Bugs – Metro Phoenix

Yes, when the screen closes at every edge. Rolling screens are a woven mesh that drops from a slim housing above the opening and runs in side tracks on both edges, with a weighted bottom bar that meets the threshold. Lowered, the screen is a physical barrier at that opening: mosquitoes, flies, gnats, crickets, and the rest are on the outside of the mesh and you are on the inside, with the air and the view still coming through. Raise it in the morning and the opening is completely clear. It is the same screen that takes the afternoon off the patio; the seal at the edges is what makes it a bug screen after dark.

Mostly, yes. Rolling screens, retractable screens, retractable patio screens, and motorized retractable screens are different names for one system: a mesh that rolls down out of a housing, travels in side tracks, and retracts fully when you want the opening back. Motorized means a motor does the lifting, from a handheld remote, a wall switch, your phone, or a schedule. What changes from one opening to the next is the size, the color, and how you operate it, not the screen itself.

A retractable screen with its mesh sealed into the side tracks and closed at the bottom bar keeps mosquitoes on the outside of the patio while it is down. That matters most in the evening, which is when they bite, and after monsoon rain or an irrigation cycle has left standing water somewhere near the house. The screen does nothing about the water itself; it closes the opening between the yard and the table. Drop it at dusk on a schedule and it is closed before the first one arrives.

Take away what draws them and close the opening they use. Mosquitoes come from standing water, so empty what holds it after rain or irrigation and keep the pool maintained. Flies come for the food and the drinks, so cover the plates and the dog bowl and clear the table when dinner is over. Then close the patio itself with a retractable insect screen: lowered and sealed into its tracks, it is a barrier between the yard and the seating whether or not anything is breeding out there. Sprays and candles thin the numbers for a while; the screen closes the door.

Night is the pressure point. Mosquitoes bite most in the early evening, crickets and scorpions move after dark, the summer beetles fly at night, and patio lighting draws flying insects toward the seating. Swap bright white bulbs for ones that attract fewer insects, keep the lights away from the table where you can, and put a motorized bug screen on a schedule so the patio is already closed when the sun goes down. A screen that is down before dusk keeps the evening; one you remember at nine o'clock closes the opening on whatever is already inside.

Close the perimeter, then keep the furniture itself uninteresting. A retractable bug screen for the patio lowered across each open side puts the cushions, the table, and the outdoor kitchen behind the mesh, so nothing lands on them in the first place. Wipe spills and crumbs off the table and the seating after each meal, rinse the cushions when they get sticky, and keep pet food and open drinks off the furniture overnight. The screen retracts in the morning and the patio is open again.

Crickets are most active at night, they gather around foundations and doorways, and they head indoors as the nights cool in fall. Start at the doors: fit door sweeps and weather-stripping so there is no gap under or around any door, and keep exterior lights off at night or use bulbs that attract fewer insects. Then close the patio and porch openings they walk toward with a retractable screen sealed at the threshold. A screen on the sliding door or the porch takes away the open doorway between the yard and the house, and it retracts when you want the doorway back.

A lowered screen sealed into its tracks is a barrier at that opening, and that is the honest limit of the claim. Bark scorpions move after dark and get in through gaps at the bottom of doors, so a screen whose bottom bar closes against the threshold takes away the open patio doorway they were walking toward. It does not scorpion-proof a building. It covers the opening it is mounted on and nothing else, and it does not replace door sweeps and weather-stripping on the doors and windows it is not covering. If scorpions are the reason you are calling, tell your specialist at the estimate, because the threshold under the bottom bar is the edge that matters most and we assess it before we quote.

You can see through it and the breeze still moves. The mesh reads a little more like a screen and a little less than an open view, but the yard, the pool, and the lights beyond it stay visible and air passes through the weave. Darker mesh colors give the crispest see-through view from inside. That is the whole point of closing the opening with mesh rather than glass or a solid panel: the patio stays a patio. If you want the completely open view back, the screen retracts fully into its housing.

It is the same screen. Roll-A-Shield rolling screens use one mesh, so the retractable sun screen for a patio that takes the load off the west side at four in the afternoon is the retractable bug screen that closes the patio at dusk. There is nothing to swap and no second fabric to buy. On privacy, be realistic: it is a see-through mesh. In daylight a dark mesh reads darker from the street than the patio behind it, but after dark with the patio lamps on, anyone outside can see in. If daytime seclusion or a blackout is the goal, say so at the estimate and your specialist will tell you what fits.

