Screened Porches in Hockessin, DE
- Built for Shade and Falling Leaves
- Soft Rails Found and Replaced
- New Rooms on Your Deck
Micro-copy under the buttons: Note which wall of the porch faces the trees.
Trees are half the reason to sit on a back porch, and they are also what wears one down. Leaves pile up against the bottom of the screen and pollen dulls the mesh. Meanwhile, the wood nearest the floor stays damp long after a rain.
On a Hockessin lot, a screened porch repair or new build starts with the shade the porch sits in.
Why Homeowners Hand Us Their Porches
Openings planned for the light
Post spacing and rail height are set with the shade and the view in mind.
Rot found by probing
Soft wood is located, cut out and replaced, opening by opening.
Floor and roof with the walls
Decking, porch roof and trim are part of the same job.
Where a Screened Porch Wears Out First
On a screened porch, trouble starts low. The top of the wall sits under the roof and stays dry; the kick plate and the floorboards along the screen line take the splash and the debris. That is where the design effort goes.
On a wooded Hockessin lot, the porch catches what the trees drop
Hockessin's median lot is about half an acre (21,780 square feet), and some homes here back up to woods. A screened porch in that setting collects leaves and twigs on its roof and in the corners where the screen meets the floor, and spring pollen settles into the mesh. Shade from the canopy keeps the bottom rails damp for longer after each rain.
That puts the bottom of the wall in charge of how long the porch lasts. A kick plate under the screen can keep leaf litter and splash off the mesh, and a bottom rail shaped to shed water dries sooner. Those, along with what the rails are made from and whether the screen is fixed or set in lift-out panels, are choices to work out with Jimmy at the estimate, with the shade on your lot in mind.
Screen fastened to the frame, or panels that lift out
The fixed screen is stretched across each opening and held in a spline channel or beneath a wood batten. It provides a tight seal and a clean look, and replacing it requires re-stretching the mesh into place. Lift-out panels are small screen frames sized to each opening and held in with clips or stops. They take more framing up front, and a torn or dirty panel can come out to be cleaned or rescreened on a bench. Whether panels suit your porch is one of the options to discuss during the visit.
The choice comes down to how the screen will be cleaned. A fixed screen is cleaned where it hangs. On a porch with one wall facing the trees, that wall gathers pollen and leaf grit fastest, and it is the wall where the cleaning question matters.
Picking mesh for a porch in the shade
The color of the mesh sets how the yard looks through it. Charcoal or black mesh looks clearer against trees and lawn, while lighter colors catch the light and look hazy. On a shaded porch, the view is mostly of green and shadow, so a darker mesh keeps it from looking washed out. Heavier pet-resistant weaves exist too. Jimmy lays out the mesh options at the visit, including which he would put on each wall.
What Goes Into a Lasting Screen Wall
| Item | Repair or rescreen | New build |
|---|---|---|
| Kick plates | Looked over for soft wood | Kick plate options gone over at the estimate |
| The wall facing the trees | Soft rails and posts on that side cut out and replaced | Mesh for that wall chosen at the visit |
| Roof edge over the screen line | Rotted edge trim replaced | Set out past the screen walls so runoff clears the mesh |
| Fixed or lift-out screen | Torn or sagging mesh replaced | Fixed screen, or lift-out panels if you choose them |
| Corners where leaves pile up | Soft wood in the corners cut out | Framed new with the walls |
| Floor along the screen line | Soft boards swapped out, with the support underneath reviewed at the visit | Trex, TimberTech/AZEK or pressure-treated |
On a porch, we leave siding, trim, and railings unpainted, ready for whoever paints them. The exception is the porch floor, which we can paint as its own job.
Shade, Leaves and Screen: What Hockessin Owners Ask
Yes. Any opening can be rescreened in a different color or weave, so a porch that looks hazy against the trees can go darker one wall at a time.
Anywhere dry and flat, like a garage wall or a basement. Panels kept out of the weather in the off-season stay square, and the openings can be left bare until the panels are fitted back in spring.
Small twigs and seed pods bounce off. A falling branch can tear an opening, and a torn opening can be rescreened on its own without touching the rest of the wall.
A roof edge set out past the screen walls directs rainwater outside the screen line, keeping runoff off the mesh. How far the roof extends is planned with the room.
A simple roof shape with few valleys lets leaves slide off, where a valley would hold them. How the roof is shaped and tied into the house is covered on our deck and porch roofs page.
Six Steps to a Screened Room in the Trees
Describe the porch
Call or text with what you have. It might be an old screened porch, a deck you want enclosed, or a bare spot in the yard.
A walk-around at the house
Jimmy looks at the porch where it sits and notes which sides sit in deep shade and where debris gathers against the screen.
Rails and posts get probed
The framing near the floor is probed, so the estimate covers the wood that has actually gone soft.
Your price, in writing
A written estimate follows the visit, with the screen and mesh choices you settled on spelled out.
Framing and screen
New rails are fitted along the floor line, with a kick plate below them if you chose one, and the walls are screened once that low framing is in.
Closing out the job
Each new opening is checked for tight mesh and a square frame before the job is closed out.
What Screened Porch Customers Say About Us
More reviews from our customers, straight from Google.
Porch Prices, and Where a Quote Comes From
- Job
Rescreens, rail and post repairs, deck repairs
Price$500 to $2,500 - Job
A new screened room
PricePriced once Jimmy has seen the site
Leaf litter and pollen decide how much screen comes off; soft wood at the floor line adds the rest.
A single small task, like a smoke detector or a lock, is a $100 service call plus $25 for each 15 minutes of work.
Jimmy prices every project in person at your home, never from a photo or a text. Project estimates are free and are usually scheduled in the evening.
The one-year warranty
Our work carries a one-year workmanship warranty, dated from the day the job is finished.
A Hockessin Porch Built for the Trees
Leaves come down in fall, and that is a good time to see where they collect on a porch. Call or text Jimmy then, while the corners full of leaves show where the porch needs help.
Precision Home Worx · Based in Claymont, DE · (302) 321-3577 (call or text) · Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Delaware business license #223872998 · General liability insurance and RLI surety bond #LMS1971327
Serving Wilmington, Claymont, North Wilmington, Hockessin, Pike Creek, Greenville, Newark, New Castle, Bear and the rest of northern Delaware.
