Flyscreens in Wollongong & the Illawarra.

Wollongong’s humid coastal summers and the bushland along the escarpment mean insects, mosquitoes after rain, flies in the heat, the odd march fly up the valley. A flyscreen is the cheapest way to run the house open for the sea breeze without the bugs. It is not a security product, it keeps insects out and nothing more, but for low-risk windows and the back door it does exactly the job you need.

Mesh choices.

• Fibreglass mesh: the standard. Soft, flexible, good visibility, won’t dent. UV-stabilised for the coastal sun. ~$90-$140 per window screen.
• Aluminium mesh: tougher and holds its shape, good for doors and high-traffic openings. ~$110-$170.
• Pet-resistant mesh: heavy vinyl-coated polyester that shrugs off a cat or dog pushing on it. Worth it on the door the dog leans against. ~$140-$220.
• Midge / fine mesh: a tighter weave for tiny biting midges, handy close to the wetlands around Lake Illawarra and Dapto.

New screens or re-screen your frames.

If your existing aluminium frames are straight and the corners are sound, the cheapest path is re-screening: we pull out the perished old mesh and fit fresh mesh for around $35 to $70 per screen. If the frame is bent, sun-rotted or the corner stakes have let go, we make a new frame to suit the window. We’ll tell you honestly which way is better value on the day.

A worked example.

A rental in Unanderra needs the lot freshened up before a new tenant: six window screens re-screened in fibreglass at $50 each ($300) and one new pet-resistant hinged door screen at $200, total $500 supplied and fitted. Where the old frames are sound we re-screen rather than replace, which keeps the cost down.