window screens (Cary, Apex: how much, new house, to buy)

[NC from MA]

This may sound like a strange question, but is it the norm to NOT have screens on windows in the south? I was surprised to learn that our new house in Cary doesn't have screens included.

[slynn41072]

We don't have any screens on our home. We were going to buy them, but heres why we didn't:

When the weather turns warm enough to open the windows, POLLEN is everywhere, making it impossible or everything gets coated. Once the pollen disappears, it usually too hot and the a/c must be on.

[sandycat]

Funny, we, too, don't have screens. I think it's totally weird. My husband has been making them one by one. We've had an unusually cool spring and I need to open the freaking windows! They aren't hard to make. Go to any home store and they have all the supplies you need. For our whole house, the cost of making screens would be about $100. Our house is about 2200sf. I called a window place and they said it would be $80 per screen!

[slynn41072]

Stock Building supply in Apex carries them for about 20.00 a window. I was told that they will come out a measure each window. Give them a call for a quote. We just don't have a need for them.

[welovedurham]

All of our screens were off when we bought our house, but they were stacked in the shed. I think they took them off to make the house look better... shinier?

[saturnfan]

Cheap work by builders.

[MikeNC29]

Originally Posted by slynn41072

We don't have any screens on our home. We were going to buy them, but heres why we didn't:

When the weather turns warm enough to open the windows, POLLEN is everywhere, making it impossible or everything gets coated. Once the pollen disappears, it usually too hot and the a/c must be on.

Screens are a MUST in NC due to the great weather during the spring, part of the summer, and the fall. I don't believe that we have used heat or A/C since March.

Mike

[KellyCrash]

Some people don't put them on their houses because they don't like the looks of them. Some put them on the back of the house, but not the front for this reason too. Our house came with screens, but they didn't put them on. They left them in the attic. They would have put them on if we wanted. They even asked.

I agree with the pp about the pollen and then it being too hot. I do like to open the windows tho and sometimes we have an unusually warm day in the winter. I like having screens on.

I'd be bummed if we didn't have any at all. I like to smell fresh air & like to air out the house occasionally.

[MrsSteel]

Originally Posted by welovedurham

All of our screens were off when we bought our house, but they were stacked in the shed. I think they took them off to make the house look better... shinier?

Similar situation here, although the previous owner said that they liked to remove the screens in the winter to allow more light into the house. It's surprising how much light can be blocked out by those thin screens.

[frogandtoad]

Growing up my father always took all the screens off every late fall and put them all back on every spring as it does let in more light w/o them. There's absolutely no way my husband would ever do that (!!). We keep them on year round and have the windows open frequently. The pollen thing mentioned sounds weird to me--maybe some places are harder hit than others, but our screens remain in year-round and they are definitely not yellow or have any noticeable pollen on them!