[jane032657]

Getting ready to sign off on the drawings for a 30 x 50 or so birdcage. Question is, white or bronze? Bought a courtyard villa, all the fencing is TV white. What are the opinions on which is better, especially around long term looks and keeping it looking white if you get white. And HOW do you keep clean these bird cages? What is the preference for color?

[samhass]

Bronze, bronze bronze. I had a very large white birdcage that got green and frequently required powerwashing. We had it ripped down and built pillars with bronze inserts for the screened portions. We also used mesh rather than screen. It's finer and keeps out more bugs.

[new peeps]

My 2 cents worth. We built in 2009 and our Lania mill work was white. After each rain you would notice the mill work would get dirty around the concrete and I would find my self wiping it down to make it look clean. In 2011 we had our Lania expanded to double the size and we had it changed to the bronze mill work. What we noticed was the brown screen and bronze mill work blends where the white mill work stands out against the brown screen. Both is nice but my preference would be the bronze.

[cquick]

We had bronze screen room on our house in Hunter's Creek. I hardly showed any wear after 11 years. But, as I drive through The Villages, I think they both look nice from the road.

Connie

[jojo]

We have bronze and we are happy with it.

[chuckinca]

Sounds like bronze would be best for garage door screens also.

.

[CarGuys]

Wife said you do white OCD boy and you will be Stark Raving Mad cleaning it!

She is always right!

Herv

[ilovetv]

I would wait here for more opinions by TV homeowners who have had the white framework.

When visiting several friends who have white frame birdcage over their pools, I always notice how beautiful the white looks against the bright blue sky and puffy white clouds (happy skies we rarely saw up north).

[memason]

We have a white birdcage and it did develop some green spots, after about 18 months or so. We have our home power washed each year, which includes the birdcage and lanai, so it isn't much of a problem.

We like the white, but I think we'd be just as happy with bronze. You'll want to have your home, lanai and birdcage power washed periodically anyway. It's relatively inexpensive [to have done] and keeps the mold and dirt away.

Good Luck!

[jmarkohio]

I live in a courtyard villa and had a bronze birdcage two thirds completed when we got a knock on the door. It was an official from The Villages ordering me to stop construction immediately and take it down. He told me that only white frames could be used in courtyard villas. This was four years ago and I don't know if that has changed or if it means just our villas in Duval. I would check though.

[villages07]

Jmark... That has changed. Bronze is now allowed in CYV.

[getdul981]

I have a couple of thoghts regarding this. First, I think the bronze looks better for the bird cages, but someone mentioned the presence of mold on the white. Just because you can't see the mold on the bronze doesn't mean you don't have it. Probably a good idea to power wash periodicall with bleach or whatever to remove mold as a precaution. Second is regarding the garage door screen chuckinca mentioned. I personally would prefer the white and the reason is when the screen is down you can see through the bronze or grey or whatever dark color you use. The people across the street from us at the previous home had a white screen and you could not see through it from the outside. Sounds weird, but you should check it out before you jump in with a dark color for the garage.

What is the difference between mesh and screen? I don't believe I've heard of the mesh before.

[ljones190]

I think white or bronze depends on the color of your home. We have a grey house with white trimmed windows and white border on the stucco so white is the color we have and we are happy with it. We power wash our home every 6 months so the mildew or mold has not been a problem.

[LvmyPug2]

We've had both white and bronze and while bronze may hide the the green a bit better, both need the same amount of cleaning. A power wash once or twice a year does the trick. It seems that white screens are the most common in the new areas (and all the spec homes we looked at had white)but I'm not sure if it is a requirement.