Nevertheless, there seems to be an increasing number of pale-eyed houses about that are missing their screens. Probably they were removed to paint

3 color look

the house or to clean the windows and never got put back by whoever it is that carries out passive voice actions. That may be because of poor condition.

2 color look

Many older screen frames had mortise and tenon joints that were vulnerable to attack by moisture. Rot may have set in, particularly if the out of sight and, therefore, out of mind edges did not get kept in a good coat of paint. A trip to the home center superstore reveals that they do not stock ready- made wooden screens. They do have aluminum extruded screens that more or less rattle around within the socket left on the window facing by the much more robust former wooden frame. And aluminum screens, as a utility item, usually come in a mill finish shiny aluminum color. So, many people reason: the old screens are in too bad a shape to repaint and re-hang, no good replacements are readily available and we run the air conditioning 24 hours a day fifty two weeks a year anyway, so why bother? And there is another house that looks just a bit incomplete in two colors instead of three, with an empty recess around every window opening where clearly something used to be and is no longer.

I have a modest suggestion: make your own. It really isn't hideously difficult. Wanda and I developed a relatively easy technique. (Wanda is the carpenter, by the way, while I perform duties as Human Clamp and tool fetcher and holder.) The home center does stock 1 by 2 and 1 by 3 pine stock. A circular saw, an inexpensive picture frame vise and a variable speed drill with a Phillips bit are sufficient to build your own. Use two galvanized or otherwise rust resistant deck screws two and a half inches long in each joint.

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