Screen Solutions
A solar mesh takes the edge off direct sun and glare on the openings that get it worst, without closing the patio in or taking the view away. In West Texas that is usually the side you have already stopped using.
The problem
Overhead sun is the part a roof already handles. The part it does not handle is light arriving flat and low from the west late in the day, under the roofline and straight into the space — which is exactly when a patio is most likely to be wanted.
San Angelo carries roughly 119 days a year at or above 90°F on the 1991–2020 NOAA normal, and about 30 days at or above 100°F. Those are long seasons, not occasional afternoons. A covered patio or outdoor kitchen that is unusable for a third of the year is not a shading problem you can defer.
A solar mesh is a shading decision. It is not an air-conditioning one, and we will not quote you a temperature drop — that number depends on the opening, the structure, the wind and the day, and anyone who gives you one before seeing the space is guessing.
The specification
01 — Orientation
West and south-west openings take the worst of the late-day load and are almost always where a solar project starts. A north-facing opening on the same patio may need nothing at all. This is why we specify per opening rather than per house — two sides of one structure are rarely solving the same problem.
02 — The trade
Every solar mesh trades some outward visibility for solar control, and there is no setting that maximises both. A denser weave cuts more glare and shows you less; an opener weave keeps the view and does less about the light. The right answer depends on whether the space is for looking out of or for sitting in.
03 — Airflow
A solar mesh breathes. That matters in a covered space where still air is its own problem, and it is the main reason a mesh is chosen over a solid panel where the goal is shade rather than weather. If the requirement is actually to close a side against wind-driven rain, that is a vinyl weather screen question instead.
04 — Structure
Before any of the above matters, the header, the posts and the mounting surface have to take the housing and the side tracks. On an existing patio that is a site question. On a project still being built it is a planning decision made at framing, and a much cheaper one.
Where it applies
Other layers
Questions
It changes how the space feels by cutting direct sun and glare on the opening it covers. We will not put a temperature figure on it. How much difference you notice depends on the opening, the structure, the airflow and the day, and a number quoted without seeing the space would be invented.
Not reliably. A solar mesh is woven for light control, not for insect exclusion. If mosquitoes are the reason the patio goes unused, that is an insect mesh question — and the two can sit on different openings of the same patio.
Yes, to a degree that depends on the weave and on the light. Outward visibility is generally better looking from shade toward brightness than the reverse. This is a thing worth judging in the space rather than on a sample held up indoors.
No, and the behaviour reverses after dark. When the inside of the space is brighter than the outside, a mesh that felt private during the day will show more than you expect. If being overlooked in the evening is the real concern, look at privacy weaves and plan the lighting alongside the screen.
Yes, and it is a common and sensible starting point. Screening the opening that fails first is often the whole project. Planning the rest of the space at the same time still matters, because it affects where power and controls are placed.
There are no prices on this site. Opening width, the number of openings, the material, the control method, the structure and site access all move the number — the cost guide explains what actually drives it and what a quote should itemise.
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