[GJohn]

Looking at enclosing the Lanai, but on the fence about using the heavier dark screen or typical standard that we currently have?

Glass will be non tinted. The Lanai faces west and have a couple houses offset behind us with low ground plants. I know it will add a little more privacy, and reduced sun, but concerned on the amount it could darken the living room. The Lanai will only be used for outdoor enjoyment and won't be converted to living space.

So, those that have the dark screens....any regrets or best thing you could have done?

[villagetinker]

IMHO, use standard screens, and add pull down shades, you will get the best of both worlds.

[dewilson58]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

IMHO, use standard screens, and add pull down shades, you will get the best of both worlds.

agree

and depends on the direction the lanai is facing..........might have 2 hours of beating sun, you might have six

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

IMHO, use standard screens, and add pull down shades, you will get the best of both worlds.

Agree. Dark screens block air movement and it gets HOT.

[Madelaine Amee]

This summer I was asked to check out a CYV for someone and to report back to them on my thoughts. It was a lovely home, BUT it had an enclosed Lanai and a screened in porch area and the dark screening had been used. I personally did not like it at all, it darkened the two areas and made them look very dismal as on a dreary rainy day.

[tialarre]

We enclosed our lanai and used Solar Guys to install ceramic window film. At that time, as I recall, the sold 3 - dark, darker, darkest. We went with the middle (darker). This cuts the afternoon sun, but still allows in a lot of light. It darkens the room somewhat, but what is really nice is the privacy from outside. Looking in from outside during the day, unless their is some other bright light inside, there is 90-95% privacy. We can sit at our pub table and watch the sunset or the neighbors walking by and have still have privacy.
The downside was at night. Once it gets dark and the lights go on inside it's like being in a fishbowl. Anyone outside can see everything going on inside. So, we also added pull-down shades from Home Depot. HD sells varying thickness (thick, thicker, thickest). We initially order thicker (mid thick), but you could still see through the shades at night with the lights on. So we returned the thicker and replaced with thickest. That did the trick. We now have complete privacy at night with the pull-down shades and complete privacy during the day with the shades up and the solar film on the window.
Our lanai faces west, so we get the afternoon sun. During the summer, we sometimes have to pull the shades down during the afternoon, as even with the solar film, the lanai still gets hot.
We had T&D enlarge and enclose our lanai. We did not want slider doors to enclose the lanai, we wanted windows. We have seven large windows that open side-to-side, with screens, so when it cools down, we can open the windows and front door and get a nice breeze through the house. Also, we did not want a knee wall at the bottom. We felt it made the lanai look smaller, so the bottom panel below each window is a glass panel.

[tejas]

Wish this thread had been posted a couple days ago. We just signed a contract to have our lanai enclosed with sliders and dark screens. Our lanai faces east with privacy landscaping. The glass will be slightly tinted. Would like to hear from someone who actually has the dark screens. Now I'm thinking we may want to change contract.

[Rango]

Dark screen is good for privacy.

[patfla06]

When we closed our lanai in we used regular screens
but did get the tinted glass.

We live on a lake and it did not effect the view.
We have an eastern exposure.

[HogPilot]

Dark Screening. Before we enclosed our rear lanai we had both ends of our screened in lanai changed from the regular to the darker screen (we left the regular on the long end). It provided more privacy and cut out the early morning and late afternoon sun. We could see out very well. A couple years later, we enclosed the lanai and had tinted windows installed.

ALSO
We screened in our West facing front entrance and had the dark screen installed there too. So glad we did. In addition to the screening the entrance, we also added a storm door. The front door used to get hot enough to cook an egg. I'm sold on the darker screen.

[OCsun]

Originally Posted by villagetinker

IMHO, use standard screens, and add pull down shades, you will get the best of both worlds.

I agree! The lighter screens allow more air to flow through when we have our stacked sliders open.

[Dynsol]

Dark screens for Five years now and love it. Gives us Privacy and air comes thru just fine.

[Rango]

Originally Posted by Dynsol

Dark screens for Five years now and love it. Gives us Privacy and air comes thru just fine.

[NotGolfer]

Our friends got shades (Lowe's) that allow for them to look out but somehow they have privacy. I think they also filter the sun as well. I'd look there and find out. Personally, I like the house as light as possible (don't like it when our days are gray) so might have a bit of SAD.