A porch is to a house as a smile is to a person. When planning our house, I was adamant that I have a porch big enough to sit on and enjoy being outdoors.

I’m a winner, and we have a fantastic 8′ x 33′ porch that runs along part of the front of the house (2010 photo).

It’s been 13 years since we finished building the porch giving me a wonderful view on our little patch of woods (2013 photo).

I delight in the many opportunities for photos (2017 photo).

Yet, having a porch does have it’s challenges with visitors of all sorts – including Maine’s notorious black flies and mosquitoes (2013 photo).

I’ve longed to screen in the porch. Not having one has been a mix of lack of funds, time, and worry about how snow spilling off our steel roof could damage the screens.

This year, in the midst of the Corona-virus pandemic, I have more time than ever to enjoy the porch. So, I resumed my search on porch systems, hoping that I could screen in just a portion of it for a bug-free zone.

I settled on these garage door screens. Three 16′ doorway screens gave me six 8′ sections that fit between each of my porch posts.

They hang from the top of the porch from hooks with a bit of industrial hook and loop in between the hooks to keep things snug.

The sides attach with a long run of hook and loop tape.

In the two corners, there’s excess screen. I planned to trim the screen curtains to fit and edge them. The materials I ordered to use for this are delayed, so I temporarily rolled up the corner edges together and clipped them to keep the buggies out. Now I’m beginning to wonder if I want to bother with the trimming and sewing at all.

The bottom edges of the screens have rings for securing them to the ground, and I’ve temporarily tacked them in place.

The next challenge was how to create a door for Gidget and me to move in and out. I’d considered having Paul build in a screen door, but if I leave this bottom corner open, Gidget finds her way out.

And back in. And so far, this little gap doesn’t allow access to too many bugs.

It’s been two weeks since I finished putting up the panels. We’ve enjoyed dinner on the porch for Paul’s birthday, and if the weather is warm enough, Hannah and I are parked on either side of the table working during the day.

This $210 investment has made the porch a wonderful outdoor living space. And, at the end of the season, when the frost has killed off the mosquitoes, I can take these down and pack them away next year.

I’m in heaven!