destroy Your Screens
Palmetto Outdoor Spaces replaced fiberglass screen mesh with Super Screen, polyester PVC coated mesh, due to holes in screen made by grasshoppers.
Not all insects are capable of chewing through screens. However, if you see these three bugs lurking around your porch or windows you may need to look for holes.
Grasshoppers – These hoppers are particularly problematic in the late summer and fall when they start moving closer to homes to stay warm at night. They are the biggest culprits when it comes to screen destruction.
Crickets – Many people that keep crickets to feed reptiles have noted that the little jokers can chew through screened enclosures. They can do the same to your screens out in the wild.
Wasps – Wasps have the capability of chewing through wood, so it’s not surprising that getting through some types of screens is no problem.
Tips for Stopping Insects Before They Get Through Your Screens
Customer’s screen mesh had been eaten by grasshoppers and screen mesh had large holes. Palmetto Outdoor Spaces replaced fiberglass mesh with Super Screen.
Once the bugs above do damage just about any insect can now get in, like pesky mosquitoes and flies. If you already have holes in your screens they’ll need to be patched, but the problem has just begun. Ultimately there are three things you can do to stop screen-eating bugs for good.
Use Heavy Duty Metal Screens
Crickets can chew through fiberglass, and grasshoppers love these screens as well. You’ll want to also avoid thin nylon screens. If you’re replacing your holy screens go for a heavier aluminum screen this time. Screens that are labeled “pet-friendly” are usually heavier wire mesh that bugs won’t be able to chew through.
Use Repellent on Your Screens
One simple solution is to spray your screens with bug repellent. This will deter pests from latching on the screens so there’s less of a chance they’ll get through.
Eliminate the Bugs
Of course, regular pest control will keep bugs out of your yard and away from your home so they never have the chance to get at your screens. If you’ve noticed grasshoppers, crickets or wasps hanging out around your property it’s probably time to call the exterminator. In the long run professional pest control is much less expensive than buying new screens.
**** Palmetto Outdoor Spaces does not promote the use of harmful pestisides that have far reaching affects on wildlife and the environment. ***
Original Source: http://www.vulcantermite.com/home-pest-control/how-to-stop-insects-from-chewing-holes-in-your-screens/
A Fourth Option to Prevent Holes in Screens
Twitchell’s Super Screen Mesh provides insect and pest protection, privacy, safety, and debris control. SuperScreen™ offers the homeowner extended durability and protection by incorporating superior tear resistance and tensile strength. It gives the homeowner a quality investment and trouble-free enjoyment, with lasting aesthetic appeal and low maintenance. Before SuperScreen™, outdoor screen products only gave customers choices between beneficial characteristics or features. There were no other choices – no protection against punctures, tears or frequent deterioration. SuperScreen™ offers them all – so the most important, benefits of screen protection don’t have to be eliminated.
Super Screen provides the homeowner many years of worry-free durability and protection, by incorporating superior tear resistance and tensile strength. SuperScreen’s™ advanced polymer formula defies deterioration. In a simulated seven-year weathering test, SuperScreen™ lost only1% of its original strength. In fact, it remained 3 times stronger than new fiberglass screen.
With the recent health concerns over insect-related illnesses, the tight weave of InsectProTex in Super Screen helps guard against the spread of disease.
Until Super Screen, screen fabrics for outdoor enclosures have been limited in strength and durability, needing replacement in only a few years due to puncture, tearing or breakdown from exposure to the sun. The fiberglass screen material available today can become hard and brittle within 3 to 4 years, to the point it can be easily damaged by pets, flying objects (like a golf ball) or children at play. Within 6 to 7 years, with deterioration, a strong gust of wind can tear fiberglass screen to shreds.
Super Screen mesh is the perfect choice for the homeowner who demands high quality, durability, and aesthetically appealing products. Super Screen allows for large spanned openings. Textilene makes 120” wide rolls of Super Screen Mesh.
Metal screen by far is the best option to prevent insects chewing through mesh, but metal screen has limited span capability. The maximum width for copper and aluminum screen mesh is 72”, forcing builders to add wood or aluminum cross members to support screen, impairing views. Super Screen allows for up to 10’ wide openings for maximum views.
Palmetto Outdoor Spaces has been installing the Super Screen mesh on porches and windows since 2013.