Not if you choose a solar motor. Solar motors run completely wireless: a slim panel keeps the built-in battery charged from daylight, so there is no new wiring to run, no electrician to schedule, and no holes cut in your walls. That puts motorized insect screens on a pergola at the back of the yard or a detached patio nowhere near existing power, and they keep working in an outage because they are not drawing from the house. Hardwired motors suit new builds and remodels where power is already at the header. Either way the screens run from a remote or a wall switch, and a small smart hub adds schedules, your phone, and voice control.

The bottom bar is a weighted bar that rides down the tracks and meets the threshold. On a flat, level surface it sits flush along its whole length. On an uneven deck, a flagstone patio, or a surface that slopes toward a drain, a gap can open under one end. We assess the threshold at the estimate and tell you what it means for the seal before you decide, whether the answer is a different bottom bar, a track change, or a small fix to the surface itself. We do not promise a hermetic seal on any opening. We promise to tell you where the edges will and will not close, at your property, before you commit to anything.

Yes, and without building one. Put a motorized patio screen on each open side of a covered patio and, lowered together, they enclose it: the roof closes the top, the screens close the sides, and the bottom bars meet the threshold all the way around. Unlike a screened room or a fixed frame, the enclosure disappears when you retract the screens, so the patio is open in the months nothing is flying and closed on the evenings something is. Wide spans and corner-to-corner runs are measured individually at the estimate.

Yes. The same system fits any opening with something solid to mount to. A retractable screen for a patio door or a sliding door closes the doorway without a swinging screen door in the way. Retractable porch screens, the roll up screen for a porch, close the porch openings one bay at a time and retracts into the header when you want them clear. Retractable insect screens for windows fit bedroom and kitchen windows that stay open for air at night. A bug screen for a garage door closes a full-width garage opening so a workshop or a gym stays open for airflow and closed to insects. Only the size and the operation change from one opening to the next.

Both. Residential rolling screens go on covered patios, outdoor kitchens, sliding doors, porches, windows, and garage openings. Commercial rolling screens go on restaurant and bar patios, service counters, drive-thru windows, storefront openings, and school walkways, where the opening has to stay open to customers and closed to flies through dinner service. Commercial openings are measured individually because span, access, and mounting vary more than they do on a home. For after-hours security at a counter or a bar, the tool is a shutter, not a screen: see counter shutters that secure kiosks and bars after hours.

There is no flat price, because no two openings are the same. What moves the number is opening size first, then how the screen is operated: a hardwired motor or a solar motor, and the controls you add. Mounting and access matter too, and a threshold that needs work before the bottom bar can close adds to the job. We put an exact written price in front of you at a free on-site quote with no obligation. If you want real numbers before talking to anyone, our Phoenix rolling screens cost breakdown shows ranges by opening size along with an interactive estimator.

We install your motorized patio screens within 4 weeks of your deposit, or you get $500 back. The term: your 4 week clock starts the day the deposit is placed. The term: $500 paid to you if installation falls outside the window. The term: *guarantee applies to the in-stock colors shown below. Any other color is yours on standard lead time. The term: where a pre installation site visit is required, the window begins once it is completed. Your eligibility is confirmed in writing before you place a deposit, never after. The in-stock colors are the four fabric colors Espresso, Black, Tobacco, and Tumbleweed, and the three frame colors Bronze, Mocha, and White. Every qualifying condition is set out in full on the 4-Week Install Guarantee page.

With the right track system, yes, and with the sense to retract them in a real blow. Zip side-retention tracks lock the fabric into the rails so it stays taut instead of billowing or pulling loose, which is what you want on a wide span. Even so, the safest place for any screen in a serious monsoon gust is up in its housing, and a wind sensor will retract it automatically. Wind damage is not covered under the fabric warranty, which is exactly why the sensor exists. If what an opening really needs is protection from storm debris and blown dust rather than insect control, a rolling shutter is the correct tool for that opening.

The manufacturer warranty runs 10 years on the fabric against fading, 5 years on the motor, 5 years on the extrusions and parts, 2 years on the electronics, and 1 year on the installation labor. Fabric gets the longest term because Arizona sun is hardest on fabric. Wind damage is excluded, as is closing the shade on an object, unauthorized modification, misuse, and acts of God. After the first year, covered parts stay covered but labor for a repair becomes the customer's responsibility.

Our own crews, not a subcontractor. The same local Roll-A-Shield team that measures your openings and assesses the thresholds at the estimate installs the custom rolling screens and services them afterward, from our Tempe facility. We measure and install in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise, and in the communities between them. Roll-A-Shield has been doing this from the Valley since 1979, licensed, bonded, and insured under ROC 342265. For the full range of rolling screens Metro Phoenix homeowners and businesses ask about, including every color, control, and application, see our guide to Metro Phoenix rolling screens.