Benefits Of Installing Retractable Fly Screens

Fly screens, insect screens, mesh screens – whatever your household calls them, the job’s the same: keep flies, mozzies and the rest of Melbourne’s flying nuisances out while you get on with your day. Fair enough question to ask before you spend money on one – is it actually worth it? After fitting these things in hundreds of homes across Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs, Bayside and down the Mornington Peninsula, here’s the straight answer on the benefits of installing a retractable fly screen, no sales pitch attached.

Does it actually change how the house feels?

More than people expect, honestly. Open your doors and windows properly instead of cracking them open a few inches for a token bit of air, and the whole place breathes different. Fresh air actually moves through. More light gets in too, because you’re not squinting at the world through a fixed, dusty screen that’s been bolted there since the house was built. And when you’re not using it, you don’t see it – it rolls away completely, so open or closed, it’s barely there. No grey mesh smeared across your view of the garden or the bay.

Will it actually save me on energy bills?

It helps more than people give it credit for. Once you can leave a sliding door or bifold open on a warm night instead of running the aircon just to keep bugs out, that adds up over a Melbourne summer. Won’t fix a poorly insulated house on its own – nothing does that – but it’s one less reason to keep the place sealed up.

What about older homes – does it even work on those?

This is where the job gets interesting, and where a lot of off-the-shelf screens fall over. Plenty of the weatherboard and Victorian-era homes we work on around the Eastern suburbs have door frames that have shifted over the decades – nothing’s quite square, nothing’s quite the size it was built to. Fixed, standard-size screens are a bad bet on a house like that. Every RetractAscreen is custom-made to the actual opening in front of us on the day, not a catalogue size, so a frame that’s a bit out of true on an old Hawthorn or Brighton home isn’t the dealbreaker most people assume. Casement windows are the other one we see constantly – ordinary fly screens just don’t sit on them properly, full stop. A retractable screen is genuinely the only solution there, not just the easier one.

Do they need much looking after?

Not really. A brush and a vacuum over the tracks once a month through winter, more often in the warmer months when you’re using it daily, plus a light bit of lubrication to keep things running smooth. That’s the whole job. Every customer gets a Care & Maintenance Kit and Manual on installation day, and our tech runs you through it on the spot so it’s not a mystery later. One thing worth knowing from experience: if the track ever feels stiff, it’s almost always dust build-up, not a fault – thirty seconds with the kit usually sorts it.

What’s actually inside one of these things?

An aluminium cassette, powder coated in a colour to match your existing frame, housing a roll of fibreglass mesh – smooth, un-pleated, sheer and light. That’s the whole mechanism. No bulky pleated fabric bunching in the corner, no plastic track going brittle in the sun after a couple of summers. It’s a small detail, but it’s the difference between a screen that looks like it was always meant to be there and one that looks bolted on as an afterthought.

Can you fit one to a door that’s never had a screen?

Most of the time, yes – and honestly, that’s the bulk of what we do. Most new homes are built without flyscreens at all these days, so retrofitting is the norm, not the exception. Whether it’s French doors, stacker doors, bifolds or a plain sliding door that was never set up for a screen, a retractable fits without you needing to replace the door or window itself. For most sliding doors especially, it’s not just the best option – it’s the only real one.

So, worth it?

If you’re sick of bugs ruining your day every time you want the doors open, yes. It’s not a big renovation – measure, quote, install, done. The whole purchase-to-installation process is amazingly simple, and once your order’s ready, installation itself is usually wrapped up within hours. Get in touch for a free, itemised quote with no hidden charges, and we’ll tell you straight whether it’ll work for your place.