Plastic wrap on screened porch

[Minelson]

We are blessed with a huge screened porch. The previous owners always put plastic up on it in the winter to block the easterly winds...thus keeping the house warmer. So we did it and boy did it make a difference! It also gets nice and balmy in there with the sun and felt like a greenhouse in there. Well, lasted until we got high winds from south. It blew off so bad we had to take the whole thing down. We stapled it on the outside.
So my question is, how do you install plastic sheeting so it doesn't blow away? Anyone else do this with their porches? Wind can be brutal here since we are surrounded by open fields.
Thanks!

[whiterock]

I would put the plastic on as you did, then put up some poultry netting, smooth side in, over it to hold it in place, using lath to hold it in place. that would make it easier to remove come spring time. I have had small hoop houses that we covered that way and it worked well.
Ed

[Okie-Dokie]

Can you put it on the inside of the windows? Out of wind, rain, sleet, and snow. The condensation would be on the outside of the plastic too

[Mid Tn Mama]

Bubble wrap on the inside?

[Darren]

Farmtek has a fastner system for use with their ready made clearview panels. You could probably substitute something such as a strip of aluminum or plastic for the washers. The inserts are designed to stay in the wood. Long strips held down by the screws should keep the plastic in place and provide something you can use for many years. Click on the picture to see all of the parts.

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies...tNumber=108288

[seagullplayer]

I use very thin wooden slats over the plastic sheeting and staple.

One year I got a bunch of free yard sticks...

[T-Bone 369]

Originally Posted by seagullplayer

I use very thin wooden slats over the plastic sheeting and staple.

One year I got a bunch of free yard sticks...

Exactly what I do - I have an 8x20 screened porch on the west side of the house and wrap it. I use thin slats (3/16") ripped out of scrap 1 bys and staple on the outside with 1/2" staples. The staples are long enough to hold against almost any wind I get but short enough not to be a hastle to remove the slats in the spring. Been doing it for 22 years here and makes a tremendous difference.

[Minelson]

Originally Posted by T-Bone 369

Exactly what I do - I have an 8x20 screened porch on the west side of the house and wrap it. I use thin slats (3/16") ripped out of scrap 1 bys and staple on the outside with 1/2" staples. The staples are long enough to hold against almost any wind I get but short enough not to be a hastle to remove the slats in the spring. Been doing it for 22 years here and makes a tremendous difference.

Don't you end up with a lot of little staples holes after 22 years? I was wondering about that while we were stapling it up. About what is the spacing between the slats?

[meanwhile]

We did it and loved how it worked so much that this year we bought those LexAn panels......they are like Plexiglass only they won't break or crack....cost a bit more but it was worth it.

When we used plastic, we used clear shower curtains and some regular plastic. Our porch looked a lot like your's with the cross pieces on the screen. What we did was take strips of cardboard .....about 3 to 4 inches thick and we rolled it in the top, bottom and sides of the sheet of plastic.......then nailed though that into the wood.......we used those nails that are like big fat tacks with a plastic shied on them.......

Then, we took cut strips of thin wood.....we used pieces of old paneling........and we tacked those on TOP of the cross pieces of wood over the screen.........once we used strips of cardboard and it worked too but looked sorta bad......

The strips of cardboard or wood will keep your plastic from blowing around and pulling at the corners.......

Our porch holds the heat so good that we can open the kitchen doors and let the sun heated porch heat up the kitchen. If you like the plastic and closed in porch, consider saving up and buying the LexAn panels. Ours cost about $2,400 to do panels 1/4 inch thick on every section of our porch........and two doors......we screwed the panels in and next spring they come down but I am going to leave the screw in the wood so the water does not get in there.....we paid that much for the LexAn panels since we keep a dining table and shelves on the porch and we have a wood stove out there and we use the room for eating when all the boys are home......so it was worth it since it is more than a porch to us......

[CacheCraven]

I use the stapled plastic, too. Down here we call it ghetto storm windows.

[T-Bone 369]

Originally Posted by Minelson

Don't you end up with a lot of little staples holes after 22 years? I was wondering about that while we were stapling it up. About what is the spacing between the slats?

A coat of paint every couple of years takes care of them. The slats are on the uprights - maybe 24" OC. I staple about every eight inches.

[Ohio dreamer]

My first thought it to make a wooden frame for each window. Put the plastic on the frame then cover both sides of the plastic with chicken wire. They sell "clips" the you put half of on the house and half on the frame. Then you "click" them in and secure the bottom. Easy to remove in the spring leaving only a small clip of hardware above the window.

Hardware like this (there are many types) http://houseofantiquehardware.com/St..._09SR_d_SH_d_B