How much does a fly screen cost?

We get asked this question quite a lot. And it’s actually quite a difficult one to answer, because there are a lot of variables when it comes to calculating how much fly screens cost.
In this article, we’ll cover some of those variables to give you a bit of an idea of the range that a normal fly screen can cost – for both hinged doors and sliding doors, as well as windows.

How much do flyscreens for windows cost?

The cheapest flyscreen is one for a standard aluminium sliding window. These windows are called OX sliding windows. The O section is where the fixed glass panel is. And the X section is where the glass panel slides sideways. Flyscreens for these windows start at $40 and go up to about $150 depending on the size, frame colour, and the insect mesh specified.

A very large size would be 1200mm wide by 1500mm high, while a small one for a toilet OX sliding window is 250mm width by 500mm height.

Most window manufacturers in Australia have what’s called a drop-in or a pocket fit facility there for the flyscreen to drop into or sit where the flyscreen sits in a channel. Depending on the brand of window the flyscreen is being installed to, it may require fixings, trim angles, spring clips, plastic clips, metal clips, metal springs, pushpins and/or other bits and pieces to hold the insect screen in place. These items can range anywhere from a few dollars to $30 per window.

Another price variability lies with the flyscreen itself. Once again prices range from $40 to $150 depending on the size of the window. The frame colour selected, the type of mesh material selected, the location of the window, how far the dealer has to travel to install the screen, and freight charges for regional areas can also affect the total price of your new flyscreen.

That gives you a bit of an idea how much it costs for an OX sliding window insect screen, but what about if you’ve got a different type of window? We’ve listed some of the more common types of windows below, along with the estimated cost for a flyscreen.

Double hung windows

Double hung windows are the windows that move up and down. They’ve usually got what’s called a centre mid-rail where there’s a lock or a catch. As you flick sideways, you can move the bottom section up, or you can move the top section down.

The insect screen usually goes over the whole area. Usually, the insect screens for these windows are a lot larger so they’re more expensive – maybe $80 to $180 for these windows. They often need a mid-rail in them as well due to their height – any window flyscreen that is over about 1550 millimetres tall will need a mid-rail support.

Louvre windows

With the louvre window screen, price depends massively on whether that louvre window has the facility there to be able to fit the insect screen. Some louvres come with side channels or pockets to fit the insect screen into, otherwise they are going to require a 65mm louvre build-out frame.

A louvre build-out is a 65-millimetre bracket that’s usually installed all the way around, and it moves the flyscreen out so that it clears the louvre blades when the louvre blades are operated. A four-sided louvre built-out bracket alone can be an additional $200 per window. That’s going to increase the price of the flyscreen for our louvre window quite significantly. Louvre build-out frames are quite expensive as are most custom build-out frames.

Metal Louvre Windows

These are the older style of louvre windows with the metal sides. When we say the metal sides, we’re talking about the bracket that holds the glass. Almost all of these older metal style louvres are going to require a louvre build-out frame.

This means the flyscreen is going to cost somewhere between $250 and $1000 per window louvre set depending on the size, colour and mesh material selected.

Awning Window Screens

Awning windows come in two different categories: lever operated, and chain operated. Lever awning windows are operated by hand to push the window out and are hinged at the top. The screens typically cover the whole area where the awning window panel is and are installed internally. This means access through the screen is required to operate the window. Most of the time, we recommend flexible magnetic insect screens. These types of screens range from $150 to $750 depending on the size.

The other type of awning window is one with a chain winder. These have a little wind turn handle and a chain that’s connected to the window. As you turn the handle the chain moves the window out. These ones have a facility on top of the chain winder to fit an insect screen, but many of them require an awning sill bracket. The awning sill bracket adds about $60 dollars to the cost of the window screen. Adding this to your normal flyscreen is going to be $120 to $220 depending on the size, colour and screen material selected.

Casement Windows

The screen selection and price depend on whether it is a single casement window, a double, triple or 4 panel unit. Whether there are vertical mullions between the casement hinged sashes or if they are open sets using casement window friction stays can also affect the price. There are also some modern aluminium casement windows that push out.

Other factors include whether they have lever handles, cockspur catches, casement arm stays, turn handles or many of the various types of casement window catches that need to be accessed from the inside.

If you are trying to install a screen on the inside you will need to be able to get either through that screen or push the screen out of the way or lifted up out of the way so that you can get access through the screen to the window handle on the other side and push the window open or pull the window closed. The insect screen needs to go on the inside – it can’t go on the outside because there’s no room to fit it there as the window pushes out.

