Can't live without fly screens!

[Dell]

I just returned to the US after three weeks near Warkworth with a quick trip up to Doubtless Bay. Hoping that my US house will be ready to put on the market in May. As soon as it sells, I'll be looking for a house somewhere between Warkworth and Doubtless Bay.

The first night at our book-a-bach near Leigh, I was eaten alive by mozzies. Close the windows and cook or open them and invite the mozzies in for a feast. Next day, I took a quick trip to Warehouse and bought a mozzie net ($12) which I hung from the light over the bed.

I guess I've been in the US too long because I can't understand why 99% of Kiwi homes don't have fly screens. My friends/rellies see no need for them...their solution is to close the windows at dusk. But on a warm, humid night, it's miserably hot with the windows closed.

I found a business in Warkworth (near Woodcocks Road) that will make custom fly screens that work on the awning push-out type windows, for about $100 a window. I'll be their best customer.

[JandM]

Not many houses in the UK have fly screens as standard, so I'm not used to them, but staying in NZ in their summer recently, I certainly felt the need of them as you mention. One holiday park chalet we stayed in had magnetic screens, and that was a huge improvement on the 'close up at dusk' regime the family has. We also bought an ultra-violet insect zapper, and had it running constantly in the bedroom in their house, to cope with the various biting things that seemed to lurk cunningly (despite the shut windows) ready for M to fall asleep - it was either that, or be constantly doused in repellent.

[Dell]

Ahh - repellent. Why worry about sprays on fruit and veggies if you slather your body with deet?

[72andsunny]

We were going to have these made: http://www.magicseal.com/

But then I found 5 weird hinged screens buried in the shed...they had apparently been taken off when the house was put up for sale, as the locals find them ugly.

I did not get around to finding out how expensive they are, but I suspect they are less than $100 a piece.

[JandM]

Ahh - repellent. Why worry about sprays on fruit and veggies if you slather your body with deet?

Yeah, right!

Got a pic, 72andsunny?

[Kanga]

We had magic seal screens- they were approximately $100 per window and much more for the sliders but worth EVERY cent. In summer we could sleep with the sliders in our bedroom wide open- lovely! Don't skimp though- do the whole house while you're at it if you can.

[Bobbysox]

We were lucky enough to buy a house that already had magnetic screens on every opening window, and a sliding one fitted on the ranchslider.
Just have to watch out if you open the screen door as the flies sit and wait for the opportunity. We also have got a very smelly fly trap halfway down the garden that attracts and catches lots and lots of flies from the paddocks behind the house especially when the cows are there. Would not live without any of them.

[girlwithanewf]

I wonder why there isn't a fly problem in Wellington... Could it be the wind, I wonder....

[Super_BQ]

I guess I've been in the US too long because I can't understand why 99% of Kiwi homes don't have fly screens. My friends/rellies see no need for them...their solution is to close the windows at dusk. But on a warm, humid night, it's miserably hot with the windows closed.

The windows with fly screens you are use to in the US do not exist in NZ. For as long as I can remember (and we're talking about 40 years), N. American houses has always had fly screens on the opening sash windows. Which goes to show how slow the NZ building industry is at adopting better products from abroad. Such fly screens IMO are better than the current options used in NZ as they are integrated (flush mounted) within the window design itself. Not an aftermarket add on which can compromise the window's performance.

Here in Christchurch, the house we are in currently has PVCu (vinyl) windows and doors. They are the European type design where the windows are inward opening vs the N. American outward opening via a foldable hand crank. Being inward opening, the aftermarket fly screen has to be mounted on the outside which poses a problem of maintenance. Dust and dead insects accumulate on the fly screen itself which makes it hard to clean if you're in a 2 story house. They're also not cheap. These are the roller type latch (non-magnetic) so I assume, must be very expensive.

The problem is despite having these fly screens, moths and flies still end up in the house. It's not that we don't have them on every opening window but rather, I suspect the insects fly in when you open the doors at night. Front entrance doors don't usually have a fly screen so when you go to answer who's at the door or walk outside, then this is when the insects fly in. Once in the house, you have a hell of a time chasing them out.

Anotherwords, you can only rely on fly screens to a point. My wife has seen flies come right in the house through the bathroom exhaust vents. I would suspect more so come in through the leaky roof tiles and through the downlight ceiling fittings that are so popular in NZ houses. Methods in air tight construction of a house would prove to be more effective at keeping flys out than to worry about all the fly screens.

[ralf-nz]

I wonder why there isn't a fly problem in Wellington... Could it be the wind, I wonder....

No issues with mozzies here in Coastal Otago either - so no screens necessary.