Motorized Zip Screens
Enclose the porch without building walls.
A zip screen is an exterior shade whose fabric edge is held captive in a side track, so the screen stays flat and stable in wind instead of flapping and pulling free the way a conventional roll screen does. Dropped, it cuts sun, wind and insects. Retracted, it disappears into a slim cassette and the opening reads as it did before.
It is the most direct way to take a covered porch or a patio and make it a space people actually sit in when the weather is doing something.
Why the zip track matters
The zip is not a detail — it is the whole product. A welded zipper along each fabric edge runs inside the side channel, which keeps tension across the screen and prevents it from being lifted out by a gust. That is what allows screens of real size to work on an exposed elevation.
It also closes the gap at the edges, which is what makes the difference between a screen that mostly keeps insects out and one that actually does.
Fabric choices
Mesh screen fabrics cut solar heat and glare while keeping an open outlook and airflow — the usual choice for summer comfort on a west or south elevation.
Clear PVC panels block wind entirely and hold warmth, which is what extends a porch into the shoulder seasons. Paired with a heater, a clear-screened space stays usable well past the point most patios shut down.
Blackout and privacy fabrics suit a screen that also has to close off a sight line — a hot tub, or a patio that faces a neighbour more closely than anyone would like.
Where they go
Between the columns of a covered porch, which is the most common application and usually the most transformative.
On the open sides of an existing covered structure, turning a roofed space into an enclosed one.
Across a large window or slider as an exterior solar control layer — stopping heat at the glass rather than after it has already entered the room, which is measurably more effective than any interior shade.
Wind and weather
Every screen has a wind rating, and exceeding it is how screens get damaged. We specify a wind sensor on exposed installations so the screens retract automatically above a set speed, which removes the need for anyone to remember.
Screens are retracted for winter in most installations. The cassette protects the fabric when it is stowed.
Common questions
- Will they hold up in wind?
- Within their rating, yes — the zip track is specifically what makes that possible. On exposed sites we add a wind sensor that retracts them automatically rather than relying on someone being home.
- Can I still see out?
- With mesh fabric, yes — much like looking through a screen door, with the view preserved and the glare cut. Clear PVC keeps the view almost fully intact. Blackout fabrics deliberately do not.
- Do they keep insects out?
- Yes, and considerably better than a conventional roll screen, because the zip track closes the edge gap that insects otherwise find.
- Can they be added to an existing porch?
- Usually. The requirement is sound structure at the head and at both sides to carry the cassette and the tracks. We confirm that on survey.
Talk to us about your windows
Free in-home consultation. We bring the samples to you, measure properly, and quote in writing.