There is a solution called port holes or port hatches, where you can get access through the screen via a movable hinged hatch, but while they do work for a while, they have only got little plastic window catches and they tend to break easily. For that reason, we don’t usually recommend these; our preference is for magnetic insect screens, and they start at $250 for a single pane casement panel. For a double casement window where they open on either side, and you push them out in the middle, it is probably going to be somewhere around $300.

Another option is to instal standard double-sliding insect screen sets. If a single insect screen is $60-$80, and you want to have two or more sliding sections then that’s $80 times two which is $160. You’ve also got all the track work that’s required for this which is easily $30 per piece of track. So you will have a double track at the top, a double track at the bottom, and some side trim angles on either side to seal things up.

This means that casement windows are going to be $200 minimum, but depending on how big a casement window is, it could be closer to $350 or even more to put a double-sliding insect screen set on.

How much do insect screens for hinge doors cost?

Once again, it depends…

Is it a single door or is it a double french door? A double french door is going to require two doors, which will automatically double your price.

For a single standard sized door, there are a few complications that can increase the price. Firstly, it is important to keep in mind that with aluminium framed hinged doors, we have to measure the door to the millimetre. To complicate things further, hinged doors are almost never square – the door jambs are always out of square. It is not uncommon that when we measure the width at the top it says 824, and then the width in the middle measures at 828, and then the bottom width measurement is 830.

So now we need to make the screen door out of square and bowed to make sure that the widths comply with our requirements, otherwise the door won’t operate and function correctly – the door needs to have a gap down the side of 3-4 millimetres and that gap needs to be even the whole way down. Measuring the door correctly is very critical to ensure that you get the size right to match up with every single door jamb, and it is not an easy task to do.

So how much does an insect screen for a hinged door actually cost? Insect screen for hinged doors with a midrail and in a standard colour are probably going to be somewhere around the $300 price range. Non-standard colours, oversized doors, and out of square doors will cost a bit more, maybe around $450 (prices based on Queensland, Australia – although this should be fairly consistent in all states).

Other Variables

Another variable for hinged doors is whether it comes with a lever handle or a latch – most of the time we recommend you use a standard security door lever handle lock in the flyscreen doors, rather than the little internal-only catches, or the one with the little knob on the outside because you can’t lock it. The quality on those latches can also be pretty poor.

Further variables include any accessories that might be needed for that particular door. Do you want a door closer? Do you need a doorstop? Is a built-out frame going to be needed?

You can add at least $100 for a build-out frame. It is often very difficult for someone to see if a build-out frame is needed until the dealer turns up on site to check measure. Usually, it is required if your door jamb is significantly out of square, or if your door jamb was not designed to fit an insect screen hinge door. This is often the case for doors that are internal doors within the house. The door jamb depth is not suitable to fit a security door, and a door jamb build-out is required.

For double doors such as French doors, you will often have nice deep reveals – they have a nice deep still. If this is the case, then you are looking at maybe $600-700 for a double door set. If not, then you will need to look at things like build-out frames. Basically, double doors cost twice as much as single doors, with the same set of variables that can increase the costs.

How much do flyscreens for sliding doors cost?

A single sliding door in an aluminium glass sliding door set is probably going to be $250-$350, depending on the size and colour. Some additional variables might be if you get one that’s really big, or if you are located in a high-rise apartment building.

A lot of the newer, more modern sliding doors in apartments do not have tracks for your insect screen door, which means that tracks will need to be added, which will add to the cost. You may also need to consider build-out frames; glass doors often have projections to meet wind ratings and if you’ve got to come out to clear those, it could require a build-out frame which can be more than the cost of the door. The cost of a door might be $400 for a single sliding door but the build out frame might be $600; it all depends on the door the flyscreen door is being installed too.

For most domestic houses that have domestic glass doors, and don’t use apartment commercial doors, then $250 to $350 for your insect screen doors would be standard, depending on size and if you want a security door lock, or if you are just happy with the flick bass latch on the inside.

Multiple sliding door sets.

If you’ve got multiple doors, where the doors open in the middle, and you’ve got one that slides one way and the other slides the other way – one door will have a lock set in it and the other one won’t. So that is slightly less than double. Say your single door was $300, then the other door might only be $250, which means you might be looking at $550 for normal sizes.

Stacker doors are another variety of sliding door set. Stacker doors are the ones where you’ve got three or more panels: one fixed glass and two or more sliding sections. You end up with two sliding flyscreen door sets, one with the lock set up one end, and then the other door without; these doors work out at similar prices to the double doors.

Get a Flyscreen Quote

As you can see from the above information, there are a lot of different variables that need to be considered when providing a quote for flyscreens.

If you’d like more information or would like to organise a quote, please give us a call or contact a Starline Security dealer.

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